Chapter 4 : First part time job

Their date ended with a sweet strawberry flavored ice cream when Ryan snapped a photo of his friend, endeavoring his ice cream in his own world. Darius didn’t notice him sneaking around taking his candid photos.

‘Sometimes he can be really cute,’ Ryan smiled, looking at his picture on his phone when a notification popped up, a reminder of his appointment in the car washing center.

“Hey, Darius,” he called up from behind as Darius walked ahead of him the moment he checked his phone, “It’s time for the car washing shop appointment…”

“Oh, let’s go then,” Darius ate the last bite of his ice cream, when Ryan suddenly came in front of him, rubbing the corner of his lips, to clean the cream left on his lips.

His heart thumped louder than it normally beat, breathing heavily as he was about to say something when Ryan said, “Oh, clumsy you,” he smiled, making his heart melt, but he can’t express it.

Ryan understood his friend’s awkward face, flushing behind his ears, the way he flinched and taken aback, Ryan backed off, wiping his fingers on a tissue, saying, “You’re still a child,” he ruffled his hair to walk ahead to his destination.

Darius followed him to the car-washers where the Luke suggested he find another part-time job. It was 6 o’clock in the evening.

The owner of the place was not there at the moment. They had to wait for two more hours, sitting on a wooden bench. Desperately waiting, their knees hurt. They enjoyed way too much in the park, now their feet hurting.

Darius suddenly stood up to confront the only employee, busy with a car, washing its exterior. “Excuse me, how long do we have to wait here? We are here for two hours and he didn’t even show up.”

“Ah, I’m sorry,” the employee stuttered, nervously he answered, “I called him and he said he’ll be here soon, but how soon, I don’t know that.”

“Good for Nothing!” he mumbled, when Ryan came behind him, whispering so that employee can’t hear them, “Darius! Mind your language. I am calling him again. If he doesn’t pick up or anything we’ll go home.”

Ryan turned to that guy. “I’m sorry, he is just upset we had to wait this long. Please don’t mind and continue your work,” he smiled.

The moment he called the number given on the name card Luke gave him, they heard a ringtone near the entrance. The owner finally came.

“I’m really sorry for this long wait. I had to take care of my grandma. She’s in the hospital and they gave me a last-minute prescription to buy her medicine. So had to settle them,” this guy was short, almost at Ryan’s height, his long coat hanging on his shoulder, he walked straight inside to his office when he noticed both of them following him, “Are you both for the interview, cause Luke told me there was one.”

“He’s my friend. He came to accompany me, not for the interview.”

“I see,” the owner turned to tell Darius, “You can wait here, it’ll be quick,” then pointing at Ryan he said, “You please come inside,” he swiftly entered his office, Ryan following him.

Though the shop was not big, everything was clean enough to think it’s not a car washer but a restaurant. Like the level of hygiene they maintained, so was the owner’s room, decorated beautifully. People coming here first time might think the owner has OCD.

“So what’s your name?” he asked.

 Ryan stood there in the distance when he answered, “It’s Ryan, Ryan Dayholt.”

“You can sit down,” he pointed at the seat in front of him.

“Ah, yes, thanks,” he handed out his resume.

“So how was your interview?” Darius asked him. When Ryan left the shop with him, holding the file, he brought his resume in.

“Good. So far, he is a nice guy, I will work there on weekdays from 12 pm to 6pm, pay is good too. Now, I can save up quickly and rent a room.” He walked beside him, his smile got no bound. The faster he can save up, the faster he will be less of a burden.

Although he noticed his friend’s grim face, Darius cheered up, “Yeah, so from now on, work hard,” with a sweet smile.

“Argh… I’m so tired,” Darius laid down on the only bed they had as soon as they reached home, whining at his friend, “My legs are hurting. That dumbass made us wait really long, and you did nothing!”

“He is my employer,” Ryan walked forward to him, poking his index finger in the middle of his forehead. “I can’t act like a child.”

Ryan went to organize their shoes, Darius scattered them before, after neatly placing the shoes in the shoe cabinet at the entrance, he announced, “I’m going for shower.”

When Darius came after his shower, drying his hair with a towel, Ryan was reading a book.

“Aren’t you tired? You are reading a book already, you really are a studious nerd,” Darius chuckled, coming to him, throwing the towel on a wooden chair, where all their unwashed clothes piled up.

“Just a novel I bought yesterday,” Ryan assured, giving him a side eye and a little smile at the corner of his lips.

Darius sat beside him on the bed, leaning towards Ryan. He peaked at the book. He was so close, as if he could hear Ryan’s heartbeat. His heart was pounding as well, not so loud, but he could feel it. His ears became red as well as his heart fluttered.

“Well then, what’s the story about?” Darius asked, looking at his eyes straight.

“It’s a romance story…” Ryan turned to see his face was way too close to him, considering the bed was small and Darius barely managed to sit in a small place on the bed. Ryan slid to the side to make space for his friend to sit comfortably.

“So what it is?” Darius asked curiously.

“It’s a story about finding true love, a girl who longed for her whole to life, only to find her true love or you can say her soulmate. Though she finds someone and married him, but that man she married never cared for her after some months of their marriage, when some unknown person helps her from her misery. And then…” he pretended to remember for a second there, “I don’t know the rest, haha. I need to read it,” he smiled, “I bought it yesterday from the bookstore at the end of the alley.”

