************* Simple Things 6 *************
*********** Ryan's POV ***********
"How long have you guys been doing this stuff?" I asked Jason and Alecx, as we were about to finish cataloguing the books.
"I've done this for about a year but Jason's been a volunteer here for three years now," Alecx answered him.
"Three years?" I looked at Jason in surprise. "Since you were in college?"
"I did a project about the museum and somehow I ended up being a volunteer," Jason shrugged his shoulders at me.
"To be honest, I didn't picture you to be this kind of a guy," I said to him.
"What kind of guy?" Jason raised an eyebrow at me.
"You know, a selfless, nice type of guy," I grinned at him. "Someone that tries to do the right thing in everything he does." To my surprise, Jason laughed out loudly at what I said.
"I'm pretty sure that you thought I was such a nice guy when I was calling you a clumsy bastard," Jason grinned back at me.
"Let's just pretend that didn't happen then," It felt good that I somehow managed to make him laugh.
"Only one problem Ryan," Jason's eyes was sort of twinkling as he looked at me. "I've washed my shirt three times already and I still can't get the stain off it. You will always and forever will be that guy that ruined my favorite shirt."
"I'll be more than happy to pay for the dry cleaning if you want," I quickly offered to Jason.
"I tried that but it didn't help," Jason sighed out deeply. "I had to throw it away."
"Let me buy you a new one then," I didn't really want to be remembered by him as such a stupid clumsy guy.
"Sarah bought that in London," Jason looked at me in amusement. "It really didn't cost that much but it was one of the few things my sister ever bought for me out of the goodness of her heart so I really treasured it."
"I feel bad about ruining it now," I said to him softly. "Sorry for being such a klutz."
"Forget it," Jason said in an understanding voice. "Just watch out where you are going next time."
"I'll make it up to you," I said to him positively. "I promise."
"I said forget it," Jason smiled at me.
"I don't want you to always remember for that single incident," I shook my head at him.
"Why not bring Jason to the carnival at Riverside?" Alecx spoke up. "He told me he always loved going to the circus there."
"Alecx!" I hissed out at her.
"That's not a bad idea," I nodded my head at her then I looked at Jason. "Are you free tomorrow? I could borrow my friend's car."
"Don't listen to her," I shook my head at him. "You don't have to do this."
"I know," I smiled at him. "But I'd love to go to the Riverside carnival with you tomorrow. You do like going there, right?"
"I like riding the roller coaster they have over there," Jason nodded his head at me. "But you don't have to do this."
"I know," I replied to him softly. "I'll pick you up at ten tomorrow okay? We could have lunch at Riverside."
"We'll see," Jason sighed out deeply.
*********** Jason's POV ***********
I was watching some stupid cartoon show on the TV while eating some cereal the next morning. Sarah was busy cleaning around the apartment when we heard someone knocking on the door. She opened the door and was surprised to see Ryan standing outside.
"Hey," I heard Sarah greeted Ryan as I stood up and looked at him in surprise. I thought that he was just joking when he said we would be going to Riverside today. "Did we have anything planned today?"
"No," Ryan grinned at Sarah then at me as he stepped inside the apartment. "Jason and I are going to Riverside today. I promised to take him to the carnival there."
"Oh," Sarah looked at me in surprise. "You didn't tell me you and Ryan are going to Riverside."
"I thought you were just joking," I looked at Ryan in disbelief, ignoring Sarah completely. "I have some things planned today."
"Come on Jason," The smile in Ryan's face slowly faded. "I was supposed to be meeting with some clients today but I rescheduled it so I could spend the day with you." I felt my heart skipping a beat as he said that. Did he really drop everything today just to be with me?
"Yeah Jason," Sarah said even though there was still confusion in her face. She was looking at Ryan and me keenly. "You need to have fun every now and then."
"I..." I sighed out deeply as Ryan looked at me pleadingly. "I guess I do my laundry tomorrow afternoon instead."
"Great!" Ryan beamed at me. "If you want, we could wash our laundry together." I gave a non-committal shrug and walked into my room to change.
********** Ryan's POV **********
"What the hell was that about?" Sarah asked me in a low voice as I sat down on the couch while Jason was changing in his room.
"What?" I tried to sound like I didn't know what she was talking about.
"Why are you suddenly so friendly towards my brother?" Sarah sat down next to me. "I thought he hated your guts."
"I'm trying to change that," I grinned at her goofily. "By the way, why didn't you tell me your brother was a volunteer at the children's museum?"
