Where We Call Home
Title: Where We Call Home
Pairing: Ryan/Brendon
Rating: PG
Summary: A story about Keltie the "girlfriend".
Author Notes: I had lots of fun writing this. Thanks to sullenriot19 for being an awesome beta ♥ Title from Fall Out Boy- Grenade Jumper.
Keltie’s feet are killing her and she’s sure there will be blisters on the back of her ankles from where the strap is too tight tomorrow morning. She mentally cringes at the thought of having to dance with blisters like these. She should have worn her new black flats, the ones Spencer insisted on buying for her when she went shopping with him and Ryan three days ago. They would have been comfortable and looked just as cute with her skinny jeans, probably more, than these horrible three inch heels. Of course the flats would have been perfect. Spencer had picked them out.
Her hands tighten around Ryan’s arm and she sort of kind of starts to skip, even though that hurts the arch of her feet, but they’re finally back at Ryan’s new condo, and she’s excited to get inside and just rip these heels off her feet. He laughs at her, giving her a look like she’s crazy. Which is justifiable, really. It’s late and they’re both tired, and there’s no need to act like a ten-year-old. But he’s just as happy to be home after such a long night, so Ryan shuffles his feet a little faster, smiling as Keltie starts to laugh along with him.
The second the keys are in the door, Keltie un-straps her heels and flings them on the red throw rug right by the door, on top of many brightly colored sneakers, and the sound of a keyboard reaches her ears.
Brendon looks up from the keyboard at the sound of her strangled yell of relief now that her feet can relax. “Hey guys…fun evening?” He leans back into the plush cushions of the couch, releasing a laugh at Keltie’s overly annoyed ‘shut-the-fuck-up-with-your-laughing-Urie’ face before she disappears into the kitchen.
“I think she didn’t really like the calamari. I don’t know. It wasn’t that bad,” answers Ryan, shrugging his shoulders and sitting down next to Brendon. He curls his fingers around the back of Brendon’s neck, fingers subconsciously grazing the tips of his hair, and glances down at the papers Brendon has sprawled around him and all over the top of the keyboard. Ryan’s lyrics are all over the papers, now ornamented with notes that Brendon has been trying to put together all night. “How’s it coming?” he asks, but Keltie comes out of the kitchen, a large chocolate milk in her hands, and is yelling again before Brendon gets to answer.
“It wasn’t the fucking calamari. It was those goddamn heels. They were too tight and I’m going to have blisters all over my feet and it’s going to suck so bad.” She sips her chocolate milk indignantly, sitting down in the arm chair against the other wall, but still has enough heart in her to appreciate Brendon’s sympathetic look.
The first time Brendon had seen her angry and upset was after a fan said some rude remark involving names that no one should be called. He had made her a large glass of chocolate milk and told her it would make her feel better. Brendon had probably put half the syrup in her glass, but, as she quickly learned, Brendon was like that with a lot of things; too much, a little overwhelming, but perfect when it all came together. And it had made her feel better. Sometimes chocolate milk is the only thing that can calm her nerves these days.
“You should have worn those flats Spencer bought you.”
Keltie chuckles into her chocolate milk and wishes she had asked Brendon about what shoes to wear that night instead of Ryan. In Spencer’s absence, she’s learned, it’s always second best to go to Brendon with advice concerning matters of the feet.
She sips the perfect chocolate milk some more and watches Brendon and Ryan over the top of the glass. Ryan’s placed his chin over Brendon’s shoulder, hand falling from neck to hip, his fingers now rubbing over the sharp bone through the green t-shirt (which she’s pretty sure Ryan was wearing yesterday). Brendon’s playing parts of the music he wrote, and Keltie likes the way it sounds, thinks she can hear a hit single as she watches his fingers dance across the keys. Brendon starts singing softly and Keltie is still in awe of how powerful his voice sounds even when it’s not being transmitted through wires and amplifiers. Ryan kisses his neck, smiling now, and she can tell that he loves what Brendon has put together in the few hours they were gone.
Suddenly, Keltie isn’t angry or pissed about her hurting feet anymore.
Sometimes she’s not sure if she can stand the cameras and the constant gossip any longer, but then Ryan will look at Brendon like he’s doing right now, eyes content and entranced, and she remembers how much she’s grown to love these two boys; how grateful they are day in and day out for the sacrifices she’s willing to make for them. So the camera flashes don’t matter and she can get over the nasty remarks, because she knows and they trust her with their most important secret, and it’s all more than worth it.
She goes to bed after Brendon’s done singing, but not before they promise to get her an at-home foot spa tomorrow because Ryan doesn’t want gross, nasty, and blistery feet walking over his new wooden floor.
*
The way her life is now is probably all thanks to her horrible sense of direction.
The room is large and white save for the whole wall of mirrors, and Keltie’s at the first official practice for the MTV Video Music Awards gig she landed last week. She found out yesterday that she would be dancing for Panic! At the Disco, the new rising stars of rock, nominated for 5 moon men, including Video of the Year. So, yeah, she’s a little nervous. These guys are young and they’re up for Video of the Year. But really, she’s more excited than anything else because this is the VMAs and she gets to be on stage, on TV. It’s kind of a dream come true for Keltie.
There are four guys standing in the one corner of the room. They all look pretty normal, nothing special really, which calms her nerves. She walks over to the other dancers, saying hi to a girl she remembers from last week named Charlotte.
“Hey! You got the gig, too? That’s so awesome!” Charlotte hugs her tight and they both can’t stop grinning.
“I know…this is going to be so much fun. Have you talked to the band yet or anything?” Keltie only asks because she notices the tall, lanky one in the yellow shirt looking over at them.
“No. Nothing happened, yet. We haven’t even been introduced to them.”
Knowing their names is something Keltie wishes she knew, but the only thing she knows about them, besides the song that earned them their nominations, is that they’re from Las Vegas. Which kind of explains why this young band that is normally grouped with Fall Out Boy has dancers.
After a little more waiting around, the head choreographer introduces them to the band.
“Spencer, Jon, Brendon, and Ryan, meet your dancers!” They all wave, but the lead singer, Brendon, yells, “Heeeeey girls!” and almost spills his red bull. Keltie catches the one in the yellow shirt, Ryan, rolling his eyes.
Most of the day the dancers spend their time with Brendon, and Keltie is surprised by his energy and enthusiasm; and his dedication, because he seems to pick up on the dance quicker than the ones hired for the job. She notices the dedication of the whole band, really, because Ryan, Jon, and Spencer only have to play through the song a couple times, but they sit and watch for the rest of the day.
