Timothy’s Terrible Prompt Stories - 57. Prompt 560 I'll never, ever, forgive you!

‘I'll never, ever, forgive you!’

Fuck. Ryan took a gulp of his coffee and tried to pretend the hurt burning in his chest were due to the too hot drink, not the memory of his cousin’s harsh words. Rubbing his eyes happened because he was tired from a bad night’s sleep, not to get rid of excess moisture.

“Dude, are you OK?”

Arrghh. He felt like banging his head against the wall. The last person he wanted to see right now was nosy, clever Rob Perry.

“I’m fine. Fuck off and leave me alone.”

No such luck. A strong, comforting arm descended on his shoulders, and Rob’s calm voice spoke quietly next to him.

“Ryan, your game was a bit off last night, and you look like hell today. You can pretend to be gruff and tough all you like, but your friends know better.”

“What friends?” He almost succeeded in keeping the bitterness from leaking out.

“Jasper, Kenny, Adam,” Rob listed their teammates, and Ryan shrugged. Yeah, Ken and Adam were his closest friends since fourth grade, but even they had tired of the angry Ryan, who pushed everyone away.

“Me,” Rob ended and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before he leaned back. Ryan finally glanced up, but the concerned look on Rob’s face had him avert his eyes fast. Shit, he did not need this on top of everything else.

“We’re not friends,” he muttered, hoping this would scare Rob off. But he knew better, and the blond jock simply snorted.

“Maybe not yet, and I guess there’s not much time left to become high school buddies. But even if we can only be friends for a few months, it might be worth it.”

“For who?” Ryan shot back. “I’m no charity case, and—“

Rob interrupted him. “Did I say you were? I would benefit just as much, maybe more.”

“How?”

“Well, friends would meet up to play baseball during the summer holidays, right? I can use all the extra practice I can get, if I’m going to play baseball in college. Most of the junior and varsity teams are on board, but I’d love to have our best second baseman participating.”

“I have to work during the summer.” Ryan’s dad had made that perfectly clear.

“But not every day, right? What about weekends? Don’t tell me you won’t miss baseball on Saturdays.”

Ryan shrugged, and Rob seemed to take it as agreement. He immediately returned to digging, the persistent bastard.

“Now tell me what happened yesterday afternoon. You were fine during lunch, but your running and ball-throwing sucked last night.”

This time the wince and the knot of shame in his guts were due to the memory of Coach yelling at him to get a grip. The surprised and annoyed looks from his teammates hadn’t helped either.

“Anyone can have a bad day. Did you get up early just to come here and piss me off?”

“Nope, to find out what’s wrong,” Rob admitted and gave his best disarming grin when Ryan glared at him.

“Why are you poking your nose into other people’s business?”

“I’m a free man now, with time on my hands. I don’t have to pick up the ex, and Eric stayed at Nelson’s house last night, so there was no slow bro to give a lift either.”

The topic of Rob’s ex was better than the lovebirds, as Jasper had dubbed them, so Ryan tried to divert the direction of their talk.

“Melanie tries to pretend she dumped you, but we all know better.”

“If it makes her feel happy, I don’t mind her telling people she broke up with me. In fact, you might say she did initiate the break-up. All the more reason for me to hang around with other single guys, who’re going stag to the Prom.”

“So why are you hanging around here? I don’t fit those specific criteria.”

“Ohh, fancy words there. Aren’t you single?”

Ryan shrugged, but he was forced to nod.

“But you’re not going stag? Or maybe you aren’t going to the Prom at all?”

“Not much point, is there?” Ryan downed the rest of his coffee and stood up. School didn’t start for another twenty minutes, but he wanted to get away from Rob’s relentless probing. Of course, the idiot couldn’t take a hint, but came along as if they were buddies hanging out.

“Not much point in what? Going to the Prom? Taking a girl as your date? Life in general?”

WTF? Ryan didn’t like what Rob was trying to hint with those questions. But the blond menace didn’t give him time to object.

“Never mind, you don’t have to answer any of that. But you are going to tell me what’s making you look like you’re swallowed a scared porcupine.”

“Fuck off, Rob. I’m not in the mood.”

“Nope. Tell me or else….”

“Else what? You’re gonna punch me again?”

“Nah, I’m just gonna follow you around and nag.”

Rob smirked when Ryan gaped at him. “Works with Eric, and let me tell you, he’s a hard nut to crack. It took me six months to get him to tell me he’s gay. I had to resort to dirty tricks.”

Shit. Ryan knew Rob was more than capable of carrying out his threat, especially now that he didn’t have a girlfriend to occupy his time. Well, if Rob was going to be like that, Ryan would let him have it, both barrels.

“I called my cousin.”

“You called…oh fuck, you called the cousin you outed,” Rob stopped walking, and Ryan swung around to face him.

“Duh! Just rub it in some more.”

“That bad, eh? What did he say?”

“I'll never, ever, forgive you!” Why the hell did those words still hurt?

Next thing he knew Rob was hugging him. It was brief but full-on, and afterwards his arm stayed around Ryan’s shoulders.

“Man, that was harsh. You were just a kid who saw it as no big deal and couldn’t imagine adults acting like hateful idiots, and….” Rob was going full-on crusade mode when Ryan started to laugh.

“Will you calm down, dude. Yeah, that’s what he said just after it happened, and what he told me he’s felt for a long time. He knows better now, and we’re cool.”

“What? You’re cool?” Rob looked like Ryan had taken him out with a fast catch at second base, something which rarely happened.

“OK, I’ll admit some of it was tough, but Jordan actually apologized for treating me like shit for ages. I’ve avoided him for the last couple of years, and apparently he’s worked out his issues about the whole incident recently.”

“So why hasn’t he gotten in touch with you? Didn’t he realize how much this meant?” Rob looked ready to go off on another rant.

“Nah, like I said nobody ever talked about it in our family. I mean, Jordan was out, and everyone sort of got over the shock, moved on and ignored it.”

“Dude, not talking about it, that’s…that’s crazy,” Rob said, and Ryan shook his arm loose with a grin.

“No, you’re the crazy jock, doing all this emotional sharing shit like a chick, and hugging people whether they want you to or not.” He punched Rob on the shoulder playfully and shifted away when he tried to retaliate.

“Like I said, I’m fine. I had things on my mind last night, but I’ll be back to normal on Thursday and ready for the game on Saturday. You just concentrate on hitting the ball, and I’ll do my part to get us another win.”

Rob held up his hands, and Ryan gave him a double high-five to seal the deal. But as they walked into West Hill High together, bantering about baseball, he had to admit talking with Rob made him feel better. Telling someone about working matters out with Jordan turned it into reality, rather than wishful thinking.

“Hey, my RBI[1] is better than yours,” Rob insisted.

“Only because your brother does the stats,” Ryan teased back.

“Fuck you, Eric would never—“ Rob began, but he was cut off.

“Dude, you’re too easy. I know he’d never do that. Your RBI is due to your place in the line-up. Us guys in front do the hard work getting on base, and all you have to do is hit the fastball.”

Ryan almost pissed himself laughing as Rob sputtered furiously over this description and tried to come up with a good reply.

“Never mind, just make sure you don’t let us down on Saturday. My cousin said he’d drive up to watch the game.” Ryan finally felt more happy than nervous about the prospect, and it certainly shut Rob up about the subject of how Ryan felt. But of course the blond bastard had to get the last word, just before they parted.

“It was cool hanging out with you, Ryan. Only one question. Are you ready to join the GSA now?”

Fuck. Jordan might never forgive him if he said no.