The Start of Something New

Title: The Start of Something New

Rating: PG-13 (for a couple curse words)

Pairing: Dugera (Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera)

Summary: This is the story of how Bam met Ryan back in freshman year at East High School, and their turbulent first day together.

Warning: This story does involve minors in love and very slight violence. This story both implies and clearly states that there are homosexual characters. If that bothers you then people do not read this.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story with the exception of 1080 and Rico who are figments of my own imagination. I do not know any of the famous people I write about and will never claim to. I'm just a fan and this is just my story. Everything in this story if fictional except a few biographical details.

ON WITH THE STORY!

Character Intros

 

Brandon Cole “Bam” Margera – Born September 28, 1979. He’s a freshman in high school. He has dark curly hair and blue eyes. He’s a prankster and is constantly poking fun at everyone. He loves to piss off his parents and he dreams of being a professional skater. He has a constant flow of different boyfriends and girlfriends knocking down his door.

 

Ryan Matthew Dunn – Born June 11, 1977. He grew up in Medina, Ohio, but his dad was recently transferred out to Westchester, Pennsylvania. He’s a freshman in high school. He has long, shaggy blonde hair and green eyes. He’s shy with strangers, but outgoing when he’s around people he’s comfortable with. He skates, but isn’t sure what he wants to do with his life.

 

Brandon Ralph “Dico” DiCamillo – Born November 15, 1976. He grew up in Westchester. He’s a junior in high school. He’s a jokester and is constantly smiling. He’s not particularly handsome, but people seem to gravitate toward him because of his personality.

 

Christian Joseph Raab – Born May 21, 1980. He grew up in Westchester and has been best friends with Bam for many years. He’s gay and has been in love with Bam for awhile. He’s a freshman in high school. He has short light brown hair with a constant hat on, and deep blue eyes. He’s not easy to get along with and is obsessed with his unrequited love for Bam. He’s been close to getting kicked out of school already.

 

Jesse Philip “Jess” Margera – Born August 28, 1978. He’s definitely not as much of a prankster as his younger brother Bam, but has a warped sense of humor.  He’s very into music and plays drums. He’s a sophmore. He has short light brown hair and light blue eyes.

 

Deron John Miller – Born May 21, 1976. He’s best friends with Jess and plays guitar. He’s a second year senior in high school. He has light brown hair and light eyes. He became friends with Jess last year and has the same sense of humor.

 

Airick Jacob “1080” White – Born August 3, 1979. He’s constantly skating and absolutely obsessed with being the first person ever to land a 1080° on a skateboard. He has shaggy blonde hair and electrically blue eyes. He’s a sophomore, and very smart but he hides it from his friends for fear of being teased.

 

Joseph Aaron “Rico” Riccio – Born February 17, 1976. He is constantly moody, and secretly very insightful. He’s the rock of the group, but not very emotionally sound himself. He’s a senior in high school. He has black hair that hangs over his bright green eyes. Everyone tells him their secrets and he is usually very good at keeping them.

The Beginning

The bell rang out loudly waking Bam from his sleep. He lifted his heavy head from the desk and wiped the drool from his cheek. The class seemed to run out the door leaving behind only Bam and his math teacher.

 

“Sleeping again in my class, Brandon?”

 

“Sorry, Miss Jones.”

 

Bam grabbed at his books and headed for the door.

 

“Wait a moment please, Brandon.”

 

Miss Jones crooked her finger at Bam smiling softly.

 

“Yeah, Miss Jones?”

 

“I need a favor from you. We’ll be getting a new student in our class tomorrow, and instead of giving you detention for sleeping in my class I’ve decided on a different punishment. You will help this new student get acquainted with our school. If you don’t do your very best to make him feel welcome you will spend the rest of your high school days in after school detention. Do I make myself very clear, Brandon?”

 

Bam groaned loudly looking up at his teacher.

 

“Can’t I just do detention?”

 

“No, Brandon. I’ll see you here 15 minutes early to meet our new student in this room.”

 

Bam stormed out of the room heading out to his locker. Rabb was waiting leaning casually against the wall.

 

“Hey, man.”

 

“Sup?”

 

“Nothing I have to be a tour guide tomorrow to some new kid.”

 

“What did you do to Jones to earn that?”

 

“Fell asleep.”

 

“Again, dude? Up skating all night or screwing Katie?”

