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It had been a couple of months since EJ and Ricky had gotten together. Their first date had been the day after, when Ricky joined the older boy for lunch again. This time, they ate pizza at EJ’s favorite pizza shop rather than taking it to go. To be honest, Ricky was grateful for that very meticulous decision made on EJ’s part. If they had gotten their pizza to go again, there was no doubt in Ricky’s mind that their arrival back at school would be a repeat of the day before.
Not that he minded it that much, but Ricky could only handle making out in the back of another boy’s car and eating lunch during his next period for only so many days during the week. He was thankful that EJ had persuaded him to eat lunch at the pizza place, especially because Ricky had once again packed a pitiful sandwich that was most likely already squished at the bottom of his backpack. Ricky wasn’t trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of the senior boy, but it sure didn’t hurt to accept some delicious free food. He was especially hungry when he had a gross sandwich weighing down his backpack. Plus, EJ seemed to enjoy taking out Ricky.
Over the next few weeks, EJ found multiple reasons to take the younger boy out: “You need to see this movie, Ricky,”, “My bed needs some warming up, wanna come over and help me with that?”, and on some occasions, he’d take the shy and honest approach of, “I just really miss you.” And Ricky found several ways to accept EJ’s invitations. Sometimes, he would just text a simple: “Pick me up at 7? :)” Other times, he would casually call the other boy and pretend to be disinterested, only accepting EJ’s invitation to go out when EJ had convinced him enough. EJ had to admit that he liked the spontaneity, the way that nothing was ever really set in stone—everything always had some sort of vague plan in the back of EJ’s mind for every date that he always initiated first, but he wasn’t all too strict on following that vague plan step by step. With Ricky, he found that the best dates were the ones that weren’t planned out all too well.
In fact, their best date had been during winter break. They hadn’t even been dating for a month when winter break started. In many ways, it was the honeymoon phase of their relationship. No, they still hadn’t gotten to the actual consummation part of their relationship, but they still did plenty of things leading up to it. For the most part, a lot of their encounters included a ton of making out, an aspect that was second to the talking part of their relationship. Of course, neither boy was one to deny their significant other more kisses. But they longed for a little more emotional connections rather than physical ones, though they didn’t know how to bring it up.
On Christmas, Ricky and EJ had both settled on spending the day with their families in their respective homes. EJ had wanted to give his present to Ricky the day before since they couldn’t spend Christmas together, but Ricky argued against it, insisting that they had to wait. As always, the older boy gave in with an exasperated sigh and promised to wait to give Ricky his present. Nonetheless, on Christmas Day, after EJ received his presents in the morning (as was the tradition in his family), he ran up to his room to make sure that his present for Ricky had remained intact on the top of his dresser. On the off chance that he was actually able to retract his promise and give his boyfriend his present, EJ wanted to make sure it was ready. Sure enough, the present slept peacefully on the dresser.
EJ was quite sure that Ricky would be able to tell at first glance that the wrapping job had not been done by his boyfriend. In all honesty, it wasn’t like EJ hadn’t attempted to wrap it. He had at least tried. But after several wrapping tries went wrong, he threw up his hands in a fit of anger and called his cousin.
“Who is this?” Ashlyn hissed sharply.
“Your cousin, EJ? Caswell?” answered Ashlyn’s cousin tentatively, hoping that her cat-like hiss wouldn’t cause claws to come out of her hands next.
He could hear her voice immediately softening and her smile brightening through the phone.
“Oh,” came the soft reply. “I just thought it was weird that you were calling me instead of texting or FaceTiming! Thought someone stole your phone or something,” Ashlyn said with apologetic laughter, unaware that EJ hadn’t FaceTimed her because he didn’t want his nervous facial expression to be embarrassingly apparent. “You need something, EJ?”
