"Riley? Wake up, honey."

Riley was slow to wake. He groaned in his sleep, turning his head away from whoever was calling his name. Just a few more hours of sleep. As he slowly woke up, Riley tried to figure out what was going on. He was in his own bed, he knew that much. Someone's arm was flung over his chest, the weight pinning him down. That confused him for a second. Riley slowly opened his eyes, and saw that Ben was lying beside him. Oh, yeah. Ben. Riley's mouth twitched slightly, a tired smile. Ben was fast asleep, his hair tousled, red pillow lines on his cheek.

Riley turned his head to the side, and realized that his mom was crouched beside his bed. She had her hair pinned up with bobby pins, wearing her polyester work shirt.

"Riley, hey," Andrea said. "Can we talk?"

"Mom," Riley muttered. "I'm sleeping."

"I know, honey. I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"I thought you had today off," Riley muttered, half-asleep. He blinked owlishly at her. "You're going in to work?"

"Yeah. They're short-staffed," Andrea said. "Walk me out?"

Riley nodded. He carefully pulled Ben's arm off his chest, then extricated himself from the twisted blanket. He grabbed his hoody, and slipped it on. It was early. About six thirty, or seven in the morning. Riley yawned, not fully awake. He slowly padded down the hallway after her.

"What's so urgent?" Riley asked.

"Sorry – I didn't want to wake your friend," Andrea said. She started to dig through her purse at the kitchen table. She frowned, cursing under her breath. "I thought I had some coupons for free burgers. They're nearly expired. I was going to give them to you and Ben for your lunch, but I've misplaced them."

"It's okay," Riley said. "We'll just make a sandwich, or something."

"This Ben kid, he seems like a nice guy." Andrea glanced up at him, and gave him a distracted smile. "I'm glad that you're making friends at school."

Riley nodded, looking down at his hands. "Yeah," he said. "I like him."

"Good." Andrea gave him an apologetic look. "Riley, I'm really sorry that I have to work today. I wanted to take you and your friend out, do something fun."

"Mom, it's okay." Riley tugged on his oversized sleeves, squinting at her. His glasses off, everything was a bit fuzzy. "Im sure we'll keep ourselves occupied."

"By the way, I can't wait to see you on stage for the play," Andrea said. She smiled at him. "I'm going to buy tickets for the last show, on Monday night. I'm getting one of the girls to cover my shift. So, fingers crossed, and I'll do everything in my power to be there."

"Monday night," Riley said, crossing his fingers. "Sounds good."

"Hey, uh- I saw the bills on the table," Riley said. "I know we're behind on everything."

"No. I'm behind. You don't have to worry about that kind of stuff."

Of course he was going to worry. Mom worked long hours, at multiple jobs. Despite this, she could barely keep up with rent and bills. If it was her worry, then it was his too. He chewed on the drawstring of his hoody.

"Mom, of course it's my business." Riley squinted at her. "I want to help."

"I've got this under control, Ri. Your job is to get good grades, have fun with your friends, and stay out of trouble." Andrea smiled at him. "You're a good kid, my boy. I'll figure out a way to pay the bills. What are you and Ben going to do today? Got any cool plans?"

He knew she was changing the subject, trying to get him to stop talking about finances. She was worried about it, he could tell. Riley gave her a half-hearted smile. He debated on whether or not to bring up the letter from his Dad. She was always super reluctant to talk about him.

"We've got a research project to work on," Riley said. "It's not a school thing. I'm helping him with this family history project. We'll be on the computer most of the day."

"Huh, okay." Andrea said, as she grabbed her coat. Slipping it on, she went and pulled him into a hug. She kissed him on the forehead. "Well, you guys have fun, alright? I'll call you when I'm done work. I don't know how long it'll be. Maybe we can rent a movie, or something."

"Bye Mom," Riley said. He yawned. "See you tonight."

He watched her hurry out the door, then he locked it behind her. Riley sat down at the kitchen table, and flipped through the mail. Bills, junk mail – but the letter from his father was gone. Damnit. Mom must've taken it. Riley sighed, wondering what it'd been about. He should've just torn it open last night when she'd gone to bed.

Riley went back to his room. Ben was still asleep, so he crawled in beside him, pulling the blanket up to his chin. He closed his eyes, trying to think up a solution to pay the bills. If he was a millionaire, he would buy her a beautiful house, make sure Mom never had to work another lousy shift ever again. Riley slowly drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up, Ben was gone. Riley reached out and touched the empty space beside him. It was stone cold. Riley wondered when Ben had left. Maybe he'd scared him off with the whole kiss thing. Riley cringed a little. Just great. He'd finally made a friend, and he ended up scaring him off.

Riley put on his glasses, and squinted at his alarm clock. It was nearly noon. The hot sun was streaming into his bedroom. He stared up at the ceiling for a minute. Riley felt well-rested, compared to earlier. He thought about last night's kiss. Oh, boy. Last night, he'd been so tired, that the memory of it, though vivid, had almost a dream-like quality to it. But he knew that the kiss had happened, and it'd been really nice. Riley smiled a little, touching his finger to his lips. Remembering how it felt.

Riley reluctantly crawled out of bed, and went out into the hallway. It sucked that Ben had left. He'd probably woken up at some point, and decided to head on home. He figured that Ben probably had second thoughts about being his friend. Riley knew he'd come on a bit too strong. He sighed, annoyed at himself.

The apartment was deathly quiet. Riley yawned, walking into the kitchen. He nearly jumped out of his skin. Ben was sitting at the kitchen table, head bent over his science textbook. Riley screamed, eyes wide with fright.

Ben looked up, startled by the sudden noise. "Riley, hey. You're awake."

"I-I thought you left." Riley pushed his glasses up, and walked over to him. "You scared the hell out of me."