 

Bam playfully punched his friend in the arm and headed to his next class.

 

“Skatin. I swear that bitch Jones hates me for no reason!”

 

“Just get over the new kid tomorrow and be done with it. Want to hit up the skate park later?”

 

“Sure. I’ll see you later.”

 

Bam waved goodbye to his friend and walked into history class ready for another nap.

 

 

 

 

The Next Morning:

 

Bam strolled into Miss Jones’ class room the next morning 15 minutes early.

 

“Good morning, Brandon.”

 

“Mornin, Miss Jones.”

 

Bam ran his fingers through his dark curly hair looking up as the door opened. Having suspected to see another random nerd Bam was surprised to see an older boy with dirty blonde shaggy hair carrying a skateboard.

 

“Ryan Dunn, this is Brandon Margera.”

 

“Everyone calls me Bam.”

 

“Hey, Bam. I’m Ryan.”

 

The teacher smiled at the two boys and sat back in her chair.

 

“Brandon is going to show you around today and help you get situated, Ryan.”

 

“Thanks, man.”

 

“Yeah no problem. Come on, there’s an empty desk next to me.”

 

Ryan followed Bam to the back of the room frowning not happy to be the new kid in town.

 

“You skate?”

 

“No, I’m just carrying this skateboard around for nothing.”

 

They both laughed and slid into their respective seats settling down. From the moment Ryan had walked in the room Bam had instantly taken a liking to the kid in the black t-shirt and ripped jeans. The rest of the class slowly filed in taking their seats still groggy, but neither Bam nor Ryan noticed lost in talking to each other.

 

“So where are you from, Ryan?”

 

“Ohio. My dad got transferred a couple weeks ago.”

 

“Brandon Margera!”

 

“Huh?”

 

“The answer to my question. What is it?”

 

“Uumm. . .I have no idea. . .3?”

 

The rest of the class burst into laughter, and Bam blushed.

 

“Not exactly, Brandon. 2+2 does not equal 3, but you were close.”

 

Bam groaned at his own stupidity putting his palm to his forehead.

 

“All right class everyone calm down.”

 

Ryan raised his hand and everyone turned to look at him when Miss Jones called out his name.

 

“Bam could be right you know.”

 

Miss Jones raised his eyebrow leaning against her desk.

 

“Please explain what you mean, Ryan. Share with us how that could be possible.”

 

“Well there could be another universe somewhere in another dimension where 2+2=3 or pigs fly. You never know!”

 

The entire room just stared at Ryan.

 

“Well yes, Mr. Dunn. I suppose that could be possible, but we’re not going to get into technicalities in this classroom.”

 

Miss Jones turned back to the blackboard wondering if it was such a good idea to pair Ryan up with the most infamous trouble maker in the whole school.

 

Bam turned to Ryan and high-fived him whispering, “thanks for the save, man.”

 

“No problem. It happens to me all the time. I’m really easily distracted.”

 

“So how much of that did you pull out of your ass?”

 

“All of it!”

 

Both boys laughed silently. Bam and Ryan continued their whispered conversation for the rest of the class until the bell rang.  Miss Jones spoke up as they were walking out the door.

 

“Brandon, hold on a second.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Don’t make me regret picking you to show Ryan around.”

 

Bam nodded and rushed out to the hallway to meet up with Ryan.

 

“Miss Jones thinks I’m going to be a bad influence on you.”

 

“How does she know I’m not going to be the bad influence?”

 

“Yeah right!”

 

They laughed and Bam lead Ryan off to their next class.  Both of them were completely oblivious to Raab who had been waiting by the door for his best friend. The day seemed to fly by as the two boys joked with each other and bonded finding commonalities in music, TV, sense of humor, and love for pranking and making people laugh.

 

“So where are we going next, Bam?”

 

“Best part of the day, man! Lunch!”

 

Bam lead his new friend through the lunch line happily.

 

“Come meet the crew.”

 

Ryan followed Bam to a table with six boys already seated. Instantly Ryan could pick out the fellow skaters by the scrapes, ripped jeans and skater shoes, and smiled instantly. This group reminded him a lot of his friend back in Ohio.

 

“Hey guys, this is Ryan.”

 

The other boys waved studying Ryan for a moment before accepting him as cool.

