This is one of the chapters that was previously published in the sequel before being moved into the book. If you were up to date on the sequel, you should skip to Chapter 70!
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hi so i was supposed to wait to post this till i got my new covers but not doing well and quite honestly need validation. plus i'm working on chapter nine so it'll be fine i'll update that when i get the covers.
but i really do hope y'all like this :)
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"Can you please, please, please never go back to Sway and just stay with us again? Please?" Charli begs from where she's attached to my side. I giggle before sighing,
I wish. But Bryce might come in and drag me out if I stay longer than tonight Char," She laughs,
"Don't worry, I'll fight him for you," making me smile before pulling away to hug Chase for a second time, who speaks up now,
"I mean I would too, but I think the boy would beat my ass," He laughs and I pull away, glaring up at him,
"Absolutely not, he won't. Well, I would love to see him try," I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows. Chase let's his mouth fall to a grin, laughing as he pulls me into a hug.
"Hey, hey, hey, can I say hi to Roro now?" I grin widely, turning around and running to hug the familiar boy,
"Ryland Storms, I have missed you so much." I bury my head in the skinny boy's neck, laughing lightly as he spins me around,
"It's been too long Rory, I clearly need to start hanging with Bryce more," He laughs as he lets me go and I raise my eyebrows, pointing towards the White Claw in his hand,
"If you have that, Bryce will hang out with you any day," Everyone laughs, as Madi steps towards me, rolling her eyes at whoever she just hung up the phone with,
"Okay so, Avani is ditching us for... something. Not really sure who, but it's fine. I'm fine," She fake sobs and, as Charli and I start giggling, Chase lifts a hand and pats her back four times in the most awkward way possible, obviously sending Charli and I into hysterics. I fall sideways, directly into Rylands chest as he catches me tentatively with his free hand. He shakes his head, snickering while Madi glares almost evilly at Chase, helping me up into a steady position.
Charli leans her head on me as Madi and Chase begin actively bickering and Ryland gets called inside by someone, "I missed you Rory. I-I don't know if I've met anyone else in LA who is a truer friend than you, and you're probably my best friend other than Gemma." I smile at her softly as she moves so we are facing,
"Everything has been so hard lately and LA and the internet have gotten so toxic. Please, please come around here more. I know you're pretty much always going through a lot, but, I miss you and you should stay here all the time if possible," She jokingly pouts, but I see the truth in her eyes. I smile, hugging her tightly before speaking,
"I love you a lot too Char. And I want to always be able to be there for you. I can promise that I'm going to be better at it now. I'm your friend, and I'm glad I'm finally getting to live my life. That means having the energy for other people. You're so sweet and such a wonderful girl Charli. Seriously. So, you wanna go inside and talk somewhere or are you okay?" I tilt my head, smiling softly as she nods before grabbing her hand, "Great, okay, Chase! We'll be inside!" All I get in response is a hand wave as him and Madi keep bickering.
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"Okay guys, you don't see her very often, but it's my girlfriend!" Bryce grabs my hand, and I laugh as he pulls me on camera, shaking me side to side from behind me as his hands grip onto my waist, "Say hiii, Sweets," I giggle as he kisses my neck, waving,
"Hi, people. I'm back," I smile. I look at him, tilting my head up and to the side, "Are you gonna tell me what I'm doing here?" I shift awkwardly into his arm as he looks directly at the camera,
"Thank you babe, for that perfect and natural transition," His voice sounds almost robotic, but then he switches back to the vlog excitement one, "See guys, she's literally the best YouTube girlfriend I could ever have. And you're not even a YouTuber!" He looks back at me for the last part, hugging me tight. I raise my eyebrows, glancing between the camera and him,
"You sound like a... a simp? That's the right word, isn't it Blake?" I ask as he walks down the stairs, only to receive an immediate laugh from him,
"Yeah, yup, that's it Aury. You hear that guys? He's changing! Even his angelic girlfriend is calling him out on it- mhmguhfmm!" Brace tackles Blake as he moves on camera, nearly knocking me over when they fall to the ground.
I steady myself, laughing as they wrestle back and forth on the floor. I glance at the camera, silently shaking my head before waving my hand at the boys and turning to walk away towards the living room. I don't think we're gonna film for a bit based on the yells filling the house.
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Noah POV
I scroll past Markell's video, looking over my instagram, with my other arm around Dixie while she watches Grey's Anatomy for the eighth time, "When is our postmates getting heeerrre?" Dixie asks, throwing her head back in frustration as she pauses the tv. I just glance at her with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile before looking back at my phone,
"I don't knoooow. But soon. Plus, we ate like two hours ago. We're good to wait," I laugh slightly but Dixie flops down sideways on to me and covers her face in her hands,
"But what if I want food now?!" I laugh again, setting my phone down to the side and leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead,
"Too bad." I wait to answer before speaking and smiling sweetly at her, grabbing the remote to turn back in the show. Dixie groans angrily as I settle comfortably into the couch, smiling as my girlfriend grumbles at me under her breath.
