Shirts were sailing out of Ryan's bureau. They had been for the last 20 minutes. Exams were finally over and Ryan was getting ready to go home. It was time for the holiday break and that meant Ryan had to pack. Apparently, in order to go home, Ryan had to find a way to pack his entire wardrobe into two medium-sized suitcases. It wasn't quite as easy as it sounded.

Ryan took another shirt off a hanger and looked it over before tossing it behind him, hoping it landed on his bed. He went to reach for another shirt when he heard his roommate sigh again. Kaden had been sighing intermittently ever since he had gotten back from his last test. It was starting to grate on Ryan, who generally considered himself a person who was hard to annoy.

Kaden sighed again. One of those big, breathy sighs. The one where you knew there was something he wanted to say, but was waiting for an excuse to actually say it. Ryan took the shirt in his hands and put it back on the hanger before leaning back and peaking his head out of the closet and giving his roommate a look.

"Are you going to keep sighing or are you going to tell me what's on your mind?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kaden said. "I'm just sitting here on my bed. Thinking. About really, really important things."

Ryan just stared at his roommate for another moment before backing up and closing his closet doors. "Whatever," Ryan said. "I'm going to grab my Wheat Thins and I'll be over at your bed in just a sec."

"Wheat Thins?" Kaden questioned.

"Boy-talk food," Ryan replied as he dug through the pile of clothes that had landed all over his side of the room. "If you're going to dish, you've got to have something to sustain yourself."

Kaden let out a soft chuckle and began moving himself up the length of the bed to make room for Ryan.

"Ah ha!" Ryan exclaimed triumphantly as he held up the yellow box of wheat crackers. "Now, it's time to talk."

He moved quickly across the room and did a little half-jump and landed on top of Kaden who quickly pushed him off and to the vacant side of the bed. "I can't talk if you're smothering me," Kaden said as Ryan shot him an I'm-so-innocent look.

After several seconds of laughing, Ryan situated himself, cross-legged facing his friend. "Okay," Ryan said, opening his box of crackers and offering some to Kaden, "spill."

"So," Kaden said. "I've been thinking about Jeff. And I'm not sure what we're doing."

Ryan laughed. "You don't know? It's called making out at every single opportunity. At least, you know, from where I'm sitting. I mean, your bed is almost as well used as mine. You big ho. I'm actually kind of scared to be sitting here," he finished, laughing.

"That's not what I mean," Kaden said, shaking his head. "I don't know. I mean — God this is so awkward to talk about."

"Kaden," Ryan said, bringing his friend out of his ramblings. "You know you can tell me whatever it is you're thinking about. God knows you I have no room to judge anything you're going to tell me."

"That's for sure," Kaden agreed. "I can only catch you in a semi-undressed state so many times before I know as much about you as Troy does."

Ryan threw a cracker at his roommate, which hit him on the cheek. "Ha ha, funny man, now tell me what's up before I shove a cracker where not even Jeff has been."

"That's kind of what I wanted to talk about," Kaden said, his cheeks blushing. "I think I'm ready."

Ryan could only look confused. "Ready? Ready for what? A Cracker up your ass? Because I have to admit, that's kind of weird."

"What!?" Kaden asked, wearing a look of shock. "That's disgusting, you perv. I mean I'm ready," he said giving Ryan an imploring look. "Ready for sex."

"Oh," Ryan said, finally understanding what his roommate was trying to say. "Ready."

Kaden nodded, glad his roommate had finally cottoned on. This conversation was already awkward without Ryan making outlandish comments.

"So," Ryan continued slowly, "did you want to talk about how to actually do stuff, because I could totally get you a book. There are pictures and descriptions and everything."

Kaden smacked the palm of his hand on his forehead. He should have known. "Look, Ry," he began, "If you're just going to make jokes, I'm not going to talk about this."

"I'm not trying to make jokes," Ryan said. When Kaden shot him a glare that could kill, Ryan amended his statement. "Okay, maybe a little joke. But I don't know what you want my advice on."

Kaden's look softened and he sighed again. "I don't know if I think I'm ready because I just want to have sex, or, you know, if it's for the right reasons. I don't know how to tell." Then he looked Ryan straight in the eye. "I wanted to know how you knew it was time."