During a break, Keltie ends up talking to Ryan. They talk about little things, like books and movies, and, naturally, how anxious they are about the VMAs. He’s sweet and interesting, and Keltie thinks she wouldn’t mind sitting and just talking about anything and everything with him even after the VMAs have come and gone. They start to talk about family, but Ryan is hesitant, and Keltie knows he has so many stories to tell, and has spent years hiding them. Just when Keltie thinks she should apologize for bringing up the topic, Brendon comes over and sits down next to Ryan, his hand squeezing the tense muscles between Ryan’s neck and shoulder quickly as they share a smile, and she notices how Ryan visibly relaxes. She compliments Brendon’s dancing, and the conversation turns back to normal.
They end the day with sizing for the costumes, and the band goes into one room, another floor, and the dancers into another. There’s a lot of waiting around, so while sitting and trying to be patient, Keltie realizes she hasn’t gone to the bathroom for five hours.
The bathroom’s on a different floor, and on her way back, she can’t remember if she went up one flight, or two. Her whole body is tired and so is her brain, so she goes down two floors. She wanders back down the hall, and when she opens the door, instead of ten other girls bustling about, she see’s Ryan, with Brendon pushed flat against the wall, mouth open, biting and licking against his neck, hands pressed firmly into his hips.
Ryan snaps his head up from Brendon’s neck the second he hears the door open, looks at Keltie, his lips red and shining, eyes wide and terrified. Brendon looks at her, too, but his eyes are only half open, a haze of incoherency. Their breathing is heavy and that’s all she can hear for a whole minute, their breaths panting and then getting quieter and softer. For a whole minute, she has two pairs of eyes on her, two strangers, and no idea what to say or do. But Brendon speaks, because Brendon always has something to say.
“I think your dressing room is on the next floor…” Ryan lets his head fall onto Brendon’s shoulder and whispers, “Fuck” against his skin.
*
Keltie makes breakfast for Ryan and Brendon the next morning, which really means lunch by the time they wake up. The boys are a fucking mess and she can’t find the Bisquick mix for twenty minutes (it was in a cardboard box in the hallway closet, and Ryan’s been living here for two months, you’d think he’d have wanted pancakes by now), and she’s just glad Brendon is passionate about his cereals because there is never a lack of milk in the condo, ever.
Brendon’s first to walk into the kitchen, dramatically sniffing the air and rubbing his stomach at the same time.
“I probably would’ve slept longer, but I haven’t had pancakes in forever. This is much more appealing than the bed...I didn’t even know we had pancake mix.” Keltie has to laugh at that one, and doesn’t offer up an explanation when Brendon looks at her weird. He questions her sanity just as much as she questions his.
“Thank you mommy,” he says when she hands him a plate.
Brendon likes his pancakes half uncooked. He likes the raw goo of the batter and he likes to smother his pancakes in maple syrup, cut them up into little pieces and let the batter mix with the syrup.
“Ew,” Ryan says when he walks into the kitchen and takes a look at the mess that Brendon has on his plate, “you’re disgusting, Bren.” Brendon just looks at Ryan and sticks his tongue, covered in sloppy pancake remnants.
“Good morning schnookems!” Ryan smiles, turning to Keltie, and kisses her on the forehead. She loves the ridiculous pet names he calls her. She loves that everything in Ryan’s life is done with perfection. He believes even a faux-relationship should have adorable and sickening faux-nicknames. She hands him a plate, his pancakes cooked all the way through.
“I didn’t even know we had the mix.” And Keltie, she has to laugh at that, too.
*
Ryan decides that they have to talk as soon as possible after the incident in the dressing room, and he says as much to Keltie, very flustered and confused, turns to leave nodding quickly as she closes the door once more. ‘As soon as possible’ seems to mean, ‘right fucking now’ to Ryan, because he waits outside the dancers dressing room (just Ryan), and all the dancers stare as she leaves with him.
She’s pretty sure his plan was already in motion before they even talked.
Elevators are horrible, she decides. She’s never liked them; always scared they would just stop working and plummet into the ground, killing all the people inside instantly. It’s been a huge unexplainable fear her entire life, but she kind of wishes that would happen now as she stands next to Ryan. It’s so silent, so awkward. It makes her feel like she might choke.
Ryan doesn’t talk, still doesn’t say a word when they enter the room. Brendon is sitting on the bed, watching The Real World, but he turns the TV off the second they walk in. Ryan sits on the bed next to Brendon, whose hands are wringing tightly together in his lap. They suddenly look so young (like their age), and she wants to say something to comfort them.
Ryan speaks first.
“We’re not mad,” and Brendon smiles when Keltie lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “but this,” Ryan says, reaching over and taking Brendon’s hand into his own, lacing the fingers, “can never get out.”
She looks from their hands to their faces, furrows her brow at the look of complete worry on Brendon’s face, and even though Ryan looks stoic, she can see the worry behind the mask. Her mouth closes quickly, and she hadn’t even realized her jaw had dropped. She nods.
“I can get you fired from this job. It could ruin your career and I will never feel sorry. You have to understand how serious this is.”
Holy crap.
“What Ryan’s trying to say is…we can’t take any risks. So much goes into protecting this, that we can’t have you saying, like, offhandedly, to anyone, about what you saw.”
“What exactly is ‘this’?”
“She speaks!”
“It’s,” Ryan starts, “it’s complicated, really, but it’s…” He looks softly at Brendon, and smiles. “It’s love.”
Never in a million years would she have seen this coming when she walked into the studio earlier this morning. But she understands. As shocked as she is, she gets it. She can tell.
“I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I’m sorry that I. I mean, I didn’t even realize. Wow, yeah, not a soul-”
“Thanks, Keltie.” Brendon doesn’t look so worried anymore.
“Do you want me to like…sign a sheet or something. Not in blood, I can’t promise anything if you ask me that.”
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary.” Ryan’s laughing a little, and Keltie knows this is rare for people who aren’t close to him to witness, so she laugh’s too, appreciates how the awkward tension has floated away.
“So that’s it then. I can leave? You trust me enough?”
“Actually, there’s one more thing we need to ask you.”
Keltie says yes, without hesitation. I can pretend. I can lead the wandering eyes and wondering minds away. I can and I will.
