Crossed Paths // Ross Lynch

six

Dedicated to @harryjustwokeup for the beautiful new cover!

Ross Lynch made his way up to the pier, his sister trailing behind him, humming a tune under her breath. They had decided that they'd gotten a little bored of performing in the city square, bored of seeing the same old faces. The two had become quite the professional business partners and had decided to attract some new faces by playing by the beach.

A lot of people were down at the beach, either splashing around in the sea or walking along the sand with their dogs or their families. Ross didn't know a lot of the people as the beach and although he knew some of their regular customers would find them eventually by the sounds of his fingers strumming against the strings of his guitar and Rydel's beautiful voice, he wanted to attract fresh faces. The two were trying to build up as big a fan base as they could, even though it only consisted of twelve members, three of them being his two brothers and best friend, Ratliff. 

They strolled down the pavement together as Ross had slowed down a little to let Rydel catch up with him. She was already slightly out of breath from walking so fast but Ross was in a hurry. He wanted to see if he could spot Chloe again in the crowd and let her listen to their music. He really had liked her, almost fallen for her.

He had thought she was beautiful when he saw her looking out her window and had thought she was even more beautiful only hours later, despite her sopping wet hair, bare feet and mascara streaked cheeks from the overflowing tears that had fallen down her cheeks in terror. He liked the way she spoke, the way she acted, every little hand gesture and movement that made her so much more interesting than any other girl he had ever met. 

He liked the fact that she hadn't judged his appearance, didn't stare at her dishevelled hair and scruffy clothes, despite the fact that he had lied to her and told her he had lived in the poshest, most beautiful house he knew. He had only done it to impress her and make her like him. He knew girls liked boys with good reputations and good lives so telling her that he lived in the best house that he'd ever seen was definitely a way to grab her attention.

He knew it would hurt a little when she found out he'd lie but he thought that she wouldn't go to his house, wouldn't look for him. They'd just continually bump into each other and make conversation. He knew he would steer the conversation away from his house. She didn't need to know where he lived because then she would find out what had happened and his entire history would spill out of him until she found out the truth about him. 

Once they had gotten to the beach, they set up their equipment by the pier, leaning against the railings. Ross placed his black guitar case on the wooden boards, opening it up because Rydel hadn't brought her beanie with her.

They started off almost immediately, Ross gently tuning his guitar as Rydel exercised her vocal chords, singing a couple of notes loudly. They both looked at each other and grinned, knowing exactly what they were going to do. Despite being amateur buskers, they had a routine all planned out, determined to become popular and successful in order to turn their lives around. So the two grinned and launched into their usual introduction song, Love Story by Taylor Swift. It was one of their favourite songs of all time and it was usually quite a crowd pleaser. And, just like Ross and Rydel had hoped, a couple of people came over, intrigued, to listen to them. 

At first there were a small group of about five teenage girls, all dressed in shorts and vest tops. They flirted with Ross, winking and tossing their hair as they showed off their taunt stomachs and tiny thighs. Ross smirked at them, trying to play along with them, making them giggle even louder as if he was some massive celebrity, the latest teen heart-throb while they were his adoring fans. He watched another girl came over, about the same age as him, give or take a year or two, dressed in a Taylor Swift t-shirt over her shorts.