"Ah," Ryan said. Everything was falling into place now. "Well, I can definitely tell you how to know when you're not ready."

Kaden looked at Ryan pleadingly and so Ryan continued on. "Don't do it if the only reason you have for going further is because you don't know what to do next. Trust yourself to know when it's time."

It looked like Kaden was mulling things over, then asked a question Ryan really didn't want to delve too much into. "How did you come to that conclusion? I thought everything with you and Troy went really smoothly. I mean, you are pretty much the most perfect, sickeningly sweet couple I've ever seen."

Ryan laughed at his roommate's assessment of him and his boyfriend, but at the same time was filled with a feeling of unease. He didn't much like talking about relationships before Troy.

"Well," he began. "Troy wasn't my first boyfriend. And things were definitely not as 'sickeningly sweet' as they are with Troy."

"Oh my gosh," Kaden gasped as the realization washed over him. "What happened?"

Ryan held out the box of Wheat Thins again and this time Kaden readily accepted. Ryan laughed. Sometimes boy-talk could be just as good, if not better than girl-talk.

"It was never anything that bad," Ryan started off. He needed to make sure that Kaden didn't think anything too badly about what had happened. "He never forced me to do anything I didn't want to. I just thought I wanted it. But I really wanted something else."

"Or was it someone else?" Kaden asked, smiling.

Ryan chuckled. Sometimes it was scary how well his roommate knew him. "It all happened right when I thought I would never have a chance, you know?"

"During that one summer, right?" Kaden asked. Ryan nodded, confirming his suspicion.

"I didn't know what else to do, or if I'd ever really have a chance to be that way with someone I really loved, so I thought, why not?" Ryan continued with his story.

"Because it's not fair to you or the other person," Kaden answered. "But you knew that, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Ryan said. "It definitely wasn't my proudest moment, and I never meant to do that to him, but you live and you learn. And that's how I knew when the time was right with Troy."

"If you don't mind me asking," Kaden continued. "How did you know it was the right time with Troy?"

Ryan couldn't help but laugh. The two of them had just been talking about things he had never considered talking to other people about. "Look," Ryan said. "The only thing I'm really not comfortable with right now, between us, is getting naked and sleeping together in the same bed. Otherwise, I consider this friendship a free for all."

Kaden laughed as he grabbed a few more crackers from the box, then waited for Ryan to start again.

"I was kind of hoping the joke would throw you off," Ryan said. "No such luck, eh?" Kaden just smiled and shook his head. There was no such luck to be had. And so Ryan prepared to continue.

"It's hard to describe, you know?" He asked, then thought better of himself. "Of course you don't know. That's why we're talking."

Ryan took his box of crackers back and stuffed several in his mouth while he thought about how to best tell his story. After a bit, he leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

"It's so hard to put it all into words," Ryan began. "Like, when you're sure, you'll know. After I did that with my first boyfriend, I knew what not to do with Troy.

"We never rushed anything. And it's not like I had it all planned and mapped out that on the sixth week we were dating we would have sex, you know?" Ryan went on. "It was totally unplanned, but once it happened I knew it was the right thing.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that I can't be the one to tell you that you're ready. You'll know when you are," Ryan finished.

Kaden just looked at him for a few minutes and then burst out laughing. Ryan didn't know what was going on. He had just said some pretty emotional and private things and his roommate was laughing at him?

Kaden could tell that his laughter was not being well-received so he held out his hand to motion to Ryan not to get upset. "No, no," he started. "It's not what you're thinking. I just — have you ever considered giving Dr. Phil a run for his money? Because sometimes you say some of the cheesiest things."

Then he looked back at Ryan, "Cheesy, but right."

Ryan just shook his head. "This is the last time I ever share my Wheat Thins with you, you big jerk."

"Oh, come on," Kaden said with mock panic. "Boy-talk is so much fun. I don't know if I can live without it."

"Watch the mocking, buddy, or I'll sit on you again," Ryan said menacingly.

-------------------------------

Troy closed the door to the cab and settled in for the 90-minute drive to the airport. It had been a rough term; the fraternity had been demanding, classes had been difficult and Ryan had become more distant as the term had progressed. But it was all finally over and they were on their way back home for a month. A month that promised to be full of friends, family and basically everything the young couple had been missing since they moved off to school.