She spends the next few hours with the two boys, getting to know them, individually and them, together. By the time she leaves, she thinks how she will never get the next few years back, or however long she helps them, and she hopes she doesn’t regret anything. Keltie doesn’t think she will, not after she saw the way they look at each other out of the public’s careful watch.
*
“You won’t need that at the cabin, I promise.”
“But--”
“No. Seriously, Brendon? You don’t. Trust me.”
“I really think you’re underestimating my needs, here. Spencer makes these amazing pancakes, and well, they’re kind of better than yours, no offence-”
“None taken.”
“-and I just think I need him to have this awesome…utensil, so he can make me pancakes.”
“See, you don’t even know what that’s called.”
“It’s a, you know, you mix with it…”
“Spencer doesn’t want it.”
“No, he really does. Ryan, doesn’t Spencer want this?”
Ryan looks up from his Sidekick, assesses the situation and then gives a confused look.
“Um…no, he probably doesn’t. Sorry.”
Brendon looks pathetically upset by this, but gives in and begrudgingly lets Keltie tear the spoonula away from his grasp.
Shopping at Target for things for their stay at the cabin was a good idea. Target has everything and all three of them agree that it’s “The Classy Wal-Mart.” However, bringing Brendon along was a bad idea. A kid in a candy store doesn’t even begin to describe it.
“I think what you should get, though,” Keltie comments, turning to Ryan as Brendon runs down the next aisle, which is stocked with pillows, and Keltie just loves that her mind automatically thinks ‘at least he can’t get hurt’, “is one of those kiddy leashes. I think that would be a very wise investment.”
“You are not the first person who has said that to me. You should be surprised by that, but I know you aren’t.”
*
For a while it is hard. She’s not sure how to deal with this weird kind of attention she gets. It’s not like suddenly teenage girls are running up to her screaming “Omigawd. Keltie Colleen!!” Or even worse, catching sharp and critical eyes or angry and scowling faces as she walks the streets of New York, But she knows that Live Journal and Buzznet are sparking lightly with news about her presence at shows, or her own personal pictures.
Ryan tried to explain this semi-internet fame, explaining their fans with words like ‘young and impressionable,’ or ‘maybe a little obsessive, I don’t know.’
“Does all this attention bother you? Is it…can you not…?”
Keltie peers out the window of the bus as they arrive at the next venue. She’s not really sure where they are, only that her plane landed in Atlanta and they had headed west.
“No. No, it doesn’t bother me. It’s just, it’s weird, you know?”
“Yeah…yeah I know.”
Of course he does.
“Of course you do.”
He looks out the window, too, and she see’s his eyes scanning the parking lot, noticing the number of cars. It’s still fairly early, only about noon, but there are already a lot of cars.
His worried eyes glance back to her when she reaches across the table to hold his hands.
“It’s not bad, Ryan. It’s not.” And then, as an afterthought, because the creases in Ryan’s forehead are still there, “I’m not going anywhere.”
He looks at her seriously, and she knows Ryan pretty well by now, but he still intimidates the shit out her sometimes. He still intimidates the shit out of Spencer.
“Good.”
There’s a loud thump from the bunks, and Brendon stumbles in to the front of the bus, hair still tousled from his nap. He slides in next to Ryan, wrapping his arms around his torso and throwing his legs over Ryan’s legs so he’s practically sitting in his lap. Ryan just smiles lightly and leans into him.
“So I’m thinking,” he says, placing his chin on Ryan’s shoulder, “that we should definitely kiss tonight. I could slip a little tongue in there, too. Make things really interesting. Make the girls scream.”
“So I’m thinking you’re crazy.” Ryan is smiling with all his teeth now, which isn’t unusual with Brendon around. Keltie laughs along with Brendon who’s singing ’I’m goin’ crazy, crazy, crazy, just thinkin’ about you lately’ into Ryan’s neck.
“So I’m thinking you guys are so fucking adorable,” she says. And means it.
Ryan wraps his fingers through Brendon’s hair and doesn’t stop smiling until he needs to concentrate to put his make-up on five hours later.
*
The cabin is nice. The cabin is perfect. The cabin is exactly what they need.
Keltie comes to visit and spends her time taking lots of pictures. She goes on walks with Jon to capture the mountains and the smoke that blankets over them in the early morning. She makes pancakes and waffles almost every day with Spencer for the two weeks she’s there. She plays video games with Brendon and almost beats him at Guitar Hero once (“Hobo’s puppy eyes totally distracted me!” “No blaming the puppy allowed!”), and she watches Moulin Rouge with Ryan so many times that when she goes to sleep the movie is still playing on her eyelids. Cassie and Haley visit when she’s there, too, and they spend a day out shopping and that night apologizing to the boys, explaining that they’re not the ones who are writing an album and they can shop whenever they please.
She prints out all her pictures when she gets back to New York, picking out the ones of Ryan and Brendon. Keltie took a lot of just the two of them. The time she spends with them is worth capturing forever.
The floor of her apartment is covered in these pictures. She takes her time, cutting them out and fitting them perfectly into the large picture frame. In the middle she delicately places a picture of them in the studio. They’re both sitting at the piano, Brendon’s fingers on the keys and Ryan softly strumming the strings of his guitar. She remembers walking in on this moment. The way their heads were bent close and how, even though she assumed this was their first attempt at writing this song, each time they would play it sounded perfect. They didn’t even look up at the flash of her camera and she wonders if it was from familiarity with the presence of her and Jon or because they just didn’t notice at all; too caught up in each other and the music they create.
Either way, it’s her favorite picture and it deserves to be in the middle of it all.
*
From the window at the Friends or Enemies suite, all Keltie can see are the flashes of bright colors that stretch far and high and then just suddenly stop, the view turning midnight; and the spotlights that shine straight beneath her. Vegas is different from this high up. Not as ugly as Ryan sometimes makes it seem. Keltie stares down at the cars driving by and wonders vaguely if Britney has already made her escape.
The VMAs are over, but the party is still raging on. It’s just the Fueled By Ramen gang and close friends. All the lucky guys and girls who got to hang out in the suite are long gone. She can’t remember what floor they’re on, but when someone touches her arm, she turns to look quickly and feels her head spin.
“You okay?” Brendon asks. His eyes are a little unfocused, looking from her to out the window and then slowly back again. Keltie realizes that he’s probably been coercing everyone from Jon to Gabe to letting him have a drink with his wide eyes and pouty lips.