 

Bam flipped his chair backwards and plopped down at the head of the table. Ryan automatically took the seat next to Bam and began picking at a French fry on his plate.

 

Bam gestured to the boy sitting next to him, “this is Raab, himself.”

 

“Hey”, the boy said holding out his hand with a huge forced smile.

 

Ryan smiled back shaking the other boy’s hand warmly. An older looking boy who seemed to have a permanent smile plastered on his face introduced himself as Dico.

 

“I’m 1080” a third boy with shaggy light blonde hair and electric blue eyes stated flashing Ryan a blindingly white smile. He seemed to be right out of some California surfing magazine minus the deep tan and shorts.

 

Bam leaned over to Ryan pointing to the boy sitting next to 1080 with black hair that covered his eyes and headphone wires streaming from his ears.

 

“That’s Rico. He's cool, just doesn't like to talk much.”

 

Ryan nodded and looked over to the two older boys, who seemed to be deep in conversation, sitting at the end of the table waiting for Bam to introduce them too.

 

“That’s my brother Jess and his best friend Deron.”

 

It was easy to pick which one was Jess. He looked a lot like Bam, but seemed to be a bit more sullen and less bouncy.

 

“So what’s with all the odd nick names” Ryan asked with a confused look on his face.

 

“Well Raab hates his first name so we just call him by his last name. Dico is named Brandon too so we just made it easier and somehow got Dico out of DiCamillo we call him Bran too. 1080 is obsessed with trying to be the first person to land a 1080 trick for years so we just started calling him that. Rico got his nick name because his last name is Riccio. Jess is short for Jesse and Deron, well that’s his actual name.”

 

“What about you, Bam? How in the hell did you get that name?”

 

“That one is actually my grandfather’s fault. Apparently I ran into walls a lot as a kid so he started calling me Bam and it just stuck, I guess.”

 

“Maybe that’s why you don’t know 2+2!”

 

Bam laughed and playfully punched Ryan in the arm.

 

“Hey we’re all going to my house later to skate. I have a half pipe in my back yard. Want to join?”

 

Raab choked on the french fry he was stuffing into his mouth, but Ryan didn't even notice. Hecould barely contain his excitement at the thought of having made friends with not only fellow skaters but someone with a private halfpipe.

 

“Sounds cool. Definitely!”

 

They both smiled at each other for a moment then Raab suddenly caught Bam’s attention by flinging a French fry at his head. Ryan wondered idly what was going on when he saw the brief hint of anger flash across Raab’s face the second before Bam turned. Everyone but Rico, who just sat there moodily picking at his food, and Raab, who continuously brought up random topics to keep Bam busy, tried to bring Ryan into their conversations eager to learn more about him. The lunch bell rang loudly echoing off the walls overpowering the loud chatter coming from every table.

 

“See you guys later” Bam called slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

 

Ryan followed Bam to their next class still pondering the strange behavior of the boy named Raab. The rest of the classes passed uneventfully and by the end of the day Ryan just wanted to relax and skate. Bam pulled his skateboard out of the bottom of his locker dropping his backpack in its place.

"Bam! Hey, Bam!"

A cute girl came running over to Bam instantly wrapping him in a hug and leaning up for a kiss.

"Not here, Missy!"

The girl gave Bam her most adorable pout, but he simply dismissed it. Ryan smiled to the girl and introduced himself, but Missy ignored him completely wrapping her thumbs in the belt buckles of Bam's low slung black pants.

"Missy, get off."

"What's wrong, Bam?"

 

“Common Ryan, everyone is probably already at my house”, Bam said waving goodbye to the girl.

 

As soon as they were out the door Bam jumped on his skateboard quickly followed by Ryan who tried his hardest to keep up.

"Hold on a second, Bam", Ryan explained stopping his skateboard in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but who was that girl?"

"She's no one."

"You suck at lying, Bam. I've known you a few hours and I can already tell."

"She's just some girl I dumped a few weeks ago. She's completely delusional and refuses to move on."

Ryan raised a suspicious eyebrow having not pinned Bam as the kind of guy who would simply "hump and dump". The worried look on Bam's face only burned on Ryan's suspicions that something was wrong. They skated through the streets of Westchester for a few minutes  in silence before Bam turned into a driveway of a comfortable sized house with woods behind it. Bam picked up his skate board tucking it under his arm and Ryan followed suit walking through the doorway into a brightly lit home. As soon as Bam stepped inside it seemed as if his worries washed away returning him to a smiling, bouncing, general happy teenager.