Ryan sat on the other side of the seat, looking out of the window. Troy looked over at his boyfriend and let out a low sigh. Ryan had been giving him the cold shoulder ever since he had arrived, bags in tow, to catch their taxi.

"Ry," Troy said quietly as he slid across the leather bench seat. The blond remained silent, still staring out the window at the now-moving scenery. "Ryan, what's going on?"

Ryan finally turned to face his boyfriend. "I just have a lot on my mind right now, Troy," he said. "I just — I need time to think about things."

"Is it all right if I just sit here?" Troy asked, lightly grabbing a hold of one of Ryan's hands.

"It's fine," Ryan lightly smiled. "I just need to think."

"Okay," Troy said, then added hesitantly, "I'm here if you want to talk."

"I know," Ryan said, then kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. He then looked back outside, his mind wandering off to a conversation he had a few weeks back.

------------------------------

"Ryyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaannnn!" The voice screeching from down the hallway brought a smile to Ryan's face. He got up from the couch on which he was sitting and jumped out into the hallway to intercept the brown-haired bombshell that was no doubt barreling down it to find him.

"Meg!" he yelled as he faux dove out of the game room at Sigma Phi Gamma.

"I knew you'd be in there, ho bag," the leggy brunette said. "Now, come on. We have to get to meet Leslie at the coffee shop in 10 minutes and we're probably going to be late because of your hide and seek act."

Meg linked her arm through Ryan's and dragged him out of the house. Ryan smiled and listened as Meg prattled on about random things as they walked out of the residential area and down to the business district.

Ryan met Meg several weeks into the term while visiting the fraternity house with Troy. She was the girlfriend of one of the brothers, a member of the Omega Chi sorority and had immediately taken a shine to the shy, blond boy.

Once Troy had gone off with some of the other guys, Meg sat down and asked Ryan every question under the sun. By the time Troy came back, Ryan had made one great new friend. The two of them had been practically inseparable ever since, made all the more easy by the fact that Ryan had to find someone else with whom to spend his time. Troy was always busy with the fraternity and Kaden was MIA most of the time because of his torrid romance with the most closeted gay boy Ryan had ever met.

Okay, so that was a little mean. But Ryan felt like he was being left behind, and Meg made him feel like he was moving on along with everyone else.

The two friends soon arrived at the coffee shop, and as soon as they walked in, were confronted with a rather loud, overly dramatic sigh. "Oh my god," a girl sitting at one of the tables in the middle of shop said as she crossed her legs and put her cup on the table. "I thought you two would never get here."

Ryan let out a laugh. Leslie had this way about her of always being able to make him laugh. Some of the things she said, well, let's just say that they were probably the furthest from politically correct that one could ever get. And Ryan loved it.

Meg was a formidable woman on her own, but when you combined her with Leslie, they were unstoppable. The two, who were seniors, were well known around the campus community and deemed Ryan worthy of being taken under their wings.

Ryan went to sit with Leslie while Meg went to the counter to place their order. "So," Leslie began, lightly patting Ryan on the leg. "How's your day been going?"

"Oh, you know," Ryan replied. "As well as can be expected. I got ditched by my boyfriend at the fraternity house."

"Do you want me to break his legs?" Leslie asked in all seriousness. "I hear it's hard to ditch people when you can't walk."

Ryan laughed and shook his head. Leslie leaned back in her chair and took a drink of her coffee. "Well, you just let me know. The offer stands. Broken legs are my specialty … right after, well, you know, things about which ladies don't normally talk."

"Like that's ever stopped you before," Meg said as she walked back to the table, handing Ryan his drink. She sat down across from him and settled herself down for a good gossip fest.

The three friends talked for over an hour. Even after their drinks were long finished, they stayed in the coffee shop gossiping about everything ranging from the latest celebrity mishap to the sorority ho who had started dating the student body president just because she thought it would give her power. Because there was so much power to be had on a college campus.

"My ex-boyfriend always had a thing for piñatas," Leslie said, shuddering a little bit. "I think it was the power he felt by beating something up."

"Did he ever hit you?" Meg asked, the seriousness of the question lessened by the fact that she was laughing the whole time.

