Huge shoutout to SammieR5er1229 for being an amazing reader!!
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I had finished almost all of my exams, I just had two left. I think they went okay, but you could never be too sure. They provided a good distraction from Riker and Chloe, but my mind still pondered over whether to give her a second chance or not.
At the moment I was sitting in a recording studio, listening to Ed record a new song for his album. I brought my revision notes to go over while I waited for him to go to lunch, but I kept getting distracted by his incredible voice.
Loving can hurt
Loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing
That I know
And when it gets hard
You know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive
Don't I know it. This song was so real - it was amazing.
Riker had called me hundreds of times in the last two weeks, and had come over three or four times but Charlie had never let him in. I just needed a break from all this drama, and I still couldn't get over what he said to me.
In his defence, he didn't know what an impact that would have on me, but it still gave him no right to lie to me, and then scream at me.
I was so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn't realise that Ed had finished until he slapped me over the head.
"Ow! What was that for?!" I moaned.
"You were completely zoned out and I couldn't get your attention," he explained, obviously holding back a laugh.
"Couldn't you have tried, I don't know, saying my names a few times, waving your hand in front of my face," I suggested.
"Yeah, but this was more fun," he winked.
"Oh, Ed, how I've missed you and your annoying ways," I sighed, getting up and putting my arm round his shoulder.
"Of course you have, I'm impossible not to miss," he joked, making me laugh. "Now, where do you want to eat?"
"Anywhere. I'm starving,"
"Pizza?" Ed suggested. I nodded eagerly and we started walking towards Pizza Palace. Unfortunatley, the restaurant was really close to the Lynch house, and I prayed that I wouldn't see Riker there.
I couldn't tell Ed that. If he knew about my fight with Riker, he'd go ballistic and go punch his face off.
I did, however, tell him about Chloe coming back, but avoided the topic of Riker's reaction. He had reacted pretty much the same as Charlie.
I texted Charlie and told her to meet us at Pizza Palace in 20 minutes, as we were planning on walking.
"So when are you planning on releasing your album?" I asked Ed as we began to walk.
"I'm hoping around October, but that might be a little presumptuous, considering I've only actually done and dusted 3 songs. It's so hard to actually -"
Do do do do do do do do ba ba ba da ba ba da ba ba da
My phone started playing the Glee theme tune letting me know someone was calling me. I looked to see who it was and saw 'Riker <3' on the screen. I ignored it and out my phone back in my pocket.
"Why'd you ignore it?" asked Ed.
"Oh, just because," I said, vaguely.
"Because what?" He obviously wasn't going to let this go.
"Um, well, Riker and I got in a little bit of a fight," I said tentatively.
"What?! What did he say?!" he exclaimed.
"Look, it doesn't matter. We both just overreacted. Watch, we'll be all lovey-dovey again in no time," I said. "Can we please just let this go and have a nice lunch?"
He nodded reluctantly and changed the topic to Charlie.
"It's her birthday in two weeks and I have no idea what to get her," he complained. "You and her collectively have all the Glee merch in the world, she has all the albums she could ever want, and last time I bought her clothes she didn't talk to me for a week because I got her a dress two sizes too big. Help me, please."
I thought for a while, thinking of all the things Charlie liked. "You know what she'd love? A holiday to London,"
"But she's been to London," Ed said foolishly.
"Well, obviously!" I said incredulously. "I mean like a trip, to see all her old friends, her family. She was telling me the other day how much she misses it. Oh! All three of us could go! It would be so fun, just like old times!" I squealed.
"That would be amazing! Your guys' exams are nearly over right? We could go after that: you guys will have broken up for summer, and I could always say that I need song inspiration from London. It would be perfect!"
"What would be perfect?" Charlie asked as she came to sit down next to us. Ed suddenly got a nervous look on his face, and quickly said, "Uh, The Rolling Stones, Miley Cyrus and One Directiom doing a song together,"
"That would be kinda weird..." she said.
"That's what I said!" I piped in, trying to cover Ed's nervousness. "Anyway, let's order,"
Ed and I had already found a table while we were talking about Charlie's present, and it was a nice one by the window. I was watching people walk by as I vaguely listened to their conversation about which meat was better. Being a vegetarian, I had no interest in listening to which way killing an animal makes it taste better.
As I was looking out the window I saw a brunette and two blonde girls holding shopping bags and laughing. The taller of the blonde girls was one of the last people I wanted to see right now. Unfortunatley, all three of them came into the restaurant but I hoped that they didn't see me. They did.
"Jessie, Charlie? Hey! I haven't seen you in -" she started to say, before she stopped and looked as though she was about to faint.
"Hey Rydel," Charlie said, not realising that she had frozen and still looking at the menu.
"Is-is t-that, ED SHEERAN?! Oh my God, I am such a huge fan! I love you!" she squealed. This had turned the attention if many customers. Up till now we had managed to go unnoticed, but now people were peering at us to see if it actually was him.
"Girls, this is Ed. Ed, this is Rydel, Riker's sister, this is Savannah, Riker's brother's girlfriend, and this is Alexa, our other friend," I introduced them.
"Hi girls," Ed said, winking at Rydel. "Always great to meet a fan,"
Rydel looked as though she might faint, so before she collapsed from fangirling too much, I invited them to sit with us.
"How do you know Ed Sheeran?!" Savannah asked incredulously.
"We've been friends since we were little," Charlie smiled. "Can we please eat now?!" she wailed, making everyone laugh.
***
We were halfway through our meal when Rydel brought up the inevitable.
"Jessie, you know Riker really misses you. He's so upset and he's beat himself up about what he said to you. I really think you should at least speak to him,"
"I know, I miss him too, I just can't get over the fact that he lied to me," I explained.
"There's, um, another reason we think you should talk to him," Alexa said. I nodded, telling her to proceed and Savannah explained nervously,
"Well, you ignoring him is sending him into Chloe's arms. Don't get us wrong," she said quickly, before I could retaliate. "He would never cheat on you, but he's just getting closer to her,"
"Yeah, I mean, we all like Chloe and we think you should give her another chance, but it's quite obvious she likes him," Rydel said.
I took a moment to let all of that sink in, before answering, "Okay, if you really think this is happening, then how come you trust her?"
"We've already spoken to her and she promised she wouldn't advance on him so long as he had a girlfriend," Alexa explained. I could either take that as a threat or accept that maybe, just maybe, she was trying to be nice. I decided to go with the latter and conceeded, "Fine, I'll talk to him,"
"Yay!" Rydel squealed. "What are you waiting for?!"
"Wait, now?!" I questioned, mortified.
"Of course! If not now, when?"
"Ugh, okay," I obliged, getting my phone out and texting Riker:
Meet me at the Starbucks near your house in 15 minutes
Well, here goes nothing...