EJ was actually glad that she had asked. He hadn’t known how to bring up his dilemma without starting some awkward casual conversation over the phone, which he never did with Ashlyn. Plus, she would see right through him as she always did and assume that was something was gravely wrong. Which wasn’t entirely true. Though EJ had to admit the way that he was reacting about the whole situation made it seem like he was in extreme distress.
“Actually, Ash, I do need your help with something.”
If EJ hadn’t quit his habit of biting his nails years ago, he was sure that he would’ve started biting them then.
“Another crime scene I gotta help you cover up?” laughed Ashlyn.
EJ didn’t respond. He stayed quiet, pondering how to phrase his dilemma delicately without seeming like a big baby. Unfortunately for him, his silence spoke volumes to his cousin and caused her to jump to conclusions immediately. She assumed the worst in everything. It wasn’t by choice and she admitted that it was her biggest fault, but it didn’t take away from the fact that it was still a trait she exhibited heavily.
“Oh my god,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “you killed Ricky?”
“That’s your first thought?” EJ scoffed. “You think I killed my boyfriend and want you to help me cover it up? Ash, really?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it past you since you’ve asked me to cover up other things before...” started EJ’s cousin, trailing off as she became lost in thought.
Ouch. She was clearly referring to the time that he had asked her for help in stealing Nini’s phone. After all this time, even with how much he had genuinely grown as a person, Ashlyn was never really going to let him live that down. Neither would Nini, but that was a different matter altogether. He really couldn’t take it anymore though, so he interrupted her train of thoughts almost instantly.
“I need help wrapping my Christmas present for Ricky!” EJ squealed.
“You are such a drama queen,” giggled Ashlyn. “But okay, EJ. I’ll help you, as long as you get him to at least consider trying out for the spring musical.”
Ashlyn could almost swear that EJ’s eyes were bugging out of his head at that very moment. Her request would’ve seemed strange to anyone else but EJ would be lying if he said he hadn’t expected it. Besides that though, it was an impossible feat to ask of anyone because Ricky was incredibly stubborn and rarely made decisions on behalf of other people. Anyone else would’ve rather pulled their teeth out than to even try to get Ricky to consider something for them. Anyone who wasn’t EJ, of course. Which is exactly why Ashlyn had asked him.
She couldn’t really think of anything she needed more than this, especially from EJ. He already showered her with tons of materialistic gifts on her birthday, anyways. So any favor that she asked him outside of her birthday had to be meaningful. Thus, the request, which wasn’t too far-fetched to ask for in her opinion. Ricky had been an incredible lead in their fall musical and although she knew there were still issues between Nini and the two new lovebirds, Ashlyn was sure that stage professionalism would trump a petty high school feud. Right?
“That doesn’t start until March, Ash,” EJ said, already trying to find ways to argue himself out of this one.
“Right,” agreed his cousin. “Three months from now, I know. However, auditions start in February.”
“I know,” grumbled the older boy. “I just don’t want to push him into something that he doesn’t want to do.”
“He’s already dating you,” joked Ashlyn lightheartedly, no malicious intent in her words.
The joke fell short through the receiver. EJ tried to ignore the pang in his heart at her remark, a similar statement to one that Nini had given him the day before winter break.
“You don’t deserve him,” she had said, passing him by in the hall with Kourtney by her side.
“I’m sorry, what?” EJ asked urgently, tugging on her sleeve lightly to pull her back, ignoring the way she immediately withdrew like he had burned her.
Her face had the same expression that it did when she found out that he had not only taken her phone, but also deleted Ricky’s message off of it. With a firm nod from Kourtney, Nini quickly changed her demeanor like she had better places to be. Nonetheless, she went on with explaining something that came from a place of hurt. It wasn’t an honest explanation, it was the fabricated explanation that she knew would hurt her ex-boyfriend the most.
“Look, Ricky takes pity on people. He always liked being on good terms with everyone when we were dating,” the younger girl stated, crossing her arms, pursing her lips and furrowing her brows intensely.
