Risk it for the biscuit || Roadtrip

Chapter 66

The next day didn't start well for a brown haired girl. Last night she stayed in the kitchen until 3AM, waiting for everyone to fall asleep so she could quietly move onto sofa without any questions. But even then, she wasn't able to sleep, thoughts bombarding her head. She knew it was her fault; she could manage the situation in a different way. But it was one of those things where no matter what choice she made, it would create harm.

"Ryan!" Andy's shout pierced through her thoughts and she knew this meant nothing good. She ran out of her bed, checking her phone quickly. It was 7AM. She slept about 3 hours. "Wonderful" she sighed, feeling that all the bad stuff happening to her was some sort of karma for her actions. She walked out of the room, deciding to check on the boys. She was sure that everyone knew what happened between her and Brook yesterday. She was the one who told Amanda and Rose; Andy knew already and Rye was talking with Mikey yesterday. Jack probably got informed about it too. Maybe they all hated her now...

She walked out, seeing Brook and Rye arguing near the bathroom, where the blond boy looked like he was about to cry. Amanda, Rose and Mikey were standing in the kitchen, staring at the situation between the boys, whereas Andy was closer, ready to react if things get out of control. Jack didn't seem to be in the house so Belle assumed he went grocery shopping.

"I told you it's my fault, don't be mad at her" Brook decided to stop apologising repeatedly, seeing that Rye doesn't care. However, this didn't seem to be a good tactic either as the brown boy suddenly lost his temper once again in the last 24 hours. It took him seconds to raise his hands, pushing Brook against the wall with a loud bump, gripping his throat so harshly that the little boy wasn't able to breathe properly.

"Stop!" Belle screamed being the first one to react. Dangerous Rye always fascinated her; the way he protected people he cared about made her heart skip a beat every-time. But right now, she saw it from the other perspective, and it scared her a lot.

Rye loosed up his grip almost immediately. It's not like he wanted to listen to the girl, but he didn't want to hurt his friend. He didn't mean to push him so harshly. He just wanted Brook to shut up. "I'm sorry" he whispered as he moved his hand away, knowing it went too far. "But I don't want to talk about it" he said louder, his voice still cold. He backed away, ready to walk to the kitchen to calm down. But as he turned around, his sight landed on the girl, who looked straight in his eyes too. He couldn't just pass without saying anything; Belle hurt him too much to ignore her. "And you shouldn't interrupt, it's a talk between me and him"

And if a voice could kill, the girl would be dead already. Rye had a hidden talent of making people feel like a piece of rubbish without actually saying anything mean. But this time Belle didn't want to play the role of weak one. "Well, I heard it involved me so yes, I am allowed to interrupt" she said not breaking the eye contact, proud that her voice sounded exactly like Ryan's - calm, but cold.

"Trust me, your little boyfriend is able to talk without your help" Rye hissed, almost like a snake. The argument has started and not even Mikey's or Andy's shouts were able to stop it. The pair got so fixated with their argument, they ignored the whole world around them.

"He's not mine!" The girl answered straight away, "And I don't think he was able to talk when you were nearly choking him!"

"Can you stop..." "SHUT UP!" Andy cut Rye's speech, finally getting a silence in the room. No-one realised that for the past few minutes he backed away, looking at his phone. "Your stupid arguments is the smallest problem we need to deal with right now" He said, clearly annoyed. Everything was going wrong and the pair didn't make the atmosphere any better.

Everyone calmed down almost immediately, seeing Andy wasn't joking. Something bad happened. "There's a photo of Belle hugging Brook in the park going around all social medias" He added quietly, his eyes not leaving the girl for a second. Despite the disappointment, he truly felt sorry for Belle and the hate she was currently getting. "Give me your phone" he added, walking towards the mentioned girl, however she was quicker, reading all her notifications already. Her eyes widened in shock as a photo photo of her hugging Brooklyn, playing the 'big spoon' appeared in front of her eyes. She remembered that situation well - the boy bust out crying so she let him calm down in her arms. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, no-one could guess from the photo that the boy was crying. It just looked like a very romantic and intimate situation. Therefore she wasn't surprised about fans' theories of her changing Rye for Brook so quickly.