 

“Ape, I’m home” Bam shouted up the staircase and suddenly footsteps sounded above them.

 

With a smile Bam lead the way into the kitchen offering Ryan a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

 

“How was school today?”

 

Bam spoke with his mouth full of cookie spitting them out all over his mother who jumped back instantly.

 

“Bam!”

 

Ryan couldn’t hold in a laugh and April turned to look at the new boy.

 

“And who’s this?”

 

“Oh right, Ape, this is Ryan. Ryan, this is Ape.”

 

Bam’s mother smacked her son gently in the back of the head with the rolled up newspaper that was sitting on the kitchen table.

 

“You can call me April, Ryan.”

 

“Is everyone at the pipe?” Bam cut in grabbing a second cookie.

 

“Yes they’re all back there.” April responded smiling at her son and his new friend in a motherly way.

 

Bam raced for the door, but his mom caught the back of his shirt and held on.

 

“Helmet, Bam!”

 

“Ape, I’m going to be a pro skater soon and they do not wear helmets.” Bam whined.

 

“If you don’t wear a helmet now you won’t have enough brain cells left to skate by then!” April countered impressing Ryan with her quick wit.

 

Bam gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed a helmet from a hook by the back door popping it onto his head.

"Happy now?"

"I would be much happier if you took that death trap down."

Bam stomped his foot down replying with a firm "No!" Ryan laughed at Bam’s childish behavior unable to resist teasing him as soon as they were out the back door. Their started with Bam playfully shoving Ryan into a tree but by the time they reached the clearing in the woods the boys were on the verge of  wrestling laughing the whole time. Raab cleared his throat loudly drawing the instant attention of both boys.

 

“What’s with the helmet, Bam?” Dico asked from a seated position at the top of the large half pipe.

 

“Ape’s been going nuts about it ever since my last trip to the hospital.”

 

Bam put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder and put on a serious face for a quick second.

 

“Let’s see what you got, kid!”

 

Ryan got a running start and expertly scaled the walls of the 10’ halfpipe setting his board on the edge and teetering for a moment. Ryan took a deep breath and dropped into the pipe tucking his body suddenly whooshing past 1080 who was standing by the side. Ryan whooped as he caught some serious air off the lip off the pipe doing a few twists before landing gracefully back on the plywood.  The boys watching all began to yell and cheer for Ryan.

 

“Damn, Ryan! That was awesome!” Bam offered him congratulations and a high-five when he finally hopped off his skateboard at the bottom of the ramp.

 

Raab looked absolutely furious glaring a hole in the back of Bam’s head. Bam sprinted up the pipe followed quickly by Raab who seemed to follow every move the older boy made. Ryan turned to sit next to 1080 on the side of the ramp watching the other boys skate by.

 

“Hey, Ryan. What’s up?”

 

“Nothin. 1080, what’s up with Raab? He gets mad every time Bam talks to me.”

 

“Raab’s just jealous.”

 

“Jealous of what?”

 

“Raab likes Bam, but Bam likes you.”

 

Ryan raised an eyebrow looking at 1080 curiously not sure he was truly understanding.

 

“What do you mean that Bam likes me?”

 

“Bam’s bi.”

 

“He what?”

 

“He likes both guys and girls.”

 

“I know what bi is! He likes me?!” Ryan gasped.

 

Suddenly Ryan’s stomach started doing flip flops. Ryan had known for a couple months that he was gay, but he had never told anyone. He wondered how Bam had found out. 1080 studied Ryan for a moment curious about the confused almost frightened look on the younger boy’s face.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing. I just can’t believe that.”

 

“We all told Bam he was being too obvious, are you blind, kid?”

 

Ryan laughed and shoved 1080 gently.

 

“Not blind just oblivious!”

 

1080 shoved back laughing; suddenly a loud crash sounded throwing them both into silence.

 

“BAM!” Raab screamed sliding down the side of the pipe on his knees, but Ryan reached their injured friend first.

 

Ryan instantly started shouting directions to the other boys.

 

“Everyone stay back! Don’t touch him! Someone go get April and call 911!”