“What’s so wrong with that?” pressed EJ. “He’s not dating you anymore, Nini. Get over it.”
“Nothing’s wrong with that, I just never thought he’d go out and date someone like you.”
”Downgrade,” added Kourtney and EJ could’ve sworn he saw a hint of sadness in Nini’s eyes, an unspoken apology that disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
The words had hurt then and they had hurt even more when Ashlyn had said them, even if they had clearly been said with a different intention. EJ didn’t want to excuse Nini’s behavior, but he knew that she was still hurting from Ricky’s rejection and since she couldn’t take it on him, she would take it out on his new boyfriend. It did shock EJ that Kourtney hadn’t called Nini out for being so harsh in the hall though. Even more shocking, she had added fuel to the fire and decided to comment on something that EJ felt she knew nothing about. But they were best friends after all, and EJ admired Kourtney from an outside perspective for supporting Nini through everything—regardless of their current relationship, he was glad that Nini had a strong support system that he hoped would eventually convince her to forgive EJ and Ricky. It wasn’t a matter of acceptance, it was really only a matter of forgiveness. Until then, EJ figured that he would just quietly deal with it all. Even if that meant that Kourtney hated EJ too. Which sucked, because Kourtney was actually kind of cool.
Nonetheless, EJ never said anything to anyone about the incident. He figured that neither Nini nor Kourtney had said anything either. If they had, his follower count on Instagram would’ve gone down a considerable amount, as it always did during a school scandal.
“EJ,” sighed Ashlyn. “I’m sorry, that was a bad joke. You’re a great boyfriend and I’ll help you wrap the present anyways.”
The older boy gave her the benefit of the doubt and smiled. Even though she couldn’t see him, Ashlyn knew in her heart that EJ was okay and that this wasn’t going to turn into another Mean Girls scene.
Thus, the present was neatly wrapped by Ashlyn a day later. It had been finished off with a pink bow, which Ashlyn argued gave the present a “romantic vibe”. EJ wasn’t exactly sure which vibe it gave off, but he wasn’t in the mood to argue with the person who had basically done his job for him. He truly loved her for how pretty she had made his present for Ricky look.
On Christmas Day, EJ felt that it was quite the disappointment that he wouldn’t get to see his boyfriend unwrap his pretty present. It was a bit weird that he had raced up to his room after opening his own presents, just to gaze longingly at Ricky’s present. His parents passed by his room in concern, opening their mouth to say something but then quickly closing it when they realized that there was really nothing that they could say.
It seemed like the day would never end after that. Hour after hour droned by and EJ eventually decided to take a nap with one of his brand new pillows (gifted by his grandmother all the way over in Europe during the winter) gently resting behind his head. The day had gotten so boring that EJ Caswell was finally taking a nap for the first time since elementary school. It was truly a momentous occasion and honestly, a bit weird for EJ. His time had always been filled up, especially now.
Whether it was Ricky, water polo, the school musical, volunteering or even just taking his dog for a walk, EJ always had something to focus his time on entirely. In his world, “taking a nap” didn’t exist. It was an abstract concept, one that he was sure he had practiced before, but one that he couldn’t remember ever doing.
Sadly for EJ, he never got the chance to experience what taking a nap felt like during his senior year of high school. Just as he placed his head on the pillow and began to close his eyes, his mother knocked on his door.
“Yeah?” came EJ’s mumbled response through the pillow.
His mother took his response as the opportunity to open his door wide open. She burst in cheerily, ignoring EJ’s fake grogginess in an attempt to get her to leave.
“Come on, EJ!” she waved from the opening of the door. “Come downstairs, quick!”
Her son groaned rather loudly and removed himself from the bed reluctantly. His body peeled off of the mattress like sticky tape. EJ hoped that whatever (or whoever) was downstairs wouldn’t mind him arriving in what he liked to call “comfortable fashion”, which consisted of no shirt, grey sweatpants and dirty white Nike socks that screamed “I’m a student athlete”. It hadn’t been done on purpose, but his bed head, newly added to the look after a failed attempt at napping, completed it all.