“Yeah. We’re just so high up. It’s different.”
“I know. Like a dream or something.”
“Or something.”
Brendon leans heavily against the wall and they stare out the window together. Brendon tells her which casinos are his favorite to look at, pointing out the brightest and most vibrant buildings.
Brendon starts to talk about the sex shop with the pink flashing ‘XXX’ that are ‘seriously, like, ten feet tall. Why haven’t I ever shown you that?’ when Ryan saunters over and pulls Brendon from the wall and into his arms.
“Didn’t I send you over here to get Keltie, not stand at the window with her?” Brendon buries his head into Ryan’s shoulder and giggles. Keltie smiles and shakes her head. Ryan just kissed Brendon’s forehead.
“I forgot.” He says, turning sheepishly back to look at Keltie who pats him on the head.
“It’s alright, sweetie.”
Brendon turns himself around, holding onto Ryan’s arms across his waist. Ryan puts his chin on Brendon shoulder and says, “Why don’t you tell her why I sent you over here?”
He nods, and then reaches out to grab Keltie’s hand that isn’t wrapped around a rum and coke.
“We want to tell you that, even though we already pseudo-celebrated our one year anniversary of your cover-ship,” Ryan rolls his eyes, “it was because of the VMAs that we met you, and here we are again and now we want to…take some shots with you to honor the event that brought us together.”
Keltie tries not laugh because Brendon is being very serious, so she bites her lip and smiles.
“Okay, no, Bren. That is not what we wanted to say-“
“Really?”
“-What we wanted to say is…thank you. We might not even be here if it wasn’t for you. Could have been caught and torn apart.” His arms tighten around Brendon’s waist. “We took a chance and had no idea what would happen. But we’re still here, because, you’ve helped hold us together.”
She’s not going to cry, but when Brendon squeezes her hand and pulls her to him, Ryan wrapping his long arms around them both, she needs to concentrate to keep her eyes from tearing up.
*
The album drops and it’s pretty much a success. They get good reviews and they get great reviews. Ryan writes beautiful words about love and Keltie makes sure to tease him and Brendon about it as often as possible. But she’s also proud of them and doesn’t think she can find the right words to say it, so she holds onto Ryan’s hand tighter, tries to be with them throughout the whole new rush of attention. They sometimes have paparazzi taking pictures of them. It’s new and exciting and soon they’ll be kicking off their tour, on the road where they belong.
And then she gets a call from Ryan.
“We’re going on TRL tomorrow and, well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently…” hey says, sounding breathless and defiant. “I don’t know, I guess I just think ‘Hey, this whole album is about us, why am I…god, why am I still insisting on hiding it?’ It’s just…I’m not going to be scared anymore. I don’t need to be. And, shit, I don’t want to sound like such a gay man, but I’m proud. I’m proud of him, and I’m proud of us, and I’m proud of the album. I want people to know, Kel. Is this…I’m not completely losing my shit, am I?”
Her brain sort of pauses for a second, skips and jumps and she needs to rewind and replay that back in her head.
Ryan. Wants. To. Come. Out. On national television, nonetheless. On Total fucking Request Live.
She almost asks what Brendon thinks, but she knows that Brendon has been waiting for Ryan. It’s Brendon who goes in for the kisses and touches, and Ryan who stops before Brendon gets too close.
“Are you asking my permission? Because, Ryan. Ryan you know this is not up to me. I want you to do what will make you the happiest.”
She’s pacing her kitchen, biting her nails. She hopes Ryan can’t tell.
“You just….you get us. You know how we both feel, more than I do, really. I need you to tell me that the timing is perfect.”
Keltie knows that since Ryan already said so himself, that he already knows the timing is perfect. Her hand grasps the counter and she realizes that maybe she’s been waiting for this from the moment they asked her to be their cover a year and a half ago in that hotel room.
“The timing is more than perfect, Ryan.”
The sigh across the line is long and deep, but she hears a smile.
“It is. It is...You know I love you, Kel. You know that right?”
“I know it.”
The next day Keltie sits on her couch and she can’t stop smiling. It’s stupid because TRL hasn’t even started yet, but the excitement is creeping up her spine and there’s a squeal stuck in her throat and her leg won’t stop bouncing. But it’s ok, because within the hour everyone will know Panic! At The Disco’s greatest secret. She keeps checking to make sure she’s recording this to TiVo. Her mind can’t make complete thoughts but maybe she’s already planning on writing ‘Ryden Exists’ with some hearts on her palm to take a picture of to put on her MySpace later. Maybe.
When Vanessa introduces them and they walk out from backstage, Keltie screams into the pillow she hadn’t realized she’d been gripping tightly onto.
There are questions about the new album, what it was like writing the second time around after the huge success of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Keltie wishes she knew the exact moment that Ryan was going to say it because she is seriously freaking out.
“This album is so different from ‘Fever’ lyrically and musically. What was your greatest inspiration for this? The critics are buzzing about these love songs. Where did they come from?”
Ryan is smiling like Keltie has seen him so many times before, like when he’s anywhere with Brendon, and her mind suddenly stops screaming and she listens.
“Well, when we started writing the lyrics, we knew we wanted them to be about something we were feeling. And well, I actually was…am in love, so that’s what I wrote about. It wasn’t so hard, really, to express that when you feel it so strongly everyday.”
“Your girlfriend must be flattered!”
“Well,” and he sort of blushes, smiles shyly at the ground, “we could just ask my boyfriend how he feels. Bren?”
Brendon is shocked for maybe one second, and then he’s wrapping his arms around Ryan and kissing him. Keltie screams along with the kids in the crowd, hears Vanessa’s yell of “Oh my god!!” and loves that she’s trying to say something and just can’t find the words. Then Jon and Spencer are laughing and Spencer says, “They’ve been wanting to make out on TV for a while. They’re such exhibitionists.”
Ten minutes later her phone beeps. It’s a picture of Ryan and Brendon, their hands forming a heart. She’s taken pictures of them like this before, Brendon’s enormous grin and the soft crinkle of Ryan’s eyes, their foreheads touching, looking only at each other. Jon’s taken pictures like this. So has Tom. But this little pixilated picture, this is for her.
The message that comes with the picture says ’hey love you better have recorded that were coming tonite to celebrate <3 ryro&bden’.
As she checks her fridge for champagne or wine or beer, anything, her phone rings. It’s Charlotte.
“So, hey, um…I thought you were dating Ryan?”
