Luke let me sleep in his bed the night after Cal and I ran into the gang in the alley, which I was extremely thankful for. I knew after encountering those people I would have nightmares, but sleeping with Luke kept them to a minimum. That was our last full day in LA, and today we're packing our things and getting ready to fly to London.
When we arrive at the airport, I'm surprised by how many people are here. They're all fans of course, screaming and trying to push past the man made walls security have put up. The crowd scares me a little, causing me to cling to Luke's side as we walk. He just smiles down at me reassuringly, taking my hand and holding it tight. "Is it always like this?" I practically have to yell over the screaming fans. Luke shrugs. "Sometimes. It depends on how big the city is." I nod as we make our way to the security checkpoint.
Getting through security takes long enough as it is, but fighting our way through the screaming, hysterical fans makes our journey even longer. The boys stop a few times to take pictures and talk with fans, while I just hold onto Luke's arm and hide behind him. I hate big crowds, and thankfully Luke makes it clear I'm not in the mood to take pictures or talk to fans.
We stay in another hotel since we'll be staying in Wembley for two days, because they're performing two shows here; one tonight and one tomorrow night. I'm glad Luke is letting me share a hotel room with him again, because I'm still afraid to be alone at night.
As per usual, there's a huge crowd of fans outside our hotel. The security guards get off the bus first and clear a path for us to walk through. I hold both Luke's and Ashton's hands as we walk through the screaming crowd of fans into the hotel. Once we've checked in, we go up to get situated, and I put all my clothes in my half of the dresser I'm sharing with Luke. He does the same, and after this we go into the room the other three boys will be sharing. We decide to go down to the lobby to see if there's anything to eat, and when we get there, my eyes land on extremely cute boy. He looks about my age height wise, but because I'm pretty tall among most ten year olds, it's hard to tell. I can't stop staring at his eyes. They're the greenest eyes I've ever seen, and he has short blond hair pushed up slightly in the front, but nowhere near as big as Luke's quiff. He's wearing a blue, green and black plaid sweater with khakis and loafers and is standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. He catches me staring, and I feel my stomach drop. I quickly look away and notice that the guys have disappeared down a hallway at the back of the lobby. I turn to follow them, but am stopped when a warm hand grabs my elbow.
"Like the view?" It's the green eyed boy. My breath catches in my throat as I look up at him, and he smirks down at me.
"Um..." I'm at a loss for words. He chuckles.
"I'm Caden," he introduces himself, holding out his hand. I smile shyly and shake it.
"I'm Rya." He raises his eyebrows.
"Unique name, I like it." I giggle and look down at my feet, feeling my cheeks getting hot. "And I'm guessing by your accent you're not from around where, am I correct?"
Oh my gosh, he's so proper, and his cute London accent is killing me! If Luke ever finds out about this, he'll kill me. I am only ten, after all.
"Um, yeah, I'm from Australia," I say quietly. I'm still a little shy, and this is kind of awkward.
"Wow, pretty far from home," he says.
I smile and nod. "My brother and his friends are in this band, and they travel all around —"
His facial expression changes, almost as if he recognizes me. "Wait, you're Rya Hemmings, Luke Hemmings' sister," he says. "Wow, that's ironic. My sister is obsessed with that band, like it's literally all she ever talks about," he says with a chuckle. I smile. "Hey, wanna come on an adventure?" He says suddenly.
"Um, what kind of adventure?" I ask, slightly confused. He grins.
"I can show you around the city," he says slyly. I can't just leave, Luke'll kill me. But if I tell him, there's no way he'll let me go. What the heck? You only live once, right?
"Sure," I finally say, earning a grin from Caden.
"C'mon then, let's not waste any time!" He grabs my hand, making me giddy, and pulls me out the back entrance of the hotel. It's time for my London adventure to begin!
—
Caden has his own personal bus pass, and somehow managed to convince the conductor that I lost mine, so they let us both on. I wasn't very happy about the fact that he lied, but it blew over eventually. I also just learned that here, trains are called 'tubes.' That's strange.
It's so exciting being a busy city like this, because I really love it. It's busy and bustling, but not as hectic as LA. Even though Wembley is big and full of people, everyone seems to be really nice and caring and polite.
Once we arrive to wherever Caden's taking me, I just follow him off the tube and look around. He stops in front of a large building, grinning. "Welcome to Partyman's World of Play!" He announces, throwing his hands into the air dramatically. I raise my eyebrows.
"Aren't we kind of old to be playing in something like this?" He rolls his eyes, grabbing my wrist and tugging me inside.
"Please, no one cares so long as you don't hurt the smaller kids." I shrug, following him into the large room where there's an indoor playground. "C'mon, let's have some fun!" He says, taking off his shoes and putting them in a cubby. I do the same and follow him into the play place. It's actually really fun. We play tag and chase each other through colorful tunnels, go down the slides, race up the nets you can climb up, and wrestle in the ball pit. After this, we go across the street and he buys us food. It's odd, because I'm not used to London's kind of food, but it was strangely good.