Walking down the staircase that led to his front door, EJ made sure to make a big show of rubbing his eyes with his balled up fists and yawning annoyingly loud. He staggered down the stairs too, for dramatic effect. Hopefully, he figured that this sleepy act would excuse him from whatever his parents hid downstairs. EJ had never wanted anything more than a nap in his life at that moment. Then—
“—EJ!”
The taller boy barely had time to look down before feeling a warm pair of skinny arms wrap around his bare torso. Oh. He definitely wanted this more than he wanted a stupid nap. What were naps anyways? EJ suddenly has no recollection of ever wanting to take a nap. Taking naps was just straight out weird. This was so much better. Hugging was the only thing he ever wanted to do from now on.
The hug was comforting and familiar. EJ knew that he didn’t even have to open his eyes to know who was standing right in front of him. But he did it anyways.
“Hey, baby,” smiled EJ, carefully brushing back a piece of Ricky’s curly brown hair with his fingers.
The pet name had become a favorite nickname for the younger boy, one that EJ replaced for Ricky’s actual name when he was feeling especially mushy and in love.
“We’ll be in the living room downstairs if you need us,” interrupted EJ’s mom.
“We invited him over too, if that wasn’t clear,” added his father to a puzzled EJ. “Hope that was okay, EJ. Your mother and I know this Christmas wasn’t exactly easy for him, with Lynne coming home for the break and all.” EJ’s mother nodded sympathetically. “We told Mike to let his son know that he’s welcome over here if he needed a break today.”
“Thanks, Dad,” EJ grinned over the small boy beneath him.
It was a rare moment of genuine emotion shared through both father and son in the Caswell household. Ricky almost felt like he was intruding and loosened his grip on the other boy’s torso for a second. EJ wouldn’t have it and instead wrapped his arms tighter on the boy below him. The younger boy sighed deeper into the embrace and, with a final sigh, exited out of the hug to stand up straight next to his boyfriend and hold his hand.
The hand hold was cautious and even EJ’s thumb rubbing circles soothingly over Ricky’s hand wasn’t enough to calm his nerves. It wasn’t like Ricky hadn’t already been over to EJ’s house before, but this time just felt different. Today was December 25th, officially their one month of dating. In Ricky’s mind, he could see himself finally being the other boy’s official boyfriend in EJ’s parents eyes. At least, he hoped that EJ’s parents saw him that way. As an official boyfriend.
Ricky wasn’t anything like Nini but he knew, from EJ, that his parents viewed Nini as nothing but a summertime fling for EJ. She was like a hobby that they knew he would give up eventually. Sometimes, Ricky couldn’t help but to wonder if they viewed him the same way. He wondered if they would still think of Ricky as a hobby five years from now, when EJ and Ricky were married (because, duh, of course they would get married within a couple years). It made his nerves get the best of him at times. Yet today, of all days, he was determined to push those nerves aside and focus on the reason that he had come here, regardless of his mom’s complaints about the whole situation. His only reason was EJ.
The older boy squeezed Ricky’s hand gratefully.
“We’re going to go upstairs so I can give Ricky his present,” EJ smiled.
Ricky found it incredibly flattering that EJ couldn’t stop smiling because of him. His smile was so attractive that it almost took away all the attention from his abs and those damn grey sweatpants that EJ had to have known did something funny to Ricky’s bones. It was clear that EJ had done minimal effort in getting ready that day. And yet he still turned Ricky’s bones to jelly. Ricky wondered if EJ’s wild hair looked like that when he was alone in bed, his hand slowly creeping down towards his boxers, Ricky’s name on his lips as he—
“—Door stays open!” yelled EJ’s mother after the two boys running up the stairs, hand in hand as the older boy dragged his boyfriend up to his room.