"Is he still doing that?" Sarah looked at me in surprise. "I thought he was too busy at work to do that tuff anymore."
"He's still doing it," I nodded my head at her. "You remember that girl he had dinner with last Friday? She isn't really his girlfriend after all. They're both volunteers at the museum."
"That doesn't answer the question why you and him are going to Riverside." Sarah said to me
"I just wanted him to go out and have some fun," I shrugged my shoulders at her. "Alecx mentioned that he likes going to the circus and I need to get on his good side so I said I'll take him to the carnival today."
"And why do you need to get on his good side?" Sarah looked at me acutely. I started to get nervous as she gave me the third degree. I knew it looked very suspicious to her why I was so insistent to get Jason to like me. Especially since she had told me on our first date that she wasn't really interested in me that way. And to be honest, the only real reason why I like hanging out with her is because of her sexy brother.
"I..just don't like anyone hating me, that's all," I laughed apprehensively.
"My brother could be a real pain in the ass sometimes," Sarah said to me slowly. "He's one of the most stubborn person I know. A day at the circus wouldn't make him like you immediately."
"It's..a start," I felt my heart was about to burst as Sarah continued to stare at me. It felt like she was sizing me up, determining if I would be a good match for her brother or not.
"Don't get discouraged if he would act distant and cold towards you," Sarah laughed out as she stood up. "He'll warm up to you sooner or later. I'm surprised you got him to agree to go with you to Riverside as it is. He likes going there alone because he said it allows him to relax more if he's alone."
Jason came out then wearing old-faded jeans and a red shirt. He said goodbye to Sarah and then we were on our way towards Riverside. We barely talked at first but he started to open up to me more. Pretty soon we were talking like old friends.
*********** Jason's POV ***********
I ate the popcorn I was carrying slowly as we walked around the carnival. Ryan was telling me about some of his friends back in college and strangely enough I didn't really mind at all knowing more about his life.
"Your sister told me you worked for your college paper," Ryan told me as he grabs some popcorn.
"I was a reporter," I nodded my head at him. "Nothing really important like an editor or something."
"I bet you were the best reporter they ever had," Ryan leaned closer and whispered to me softly.
"I was mediocre at best," I laughed it off as I sort of pulled away form him. "What about you? What did you do at college?"
"I played soccer for my fraternity," Ryan answered me. "We weren't that good but we did manage to win a few games."
"I covered some soccer games between our schools once," I told him. "Your school has some good players." Ryan then grabbed me by the arms and dragged me to this game booth where you have to throw beanbags at a stack of glasses to win stuff. I just stood there as he gave the guy manning the booth a buck and he started trying to topple the stack. On the third beanbag, he managed to topple the glasses. The guy gave him a really huge teddy bear.
"Here," Ryan grinned at me as he handed me the bear. "I won this for you."
"Ryan," I blushed deeply as I saw the guy giving Ryan and me a quizzical look.
"Come on," Ryan grabbed my hand this time and dragged me to another game booth. "I think they have a different stuff toy in this one." Before I knew it, he had won two more huge stuff toys for me.
"You know something," Ryan grinned at me as he drank his soda. We were now sitting on a bench as we watched the roller coaster high above us. "This is really fun. Maybe we should go here more often." I just stared at him, not sure what to say. "What? Anything wrong Jason?"
"Some people are giving us looks you know," I laughed nervously as I hugged the teddy bear a little tightly. "They might think I'm your boyfriend because you're winning me all this stuff."
"At least they can't say I have bad taste," Ryan winked at me that made me really blush this time. Ryan just laughed again and we stared at the roller coaster silently once again.
"Why did we win all these toys for you again?" Sarah asked me while we were watching a movie later that night.
"I told you I don't know," I sighed out deeply at her. "He probably was just bored and wanted to play some games."
"You had a great time with him then, I assume," Sarah was hugging one of the stuffed animals Ryan won for me.
"You know I love going to the carnival," I said to her vaguely.
"So," Sarah said slowly. "You guys made any more plans?"
"Ryan mentioned something about dinner Tuesday night," I glanced at her and noticed the stupid smile plastered on her face.
"And that's not counting you guys doing laundry together tomorrow," Sarah grinned at me teasingly.
"I'd better go to sleep," I muttered out as I stood up and walked to my bedroom.
"Hey, you forgot your stuffed animals," Sarah yelled out at me.