Pairing: Ryan/Brendon
Rating: PG
Summary: A story about Keltie the "girlfriend".
Author Notes: I had lots of fun writing this. Thanks to sullenriot19 for being an awesome beta ♥ Title from Fall Out Boy- Grenade Jumper.
Keltie’s feet are killing her and she’s sure there will be blisters on the back of her ankles from where the strap is too tight tomorrow morning. She mentally cringes at the thought of having to dance with blisters like these. She should have worn her new black flats, the ones Spencer insisted on buying for her when she went shopping with him and Ryan three days ago. They would have been comfortable and looked just as cute with her skinny jeans, probably more, than these horrible three inch heels. Of course the flats would have been perfect. Spencer had picked them out.
Her hands tighten around Ryan’s arm and she sort of kind of starts to skip, even though that hurts the arch of her feet, but they’re finally back at Ryan’s new condo, and she’s excited to get inside and just rip these heels off her feet. He laughs at her, giving her a look like she’s crazy. Which is justifiable, really. It’s late and they’re both tired, and there’s no need to act like a ten-year-old. But he’s just as happy to be home after such a long night, so Ryan shuffles his feet a little faster, smiling as Keltie starts to laugh along with him.
The second the keys are in the door, Keltie un-straps her heels and flings them on the red throw rug right by the door, on top of many brightly colored sneakers, and the sound of a keyboard reaches her ears.
Brendon looks up from the keyboard at the sound of her strangled yell of relief now that her feet can relax. “Hey guys…fun evening?” He leans back into the plush cushions of the couch, releasing a laugh at Keltie’s overly annoyed ‘shut-the-fuck-up-with-your-laughing-Urie’ face before she disappears into the kitchen.
“I think she didn’t really like the calamari. I don’t know. It wasn’t that bad,” answers Ryan, shrugging his shoulders and sitting down next to Brendon. He curls his fingers around the back of Brendon’s neck, fingers subconsciously grazing the tips of his hair, and glances down at the papers Brendon has sprawled around him and all over the top of the keyboard. Ryan’s lyrics are all over the papers, now ornamented with notes that Brendon has been trying to put together all night. “How’s it coming?” he asks, but Keltie comes out of the kitchen, a large chocolate milk in her hands, and is yelling again before Brendon gets to answer.
“It wasn’t the fucking calamari. It was those goddamn heels. They were too tight and I’m going to have blisters all over my feet and it’s going to suck so bad.” She sips her chocolate milk indignantly, sitting down in the arm chair against the other wall, but still has enough heart in her to appreciate Brendon’s sympathetic look.
The first time Brendon had seen her angry and upset was after a fan said some rude remark involving names that no one should be called. He had made her a large glass of chocolate milk and told her it would make her feel better. Brendon had probably put half the syrup in her glass, but, as she quickly learned, Brendon was like that with a lot of things; too much, a little overwhelming, but perfect when it all came together. And it had made her feel better. Sometimes chocolate milk is the only thing that can calm her nerves these days.
“You should have worn those flats Spencer bought you.”
Keltie chuckles into her chocolate milk and wishes she had asked Brendon about what shoes to wear that night instead of Ryan. In Spencer’s absence, she’s learned, it’s always second best to go to Brendon with advice concerning matters of the feet.
She sips the perfect chocolate milk some more and watches Brendon and Ryan over the top of the glass. Ryan’s placed his chin over Brendon’s shoulder, hand falling from neck to hip, his fingers now rubbing over the sharp bone through the green t-shirt (which she’s pretty sure Ryan was wearing yesterday). Brendon’s playing parts of the music he wrote, and Keltie likes the way it sounds, thinks she can hear a hit single as she watches his fingers dance across the keys. Brendon starts singing softly and Keltie is still in awe of how powerful his voice sounds even when it’s not being transmitted through wires and amplifiers. Ryan kisses his neck, smiling now, and she can tell that he loves what Brendon has put together in the few hours they were gone.
Suddenly, Keltie isn’t angry or pissed about her hurting feet anymore.
Sometimes she’s not sure if she can stand the cameras and the constant gossip any longer, but then Ryan will look at Brendon like he’s doing right now, eyes content and entranced, and she remembers how much she’s grown to love these two boys; how grateful they are day in and day out for the sacrifices she’s willing to make for them. So the camera flashes don’t matter and she can get over the nasty remarks, because she knows and they trust her with their most important secret, and it’s all more than worth it.
She goes to bed after Brendon’s done singing, but not before they promise to get her an at-home foot spa tomorrow because Ryan doesn’t want gross, nasty, and blistery feet walking over his new wooden floor.
*
The way her life is now is probably all thanks to her horrible sense of direction.
The room is large and white save for the whole wall of mirrors, and Keltie’s at the first official practice for the MTV Video Music Awards gig she landed last week. She found out yesterday that she would be dancing for Panic! At the Disco, the new rising stars of rock, nominated for 5 moon men, including Video of the Year. So, yeah, she’s a little nervous. These guys are young and they’re up for Video of the Year. But really, she’s more excited than anything else because this is the VMAs and she gets to be on stage, on TV. It’s kind of a dream come true for Keltie.
There are four guys standing in the one corner of the room. They all look pretty normal, nothing special really, which calms her nerves. She walks over to the other dancers, saying hi to a girl she remembers from last week named Charlotte.
“Hey! You got the gig, too? That’s so awesome!” Charlotte hugs her tight and they both can’t stop grinning.
“I know…this is going to be so much fun. Have you talked to the band yet or anything?” Keltie only asks because she notices the tall, lanky one in the yellow shirt looking over at them.
“No. Nothing happened, yet. We haven’t even been introduced to them.”
Knowing their names is something Keltie wishes she knew, but the only thing she knows about them, besides the song that earned them their nominations, is that they’re from Las Vegas. Which kind of explains why this young band that is normally grouped with Fall Out Boy has dancers.
After a little more waiting around, the head choreographer introduces them to the band.
“Spencer, Jon, Brendon, and Ryan, meet your dancers!” They all wave, but the lead singer, Brendon, yells, “Heeeeey girls!” and almost spills his red bull. Keltie catches the one in the yellow shirt, Ryan, rolling his eyes.
Most of the day the dancers spend their time with Brendon, and Keltie is surprised by his energy and enthusiasm; and his dedication, because he seems to pick up on the dance quicker than the ones hired for the job. She notices the dedication of the whole band, really, because Ryan, Jon, and Spencer only have to play through the song a couple times, but they sit and watch for the rest of the day.
