And I don't the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
Groaning, Ryan Joseph James rolled over and grabbed his phone and shut off the alarm. Tossing it on the pillow on the bed next to him, he rolled over and tried to get some more sleep before the second alarm would go off in about five minutes. As he lay on his bed attempting to get some more rest before he had to get up, Ryan thought about the dream he had last night. It had been about Rebecca. He was just about to reminisce about the last time he'd seen her (yesterday) but his phone alarm went off again. Canceling the alarm, Ryan tried to roll out of bed. As he did, his foot got caught in his bed sheets and Ryan fell out of bed dangling by his leg. As Ryan's face rushed back to Connor's lower bunk bed, Ryan's brother woke up right as Ryan's face was closest to his.
"Aaaagh!" screamed Connor, recoiling back in horror.
"Aaaagh!" screamed Ryan with him, as Ryan too attempted to recoil back in horror. That just jerked the bedsheets further and this time they ripped loose of the bed.
Ryan's mom and dad were sitting in the kitchen, enjoying the quiet cup of coffee that they so savored before the kids woke up. It had been weeks since they had been able to have some quiet reading time together. Ryan's dad had been away on a business trip for the last ten days and for most mornings before that Ryan's mom had been attending meetings for the business she worked at. Smiling at her husband, Ryan's mom reached for the coffee pot and began pouring some slowly, with the coffee pot as far away as possible from the cup, creating a long, elegant steaming stream. Unfortunately for Ryan's parents, the kitchen was right beneath the boys' room.
After he'd untangled himself, Ryan trudged over to the bathroom. Flipping on the light, Ryan walked into the bathroom and nearly on top of his dog, Sonny. Sighing in exasperation at Sonny's latest fad of sleeping in the kids' bathroom, Ryan nudged Sonny's rear end. Sonny jumped up, and trotted out of the bathroom, throwing himself onto his bed cushion
Closing the bathroom door, Ryan stared at himself in the mirror. Blinking twice slowly, Ryan stared again at his reflection. Laughing, he aimed his phone at his reflection and took a picture. Turning on his phone's music player, Ryan put his phone in a safe, dry place on the bathroom counter. As he hummed along to "E-Pro," Ryan combed his hair. Throwing the comb aside after yet another fruitless battle, Ryan grabbed his new toothbrush (a gift from his fifteenth birthday, a great present...not). Washing his face and any toothpaste left around his mouth, Ryan shut his phone's music player off. Accessing his pictures, he found the one he took minutes before. Holding it up, Ryan compared the reflection with the picture. Not too bad, he thought, what's not to like here? Apparently a lot.
It wasn't his dark brown, nearly black untidy hair, with bangs that reached his eyes. Eyes that were light brown, a creamy caramel, with a shine that seemed to orgininate from an apparently constant happiness. Those eyes scanned down to the mouth that expressed the supposed happiness. Normal mouth size, normal lip size, white teeth, all combining to an altogether charming smile. Nope, it didn't look like it was anything in that area, thought Ryan. His gaze shifted down to his bare torso. Decent biceps. Nothing fancy, but a little over average from all the workouts he'd done with Kent and Rob over the past year. Overall, he was an attractive guy. At least, that's what he thought. And though he didn't know it, a few girls would agree.
Sighing, Ryan walked back into his room. Connor had fallen back asleep, and his toungue was lolled out as he snored. Ryan changed into some old jeans and stood at his shirt closet, attempting to decide what he should wear. It was late April, so the weather was pretty warm, but Ryan wasn't sure if the wind would be strong today. He decided on wearing his jacket just in case, but he couldn't find a shirt to wear under it. He had a couple clean ones that fit him still (a pretty rare occurence, after he hit a growth sprout last summer), but they were black or dark grey. And Ryan was determined to never wear a black shirt with a black jacket, to avoid sending any goth impressions. Hell with this, thought Ryan as he reached for a white shirt, I'm feeling lucky today. I haven't screwed up a white shirt in years...though not for lack of trying.
As he walked downstairs, he fed Scooby, the frog, grabbed his vitamins and went into the freezer looking for frozen waffles.
"Mom? I think we're out of -" Ryan's voice got cut off as he saw his mother's clothes.
"Well, look who's decided it's safe to wear white! I wish I could say the same about myself," Ryan's mom said, as she brushed past Ryan, smearing some coffee off of her shirt, onto his shoulder.
Sighing, Ryan reached for the Wheaties box.