 

Rico who was lounging under a tree instantly stood running toward the house at top speed. Ryan winced as tears began to stream down Bam’s face; his left arm was bent awkwardly obviously broken, and he had a few bad scrapes that were starting to bleed. Ryan turned his head to say something, but felt a fist crash into his nose sounding a distinct crack.

 

“Fuck!” Ryan yelled clutching his nose and rolling over in agony.

 

“Raab, what the hell are you doing”, Bam yelled trying to push himself up, but falling back down with the pain of his injured arm.

 

April’s voice was getting louder in the distance as she ran towards the half pipe calling for her son. Carefully 1080 pulled Ryan’s hands away from his nose pulling off his t-shirt and gently mopping up the blood as April came crashing to her knees at Bam’s side. Raab looked around seeing 1080 clenching his fists, and suddenly took off running right past Rico back towards the house.

 

“What happened?” April shrieked looking between Bam and Ryan.

 

Jess and Deron, who had been practicing music in the basement together, came through the trees next dragging Raab along with them.

 

“We heard yelling then this little twerp came running through and we figured he had something to do with it”, Deron explained. “Now what the fuck happened?”

 

A deep southern spoke up from the back of the pack and Ryan turned to see is was Rico.

 

“Bam fell and Raab punched Ryan in the face.”

He spoke so matter-of-factly it made Ryan want to giggle. Rico was acting like this was nothing out of the ordinary, just another afternoon at the halfpipe.

 

“What? Why would you punch Ryan, Raab?” April asked never letting her eyes stray from Bam who was wincing in pain trying to suck up his tears.

 

“It doesn’t matter. I never want to see you again, Raab. Get the hell out of here and never come back. Got it? GO! NOW”, Bam screamed.

 

Raab gave Bam a pleading look and took off again running. April looked down at her son curiously.

 

“Bam, what happened?”

 

“Nothin, Ape. Don’t worry about it. Dico, call 911 please. Ryan and I are going to need patch jobs.”

 

“They’re already on their way.”

 

“Awesome. Ryan, are you okay?”

 

“Yeah I’ll be fine.”

 

“I’m so sorry.”

 

Bam lay back down and sighed closing his eyes gently suddenly exhausted. Sirens started howling in the distance and Dico ran out to meet them. A couple of minutes later two EMTs rushed through the woods struggling with a stretcher. Immediately everyone but April stepped away.

 

“Ma’am, you’re going to have to step away.”

 

“I’m his mother.”

 

“I understand, but we need some room to work.”

 

April grudgingly stepped back moving her nails to her mouth nervously. One EMT worked on each boy carefully assessing both of their conditions and asking questions. After a few minutes it was decided that both boys needed to go to the hospital to have their bones reset. Jess stepped forward to help the EMT get Bam to his feet slowly, and Ryan stood cautiously trying to stop the spinning in his head. Everyone slowly made a procession back toward the house looking grim. April, Bam and Ryan hopped into the ambulance with the EMTs, and the other boys ran to the front to pile into both Deron’s and Rico’s cars. At the hospital Bam’s arm was wrapped in a cast and Ryan’s nose was snapped back into place. The ER doctors forced both boys stay overnight just in case there was underlining concussions. It was almost 3am when the curtain on Ryan’s sectioned off bed rustled. Their friends had been forced out of the hospital after on an house accused of being too rowdy.

 

“Ryan? You awake”, Bam whispered poking his head in.

 

“Well I am now”, Ryan responded pushing himself up a little bit.

 

“Where’d your parents go?”

 

“They went home for a few hours. They’re used to me ended up in the hospital from skating injuries. What about your’s?”

 

“Same.”

 

Bam nodded and moved to sit on the edge of Ryan’s bed carefully balancing his casted arm in his lap.

 

“How’s your nose?”

 

“Fine. What about your arm?”

 

“It’s fine.”

 

Both boys fell into an awkward silence as Bam tried to find the right words.

 

“Ryan, I’m sorry.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault, Bam.”

 

“But it was. Raab punched you because of me.”

 

“Raab punched me because of Raab. I don’t blame you at all.”

 

Blue eyes met green and silence settled in for a moment.

 

“Bam? 1080 told me something. . .and I. . .well I just. . .I want to know if it’s true.”

 

“I should have known! That asshole has the biggest mouth ever!”

 

Ryan laughed a little bit looking up at his new friend.