We sit calmly in silence for a little while, until a loud squeal can be heard from upstairs, "They're here! Ohmygoshohmygosh, they're here!" I snap my head around to look at the staircase, Dixie popping up from where her head was on my chest to do the same.
I see Rory's small form fly down the stairs with her phone in her hand as her arms spread wide for balance once she hits the floor at the bottom. She scrambles to gain her feet before whipping her head around, her eyes landing on us. Both Dixie and I laugh lightly as her face forms a sheepish smile and I ask, "You good dude?" She pushes some hair out of her face and behind her ear, "I didn't know you could move those legs that fast," I laugh even harder as she glares lightly at me. Dixie giggles, but smacks my chest nonetheless, "What!" I scoff, grinning innocently.
Rory just huffs, before letting out a squeal as if she forgot whatever she was so desperate to get. Dixie fully sits up while we watch Rory run to the front door and rip it open, squealing even louder as she jumps up and down.
I raise my eyebrows as Dixie and I glance at each other, confused, before turning back to watch Rory attempt to use her minimal strength to tug at what we can now see is a massive box that is around the same height as Rory, "Hey, um, Ror? You want a little help? I got a muscles man over here that would be, thrilled to get up and help you," Dixie gives me a hard shove at the word "thrilled", making me stand and move over towards the small girl struggling with multiple pounds of whatever is in the box.
As Rory agrees to getting help, giving up, she walks over to sit next to Dixie, praactically bouncing in the seat. I sigh, shaking my head as I move around the box to push it inside. Once I realize that it's not even heavy, just awkward, I pull it all the way inside, shutting the door and pushing the box over in front of my ecstatic friend. I walk over to the kitchen to get some scissors, raising my eyebrow as Rory hops up to stand on the couch, over the box,
"So, what exactly is all of this? What did you... did you buy something this big?" I ask, handing her the scissors before going back to sit with Dixie.
Rory grins, slicing the top of the box open, "No, it's not a thing. It's many," There is a certain giddy look in her eye and tone to her voice as she pulls the top open and yanks something out. I just nod in recognition when I see it, shaking my head as Dixie laughs happily, standing to look inside with Rory.
They're Squishmallows.
A cow.
A cactus.
An octopus.
A rainbow lion.
An owl.
A sloth.
And like three or four more that I can't even tell you what they are.
"You bought... you spent how much money on stuffed animals?" I ask, standing next to them after five or six minutes of them squealing over each one, an incredulous scoff escaping my lips. Which was apparently a mistake,
"These aren't just stuffed animals Noah! God!" Dixie yells as Rory gives me a reproachful, offended look as though I had called her a horribly offensive name. I roll my eyes at Dixie, walking over and wrapping one arm around her shoulder as I look around the floor.
Rory keeps her unintimidating glare on me as she wraps herself around the Rainbow Lion one, settling her body into the corner part of the couch, "What?" I shrug, laughing at the girl.
She hugs the lion, rolling her eyes now before standing, reaching down to grab the sloth, and walking over back to the stairs. I look at Dixie and she shakes her head at me before getting back on the couch. I raise my eyebrows, looking around at the mess they made with all of the stuffed animals and the box, but just shrug and sit down next to her.
We watch the show for a while until I hear people come in the door behind us, "Yo, we're back! What's u- What the fuck?" Bryce's voice rings through the first floor, nearing us as he cuts himself off. Him and Blake round the couch, looking around our current mess of a living room. He looks up from the floor at me, throwing his hands up like I did anything.
I smirk, holding my hands up in the air as Dixie scoffs, "Go ask your girlfriend dude, I can't help you," Bryce's face transforms in realization, his head falling back as Blake chuckles, patting Bryce's back,
"Man. You've got a special one bro," He laughs as he picks up a cactus one, before sitting down on the couch,
"You might want to go check she isn't buying more right now, cause she'd use your credit cards. And these are not cheap Bryce," Dixie's warning makes Bryce freeze in the middle of rubbing his brow, a groan escaping his lips as he picks up another one, that I think is an owl, and turning to reluctantly go talk to his girlfriend.
Blake, Dixie, and I all look at eachother and after a few seconds laugh, before Blake starts asking questions about what's on the screen in one of Meredith's procedures. Although, ignoring Rory's shrieks of happy laughter and Bryce's own version of that as well is difficult, and it's not hard to see the little smiles on our faces as we hear two of our best friends be actually happy for the first time in a while.
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Authors Note from when this was in the sequel:
i hope you guys liked it! let me know in the comments what y'all want to see in this book.
i love you, thank you so much for reading :)