She closed her eyes and turned around, facing the wall. She was ready to burst out crying, everything overwhelmed her. Rye, who didn't stop looking at her since their argument, felt a sharp pain in his heart. He wanted to walk and hug her, protect her, let her cry in his arms because he knew her so well already to know that's what she wanted to do. But she was also strong and tough, therefore she turned back again, opening her eyes, gaining energy to fight with it all.

Rye truly hated Belle. Or hated how she makes him feel. He hated himself for still thinking about her in that way, after everything she did. But his pride was too high for him to let those feelings out. He'll suppress his feelings to not embarrass himself even more.

"I'm calling Blair, he needs to know from us before he sees it" Mikey said, going with Andy to speak to him. Amanda and Rose stayed with Brook, Rye and Belle, knowing it's dangerous to leave them 3 alone.

Brook walked to Belle almost immediately, apologising again. It was his fault, and he regretted everything. Not only his life was falling apart; he made everything worse for his friends.

"It's not your fault Brook" Belle knew the boy feels exactly like she feels now. Or maybe even worse as the blond haired boy was always the most emotional of the group. "Remember what I told you. Nothing is your fault" The girl repeated, seeing the awful state of her friend. He looked like he haven't slept a lot this night as well, she didn't want him to feel so guilty.

Rye couldn't stand seeing Belle with Brook. She clearly cared about the boy, not wanting him to blame himself. His mind was playing with him, asking if he misinterpreted her feelings since the start. Maybe her "really like" was just simply really like. Maybe she didn't like him in that way at all, and just wanted to get close to him to learn more about Brook. Maybe she liked Brook so much she was scared to show it, so she took him instead.

Rye closed his eyes for few seconds, tired of his mind making up scenarios. He had to leave the room, he couldn't stay with the much longer. Belle's eyes were still piercing through him, but he didn't dare to look up.

However, before Rye had a chance to leave, Mikey and Andy came back, sharing their conversation with Blair. "He wasn't as mad as we thought he would." Andy started, looking a lot less stressed. "He's glad Brooklyn feels better, he would like to thank em.. Belle for helping" he stopped for a while, feeling the awkwardness coming in.

"Does he know..." Amanda started the question, not really wanting to finish it. Everyone knew what she meant, and saying it out loud could create arguments again.

"No, no" Andy replied almost immediately. "I just told him that Belle was speaking with Brook outside. It's not my story to tell"

"Brook, your mum will come to pick you up. Blair allowed you to go home for now" Mikey followed up, wanting to save the girl some embarrassment. She was clearly ashamed that everyone talked about her. It was a hard situation but deep down, Mikey knew that the girl didn't mean to harm anyone. He didn't understand her decision, but he believed that she had a good reason to do it. He knew she liked Rye and he knew Rye liked her just as much. He hoped, they'll sort it out eventually.
———

"How are you dealing with everything?" Amanda came up to Belle, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the sofa. Her eyes were fixed on the screen in front of her, spending another hour reading through tweets and DMs. "It's not good for you, no one knows what really has happened - you shouldn't take those words seriously" she added.

Belle knew that what her friend was saying was true. But she couldn't stop herself. It was almost like a punishment for all her actions. The DMs made her feel sad, worthless and useless, nearly making her cry. But she deserved it, she deserved it all.

"You're such a b*tch, you deserve to d*e"
"Rye got bored of her so she went for Brook, pathetic"
"Such a sl*t, I hope Blair will kick her out soon"
"F*cking b*tch thinking she can play with the boys like that"

She looked through the same tweets again and again, feeling she's having enough. She had a headache, her mind was going crazy, her hands were shaking either from stress or lack of food or both. She turned off her phone, feeling like she needs to do something, otherwise the thoughts would bombard her head. "I'm going for a walk" she simply said, leaving the room.