During a break, Keltie ends up talking to Ryan. They talk about little things, like books and movies, and, naturally, how anxious they are about the VMAs. He’s sweet and interesting, and Keltie thinks she wouldn’t mind sitting and just talking about anything and everything with him even after the VMAs have come and gone. They start to talk about family, but Ryan is hesitant, and Keltie knows he has so many stories to tell, and has spent years hiding them. Just when Keltie thinks she should apologize for bringing up the topic, Brendon comes over and sits down next to Ryan, his hand squeezing the tense muscles between Ryan’s neck and shoulder quickly as they share a smile, and she notices how Ryan visibly relaxes. She compliments Brendon’s dancing, and the conversation turns back to normal.
They end the day with sizing for the costumes, and the band goes into one room, another floor, and the dancers into another. There’s a lot of waiting around, so while sitting and trying to be patient, Keltie realizes she hasn’t gone to the bathroom for five hours.
The bathroom’s on a different floor, and on her way back, she can’t remember if she went up one flight, or two. Her whole body is tired and so is her brain, so she goes down two floors. She wanders back down the hall, and when she opens the door, instead of ten other girls bustling about, she see’s Ryan, with Brendon pushed flat against the wall, mouth open, biting and licking against his neck, hands pressed firmly into his hips.
Ryan snaps his head up from Brendon’s neck the second he hears the door open, looks at Keltie, his lips red and shining, eyes wide and terrified. Brendon looks at her, too, but his eyes are only half open, a haze of incoherency. Their breathing is heavy and that’s all she can hear for a whole minute, their breaths panting and then getting quieter and softer. For a whole minute, she has two pairs of eyes on her, two strangers, and no idea what to say or do. But Brendon speaks, because Brendon always has something to say.
“I think your dressing room is on the next floor…” Ryan lets his head fall onto Brendon’s shoulder and whispers, “Fuck” against his skin.
*
Keltie makes breakfast for Ryan and Brendon the next morning, which really means lunch by the time they wake up. The boys are a fucking mess and she can’t find the Bisquick mix for twenty minutes (it was in a cardboard box in the hallway closet, and Ryan’s been living here for two months, you’d think he’d have wanted pancakes by now), and she’s just glad Brendon is passionate about his cereals because there is never a lack of milk in the condo, ever.
Brendon’s first to walk into the kitchen, dramatically sniffing the air and rubbing his stomach at the same time.
“I probably would’ve slept longer, but I haven’t had pancakes in forever. This is much more appealing than the bed...I didn’t even know we had pancake mix.” Keltie has to laugh at that one, and doesn’t offer up an explanation when Brendon looks at her weird. He questions her sanity just as much as she questions his.
“Thank you mommy,” he says when she hands him a plate.
Brendon likes his pancakes half uncooked. He likes the raw goo of the batter and he likes to smother his pancakes in maple syrup, cut them up into little pieces and let the batter mix with the syrup.
“Ew,” Ryan says when he walks into the kitchen and takes a look at the mess that Brendon has on his plate, “you’re disgusting, Bren.” Brendon just looks at Ryan and sticks his tongue, covered in sloppy pancake remnants.
“Good morning schnookems!” Ryan smiles, turning to Keltie, and kisses her on the forehead. She loves the ridiculous pet names he calls her. She loves that everything in Ryan’s life is done with perfection. He believes even a faux-relationship should have adorable and sickening faux-nicknames. She hands him a plate, his pancakes cooked all the way through.
“I didn’t even know we had the mix.” And Keltie, she has to laugh at that, too.
*
Ryan decides that they have to talk as soon as possible after the incident in the dressing room, and he says as much to Keltie, very flustered and confused, turns to leave nodding quickly as she closes the door once more. ‘As soon as possible’ seems to mean, ‘right fucking now’ to Ryan, because he waits outside the dancers dressing room (just Ryan), and all the dancers stare as she leaves with him.
She’s pretty sure his plan was already in motion before they even talked.
Elevators are horrible, she decides. She’s never liked them; always scared they would just stop working and plummet into the ground, killing all the people inside instantly. It’s been a huge unexplainable fear her entire life, but she kind of wishes that would happen now as she stands next to Ryan. It’s so silent, so awkward. It makes her feel like she might choke.
Ryan doesn’t talk, still doesn’t say a word when they enter the room. Brendon is sitting on the bed, watching The Real World, but he turns the TV off the second they walk in. Ryan sits on the bed next to Brendon, whose hands are wringing tightly together in his lap. They suddenly look so young (like their age), and she wants to say something to comfort them.
Ryan speaks first.
“We’re not mad,” and Brendon smiles when Keltie lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “but this,” Ryan says, reaching over and taking Brendon’s hand into his own, lacing the fingers, “can never get out.”
She looks from their hands to their faces, furrows her brow at the look of complete worry on Brendon’s face, and even though Ryan looks stoic, she can see the worry behind the mask. Her mouth closes quickly, and she hadn’t even realized her jaw had dropped. She nods.
“I can get you fired from this job. It could ruin your career and I will never feel sorry. You have to understand how serious this is.”
Holy crap.
“What Ryan’s trying to say is…we can’t take any risks. So much goes into protecting this, that we can’t have you saying, like, offhandedly, to anyone, about what you saw.”
“What exactly is ‘this’?”
“She speaks!”
“It’s,” Ryan starts, “it’s complicated, really, but it’s…” He looks softly at Brendon, and smiles. “It’s love.”
Never in a million years would she have seen this coming when she walked into the studio earlier this morning. But she understands. As shocked as she is, she gets it. She can tell.
“I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I’m sorry that I. I mean, I didn’t even realize. Wow, yeah, not a soul-”
“Thanks, Keltie.” Brendon doesn’t look so worried anymore.
“Do you want me to like…sign a sheet or something. Not in blood, I can’t promise anything if you ask me that.”
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary.” Ryan’s laughing a little, and Keltie knows this is rare for people who aren’t close to him to witness, so she laugh’s too, appreciates how the awkward tension has floated away.
“So that’s it then. I can leave? You trust me enough?”
“Actually, there’s one more thing we need to ask you.”
Keltie says yes, without hesitation. I can pretend. I can lead the wandering eyes and wondering minds away. I can and I will.