"No," Leslie said, while letting out a sigh. "I'm not full of candy. That's probably why he ended things."

The three burst out into laughter that had the rest of the patrons sending looks their way, but that didn't seem to put a damper on their good time. Once they had calmed down, Meg brushed the hair out of her face and took a deep breath.

"Now, enough about Leslie's man troubles," she said. "What about you, Ry? Got anything going on in your sweet, innocent, little life?"

"Nothing really exciting," Ryan started. "My roommate is going out with a closeted loser and my boyfriend can't find enough time to even sit down and do his homework with me. Other than that, my life is great."

Meg and Leslie were silent. Just staring at Ryan, who noticed the change in moods. "Oh my God," he said, putting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. We were having such a great time and I ruined it —"

"Hey," Meg interrupted. "You say whatever your little heart desires. Leslie will probably just find a way to turn it into a joke anyway."

"Hey!" Leslie said. "Just because I can see the humor in most situations doesn't mean I am insensitive or anything." Then she turned to Ryan, "I love you, your problems are my problems and my offer of breaking your boyfriend's legs still stands."

"Thank you," Ryan said solemnly. "But it's okay. Things will get better, right?"

Meg pulled a face, and then grabbed Ryan's hand. "You know the saying, it's darkest before the sunrise? It's kind of true. They only get more involved and more committed to the fraternity before initiation. But I'm sure you'll be able to work things out with Troy."

"Yeah," Leslie agreed. "You're basically the most sickeningly sweet couple I've ever met. It makes me want to vomit."

"Leslie," Meg said. "Stop it. Or I will end you."

"Look," Leslie said. "Ryan doesn't need us sitting here, talking about his problems and trying to make him feel better. What Ryan needs is a drink. An alcoholic one."

Before Meg had a chance to protest, Ryan agreed and they were up walking toward the door. As soon as they got outside of the coffee shop, Leslie pulled a cigarette out of her purse and lit up.

"God, Leslie," Meg said. "Those things are gross and they cause cancer."

Without missing a beat, Leslie replied. "So do breasts, but you don't see us quitting those."

Ryan just shook his head, and the three began walking to the nearest bar.

------------------------------

"Hey, Ry," Troy said, shaking Ryan from his thoughts. "We're almost to the airport."

Ryan looked around. He couldn't have possibly been out of it for more than an hour. But as soon as he looked out the window, he realized that it was true. They were about five minutes from the airport terminal.

"Oh, sorry," Ryan said. "I was just —"

"Thinking," Troy finished for him. "I know."

Sensing Troy's frustration, Ryan looked over at him and squeezed his hand. "I really am sorry — look, let's just forget all of our problems and have a good break, okay?"

Troy thought about it for a few seconds. "I'll accept your terms," he said, "but only if you give me a kiss. A good one."

Ryan laughed, but leaned over and pecked Troy on the lips.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," the brunette said, pulling Ryan closer to him. "This is what I meant."

And with that, Troy brought his boyfriend into a searing kiss.

-------------------------------------

Troy stretched out in his spacious first class seat. There were definite perks to knowing the Evans family, and traveling in style was one of them. They had only been in the air for about 30 minutes and Ryan had already fallen asleep, his head resting on Troy's shoulder.

The brunette sighed, this is the closest the two had been, without fighting, for the last two weeks, and Troy had absolutely no idea what was going on. Sure, he had missed a few of their dates and he hadn't been around as much as he normally would be, but he had explained it to Ryan. He had to make sure he got to know all of the guys in the fraternity before initiation. And that took time. The way Ryan was acting about it, you'd think that Troy was never going to come back. It just didn't make any sense to him.

He looked over at his boyfriend and smiled. It was nice to just be around him without worrying of he was going to say or do something that might set him off.

Troy went back to listening to his iPod, the warmth from his boyfriend at his side a comforting presence. Soon, however, the complimentary beverage was working its way through his system and the pull to the bathroom could no longer be ignored.

"Ry," Troy whispered as he gently shook Ryan. "Come on, babe. Wake up. I have to go to the bathroom."

Ryan stirred and lifted his head. He blinked several times, trying to orient himself, and then looked over at his boyfriend. He grinned goofily at Troy and then leaned his head back against his seat.