"I got up a while ago. You were dead to the world, so I figured I'd let you sleep a while longer. I was just working on my science homework," Ben said. He paused for a second. "Did you really think that I'd leave?"

"I- well, y-yeah," Riley stammered. "I woke up, and you were gone. I thought you went home."

"No, I'm still here." Ben sat back in his seat.

"Are you mad because I kissed you?" Riley asked, quietly.

Ben frowned. "Am I – No, of course not." He gave Riley a bewildered look. "I like kissing you."

"Yeah?" Riley said, a bit flustered. "Um, alright. Good."

"Is that why you thought I left? Because we kissed?" Ben asked. He got to his feet, and went over to Riley. He pulled him into a hug.

"Yeah," Riley said. "But you're still here, so that's good."

Riley smiled. Ben smelled good. Like, vanilla beans, and something he couldn't pinpoint. He liked the way that Ben hugged him super tightly, his chin on the top of Riley's head. It felt nice.

"Where's your mom?" Ben asked, as he released him. "I thought she was off work today."

"She was supposed to be." Riley went to the fridge, and grabbed a banana out of the fridge. He started to unpeel it. "Mom got called in today. It happens a lot. She left around seven this morning. But she said we could rent a movie tonight. I mean, if you want to stay that long."

"Well, hey, that works. When I called my mom this morning, she said she had stuff to do at the University," Ben said. "She said it was fine that I stayed over today."

"Okay," Riley said. "We can get to work on your research."

They spent the next few hours on Riley's computer, doing research for Ben. Riley thought it was going to be boring, but it was actually pretty fun. They put on some music, then made a bunch of notes, saving them on a floppy disk. Ben was pretty excited. His eyes lit up when he worked on his research, in an endearing way. Riley liked seeing Ben like that.

"Ugh, I say we take a break," Ben said, standing up. He stretched, glancing over at the clock on Riley's dresser. "Wait, It's already five-thirty?"

"Yeah," Riley said. They had been working all day at the computer, with only a short lunch break. He twisted in his seat, and watched Ben pace back and forth in the small room.

"You wanna get out of here?" Ben asked. "Let's take a walk."

"Yeah, sure," Riley said, nodding. He got to his feet, and followed Ben out of the room. It would be nice to take a break, get some fresh air.

They went down to the store, and got cherry slushies, and a big bag of chips. Henry was working, and he talked to both of them while he rung them up. Riley proudly introduced him to Ben. They stayed in the store awhile, looking at the back of different movie covers, trying to decide on what to rent later when Andrea came home. There were so many good ones to choose from.

There was a playground a few blocks from Riley's apartment. Riley went there sometimes. It was a nice wide-open green space, with a few tall shady trees. The park had a set of swings, a slide, some new playground equipment. It was right beside the outdoor tennis courts, and the large baseball diamond. The park was used often by dog walkers, moms with little kids in strollers, and old people walking on the circular trail along the outer edge of the park.

Riley made a bee-line for the swings, and sipped his drink. He sat down on the swing, grasping the thick metal chain. "Is your mom going to watch the 'Hamlet' play?"

"Yeah," Ben said. He sat down in the swing beside Riley, his long legs stretched out in the loose gravel. "She's really excited that I'm in the play. Mom said she's proud of me, even if she doesn't get to see me on stage."

"I wish you could do at least one performance," Riley said, glumly. His sneakers dragged in the gravel, making marks. "I really want my mom to see both of us on stage. Donny's nice, and all. You're my Hamlet, though."

"You know I'm just the understudy," Ben said. "I only get the role if Donny can't do it."

"I know." Riley sighed. "But like, wishful thinking, I still wish it were possible."

They stayed at the park until the sun started to go down. Riley checked his phone a few times, but there was no message from his mom. He didn't know how long it'd be until she was done work.

"You wanna just rent some movies now?" Ben asked. "We could pick out a few, then when she gets home, she can decide which one to watch."

"Yeah," Riley said, getting up. He tossed his trash in the garbage bin. "Sounds good. Let's head back."

A few days later, Riley was hurrying through the hallway to English class, when he heard someone shouting his name. Riley turned around, and saw Ben jogging towards him. Riley smiled.

"Hey," Riley said. "Don't you have chemistry class right now? That's like, across the building."

"Yeah," Ben said, slightly out of breath. "I-I just . . . wanted to tell you something."

Riley leaned against the wall, and grinned at him. "What's up?" he asked, interested.

"I have good news. You know how you wanted me to be Hamlet in one of the shows?" Ben asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Riley nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, I was talking to Donny, and he said his parents bought tickets for the Sunday night show."

"Okay."

"Well, Donny said that I could do Monday's show, if I wanted to. That's the night my mom bought tickets for, so it works out for everyone."

"Really?" Riley said, grinning. "Yeah, that's perfect. My mom's going to the Monday show, too!"

Ben grinned at him. He reached out, put his hand on the wall beside Riley's head, and leaned in. Riley smiled, tilting his head up to look at him. It looked like Ben was going to lean in for a kiss. But then the bell rang. Ben sighed, and dropped his hand.

"Meet me at the cafeteria at lunch?" Ben asked, hopeful.

"Of course." Riley beamed at him. "Bye, Ben."

He watched Ben slip back into the crowd of students, heading towards class. Riley joined the crowd, getting swept into the direction of his English class. Getting jostled back and forth, which he normally hated. But this time, Riley barely took notice. He couldn't stop grinning.

All through the rest of class, Riley could barely focus on the lesson. He doodled on the margin of his notebook, little hearts, and stars, and things. Monday was the last Hamlet performance. He and Ben would be able to take the stage together. The thought made him feel ridiculously giddy. Especially knowing that both their moms would be able to see them perform.