A Fever You Can't Sweat Out 4

A/N: The abuse in this story is purely fiction. Ryan's dad only drank, he never abused Ryan.


Chapter 4

“Ry!” I jerked awake at the sound of Brendon yelling my name. I looked over and practically yellwed when I saw how close Brendon was to me. He scared me so bad that I ended up flipping over the back of the couch so I ended up face down on the carpet as the rest of my body stuck straight up in the air. “You fell asleep,” Brendon said from somewhere above me.

“No really?” I muttered into the carpet before flipping over so I was staring at his upside-down face.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he commented as I sat up and turned so I was resting my arms over the back of the couch. “But I had to wake you.”

“What for?” I grumbled.

“Your Dad called wondering where you were,” Brendon explained as my eyes widened. ‘My dad! How could I forget that easily?’ “So my Mom talked to him and convinced him to let you sleepover tonight too.”

“No, I really can’t,” I said as I shook my head.

“Yes, you really can,” Brendon mocked me as he nodded. “It’s all ready agreed so you can’t back out of it.” He got off the couch and I followed him with my eyes as he cursed and complained about Jon and Spencer leaving a mess of popcorn on the floor. “You could help me you know,” he commented as he turned back to look at me.

“It’s your house, you clean it,” I pointed out with a tiny smirk. My smirk instantly faded when he gave me The Look. It’s his patented look that could get any of us to do anything for him. He’d get this pathetic look in his eyes as he pouted. It is impossible to say no to him.

Unfortunately for us but fortunate for him, he knew that.

“Fine!” I sighed as I got to my feet and went across the room to join him in picking up the trash. The silence started to bother me but I’d rather there be silence then an awkward forced conversation. Brendon kicked the trashcan over to me and we dropped the trash into it before picking up soda cans and bringing them into the kitchen where Mrs. Urie was humming as she washed some dishes. “Thanks for letting me stay over, Mrs. Urie.”

“It’s no problem at all, Ryan,” she said with a bright smile before lightly touching my chin. Brendon rolled his eyes before putting the soda cans that were in his arms in the bin.

“Mom, we were thinking of going to the Circus Circus Adventure Dome tomorrow,” Brendon spoke up as he grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it.

“When was this decided?” I asked in confusion.

“While you were off in DreamLand,” Brendon replied.

“Did you get your homework done?” Mrs. Urie asked as she turned to look at her son.

“Nearly,” he responded. And in Brendon code ‘nearly’ meant almost started. He gave me a hard look and I kept my mouth shut. I had a bad habit of getting my friends in trouble but it was worse when I got them in trouble with their parents. I knew that by experience so I knew to stay quiet whenever I was around parents. That and I always seemed like the ‘angelic’ friend so my friends would get mad about being compared to me.

“When do you have to work?”

“Late afternoon to the evening. When’s dinner?”

“I’ll start if after I finish the dishes,” she responded as she turned back to the dishes. “Can you entertain yourself until then?” Brendon opened his mouth. “Without breaking anything in the process?” Brendon closed it again.

“We’ll just be in my room then.”

Brendon lightly slapped me in the chest with the back of his hand to signal me to follow him. I did so obediently. Once we were in his room I picked up his acoustic guitar and started playing All the Small Things by Blink-182 as I sat down on his bed. Brendon just watched me from the chair as I played. It was kind of creepy yet relaxing at the same time, I couldn’t explain why.

“So,” Brendon spoke up. I shifted my eyes so I was looking at him without turning my head. “I’ve talked to Jon and Spencer about this. Well, about you. They don’t think you’re yourself either and we’ve come to one conclusion.” He paused before declaring, “You have a crush.”

“What?” I asked calmly as I raised an eyebrow.

“It all makes sense,” he said as got up before sitting down in front of me. “You’re quieter than normal. You’re more clumsy. And you’re jumpy. That has to be the only reason.”

I scoffed as I rolled my eyes before playing What’s My Age Again.

“Who’s the girl?” Brendon asked as he smacked me on the knee. “Come on, I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“I don’t like anyone,” I told him.

“Yes you do. The signs are all there. Who is it?” He stared at me before his eyes widened. “It’s Crys, isn’t it?”

“What!?” I cried out as I stopped playing all together.

“It has to be. I mean, she’s the only girl that’s around us all of the time and she hangs around you a lot.”

“Because she’s my best friend, er, aside from you guys that is.”

“But, that has to be the only explanation. Unless there’s something else going on that you’re not telling us, in which case I’m hurt. You know you can trust us with anything.”

“I do know that, but I’m not keeping anything from you,” I told him with a patient tone but he was really starting to get on my nerves.

Mrs. Urie called us down to dinner a few minutes later. I put down Brendon’s guitar and went to the bathroom to wash my hands before joining the Uries in the kitchen. I loaded my plate with food before sitting down at the table and saying a prayer before I ate.

“Geeze, Ross, you act like you haven’t eaten before,” Brendon commented as he nudged me lightly in the side.

“Sorry,” I apologized as I blushed, noticing that he, Mr. and Mrs. Urie were giving me odd looks. “I didn’t eat that much today. And the food is delicious.”

Brendon squinted at me before he went back to eating. Suddenly I didn’t feel hungry anymore, but I kept eating anyway. Once my plate was clear I put it in the sink before going back to Brendon’s room.

We stayed up well into the night talking about random things, watching TV, playing guitar, and playing video games. The sugar from our desert finally wore off and I crashed on the floor, trying to keep my eyes open. I excused myself to go to the bathroom and to change. I tossed my clothes into a pile in the corner as Brendon buttoned the top button of his pajama shirt.

“Hey, pass me a pillow,” I told Brendon.

Brendon opened his closet door and reached up to the top shelf. He pulled down a pillow beore tossing it to me. It bounced off of my head before it landed in my lap. I rubbed my head, even though it didn’t hurt, as Brendon laughed.

“You asked me to pass you a pillow,” Brendon told me.

“Yeah, I said ‘pass’ not ‘toss’,” I said with a small eyeroll. “I dibs the bed,” I said before jumping onto it.

“Hey! That’s my bed!” Brendon protested as he poked me in the cheek.

“I’m your guest,” I pointed out.

“Well, move over because I’m not sleeping on the floor,” Brendon said before easily picking me up and dropping me on the other side of the bed. He pulled back the covers and climbed in as I stared at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said with a yawn before sliding underneath the covers myself.

“Nightie-night then,” he chirped before reaching over to turn off the light. He settled his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes before letting out a peaceful breath. I rolled onto my side so my back was facing him. The moonlight was off of my face, which was good, because I didn’t want my red face to be illuminated.