Chapter Text
“When was the last time you went out, and not to get food, to go to class, or to see me?”
Ryan Haywood rolled over to see his best friend, Meg Turney, with her hands on her hips. He smirked and covered himself once again with his quilt.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Ugh! You’re impossible!” she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. Ryan and Meg were in Ryan’s college dorm room, just two doors down from Meg’s. Meg walked over to pull the blinds up to let some sunlight into the otherwise desolate, dark room.
“Meg, what do you expect from me?” Ryan posed. “I go to class, I eat a decent enough meal at least twice a day, and I come back to bed. I watch Netflix, too, you cannot forget that,” he said, squinting at the sudden brightness of the sun.
“But this is college, Ryan! College! It’s supposed to be the best four years of our lives!”
“And I’m loving each season of a new show I watch?”
“This is the chance to travel the world! See shit!”
“Did you actually see what Netflix added this month?”
“With people you care about!”
“Meg, we’re very different people. Despite my major of choice, I prefer being on my own.”
“Yeah, your major baffles me. Theater? The fuck you’re gonna do with that? At least I chose something sustainable.”
Ryan and Meg spent the better part of a half hour going back and forth. The two of them had moved to their college, about an hour outside of New York City, just a few months ago. Meg was always itching for a reason to go to the city while Ryan preferred to stay in, under covers.
Meg pulled her last straw. “You know what then? Friend date. You, me, the city, Friday after class.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “You make a compelling argument, but I need a little more persuasion.”
“You pick food, I pick Other Cool Fun Thing to Do (trademark)” Meg offered, whispering “trademark” for added effect.
Ryan nodded and smiled, noting how she remembered his affinity for off campus food. “Deal.”
-
Meg was bouncing on her heels as they waited at the train station. Ryan held an umbrella over the two of them, wishing the rain would let up once they got off the train again.
"I'm so excited!!" Meg nearly squealed, getting her weekly dose of off campus traveling. "I so rarely go to this part of the city. I can't wait!"
"Unfortunately, you were so excited we got here a whole half hour early," Ryan noted. "We could've been squeezing in another episode, but nooo, we had to walk across campus in the rain so early-"
"Oh, please, Rye. With that little tummy of yours, extra walking couldn't hurt," Meg teased.
"I'll have you know I pride myself of my college diet. Once summer hits, this'll be long gone. 'Til then, I'll gorge myself on pizza all day long."
As they were chatting, people nearby would often glance in their direction. Meg was so in her own world she didn't notice the stares, but with Ryan's wandering eye, he often caught them as they turned away. Trying not to cause a scene, he tuned back into what Meg was rambling on about.
"And then, during yoga, this fuckin' bitch..."
---
After navigating subway lines and eating a most interesting meal of new types of sushi, they arrived at their venue. Meg had found a spoken poetry night downtown for them to check out. The venue was small with brick walls and folding chairs surrounding a small stage. One microphone was up there, waiting for someone to use it. A bar was right inside the entrance, thankfully stocked with Diet Coke for Ryan. The two of them found seats right near the front, ready to hear some poetry. The first few speakers were good enough for both their tastes, but there was one speaker neither of them could forget.
“Uh, this next poem is called ‘Lost and Found’,” the speaker announced, “performed by Jon Risinger.”
A lanky looking teenager came on stage, paper in hand. He pushed his hair out of his face with his hands before he spoke.
Meg was fully attentive to listen to each word but Ryan couldn’t care less. He was more absorbed in Jon’s hair and the way it fell on his blue plaid button up shirt. Not to mention, since they were front row, how Ryan could catch how much shine were inside Jon’s sky blue eyes.
“That was such a powerful poem, wasn’t it, Ryan? Ryan? JAMES!”
Ryan jerked up to see Meg staring at him and to see another performer come on stage. He couldn’t tell you a single thing about the poem just read, and regretted every moment. He scanned the floor, hoping the kid was still around so he could say hello.
“I’m Jon, they, them, theirs,” they said, extending their hand out to shake.
“Ryan, he, him, his,” Ryan smiled, shaking their hand.
“And Meg! She/hers is fine,” Meg chimed in, bouncing in from the side.
Ryan chucked. “If it wasn’t for Meg, I certainly wouldn’t be here tonight. She dragged me out here to get a change of scenery.” Meg just rolled her eyes.
“Oh? That’s funny; I’m not normally out and about either. I had to do this for class. You’d never catch me performing any other night. I have a professor that likes to treat us like high schoolers so one of our assignments was to perform a piece at an open mic,” Jon admitted.
“She sounds wack.”
“This is the least of it. There was this time…”
"Before you continue," Meg butted in, "Do y'all want to find a cafe? There are other performers here tonight, y'know."
The three of them left the venue early and went across the street into a diner and picked up where the conversation left off. Ryan and Jon talked until Meg had to remind Ryan that they had a train to catch back to their campus, after hours of chatting. Jon blushed before apologizing and stood to leave. Meg asked if they would see them again, and it just deepened Jon’s blush.
“I mean, if you want to, I don’t have much going on, besides school and photography.”
“Photography?” Ryan inquired. “You haven’t mentioned it yet.”
“It’s a budding hobby at most, I’m not very good at it and I don’t even have a real camera, just my phone. It’s just something to get me out of my dorm at least once a week,” explained Jon.
“Well that’s convenient, Ryan doesn’t get out much either, so maybe we could all meet up again next weekend! We can walk around a park or something so you can get some pictures!” Meg suggested.
Ryan and Jon both nodded, unable to meet the other’s eye. They all parted ways, each with at least one brand new phone contact.