The aforementioned statement was actually a pretty easy rule to follow. At first, EJ had been hesitant with leaving his door open when his significant other was in the room. There was limited privacy with the open door and he felt cautious about having even the simplest of conversations in his own room. Then he realized soon enough that his parents never came upstairs anyways. When they went into the living room, it was common knowledge that they were about to get heavily invested into yet another show. For all they knew, EJ could’ve been having (quiet) sex upstairs every time that Ricky came over.
But now was not the time for that and it wouldn’t be time for a while, EJ assumed. Now was the time for Ricky’s present, a collection of items that EJ had worked long and hard on getting. To make it easier on himself (and on Ashlyn), EJ had neatly placed all of the items inside a medium-sized box. That way, Ricky couldn’t really tell what was inside the box from first glance.
When he swiped Ricky’s present from the dresser, EJ had to admit that he was nervous about the younger boy’s reaction. No one else had ever made him feel like this. Not even Nini had made him this nervous, and she was pretty hard to please in comparison to Ricky. And there had been the whole ordeal with her still being in love with her ex, which should’ve made EJ more nervous around her. But it just didn’t.
Instead, things like this made him incredibly nervous. Anything that had to do with Ricky made EJ nervous. Maybe it was the fact that Ricky was EJ’s first boyfriend. Ricky had been surprised at how nonchalant EJ was at school about stating the fact that he wasn’t just dating a boy, but he was dating Ricky Bowen (this had after a lengthy discussion between the two boys where Ricky gave EJ his approval in finally outing them). It inspired Ricky to come out with his own statement about their relationship a few days later. For people who knew Ricky, the fact that he was dating a boy wasn’t so puzzling. It had just taken someone like EJ, the popular boy that Ricky happened to be dating, to come out publicly at school and show Ricky that the rest of school was just as accepting as his inner circle of friends was.
But on the inside, EJ had been freaking out about the display of public affection towards his boyfriend and the reactions that he would receive. His friends in the popular crowd especially concerned him. EJ cared way more about Ricky than he did about his social status, but there was still a worry in the back of his mind that a negative reaction from the popular crowd would throw his reputation down the drain. Thankfully, it wasn’t just the popular kids who were nothing less than accepting. Everyone else accepted EJ and Ricky with ease and even if it was just to appease the popular crowd, EJ still greatly appreciated it. Even more so, he adored Ricky for publicly speaking about their relationship instead of just leaving him to play spokesperson for them.
It felt nice to be with someone who viewed him as an equal. Nini and his previous girlfriends had always viewed EJ as the one with significantly more power, always waiting to be lifted up but never reciprocating and lifting up EJ instead. Again, it surprised EJ that someone like Kourtney, all for equal rights, could be friends with Nini, who he thought constantly played into the social constructs that Kourtney hated. Then again, it was probably the whole best friend label that kept them together. EJ could understand it, what with Ricky being his best friend and boyfriend now.
“Do I get my present now?” Ricky asked sweetly, plopping himself down on EJ’s bed and snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Only if you want it,” replied EJ. “You told me to wait until you gave me my present and I’m totally willing to still wait if that’s what you want, Ricky.”
“Is ‘present’ a code word for my virginity?”
“Oh my god.” The taller boy pressed his palm squarely on his forehead and sat down next to his boyfriend. A red flush crept up on his cheeks, as it always did when Ricky said anything remotely sexual. It rarely happened but when it did, it always made EJ think of things he probably shouldn’t have been thinking of that early in their relationship. “Baby, I just want to know if you want this present right now or what!”
Ricky pretended to think about it for a moment. He stroked his chin mysteriously and wiggled his eyebrows at the older boy. EJ laughed, which prompted Ricky to explode in a fit of giggles. When he came down from his high, he clasped a hand on the other boy’s shoulder and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Course I want it, bro.”
“Oh, yeah. ‘Bro’,” EJ scoffed with dramatic air quotes.
