It's Not Over Yet (the seventh book in the glee series)

Chapter 87: What Happened To John?

"So I think I'm gonna release the song with Lyric as my second single," Rylan said to Isaac as they hung out in the latter's room. 

Isaac had officially moved all of their belongings into Julie's house and were just a room apart from Kayli. It was unclear whether or not Skye was living there now, too, but her things were in the living room when they arrived in the morning.

As Isaac unpacked, Rylan continued, "It's the one I told you about that Julie had written and then passed it along. Changed the production around and got Lyric's vocals on the track. She and I are finding we work well together. The song we did for her album is starting to pick up some traction, so that should be an indicator for what would happen if in a few weeks, I dropped another single with her from my end. Funny enough, I was initially trying to get Santana in the studio for it but she's been polishing her album. I overheard that she has a big single coming out this Friday. It's the talk at the label. Have you been by? Isaac?"

Rylan watched his boyfriend, who was staring blankly at a box of stacked video game boxes, not paying him any attention.

"Isaac!" Rylan exclaimed, getting their attention.

Isaac turned to him and said, "Oh, sorry. Yeah, sorry about that. Um... What?"

"What's going on?" Rylan asked. "Ever since we landed back in Ohio you've been weird."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Isaac shook their head. "Guess I'm just kind of distracted. I have to pack all my things for the tour. Two days and I'm opening for Julie. It's... huge."

"Yeah, I know that," Rylan nodded. "Which is why I'm trying to spend time with you now before you're off on that big bestie adventure. It's hard to do it, though, with you zoning out every thirty seconds."

"I was just wondering," Isaac turned to him. "Are we... okay? There was a lot of weirdness with us over the last month and I don't wanna pretend we're okay and then find out in a month or two that we weren't really."

"We're more than okay," Rylan assured them. "Seriously, Isaac, I know it was unsettling. But... I got my feelings out and you heard me out and then at the VMAs it felt like we were a couple again. You know? I'm over it. I hope you can get over it, too."

Isaac slowly nodded, glancing back down at their box.

"But," Rylan added, "if you still wanna talk about it..."

Isaac turned back, shaking their head. "No, not at all," they said. "I'm good."

"Good," Rylan smiled, reaching out for one of Isaac's arms to tug them closer to him. "Because given that you fly out tomorrow night, I think there are better things for us to spend our time doing today than talking."

Isaac let go of their belongings, letting Rylan pull them closer until they fell together onto Isaac's bed. As they kissed, Isaac couldn't pulling away to smile. Now that their little bump had been overcome, everything could go back to pure bliss once more.

***

As Finn led the way inside Rinky Dinks, the sight that the group took in was depressing, to say the least.

The roller rink was completely empty, and parts of the floor looked chipped beyond simple repair. An entire side of the outer railings was broken. The food and drink bar was dirty and dusty, with a bored employee standing behind it. 

Marley could've sworn she saw a rat running behind the bar, but she said nothing, as then she wouldn't be able to convince herself that it was just the late. 

A few seconds later, a door behind the stage that was overlooking the rink opened up and out emerged none other than April Rhodes, whom both Finn and Marley were familiar with. Albany and Leo shrugged at each other as the petite blonde dashed towards them in six inch cowboy boots.