Ryder Cried The Whole Walk Home. It Was Raining So It's Not Like Anyone Could Tell,But Even If They Could At This Point He Didn't Care. He Couldnt Believe He Let His Desires Get The Best Of Him And Ruin Whatever Friendship He Did Have With Jake. He Kicked Himself The Whole Way Back Home,He Stormed In The Front Door And Hurried To His Bedroom. Once There He Locked The Door Behind Him And Smacked His Head Against It. The Aching In His Soul Just Wouldn't Go Away,He Couldn't Control Himself When It Came To Jake. If It Wasn't Clear Before He KNEW It Now.
'What Am I Gonna Do Now? Tell My Parents We Gotta Move Far Far Away Now Because I Kissed Another Boy? Yeah Sure They'll Send Me Far Away'
He Walked Over And Flopped Onto His Bed,Searching Through His Phone. He Needed To Talk To Someone,He Needed To Vent And Have No Judgements,So He Called Blaine.
"Blaine It's Me"
"Hey Ryder. So Did You Get To Talk To Him Today?"
"Oh I Talked To Him Alright" Ryder Started.
Blaine Could Hear Him Crying On The Other End,His Voice Was Cracking
"I Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do,Man Seriously. I- I Kissed Him. I Don't Know What I Was Thinking" Ryder Sobbed
"Now Calm Down. What Happened?" Blaine Asked
"I Just-I Couldn't Control My Feelings Anymore And I Walked Up And Kissed Him"
"What Did He Do?"
"He Said 'What Are You Doing' I Told Him I Was Sorry And I Left. Blaine I Gotta Face Him In School,And If He Tells Everybody..." His Voice Broke Again
"It's Gonna Be Fine,You're Gonna Be Alright"
"Aw Man How Can You Say That Right Now. We Both Know It Won't Be. I Gotta Go"
He Hung Up And Just Let More Tears Flow. He Turned His Music Up To Drowned Everything Out But The One Thing He Wanted To Forget About...He Couldn't. He Was Trapped And Scared. His Mind Raced Searching For A Way Out Of It All. What Could He Do?

Jake Sat In Homeroom Staring At The Clock. His First Class Was Math And He Was Already Dredding It. Yes He Was Nervous About Seeing Ryder In School After What

Happened Last Night But If He Did Get A Chance To Talk To Him,He Wanted To Let Him Know He Wasn't Mad. Confused, But Not Mad. He Wanted To Explain The

Reason He Reacted The Way He Did. But Once It Was Time For Glee Club,Ryder Was Nowhere To Be Found.
"Has Anyone Seen Ryder Today?"
"I Havent Seen Him All Day" Blaine Explained
Jake Began To Wonder If He Skipped To Save Himself The Embarrassment.
"Something Wrong?" Marley Asked Him
"Ah No Was Just Wondering Where My Partner Was" He Played It Cool
"Weird How Yesterday You Weren't Here And Now Today He's Not. Are You Two Not Playing Well Together?" She Smiled
Mr. Shue Continued On,Jake Kept Thinking About Ryder.

The Next Day Ryder Still Wasn't In Class,Or Even In School. The Whole Week Had Gone By And No Sign Of Him At All.
Jake Stopped Blaine In The Hall
"Hey Have You Talked To Ryder Recently?"
"Actually,It Was A Week Ago. I've Been Calling And Calling But He Doesn't Pick Up"
"Do You Think Something's Wrong?" Jake Asked
"Well,He Was Upset About You" Blaine Admitted
"He Told You What Happened?"
"Yeah,See We Kinda Shared Things With Each Other. Our Common Interests I Guess"
"Oh So You Like Me Too?" Jake Asked
"No, Not Like That. I Just Meant That We Understood Each Other And We Confide In One Other"
"Oh Alright. So You Got His Number? Can I Have It?" Jake Asked Holding On His Cell
"Sure" Blaine Replied And Pushed In The Number To Jake's Phone And Handed It Back To Him
"Thank You. I Gotta Go"
"But We Got More Classes" Blaine Pointed
"I Don't Care" Was Jake's Reply Over His Shoulder.

He Was Hitting Redial Time After Time And Still No Answer. Just Voicemail. So He Got Ryder's Address And Ended Up At His Front Door Knocking At First Then When Nobody Was Answering He Began To Pound On The Door. Still Nothing,So He Began To Look In The Windows. He Didn't See Anyone Around And His Concern Grew.
He Went Around To The Backdoor And It Was Open So He Called Inside "Hello? Ryder?" There Was Nothing But Silence Until The Fridge Kicked On In The Kitchen.
Jake Made HIs Way To The Stairs And Yelled Up Them "Ryder! Are You Up There?" No Response. So He Started Up The Stairs. "Ryder,Its Jake. Are You Here Man?"
He Searched Room To Room. First Was His Parents Bedroom,Then The Bathroom,A Guest Room, Then He Came To The Last Door On The Right Down The Hall. He Opened It,Saw Ryder Then Gasp.

"Ryder?" Jake Yelled
Ryder Was Laying On His Bed With A Bottle In His Hand And A Few More Empty Ones Covering The Floor.
"H-Hey, Jake. What's Up Man?" He Slurred
Jake Walked Towards Him "Why Haven't You Been In School?"
Ryder Didn't Reply He Just Took Another Chug Of Beer.
"Where Are Your Folks?"
Ryder Pointed Out The Window "Away"
"Look I Know Why You're Doing This. And I'm Sorry About It Okay?" Jake Admitted
"What? Sorry For What? What Did You Do?" Ryder's Slurring Continued
"When You Kissed Me I Was Surprised And I Should've Handled It Better. I'm Sorry But I'm Not Mad" Jake Smiled
Ryder Looked At Jake "Jake,Listen...Obviously Theres No Hiding My Feelings Now. But You're With Marley And I Realize I Shouldn't Have Kissed You. My Bad"
Jake Could See That Ryder's Eyes Had Been Red From Crying. He Walked Over And Sat Next To Him On His Bed.
"Since We're Being Honest,I Should Tell You...I Didn't Hate It" Jake Admitted While Staring At The Floor
"Don't" Ryder Said
"Huh?"
"Just. Don't. I Can't Take It" Ryder Chugged More And Looked Away
"What Am I Doing?"
"Your Patronizing Me"
"Ryder" Jake Called To Him But He Still Didn't Look At Him.
"Ryder!" And He Took His Hand And Forced Him To Look. Then He Leaned In And Kissed Him.
Ryder Pulled Away "No, Don't Do This To Me. Don't Make Me Get My Hopes Up About You. I'm So Confused...And I'm Terrifed"
Jake Looked Deep Into His Eyes And Replied "I'm Scared Too" And Kissed Him Again,Hard.