Troy got up and started to move in front of his boyfriend when Ryan asked, "Where are you going?" Apparently he was still a little too out of it.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," Troy said soothingly. "I'll be right back."

Ryan didn't say anything, just relaxed back into his seat. He watched as Troy walked to the front of the cabin and into the small restroom. He was still kind of groggy from being woken prematurely from his nap, but was beginning to regain his wits.

His side was cold from losing contact with Troy and he was sad at the loss of contact. It was the most he'd had with his boyfriend in quite some time, which was sad when he had to think about it.

And the more he thought about it, the more upset he got. They were going back home for a month, and even though they wouldn't have to deal with classes, papers or fraternities, they wouldn't be able to stay the night with each other or anything that they had become accustomed to.

In short, Ryan didn't know what this vacation was going to turn out like. Ant then, like one of those wild impulses you get, but never really decide to act on, Ryan decided to walk up to the bathroom Troy was currently occupying.

He waited for less than a minute before he saw the red occupied sign flip to a green one reading 'vacant.' The door slid open and Ryan jumped into action. He pressed against Troy who was just leaving the small room and shoved him back inside. Ryan quickly followed and closed and locked the door behind him.

Before Troy could even voice his shock, Ryan's lips were over his and his hands were carding through Troy's hair.

When Troy was finally able to get Ryan off him, he took in several deep breaths and just stared at his boyfriend.

Ryan, now that he was not molesting his boyfriend, was taking in the scenery. It was small, gray, small, had a funny smell and it was small. This was not nearly as romantic as they made it out to be in the movies.

But there they were. Standing in the airplane bathroom, catching their breaths.

"What are you doing?" Troy finally asked. They had been standing in the bathroom absolutely silent for an obscenely awkward amount of time.

"I just wanted to …" Ryan trailed off. "I don't know. I just thought you would like this, and I haven't been able to do much with you lately and I — I just don't know."

"Do you want to get out of here?" Troy asked.

"Do you want me to get out of here?" Ryan asked.

Ryan began to move his hands up and down Troy's chest, and pushed himself flush against his boyfriend. "Or do you want me to stay here?"

His hands reached Troy's belt buckle and pulled on it. Troy was speechless. Ryan wasn't usually this forward with anyone, let alone something like sex. He would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was very turned on at the thought.

He was so busy thinking about Ryan that he didn't even notice when Ryan's hand slipped into his pants. He only noticed when he felt Ryan's fist close around his cock.

"Oh my God," Troy breathed out quickly.

"You like?" Ryan asked sweetly. Troy could only nod his head. Ryan smiled and started stroking slowly.

"I've missed this, Troy," Ryan said. "I've missed you."

Troy's response was lost, however, by the sudden banging on the restroom door. The two young men jumped apart, their hearts beating rapidly. They looked at each other and then Ryan reached for the door. There was no use trying to wait out the embarrassment they were sure to experience upon exiting the small room.

He opened the door, slightly and was confronted by the not-so-happy face of one of the flight attendants.

"Excuse me sirs," she accentuated the fact that she knew there was more than one person in the cabin. "I'm going to have to ask the both of you to return to your seats immediately."

Ryan could only nod. He closed the door again and turned to face Troy who was just staring at the door. "We have to leave."

Troy nodded, and then began smoothing out his rumpled shirt. Ryan tried to smooth out his hair and gave Troy a weak smile before he opened the door again and stepped out.

Troy took a deep breath before following his boyfriend back to his seat. There was only about one hour left before they would be landing. Then he could run from the airplane and never look back.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the two new characters. I was talking with bobrabbit100, and they said something about a lack of female characters. Lucky for them, I had already planned to introduce these two before then. I hope Meg and Leslie don't annoy or offend any of you, I know how weird some OCs can be when they're not introduced properly. So, let me know what you think. Please read and review!

Also, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has continued to review and give feedback. It means a lot to me and lets me know what I'm doing well and what I need to work on. So thank you: Charlz, bobrabbit100, astrozombie50, im2k6, Shadow Cat17, Serious Fan, Mondler4EvEr, JustAnAmateur, Chuckness, ellbtvsvm, fieryflame, Luckynumbr4, Phoenix II and Broken-SilverWings. Thank you so very, very much. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.