"Keep them," I muttered out loudly to her. I just heard Sarah laughing as I closed the door. I fell on the bed heavily and let my body relax. I hate what's going on. I can't seem to get Ryan out of my mind now. Why did he have to be such a great guy? Why couldn't he have remained this asshole I met that day and not this amazing guy I know right now?
I dialed Ryan's home number slowly. I didn't really know if I should be calling him or not. But I badly need help tomorrow night at the museum and most of the people I called have a date.
"Hello?" Ryan's voice greeted me.
"Hey," I said softly. "It's me, Jason."
"Jason?" Ryan sounded really surprise. "Wait a minute, I'll just turn off the TV." I heard the noise in the background suddenly stop. "Hey, glad you called me up."
"Actually, I wanted to know if you're available tomorrow night," I laughed a little nervously. "I need some help over at the museum and most of the other volunteers can't make it."
"Tomorrow?" Ryan sounded very torn. "I...I...can't. I have...some work to do."
"Oh," I replied to him in disappointment. "Thanks anyway."
"I...could reschedule it some other time," Ryan quickly said to me. "I---"
"Nevermind Ryan," I sighed out deeply. "You sounded like you have some very important thing to do tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure me and Alecx could handle it just fine."
"No, I will-" Ryan insisted but I cut him off.
"No," I tried to sound like it was okay with me even though I was a little sad I wouldn't see him tomorrow. "You just do what you have to do tomorrow. I don't want you to get in trouble with you boss."
"I...I'll try to finish it up early so I could help you guys up," Ryan said to me.
"Thanks," I whispered to him. We both fell silent for a while before I heard myself say goodnight and out the phone down. Sarah came out of the bathroom just then and looked at me concernedly.
"You okay?" Sarah asked me as she dried her hair. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," I tried not to let the disappointment creep into my voice. I told myself that it was okay that Ryan can't make it. We had seen each other almost everyday this week. It's not me he doesn't want to see but he just have a job to do.
"God!" Alecx groaned out loudly as we were walking towards a restaurant downtown. Some of the people I called did manage to make it so we finished the work at the museum much earlier. "I need to find a man Jason. I don't want to spend every Friday night with you. No offense meant."
"None taken," I just laughed out. "My sister told me I need to get a life also. Maybe we should hit some club tonight and relax a little."
"That's the best idea you ever had," Alecx put her arm around my waist. "You're the last person I expected to ask me to go clubbing. I know you hate those type of places."
"Going to one every now and then wouldn't hurt," I grinned at her. She then started to tell me about some clubs we could go to when I saw Ryan walking towards me. I stopped walking as I felt my whole world shattering around me. My Ryan was walking with this really beautiful girl. They were holding each other really close. The girl was sort of caressing Ryan's arms as she laughed at something Ryan said.
"Jason?" I heard Alecx call my name but my mind was far away. Fuck! Is this the important thing Ryan had to do? Go on a date with this bitch?! That was when Ryan saw Alecx and me. I saw his face go pale-white as he stopped in his tracks.
"Let's go," I muttered out to Alecx as I walked briskly. Alecx had to run to catch up with me.
"Hey, isn't that-" Alecx told me as we neared Ryan.
"Just keep walking," I hissed out at her. She didn't say anything else as we walked past Ryan and the girl. I could hear the girl asking Ryan if anything was wrong.
"Jason---" Ryan called out after me as I walked past by him but I just ignored him. Alecx looked at him as we walked by. She was trying to figure out what was going on and she probably have some stupid idea in her head but I don't fucking care what she thinks. I just want to get the hell out of here.
"Jason, wait!" I heard Ryan calling after me as we neared the end of the block. I felt someone touching my shoulders and forcing me to turn around. I saw Ryan's very tortured face looking at me pleadingly. "This isn't what it seems. I-"
"You could have just said you have a date with your girlfriend you know," I said to him bitterly.
"She's not-" Ryan looked at me in frustration.
"Your girlfriend?" I knew I sounded like some insane jealous fool but I really don't care at this point. I felt like someone had rip my heart out of my chest literally when I saw him and that girl looking so sweet together. "I'm not stupid Ryan. Forgive me for thinking that you would even consider volunteering at some stupid museum when you could be making out with your girlfriend. I hope you have a great time with her tonight." I walked away from him angrily; not even caring that Alecx didn't follow me. I just wanted this night to end. I wanted to kill myself for falling in love again with another straight guy. I barely managed to get over mark, I don't know if I could get over Ryan too.
************* ToBeContinued *************
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