We get back on the tube again and our next stop is the London Designer Outlet, where we try on silly outfits. We eventually are made to leave because the store owners are worried we'll 'disrupt customers' and because we're not buying anything we shouldn't be here.
Our next stop is the Lindt Chocolate Stop, where we taste all kinds of fancy chocolates. They were all really good, and I wish I had money to bring some back for Luke.
Luke!
"Oh my gosh, what time is it?!" I say in a panic, pulling out my phone. It's already 3:30, I've been gone for nearly three and a half hours! There are also several missed calls and texts from all four boys. I'm in sooooo much trouble.
"I didn't tell anyone where I went, my brother's going to kill me!" I exclaim. Caden just stares at me with a bored expression.
"C'mon, we all need a little adventure once in a while." I give him a look and he finally gives in. "Okay, fine, I'll take you back," he says, leading me back to the tube. The whole ride back to the hotel, I'm fidgeting and anxious. I'm going to get murdered when I get back. Luke will never let me out of sight again.
"So, what'd you think of Wembley?" Caden asks, breaking the silence.
"Oh, it was really cool," I say with a chuckle. "I had a lot of fun." He smiles.
"Me too. I don't get to go adventures with many girls as pretty as you."
My cheeks flush red again and I stare at my feet, trying to hide the smile that has found its way onto my face.
"I hope I get to see again," he says as we get off the tube.
"Me too."
"Wait! Lemme give you my number before you go, text me and I'll add you into my contacts," he says shyly. I smile, blushing again.
"Okay," I say as I put my number in his phone. His gaze lands behind me, and I see a small blonde girl looking extremely worried.
"Shoot, that's my sister," Caden mutters.
"You didn't tell her you went out either, huh?" I say with a chuckle. He gulps and shakes his head.
"Well, here goes nothing," I say as we walk into the hotel together. Caden's sister spots him and runs up angrily.
"Caden, what the hell?! You can't just run off like that, mum's gonna kill me for loosing you!"
Caden rolls his eyes. "This is my lovely sister, Kenzie," he says sarcastically. I chuckle and introduce myself. She's very pretty, small, blonde hair, she looks exactly like Caden except for the fact that Kenzie's eyes are brown and Caden's eyes are green.
"Wait, you're Rya Hemmings," Kenzie says, her eyes widening. Caden rolls his eyes again.
"Yes, she's Luke's little sister, get over it," he mutters.
"RYA MARIE HEMMINGS!" I jump at the sound of Luke's voice, and turn to face him. "Where in freaking hell have you been?!" He exclaims.
I proceed to tell him about my adventure with Caden, maybe a bit too excitedly, because he spots Caden across the room and glares at him. Luke's always hated it when I hung out with boys. I know that's not going to change, especially as I get older.
"Rya, you can't just run off like that!" Ashton scolds.
"We had no idea where you were for nearly four hours," Mikey adds.
"I know, I'm sorry, but if I told you I know Luke wouldn't have let me go." Luke glares at me.
"You're right, because he's a complete stranger! You're on our tour, so we make the rules, and if you can't follow them, you'll have to go home," Luke says, running a hand through his hair.
My eyes widen. "What?! I don't wanna go home! Not yet!"
"Then don't ever pull anything like again," Luke says sternly. I nod eagerly.
"Rya, you have to use your head! This is the second time in less than three days you've gotten yourself into trouble! We're a band, we don't have time to —" Calum stops, the other boys turning to him with raised eyebrows. I feel my stomach drop.
"To take care of a kid, right?" I say, breathless and my voice hoarse. "Yeah, I got it."
I push past the boys and take the stairs up to the hotel room, suddenly angry and upset. I know it's my fault, because I ran off without saying anything. But what happens if their schedule gets busier? They won't have time for me. The people on Twitter were right, I shouldn't be here. I'm only dragging them down, I'm a pest. They don't have time for me. How could they? Why did I even think this was going to be fun? I won't even be able to spend time with them because after this, we'll be going to a different place everyday. Then a security guard will get stuck with me while they perform. I sigh, out of breath from running up the steps so quickly. I go into my and Luke's hotel room and lean against the closed door, panting. My throat burns and I'm heaving for air. I go into the bathroom, locking the door behind me, and just sit there, thinking. My thoughts are interrupted at the sound of knocking.
"Rya, c'mon, I've gotta get ready for the show," he says. My hopes fall. I was hoping Luke would console me, but he's more concerned about the show.
Of course he is, shows are important, you aren't, a voice in my head tells me.
I shake it away, unlocking the door and slipping past Luke to lay on the bed. He just goes in without a word to get ready. This makes me feel even worse, because he's always telling me it isn't my fault. But this time it is. He's not going to console me, because Cal's right.
A/N - Hi guys! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, because I thought Caden and Rya were really cute, and I also enjoyed writing the parts where they went different places. Also, Caden's sister Kenzie is based off my best friend lovinqlashton :)
I didn't expect it to end so dramatically, but... Oh well😂 don't worry, though, it'll be okay... Or will it? Stay tuned to find out:) xoxo - Em😊❤️