She spends the next few hours with the two boys, getting to know them, individually and them, together. By the time she leaves, she thinks how she will never get the next few years back, or however long she helps them, and she hopes she doesn’t regret anything. Keltie doesn’t think she will, not after she saw the way they look at each other out of the public’s careful watch.
*
“You won’t need that at the cabin, I promise.”
“But--”
“No. Seriously, Brendon? You don’t. Trust me.”
“I really think you’re underestimating my needs, here. Spencer makes these amazing pancakes, and well, they’re kind of better than yours, no offence-”
“None taken.”
“-and I just think I need him to have this awesome…utensil, so he can make me pancakes.”
“See, you don’t even know what that’s called.”
“It’s a, you know, you mix with it…”
“Spencer doesn’t want it.”
“No, he really does. Ryan, doesn’t Spencer want this?”
Ryan looks up from his Sidekick, assesses the situation and then gives a confused look.
“Um…no, he probably doesn’t. Sorry.”
Brendon looks pathetically upset by this, but gives in and begrudgingly lets Keltie tear the spoonula away from his grasp.
Shopping at Target for things for their stay at the cabin was a good idea. Target has everything and all three of them agree that it’s “The Classy Wal-Mart.” However, bringing Brendon along was a bad idea. A kid in a candy store doesn’t even begin to describe it.
“I think what you should get, though,” Keltie comments, turning to Ryan as Brendon runs down the next aisle, which is stocked with pillows, and Keltie just loves that her mind automatically thinks ‘at least he can’t get hurt’, “is one of those kiddy leashes. I think that would be a very wise investment.”
“You are not the first person who has said that to me. You should be surprised by that, but I know you aren’t.”
*
For a while it is hard. She’s not sure how to deal with this weird kind of attention she gets. It’s not like suddenly teenage girls are running up to her screaming “Omigawd. Keltie Colleen!!” Or even worse, catching sharp and critical eyes or angry and scowling faces as she walks the streets of New York, But she knows that Live Journal and Buzznet are sparking lightly with news about her presence at shows, or her own personal pictures.
Ryan tried to explain this semi-internet fame, explaining their fans with words like ‘young and impressionable,’ or ‘maybe a little obsessive, I don’t know.’
“Does all this attention bother you? Is it…can you not…?”
Keltie peers out the window of the bus as they arrive at the next venue. She’s not really sure where they are, only that her plane landed in Atlanta and they had headed west.
“No. No, it doesn’t bother me. It’s just, it’s weird, you know?”
“Yeah…yeah I know.”
Of course he does.
“Of course you do.”
He looks out the window, too, and she see’s his eyes scanning the parking lot, noticing the number of cars. It’s still fairly early, only about noon, but there are already a lot of cars.
His worried eyes glance back to her when she reaches across the table to hold his hands.
“It’s not bad, Ryan. It’s not.” And then, as an afterthought, because the creases in Ryan’s forehead are still there, “I’m not going anywhere.”
He looks at her seriously, and she knows Ryan pretty well by now, but he still intimidates the shit out her sometimes. He still intimidates the shit out of Spencer.
“Good.”
There’s a loud thump from the bunks, and Brendon stumbles in to the front of the bus, hair still tousled from his nap. He slides in next to Ryan, wrapping his arms around his torso and throwing his legs over Ryan’s legs so he’s practically sitting in his lap. Ryan just smiles lightly and leans into him.
“So I’m thinking,” he says, placing his chin on Ryan’s shoulder, “that we should definitely kiss tonight. I could slip a little tongue in there, too. Make things really interesting. Make the girls scream.”
“So I’m thinking you’re crazy.” Ryan is smiling with all his teeth now, which isn’t unusual with Brendon around. Keltie laughs along with Brendon who’s singing ’I’m goin’ crazy, crazy, crazy, just thinkin’ about you lately’ into Ryan’s neck.
“So I’m thinking you guys are so fucking adorable,” she says. And means it.
Ryan wraps his fingers through Brendon’s hair and doesn’t stop smiling until he needs to concentrate to put his make-up on five hours later.
*
The cabin is nice. The cabin is perfect. The cabin is exactly what they need.
Keltie comes to visit and spends her time taking lots of pictures. She goes on walks with Jon to capture the mountains and the smoke that blankets over them in the early morning. She makes pancakes and waffles almost every day with Spencer for the two weeks she’s there. She plays video games with Brendon and almost beats him at Guitar Hero once (“Hobo’s puppy eyes totally distracted me!” “No blaming the puppy allowed!”), and she watches Moulin Rouge with Ryan so many times that when she goes to sleep the movie is still playing on her eyelids. Cassie and Haley visit when she’s there, too, and they spend a day out shopping and that night apologizing to the boys, explaining that they’re not the ones who are writing an album and they can shop whenever they please.
She prints out all her pictures when she gets back to New York, picking out the ones of Ryan and Brendon. Keltie took a lot of just the two of them. The time she spends with them is worth capturing forever.
The floor of her apartment is covered in these pictures. She takes her time, cutting them out and fitting them perfectly into the large picture frame. In the middle she delicately places a picture of them in the studio. They’re both sitting at the piano, Brendon’s fingers on the keys and Ryan softly strumming the strings of his guitar. She remembers walking in on this moment. The way their heads were bent close and how, even though she assumed this was their first attempt at writing this song, each time they would play it sounded perfect. They didn’t even look up at the flash of her camera and she wonders if it was from familiarity with the presence of her and Jon or because they just didn’t notice at all; too caught up in each other and the music they create.
Either way, it’s her favorite picture and it deserves to be in the middle of it all.
*
From the window at the Friends or Enemies suite, all Keltie can see are the flashes of bright colors that stretch far and high and then just suddenly stop, the view turning midnight; and the spotlights that shine straight beneath her. Vegas is different from this high up. Not as ugly as Ryan sometimes makes it seem. Keltie stares down at the cars driving by and wonders vaguely if Britney has already made her escape.
The VMAs are over, but the party is still raging on. It’s just the Fueled By Ramen gang and close friends. All the lucky guys and girls who got to hang out in the suite are long gone. She can’t remember what floor they’re on, but when someone touches her arm, she turns to look quickly and feels her head spin.
“You okay?” Brendon asks. His eyes are a little unfocused, looking from her to out the window and then slowly back again. Keltie realizes that he’s probably been coercing everyone from Jon to Gabe to letting him have a drink with his wide eyes and pouty lips.