“Shush, you know I can’t drop my skater boy lingo, even for you. Anyways, you didn’t work so hard wrapping that present for me to come over and not open it today.” Ricky raised an eyebrow, inspecting the box again. “Or should I say, Ashlyn?”
“Aw, you got me there, Ricky. And here I was, about to take credit for this incredible wrapping job! Shit, I could’ve been so cool in your eyes right now if you weren’t an amazing detective, baby,” joked EJ with an over-the-top melodramatic sigh.
The present was then placed into Ricky’s small hands. Ricky tugged at the little pink bow like an inquisitive cat and his boyfriend struggled not to die of fondness. All of his gestures were so curiously graceful and EJ didn’t think he had ever liked anyone as much as he liked Ricky Bowen. Or Richard Bowen, if they were using full names. But the older boy knew how much Ricky hated his full name (“EJ, it makes me sound like an old man!”) so he strayed away from ever using it unless he desperately had to get the younger boy’s attention.
“Ashlyn did a great job wrapping this,” Ricky mused.
“She did,” agreed EJ. “But like, hey! Maybe you should see what’s inside, Ricky! If you want. But the wrapping’s cool, yeah!”
Patience was arguably not a trait that EJ had been born with. Ricky had always thought that EJ was incredibly patient before they started dating. Then he learned very early on that EJ was very impatient with people that he cared for. With Ricky, he at least tried to mask the impatience, which the younger boy appreciated.
So as a reward for the effort given by EJ (that Ricky knew was a constant struggle for him), Ricky often tried to do his best to not drag things out with him. If EJ could tone down his impatience around Ricky for the most part, then Ricky figured he could tone down the snarky habit he had of dragging things out. Thus far, this plan had worked for the both of them.
As a result, Ricky dove into the wrapping paper greedily. He tore it apart and what once started as a beautifully wrapped box ended up as a torn up square. Once the smaller boy got past the cardboard barrier, he got his first look at the contents inside. He didn’t even have guess what any of the things were. At first glance, he knew what every single item was.
It was everything on his wish list and for a second, he was sad that his parents hadn’t done the same. They hadn’t put nearly as much effort as EJ had. Ricky could definitely excuse his dad’s behavior, especially since his father had at least attempted to get him a gift. But his mother was a lost cause. She had mustered up the courage to come back home for Christmas and all she had for Ricky was: “I’m your mother, Ricky. Whether you like it or not, my only present to you this year is myself.” Ricky had almost felt like laughing when she had said that, especially because he knew that she had more than enough to buy him an apartment if she really wanted to. Instead, he kept quiet and thought it over in his head.
Parents weren’t supposed to be a one-time thing that came around every few holidays. That certainly hadn’t been anything to be proud of. And somehow, Ricky knew that his mom genuinely felt proud of herself. So instead of lashing out (or worse, laughing at her), he had left after some positive encouragement from his father, who assured him that his mother would be gone by the time he went back home.
Ricky was so glad that he had left. Leaving his house had led him into the arms of what seemed to be the most generous person on Earth. He couldn’t help the emotion that gathered in his lungs and swelled around his heart. Nor he could stop the tears from coming out as he leapt forward to embrace his half-naked boyfriend in a soft hug.
“I’m really glad that I came over,” Ricky sobbed quietly into his boyfriend’s shoulder. “You didn’t have to get me all this, especially since I forgot to bring my present for you.”
EJ laughed, like it was absurd that Ricky was still thinking of him. He had never really met anyone quite like this boy.
“Ricky, baby,” EJ smiled, tossing together his two favorite nicknames for the younger boy, “you’re the only Christmas present that I need. Just you.”
“God, this is the best half-assed date ever,” cried Ricky happily, sniffling as he leaned back from EJ’s shoulder to give him a gentle kiss on the lips.
After all this time, Ricky still tasted like strawberries. EJ wanted the taste of strawberries to linger on his tongue for infinity.