Not answering, Darius, disdained, jumped down to his bed on the ground. A long silence lingered there for quite a long while. Ryan noticed him staring at the ceiling, somewhat upset when Darius asked, “Have you ever liked someone?” with a coarse voice. It sounded heavy.

“Not right now. Why? You have someone, tell me more.” Ryan seemed excited. He turned to him, lying on his stomach to confront him, holding the book in his hand.

“No, no, I’m just asking. Just wondering what will you do if a guy likes you,” Darius stated with a nervous tone, which Ryan noticed probably.

“Huh,” his mouth wide opened as he slammed the book close to put it aside, staring at him.

“Ah… don’t react like that. There’s a friend of mine who likes one of his male friends, so he suddenly asked me about this… He shocked me too, you know. So I wondered what would be your reaction if that happens to you. You know, you are so cutesy looking, so there might be a lot of men who will like you,” Darius chuckled softly.

Ryan drooped down his face on the edge of the bed, not letting him show his face. “I don’t think it would happen, though. And if it happens, I might avoid him, I won’t like any random guy at least.”

This upset him even more, tear filled his eyes. He turned his back to hide his emotion, but it wasn’t to stop those flowing tears.

“Sleep then, goodnight,” his voice slightly quavered, wiping his tears. He didn’t notice Ryan already lied on his back, sleeping.

In their first year of high school, Ryan looked a small cute cinnamon roll. Though he never got poor treatment in middle school, these bullies in this new school made his life more miserable.

They threw garbage on him, hurting him while he hid in the bathroom. He never retaliated against them.

“Hey, I heard your father lost his job and your family losing their house, heh. You’re going to be a beggar now,” a boy threw a trash can over him in the bathroom. Ryan trembled, couldn’t make a sound. They also threw a bucket of water on him to make him speak. But they were so pissed at his silence, they left him there alone.

Darius searched for him all over the school and found him sitting on the ground, all soaked. He helped him get up. Ryan cleaned himself, but his uniform was soaked. He went to his house with him to inform his parents about his situation.

As they reached home, Ryan’s mother welcomed them, opening the door. Ryan went inside instantly, without even saying a simple bye. Darius stood at the door to talk to his mother. Her complexion was as fair as her son, but the black bruises mark on her arms under her sleeves made him uncomfortable.

“Um… aunt, I think you should know that some students are bullying him. Please take care of him. Today, a gang of boys threw garbage on him and then a bucket of water. He is so timid, he didn’t even retaliated, please talk to him and I’ll talk to him too. I’m leaving now, aunt. Bye,” Darius greeted his goodbye, running back to his home.

From the next day on, Ryan stopped coming to school for almost a week. At first, he thought he was just casually absent from school. But after a week of no conversation between them, he was worried; he don’t know what happened after he left him at his house.

He went to Ryan’s house to meet him, but they sealed the entrance with some ribbon and a placard on the lawn, saying, “Don’t enter. Bank property!”

He went around the window to peek through there. He saw all the furniture covered with white clothes.

‘Did they leave this house?’ Darius thought as he repeatedly tried to get him on his phone, but the call never connected.

Later he came to know Ryan and his family moved to somewhere and their house was confiscated because of his father’s loan.

But no one actually knows. To where did they go?

Darius tried to contact him every day. At first the call went through but Ryan never picked up, later to his disappointment, the call stopped getting through, as if he blocked him.

And as days went by, Darius lost his best friend as well as his first crush.

He liked him for a long time when they were in the middle school. As a childhood friend, they were quite close.

He never confessed to him, though maybe it would be rushed. So he waited, never realizing it might be too late.

 Ryan didn’t seem gay at all. Although he was quite girlish looking, he showed no interest in any guy. On second thought, Darius was afraid to lose his precious friend out of his selfishness. So he never tried to approach him as more than friends. This created a vast loneliness in his heart.

Darius woke up without the alarm and saw Ryan still sleeping, his curly fringes laid on his forehead, long eyelashes coming out of his eyes looked beautiful, with a sharp nose and a little plump lips made Darius’s ears red as tomatoes.

“His puffy face is adorable,” Darius smiled, getting up to get ready.

 Darius backed off from Ryan’s bed, afraid of waking him up, as muffled for a moment but was still asleep, so he crouched at the side of Ryan’s bed, stared at him lovingly.

Making breakfast, he left for his school, leaving a note, “I’m going to school, have breakfast and all the best for your first day of part-time job.”

In the evening, Ryan entered the café 2 hours before his shift starts to learn all the basics.

The place was quite empty, only 2-3 tables occupied.

“Oh, Ryan, welcome,” the café owner greeted, “I’m calling you Ryan, don’t mind it, I saw you are younger than me, So…”

“It’s okay, sir don’t worry, you can call me by my first name,” Ryan replied, smiling. Two girls stood beside Luke, seemed like they were guarding him.

“So now you need to learn the basics of serving and making basic coffees. Let’s go to the kitchen inside, I will teach you personally,” Luke found himself standing in front of those girls while turning to the kitchen, “Lovely ladies, please take care of the counter.”

Taking Ryan with him, he went off to the kitchen.

“Thanks Mr. Luke,” he followed him.

“Don’t call me like that, it sound like I’m an old guy, am I? Ha ha you can call me Luke. It sounds close. After all, we’re going to work together.” Luke held the door for him to enter their kitchen.