Where did Brendon come from?

"You know Ryan, I haven't been swimming in forever," Brendon ended up telling me one February night at the Aubergine. I wasn't exactly sure how we had ended up on that topic, but it didn't matter. I would listen to Brendon no matter what he was saying.

"You can swim in Kale University pool whenever you want," I said. "It's open whenever the swim team isn't practicing."

"I didn't know that," Brendon said. "Maybe we should go there together."

"That's not a bad idea," I said as I gently placed my fingers on the piano keys. "Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

Brendon grinned as he took a seat next to me on the piano bench and gently wrapped his arms around me. "I'm free tomorrow afternoon, Ryan," he said. "This sounds like so much fun."

"I think so too," I said, smiling.

The show went especially well that day. Brendon had given me a piano part for the love ballad that he had added to our set, so I got to play along with Brendon and Spencer on that song. The tune had since become a fan favorite, and it had found a special place in my heart as well. That song was the closest thing that I had to proof that Brendon truly loved me. After all, he always dedicated it to me before we played it.

However, there were other things on my mind. My grades in Public Policy still weren't great, I had a paper due in two days for Morals, Values, and Ethics, and I had promised Pete that I would set him up with Patrick. How was I supposed to do all of that and go on a date with Brendon? I cared about Brendon more than anything else in my life, but I did have other concerns.

After the show, I left quickly, although I promised Brendon that we would have more time to talk the next day. When I returned to Flack Hall, I typed up a rough draft for my Morals, Values, and Ethics paper and studied my Public Policy notes. I knew that I was keeping Patrick up, but he had a lot to do too. He was still catching up from the week of school that he missed, along with all of his new assignments. The two of us didn't go to bed until it was well past midnight.

The next day, after I edited my philosophy paper, I met Brendon outside the McBean Aquatic Center. He was just as stunning and beautiful as he always was, and I took a few deep breaths to keep my heart from racing. "Hey Ryan," he said.

"Hi Brendon," I said. "I still can't believe that you've never been here. I've only been here once, but I'm still a freshman."

Brendon shrugged and said, "I didn't know that it was available for open swim."

I laughed and said, "Did you think that they built a pool just for the swim team kids? Kale's swim team isn't even that good."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought," Brendon said as he took my hand. "Let's go inside." Brendon and I walked up to the door, but when Brendon went to open it, the door wouldn't open. "Ryan, it's locked!" he exclaimed. "What do I do?"

"You can just scan your Kale University ID card and the door will open," I said.

Brendon went pale and said, "I lost my ID card."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my ID card. "I'll open the door, but you should go to the Shufflebottom Center and get a new card. How do you get into your residence hall?"

"I live off campus, remember?" Brendon said.

"You should still get a new ID," I said as I scanned my card. The door opened, and Brendon and I entered the aquatic center. Almost immediately, we got lost. "Where are the locker rooms?" I asked as Brendon and I wandered through the building, unsure of how to get into the pool.

"I don't know," Brendon said. "You're the one who's been here before."

After a while, we finally found the locker rooms. Brendon and I changed into our swimsuits and headed into the pool. I looked around and spotted a few of my classmates goofing around in the pool.

"Ryan!" Hayley shouted as she tossed a beach ball to one of her friends. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too," I said.

"Who's that?" Brendon asked.

"That's Hayley Williams," I said. "She lives in my residence hall."

"Alright," Brendon said. He looked around the facility and quickly focused on the diving board. "I want to give that a try. I bet that doing a backflip off of it would be a hell of a feeling."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," I said. "It might be dangerous."

Brendon laughed and got in line for the diving board. I followed him, partially to make sure that he didn't die by backflipping off of the diving board and partially because it would be a mistake not to follow such a beautiful man.

When it was Brendon's turn, he hopped onto the first step of the ladder that led up to the diving board and said, "Ryan, can you please give me a kiss for good luck?"

Any excuse to kiss Brendon Urie's ravishing lips seemed like a good one, so I did as he asked. It was a long, soft kiss, and I could have stayed like that forever, but Brendon eventually broke the kiss and ran onto the diving board, and sure enough, he did a backflip.

He landed in the water with a splash, and he swam breaststroke back to the wall. "That was awesome!" Brendon shouted as he climbed out of the water. "I should do that again!"

It was my turn to go off the diving board. I climbed up the ladder and carefully walked up to the edge of the board. Then, I bounced up and down a few times before I did a cannonball into the water.

Brendon was right. It was a hell of a feeling.

