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Ryan Wolfe, only son of Wolfe's nuclear family unit, felt like he couldn't have exited his graduation ceremony quick enough. He'd just escaped from his high school. He hadn't had the best time there considering he was a grade ahead. Easy target for assholes to make themselves feel better.
It was alright though, because he survived and came out better than them. That didn’t stop Ryan from being hesitant in pursuing a higher education right away.
Which is what led him to where he was now, across the country and ready to make some bad decisions that'll definitely follow him for the rest of his life. And what better place to start than the first casino he could find-
"Sorry kid, but the legal age for gambling in this state is 21."
And then his momentum was halted.
The bouncer could almost pull off a face of sympathy, like this isn't a common occurrence.
"W-what?? But I'm-" Ryan tried but was quickly shut down again and asked to leave.
Now what?
Ryan was left wandering the blaring streets looking for something to do that could at least occupy his mind. Now what? He'd travelled across the whole damn country alone for the first time in his life and for his last year of youthful freedom before he'll have to become a legal adult. And yeah he should have guessed that there'd be an age limit for something like gambling just like there is for smoking and drinking. But he couldn't help the ugly feeling burning in his chest.
It took over an hour of aimless wandering(how he hadn't been mugged yet is beyond him honestly), before Ryan ended up at a small cafe with an outdoor area. It was probably near the cafe's closing hour if the lack of customers was any indicator.
Ryan felt another wave of teenage misery and sat at the first empty table he could find, next to a table that housed another young man that had his nose in a vaguely familiar looking book and a near empty coffee cup next to him.
Letting out a mix of a sigh and a groan, Ryan propped up his elbows onto the cool glass table and dug his palms into his eyes until his vision exploded in colour.
"Are you alright?” A quiet voice asked from beside him that led him to looking over at the aforementioned man with the book, which he now recognised as the latest Harry Potter book that had just been released this year.
Ryan sighed again but lowered his arms so that they were crossed in front of him and looked back at the man. The man looked like a cross between a college professor and a bookkeeper. With soft browns and the faint hint of burgundy from his sweater vest, his pants being no different. He reminded Ryan of a velvet seat in the quiet corner of century old libraries.
“Yeah man, it’s just been a day.” Ryan responded, when's the last time someone's asked him that? And it to be a stranger while on his desperate attempt of controlling his own life of all people.
The man's brow line pinched and it was obvious that Ryan wasn't believed. At least the man didn't press on the issue, not before Ryan himself changed the subject anyway.
“Are you liking that book? Can't imagine liking a book so much that I'd take it out to dinner.” Ryan asked whilst glancing at the book's cover and title.
The man followed his eyeline and a small smile(that took Ryan's attention away from the book for a moment) blessed the man's face.
And suddenly the man was off, from explaining the two previous books, to the author behind them, to the symbolism and worldbuilding, adding in critiques and his opinions of the choices made in the pages that he occasionally ran his thumbs over.
It was honestly impressive, and at some point Ryan ended up turning in his seat just to watch the man go on tangent after tangent about the current book and everything related to it. Sometimes the man would go really far on a rant before returning to the original point and have it somehow make sense.
Eventually though, the man stopped himself and looked horrified for some reason.
“I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to start rambling like that, I won't bother you again.” The man mumbled before propping the book up again.
“Don't be, it was cool listening to you explain it like that.” Ryan reassured the embarrassed man.
The man looked over at him for the first time since their greeting. His face coloured and his top rimmed glasses lower on his nose bridge. “Really..?”
Ryan gave him a grin before taking a chance, he got up from his chair and joined the man at his table. He then held out his hand to introduce himself.
“I'm Ryan, what's your name scholar?”
The man's eyes bounced between the outstretched hand and Ryan's face.
“My name's Spencer, and I'm sorry but I don't shake hands.”
Now, usually Ryan would have scoffed at that and left, but the awkward and nervous look on Spencer's face had him hesitating and pushing down his instinctual reaction.
“Why's that?” Ryan asked instead.
“Well, there are around 124 million colony-forming pathogens passed through just a handshake. It's actually safer to kiss than to shake a hand.” Spencer explained while his face grew more vibrant with colour.
Ryan felt his brow line shoot up and his jaw dropped slightly and he's never regretted a decision to stay less.
“Oh? You say that to all the boys you meet, or just the pretty ones?” Ryan said after taking a moment to collect himself.
Spencer hunched over himself and would have dropped his glasses completely if he hadn't unconsciously pushed them back up to the top of his nose ridge.
“That's- ah- not what I intended to imply.” He tried to defend himself but Ryan was already grinning at him again.
A look around let Ryan know that it was a lot later since he sat down, and it made him realise that the entire reason why he travelled all the way here was thrown out the window and stayed there until Ryan couldn't care less about it.
“So what have you been studying Spencer?” Ryan asked, trying to think of another topic to start on.
Spencer tapped on the book that has by now been put down in favour of engaging in the most normal conversation he's had since he's returned to Las Vegas.
“Right now I'm studying for a PHD in Chemistry, although currently I'm in a gap year.” He answered as carefully as he could.
Ryan nodded along, “Yeah I'm also in a gap year, although I don’t know what I'd do after this. Haven't really thought much about it really.” He admitted, feeling a little more exposed than he wanted to.
Spencer tilted his head a little and looked to the side in thought.
“Which college were you thinking of?”
“I'd probably just go to Boston, I mean it's close to where I'm from.”
Spencer hummed at that information, “Massachusetts? Why've you travelled this far west?” He asked bluntly.
Now it was Ryan's turn to become embarrassed, “Well- I didn't look at what the legal age of casino was before I got here.”
“So you got turned away.”
Ryan nodded with a grimace, and Spencer had the decency to only laugh a little. Ryan groaned and hunched over to hide his burning face in his crossed arms.
“At least you weren’t arrested, that'd probably make it really hard for you to get accepted into colleges.” Spencer sympathised with the cringing man across from him.
Ryan eventually lifted his head up enough to look back at Spencer with a glare(pout), “And what college were you thinking of?”
Spencer leaned back in his seat and continued tapping on his book cover. “Well, probably back to Caltech, I'm just back here for family.”
Ryan sat up again at that, “Wait, you're actually from here?”
Spencer nodded and took a glance at his watch and had a moment of panic cross his face.
“Ah!- The time- it's later than I intended to stay out.” Spencer explained whilst getting his things together.
Ryan took out his Nokia and thought the same, he had his flight back the next day's morning. Then a thought hit him. “Hey wait!” Before he could stop himself.
Spencer looked up from fiddling with the satchel strap that was leaning against his chair while he was sitting. “Yes?”
Ryan briefly bit on his lips before asking, “Would you mind if we exchanged numbers? It was really cool talking with you.”
Spencer hesitated for a long time after that, the only contacts in his Motorola was his mother's, her doctor's and the college's. Still-
“Yeah sure.”
It seemed neither of them could stop themselves.