“Yeah. We’re just so high up. It’s different.”
“I know. Like a dream or something.”
“Or something.”
Brendon leans heavily against the wall and they stare out the window together. Brendon tells her which casinos are his favorite to look at, pointing out the brightest and most vibrant buildings.
Brendon starts to talk about the sex shop with the pink flashing ‘XXX’ that are ‘seriously, like, ten feet tall. Why haven’t I ever shown you that?’ when Ryan saunters over and pulls Brendon from the wall and into his arms.
“Didn’t I send you over here to get Keltie, not stand at the window with her?” Brendon buries his head into Ryan’s shoulder and giggles. Keltie smiles and shakes her head. Ryan just kissed Brendon’s forehead.
“I forgot.” He says, turning sheepishly back to look at Keltie who pats him on the head.
“It’s alright, sweetie.”
Brendon turns himself around, holding onto Ryan’s arms across his waist. Ryan puts his chin on Brendon shoulder and says, “Why don’t you tell her why I sent you over here?”
He nods, and then reaches out to grab Keltie’s hand that isn’t wrapped around a rum and coke.
“We want to tell you that, even though we already pseudo-celebrated our one year anniversary of your cover-ship,” Ryan rolls his eyes, “it was because of the VMAs that we met you, and here we are again and now we want to…take some shots with you to honor the event that brought us together.”
Keltie tries not laugh because Brendon is being very serious, so she bites her lip and smiles.
“Okay, no, Bren. That is not what we wanted to say-“
“Really?”
“-What we wanted to say is…thank you. We might not even be here if it wasn’t for you. Could have been caught and torn apart.” His arms tighten around Brendon’s waist. “We took a chance and had no idea what would happen. But we’re still here, because, you’ve helped hold us together.”
She’s not going to cry, but when Brendon squeezes her hand and pulls her to him, Ryan wrapping his long arms around them both, she needs to concentrate to keep her eyes from tearing up.
*
The album drops and it’s pretty much a success. They get good reviews and they get great reviews. Ryan writes beautiful words about love and Keltie makes sure to tease him and Brendon about it as often as possible. But she’s also proud of them and doesn’t think she can find the right words to say it, so she holds onto Ryan’s hand tighter, tries to be with them throughout the whole new rush of attention. They sometimes have paparazzi taking pictures of them. It’s new and exciting and soon they’ll be kicking off their tour, on the road where they belong.
And then she gets a call from Ryan.
“We’re going on TRL tomorrow and, well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently…” hey says, sounding breathless and defiant. “I don’t know, I guess I just think ‘Hey, this whole album is about us, why am I…god, why am I still insisting on hiding it?’ It’s just…I’m not going to be scared anymore. I don’t need to be. And, shit, I don’t want to sound like such a gay man, but I’m proud. I’m proud of him, and I’m proud of us, and I’m proud of the album. I want people to know, Kel. Is this…I’m not completely losing my shit, am I?”
Her brain sort of pauses for a second, skips and jumps and she needs to rewind and replay that back in her head.
Ryan. Wants. To. Come. Out. On national television, nonetheless. On Total fucking Request Live.
She almost asks what Brendon thinks, but she knows that Brendon has been waiting for Ryan. It’s Brendon who goes in for the kisses and touches, and Ryan who stops before Brendon gets too close.
“Are you asking my permission? Because, Ryan. Ryan you know this is not up to me. I want you to do what will make you the happiest.”
She’s pacing her kitchen, biting her nails. She hopes Ryan can’t tell.
“You just….you get us. You know how we both feel, more than I do, really. I need you to tell me that the timing is perfect.”
Keltie knows that since Ryan already said so himself, that he already knows the timing is perfect. Her hand grasps the counter and she realizes that maybe she’s been waiting for this from the moment they asked her to be their cover a year and a half ago in that hotel room.
“The timing is more than perfect, Ryan.”
The sigh across the line is long and deep, but she hears a smile.
“It is. It is...You know I love you, Kel. You know that right?”
“I know it.”
The next day Keltie sits on her couch and she can’t stop smiling. It’s stupid because TRL hasn’t even started yet, but the excitement is creeping up her spine and there’s a squeal stuck in her throat and her leg won’t stop bouncing. But it’s ok, because within the hour everyone will know Panic! At The Disco’s greatest secret. She keeps checking to make sure she’s recording this to TiVo. Her mind can’t make complete thoughts but maybe she’s already planning on writing ‘Ryden Exists’ with some hearts on her palm to take a picture of to put on her MySpace later. Maybe.
When Vanessa introduces them and they walk out from backstage, Keltie screams into the pillow she hadn’t realized she’d been gripping tightly onto.
There are questions about the new album, what it was like writing the second time around after the huge success of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Keltie wishes she knew the exact moment that Ryan was going to say it because she is seriously freaking out.
“This album is so different from ‘Fever’ lyrically and musically. What was your greatest inspiration for this? The critics are buzzing about these love songs. Where did they come from?”
Ryan is smiling like Keltie has seen him so many times before, like when he’s anywhere with Brendon, and her mind suddenly stops screaming and she listens.
“Well, when we started writing the lyrics, we knew we wanted them to be about something we were feeling. And well, I actually was…am in love, so that’s what I wrote about. It wasn’t so hard, really, to express that when you feel it so strongly everyday.”
“Your girlfriend must be flattered!”
“Well,” and he sort of blushes, smiles shyly at the ground, “we could just ask my boyfriend how he feels. Bren?”
Brendon is shocked for maybe one second, and then he’s wrapping his arms around Ryan and kissing him. Keltie screams along with the kids in the crowd, hears Vanessa’s yell of “Oh my god!!” and loves that she’s trying to say something and just can’t find the words. Then Jon and Spencer are laughing and Spencer says, “They’ve been wanting to make out on TV for a while. They’re such exhibitionists.”
Ten minutes later her phone beeps. It’s a picture of Ryan and Brendon, their hands forming a heart. She’s taken pictures of them like this before, Brendon’s enormous grin and the soft crinkle of Ryan’s eyes, their foreheads touching, looking only at each other. Jon’s taken pictures like this. So has Tom. But this little pixilated picture, this is for her.
The message that comes with the picture says ’hey love you better have recorded that were coming tonite to celebrate <3 ryro&bden’.
As she checks her fridge for champagne or wine or beer, anything, her phone rings. It’s Charlotte.
“So, hey, um…I thought you were dating Ryan?”