After a while, Brendon got bored of backflipping off of the diving board. He ran off to the other end of the pool, prompting the lifeguard to yell at him.

"Seriously?" Brendon said. "They're getting mad at me over running on deck, but not doing backflips into the pool? I just don't get it."

"Me neither, but the aquatics staff know more than we do," I said. "We should respect their authority."

Brendon rolled his eyes and said, "I think the lifeguards just liked watching me do backflips."

"I don't blame them," I said, blushing. "You weren't kidding when you said that you could pull off a shirtless backflip."

Brendon smiled and slid into the pool. "It was fun watching you go off the diving board too, Ryan," he said.

I stuck my foot in the water and said, "Brendon, it's cold in here."

"It's not that bad," Brendon said as he swam in circles. I couldn't exactly say that I minded watching him. Who wouldn't gain pleasure from seeing someone as beautiful as Brendon?

I jumped into the pool, splashing Brendon in the process. "Come on, Ryan," he said. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Sorry," I said.

"It's okay," Brendon said as he brushed his lips against my cheek. "What's new with you, Modern Day Socrates?"

I laughed and asked, "How did you come up with that nickname?"

"It suits you," Brendon said. "I could come up with a different one if you'd like. Ooh, I've got it! What about Ryro? Get it? It's like a combination of your first and last names."

I shrugged and said, "You can call me whatever you want, as long as it's not my real first name."

"Wait, what?" Brendon said. "Ryan's not your real first name?"

"Ryan is my middle name," I said. "My real first name is George, but I go by Ryan because George is my dad's name."

"That makes sense," Brendon said. "Can I call you Ryro though?"

"Sure, why not?" I said.

"So Ryro, what's up?" Brendon asked.

"I'm not failing Public Policy anymore," I said.

"Public Policy," Brendon said. "That sounds like such a useless class. I don't think I've ever used a day of my education, but that class sounds especially mind-numbing."

"It is mind-numbing, but Pete's helping me with it," I said.

"What do you even learn in that class?" Brendon asked.

"It's a lot of analysis of governmental decisions on major issues," I said. "It's useless because I'm sure that every problem could be solved if the United States had a philosopher king."

"That's not how government works," Brendon said.

"It's how it should work," I argued.

"I'm not so sure," Brendon said. "A philosopher king wouldn't solve all of our problems. Everyone would need to get along, and that's hard to do."

"I suppose you have a point," I said. "The resolution of all political issues and world peace would require compromise, which is something that a philosopher king couldn't bring about, but he or she might be able to facilitate..."

Brendon clearly wasn't listening to me. "I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles, and everyone would eat and be happy..."

"He doesn't even go here!" Hayley shouted all of a sudden.

I didn't believe her, but then again, Hayley did seem to know everybody at Kale. It was worth asking Brendon to make sure that Hayley was simply joking. Perhaps she was quoting a movie or something like that. "Brendon, do you even go to Kale?" I asked.

"No, I just have a lot of feelings..." Brendon said.

"Are you just quoting Mean Girls or are you really not a Kale student?" I asked again.

"Both," Brendon admitted.

I didn't know what to think. I had always assumed that Brendon was a Kale student, but clearly, I was wrong. My head began to spin as I thought about a few important questions.

What else did I not know about Brendon? I thought that I knew him so well, but in the end, it's impossible to truly know everything about someone. Maybe I would never know Brendon in the deepest sense, but that didn't stop me from loving him.

If Brendon didn't go to Kale, then which college did he go to? There were five other colleges in the New Haven area alone, so he could be attending any of them. I could ask him, but what would stop him from lying to me again? He had lied to me about having lost his ID card on that very day. There was no way that he could have lost his Kale University ID when he didn't even have one in the first place.

Most importantly, could I truly trust my boyfriend? He had lied to me once - what would stop him from lying again? I wanted to trust Brendon, but I couldn't trust him if he couldn't even tell me which school he went to. It was such a simple fact, but Brendon had lied to me about it.

This is why most people consider lying to be morally wrong, I said. It was because of the fallout once you discover the truth.

"I should go," I told Brendon. "I have some homework to do." It was only partially true, but if Brendon had lied to me, then what would stop me from lying to him?

"Alright Ryan," he said. "I'll see you later tonight."

"See you tonight," I said as I climbed out of the pool and headed into the locker room. As I changed into my regular clothes, I couldn't stop myself from worrying. However, I was also consumed by my affection for Brendon. Despite my new knowledge that Brendon didn't go to Kale, I still found him to be irresistible.

I headed back to Flack Hall, afraid of falling apart.