Close To The Family

[Cassie-Roll]

Ryker had spent he night at his best friend, Adam's, house. It was fun, as well as draining due to his friends high energy, but it had been fun. Now he was all packed up and ready to go home. Adam's father was going to drive Ryker home now. Ryker wasn't complaining, despite it being a bit weird... Adam did at least have an attractive dad, though Ryker would never say that out loud.


Adam had just said bye to Ryker and now it was the waiting game. He chewed his lip slightly, part of him not even wanting to go home. His house was empty and cold, while Adam's house was so warm and happy. Ryker knew he couldn't stay forever, but he felt bad every time he had to return to his sad empty house and know how much his family really doesn't care about him.


@Captain

 

[Captain]

Gathering up his keys and driver's licence, Ethan said goodbye to his wife and pulled the door on the warm, cozy living room. Seeing the boy, Ryker, already standing ready, Ethan nodded shortly at him and got his coat of the hook. He wasn't exactly looking forward to stepping into the brutally cold wind outside, but letting that kid cycle all the way home on the slippery streets was not an option.


Jangling his keys in his hands he looked back at Ryker.


"Ready? I had already put your bike in the back of the truck when you were up with Adam, so we can go right away,"


Ethan opened the door and winced slightly as the cold air hit him square in the face. As a construction worker he was used to such temperatures, but it still punched the breath out of him each time he stepped out of the door in winter time.


He at last stepped onto the porch and held the door open for Ryker.

 

[Cassie-Roll]

Ryker looked to Ethan and nodded as a response to say he was ready. He didn't feel the need to talk at the moment. When the door was open and cool air hit Ryker he shivered slightly, though he did prefer the colder temperature he would admit he dressed too light.


He hesitantly walked outisde, mumbling a small 'thank you' to Ethan for holding the door open for him and went to walk to the car. He never really knew why Adam wasn't going with him too, but he assumed it was laziness on his part. Adam probably wanted more time to relax rather than go on a ride to drop Ryker off.


When Ryker sat down in the passenger seat he set his bag on the floor of the car and buckled up. He watched Ethan get in quietly, partially taking in the older man's looks.

 

[Captain]

Ethan watched as the kid walked timidly away from him to the car. He felt uneasy by his shyness and wondered if he was always like that, or just because he had to step into a car with Ethan all by himself without Adam. Ethan was still pissed about that: when you're friends with each other the least you could do was come along to safely drop your friend off, right?


Adam had always been so clueless about what it meant to be someone's friend. Ethan loved him with all his heart, but sometimes he wished Adam would get his head out of the clouds a little.


Ethan stepped into the car and started it. After some hesitant sputtering, the car finally caught on and they could take off. Slowly the car moved over on the street and sped off. After glancing a few times beside him, he felt the silence grow awkward, and he thought of something to say that would break it.


"So, how's school?"


Great, Ethan. What a very intelligent question.

 

[Cassie-Roll]

Ryker shifted a bit in his seat, hoping to warm himself up a bit as he did since the car was so cold and was probably going to take a while for it to warm up.


He looked over to Ethan and shrugged. "It's okay I guess. I'm doing fine in all my classes and I enjoy being on swim team.." He said and looked out the window with a sigh.


"I wish it wasn't winter so I could go to the beach and swim.." He said, swimming was really important to him and he was amazing at it. Many people told him it was like it came natural to him.


"How are you dealing with the cold? Don't you work in construction?"

 

[Captain]

Ethan drummed his fingers on the wheel as he steadily picked up speed on the highway. It would be a pretty long trip, and now he wasn't too sure if this had been a good idea. Sure, he couldn't let that boy travel all this way by himself in the cold and int he dark. But it was still strange. Next time, Ethan would make sure that Adam would go with them.


"Glad to hear that," he said and glanced quickly sideways. "I'm doing fine, normally. I'm kind of used to the cold thanks to the job. But it is still like a punch in the face when you go outside, you know?"


Ethan knew roughly where Ryker lived, and it was pretty secluded. He suddenly wondered why Ryker's parents couldn't show up and drive their son home. It was a bit rude to ask about that though, so he kept silent about that.


"It's going to be a very long while before you can go to the beach again. Now you would even have to unfreeze the water first," he said with a snort. "So, I take it that you're good at swimming? When did you start doing it for sport?"


((Sorry for the late reply! Notifications came through weird.))

 

[Cassie-Roll]

//it's fine. I understand//


Ryker looked out the window still and sighed, his breath fogging up the window a little. "I'm good at it.. I've been doing it as a sport since I was ten.. Other than that I just swam for fun. This is still just for access to the pool though... I don't care about the competition. I just do it because I love it." He said with a shrug.


"My parents don't like it.. They thought I should play football or soccer... But I don't care. I like what I do." He said softly with an almost fond look in his eyes.


"What about you? Did you play any sports in highschool?" He asked looking at Ethan.