Risk it for the biscuit || Roadtrip

Chapter 25

As the clock moved its hands to 3PM, Brooklyn looked out of their 'work room' window, staring at the colour of the pool. The day has been so warm and he didn't think about anything else apart from going outside and chilling by the water. Their voice lesson has just finished and all the boys were just stuck on their phones.

"C'mon boys, stop being so no-lifeish" Brooklyn said, convincing them to go out with him. Rye and Jack followed the proposition straight away but others weren't too bothered about it.

"Amanda said she cannot meet tomorrow, and that's our last day so I won't see her anymore" Andy said sadly, after boys asked what happened to him. "She has some photography lesson and she's leaving now for 4 days. Apparently it's important." He explained, looking almost as if he was meant to cry. Rye, seeing him in this state, started to feel guilty for lying to his friends, but he knew it'll all come back better at the end.

"Rose won't meet with me too" Mikey said with even more sad voice, if possible. "Her friend had an accident, apparently nothing so bad, but she's coming back to Spain right now" he explained, looking at Andy, showing non-verbally that he understands the pain.

'Good job Belle' Rye thought to himself, realising their plan goes as it should. "C'mon boys, it's sad, but we'll think of something. And for now, let's enjoy the day. You don't want to waste last days in LA, don't you?" He said out laud, trying to pass some motivation for the boys.

"Easy for you, Annabelle is chilling by the pool right now" Mikey said harshly, almost as if he wanted to blame Rye for his pain.

"What do you mean?" The boy replied, shocked at the tone his best friend treated him with. If he wouldn't know before how important Rose was to him, now he had a huge proof.

"You can flirt with her whenever you want and.." Mikey started, soon being cut by Rye's voice. "I don't fli... " he started but Mikey didn't let him finish, "Oh stop the lies!" He shouted "What would you feel if you would get told, you won't see her anymore?" He finished calmly, not waiting for the response and leaving the room. Rye just stood there, paralysed, about what just happened. It wasn't his friend's tone of voice that shocked him the most, but the question he asked at the end. 'What would I feel?' He asked himself in his head, feeling an invisible pain, cutting his body from the inside, only at the thought about it.

"He's right Rye. You would feel the same pain as we do now" Andy's voice cut his thoughts, finally processing the truthfulness of this statement.

"Let's go" he replied simply, not wanting to talk about it. He didn't know what boys were talking about, him and Belle were only friends.
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As the sun raised above the clouds, giving the light and warmth to all people around the pool, a brown haired girl moved away from the water, heading to her beach hair. It was about 20 minutes that she was lying there, when she felt a sudden shadow, covering the brightness.

"Plan worked, well done" she heard someone saying as she suddenly opened her eyes. Rye's silhouette laid on the chair next to her as drops of water running through his body collapsed on her cover-up.

"What happened?" She asked as she sat down, worried. From the first second she realised the boy wasn't in a good mood and him scratching his hand in nervousness just proved to her she was right. Rye just looked at her in shock, not knowing she'll realise how sad and guilty he felt.

"Everything's fine. Boys just reacted worse than I thought" he said, not wanting her to worry about such details. The fact was that Mikey's speech somehow managed to get into his mind and it didn't want to go away.

"We can stop that if.. "No way Parker. I wanna see their faces tomorrow" Rye cut her speech, smiling. Belle calmed down, seeing his mood is coming back to normal. She took out her book in intentions to read it, but as soon as Rye saw that he placed it back into her bag. She looked at him in confusion. "We're going for a swim now" he said confidently, not even asking Belle for her opinion. "You owe me that after I had to spend time with those heartbroken creatures" he finished as she laughed and followed him to the pool.
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At the same time, Blair and Ginger have been lying on the other side of the pool, enjoying the sun. Their eyes were covered with sunglasses as they had a little conversation. Everything seemed to be so quiet and chill as VIP area of the pool wasn't crowded in tons of different children shouting around. Therefore, when they both suddenly heard a laud scream, followed by a very familiar laugh, they looked at the place where it was coming from. The silhouette of Rye flashed in front of their eyes. Annabelle was right next to him, splashing water at his face when he didn't look. In revenge, he lifted her up and jumped in the deeper end of the pool, holding her tightly. "Rye" she shouted, gluing her body into his. "I cannot swim!" She laughed, not taken down by the fear as the boy made her feel safe.

"Don't you think they look so cute together?" Ginger asked her boyfriend, completely changing the topic of their conversation. As soon as she said that, she saw Rye walking up from the deep water, putting Annabelle down in the safe place, smiling cheerily. "Oh Blair, don't look at me like this, you can see what is happening" the girl added, seeing the boy squeezing his eyebrows. "We were so similar when we first met, remember?"

"They still convince everyone they are only friends though" Blair replied, confused what to do. Ginger made a good point, Belle and Rye looked exactly like them when they were younger.

"They are just confused themselves probably. They both treated it like friends/work relation, knowing all the rules, but now, feelings are starting to show off" Ginger stated quite rightly, knowing Blair cannot treat his band like children forever - they all will find someone special for them sooner or later.
"If the only reason for not keeping this girl permanently is your fear of Rye, then think twice because I'm telling you, even if she won't stay with us, Rye will try to see her as often as possible" she finished, seeing mental fight in her boyfriend's head.

"I guess you're right" he replied, after minutes of silence. He wasn't sure how this situation would affect boys' performance and reputation but he couldn't just hide Annabelle from Rye and expect them not to see each other no more. More likely, all the boys would try their best to keep in contact with the girl. „Let's go and eat" he said, finishing this conversation.