Reforming Society •• OneRepublic {2}

Under Hard Rain

Besides, Eddie had an odd urge to find out how the girls were doing, especially Ramona, for her the other guys hadn't talked to more than twice, and the last time was over three weeks ago. He wasn't even sure Ryan had much of an idea of how she was, though, due to hardly being home, but at the Olive Garden she was certainly in less-than-well conditions. Or it seemed so.

They were only another ten minutes away from Ryan's luxurious neighborhood when Eddie overheard the other man talking to the elderly woman in the silence, about how the prisoners were being executed soon if they had more than a year of their sentence left. This served a bit of a surprise to Eddie, and he wondered why. He ended up thinking of Shawn and what little he knew of the guy. He was the man who abused Ramona and Ryan ended up defensively shooting before sending him to jail. Wasn't his sentence at least ten years? It had to be, Eddie thought, It's only been one, anyways. Maybe he's being killed.

This thought came and went, and Eddie felt an odd joy in knowing Shawn would probably be dead. Perhaps it could be more of a comfort to Ryan and Ramona, especially the poor latter. Offer them a bit more peace knowing he'll never get to them again, even in ten years or however long he was locked up for.

The bus pulled up on the street of Ryan's home, and instantly, Ryan nervously got up to head out the door. He looked back at Zach and Brent, "Lynn and Addie are here, by the way."

At this, the other two quickly got up to follow him, and when Eddie and Drew made eye contact, they, too, decided to follow. It was only unfortunate they didn't tell the bus driver to hang back a bit; he drove off as soon as Drew, the last one, stepped foot on the concrete. Drew cursed as the bus sped off.

"It's alright, borrow one of my cars to get you guys home. We'll just pick ours up at the bar tomorrow." Ryan suddenly said from behind them.

"Fuck, that's right," Drew said loudly at this, "Our cars are in Los Angeles in the middle of a riot."

No one said anything, all suffering from the same thing. They instead looked at Ryan, and Zach replied to him, "One car isn't going to fit, what, six people?"

"Seven including Johana."

"Jo's here too?" Brent asked. Ryan nodded, then turned to head to his house without replying to Zach's inquiry. Then Zach spoke again, checking his watch as he did.

"Oh, yeah, Ryan, curfew is also at 9:30. So...that's eight minutes."

Ryan sighed.

"Then I have three spare bedrooms and two couches, stay here for the night."

No one said anything back, in defeat.

The five of them soon walked on Ryan's driveway. Evidently, some had been watching at the window, for when they walked into the light of Ryan's home, the front door opened and out ran Lynn and Addie into Zach and Brent's arms.

Johana and Ramona followed them, but stayed at the door. Ramona held her arms tightly in front of a closed robe at the threshold and had a sad face. From what he could see after this, Ryan had gone over to her and asked if she was okay, to which Ramona nodded. Eddie hoped Ryan could see that she clearly was not.

"Hey, Eddie." A woman said. Eddie turned to see Johana standing there and jumped a bit.

"Hey, Jo. Didn't see you come over."

Johana laughed a bit, and there was a pause before she asked, "So what happened?"

"There was a riot out on the street the bar was on. We just ended up being taken on a bus since we're first class."

Johana went a bit serious, "And what'd they do with the middle and lower class people?"

"I think you know what they did." Eddie solemnly replied. Johana soon nodded, biting her lip. There was another pause and Eddie looked away from her just to hear her say with a bit of an airy tone to her voice, "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

Eddie turned to her again, nodding.

"Thanks, Jo."

Johana nodded, then she walked away to the house swiftly. Eddie wondered what exactly that was about, but had a feeling it was something good, even.

Yet he was exceptionally glad to find that even through the murky waters and gloomy skies of the nation, there were still things they could find consolation through like friendships and relationships. In people they cared for, people that, as far as they were truly concerned, were always going to be there for them with umbrellas under the hard rain.

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Happy 37th birthday to our dear Ryan Tedder!! I hope you guys liked this chapter being uploaded for this special occasion, haha. I decided towards the end that I'd complete it on a much happier note than you've been getting basically this entire book so far.

It's also recently come to my attention that you don't get another chapter with Ramona for a couple more weeks, so I apologize for that if you've been curious on her actual condition, if you aren't now. It's a bit odd, though, isn't it? Seeing so little of her after the first book had her 98% of the time? It's a bit weird for me to write, lmao. Switching main characters is weird.

Anyways, my birthday is tomorrow (I'm 16 holy crap???) so I had a hard time writing this today, I was pretty busy. I had to write it in chunks, which I usually don't do, so I must also say sorry if it's a bit broken up. I also think you'll really like the next update! At least I will! It's from an interesting P.O.V., which isn't anonymous! Take guesses, I bet you can't get it!! But if you do, perhaps I'll give you a dedication for the next chapter... Until Wednesday! :)

P.S. How do you feel about Johana/Eddie too? This isn't hinting anything, I'm just curious to see your thoughts. :)