 

“You can lie down if you want, Bam. I think we should probably talk.”

 

Bam smiled softly and maneuvered himself to lie down next to Ryan carefully.

 

“What do you want to talk about?”

 

“Is it true?”

 

“Is what true?”

 

“You like me?”

 

Bam blushed softly turning his face away from Ryan in embarrassment that was unnatural for him.

 

“Please look at me, Bam”, Ryan pleaded gently.

 

Slowly Bam turned his face to look at his new friend nodding gently.

 

“I’m really sorry, Ryan. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or something. I just really like you and I can’t help it. Please don’t hate me. We can just be friends if you want.”

 

“Bam, shut up!”

 

Ryan turned his face and suddenly pressed his lips to Bam’s enveloping the younger boy in a chaste but passionate kiss. Bam gasped and opened his eyes widely bewildered by the response he was getting.

 

“What are you doing, Ryan”, Bam asked once Ryan pulled away.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Bam smiled and reached up with his good arm to brush some hair away from Ryan’s face.

 

“This is weird.”

 

“What’s weird?”

 

“I’ve never kissed a guy before.”

 

“Really?”

 

“No, I’ve only had one kiss with a girl back in Ohio.”

 

“I would have pegged you differently. You’re so adorable.”

 

Ryan laughed a little bit at Bam’s statement looking up into his eyes again.

 

“Girls never felt quite right to me. I like them, but I think I like guys better.”

 

Bam chuckled softly and gently ran his hands through his new friend’s blonde hair.

 

“Trust me. I know how you feel.”

 

Ryan’s eyes fluttered a little bit suddenly feeling very tired. Bam slowly moved to stand, but Ryan grabbed hold of his shirt.

 

“Please stay with me for a little bit, Bam.”

 

A grin spread over both faces and Bam lay back down careful of the cast that enveloped his left arm. Ryan rested his head in the crook of Bam’s neck and gently curled into his new friend. They both sighed softly and relaxed against each other falling asleep almost instantly. A few hours later April slowly drew back the curtains to Ryan’s bed figuring she’d find her missing son there. She sighed softly looking between the two boys with a quiet curiosity. With careful eyes she studied both of them. Bam’s thumb was in Ryan’s mouth and they were curled into each other adorably.

 

“Bam, honey.”

 

“Mmhm?”

 

“Bam, you need to get up.”

 

“Uh huh”, Bam replied half heartedly like he did every morning.

 

“Bam, you need to let go of Ryan before his parents show up.”

 

Suddenly Bam’s eyes snapped open in realization.

 

“Ape”, Bam suddenly squealed shifting away from his friend and almost falling off the hospital bed in the process. “I-I-I-“

 

“Shh and come on. You need to get back to your own bed.”

 

Ryan was still fast asleep and moved back to the center of the bed as if nothing had happened. April moved the curtain back and led Bam back to his own bed.

 

“Ape, please. Please don’t tell anybody. That-that was nothing.”

 

“Do not lie to me, Brandon Cole. I saw the way you were looking at him yesterday, and I don’t care. I just want you to be happy, okay?”

 

“Thanks, mom.”

 

She smiled gently and brushed back some of Bam’s dark curls. April went to speak to the nurses about getting her son released and within minutes Bam was changing from hospital gowns into his regular clothing. Bam peaked in on Ryan right before he left carefully pulling back the curtains to see a young blonde woman who looked to be quite beautiful hovering over him. She looked up at him and smiled.

 

“You must be Bam. I’m Mrs. Dunn. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

Bam shook the hand that was offered to him smiling softly.

 

“Uumm. . .can you have Ryan call me when he wakes up?”

 

“Of course. Thank you again, April for taking care of him.”

 

“Anytime, Mary. I’m sure our sons will end up being good friends.”

 

“Why did we have to have boys who skateboard”, Mrs. Dunn joked to April smiling lightly.

 

“I will never know what I did to deserve it”, April teased back.

 

“Hey! I’m right here, you know”, Bam replied with a pout spread across his features.

 

April ruffled her son’s hair lightly.

 

“I’ll see you at the book club on Wednesday, Mary?”

 

“See you there, April!”

 

Carefully April led her son away from the curtain and towards the hospital exit. Bam looked over his shoulder knowing that something had just changed. Ryan would never again be just a friend to Bam.