Warm coffee (I know he doesn't drink coffee, bare with me) was cradled in my hands, I needed the extra energy booster since I received barely any sleep last night. Normally, I'm not too keen on sipping a beverage that comes from beans, but it tastes better than downing two stay awake pills and I assume it's unhealthy to take off brand pills with your antidepressants anyway, so I brewed some coffee for Ryley and put it in the microwave too since she is addicted to the drink and I thought she might want it to keep her awake for school.
It was six in the morning, Ryley's alarm woke me up and I pounded the snooze button for her since she deserved more sleep than she received the night before. I thought waking her up around seven would be an appropriate time seeing as she didn't need to apply makeup to her face like normal girls, I've seen her get ready to an extent and she could be out of the house in five minutes if she needed to.
Time seemed to pass by quickly today, normally his mornings are filled with yawns and an insomniac mind that finally turned off when I finally need it to be awake fully which normally led to me taking some stay awake pills, but I cannot do that this morning since it's probably not safe to take with prescribed medications. It was already a quarter to seven and I knew I would have to wake up Ryley in the next five minutes in case she wanted to do something with her hair today like she does sometimes, but she is a bit stubborn and most likely will not get out of bed until two minutes before we have to leave.
I sighed, dumping the rest of my coffee down the sink drain, rinsing the mug with water and lumbering upstairs to my bedroom since Ryley was too tired to go to her own room last night, and I shook her lightly, but nothing happened except for her slapping me in the chest repeatedly to get me to go away.
Eventually, after staring at her for a good minute, I walked away to my closet to pick out my outfit for today since I had some things to do while she was at school. Hastily, I yanked the sweatpants off my legs and replaced them with my tan jeans before hoisting a plain, light gray sweater over my bare body. The outfit was one of my nicer put togethers, and I rushed into the bathroom to style my hair the way I liked it before brushing my teeth and making my way back out to the bed where sleeping beauty still laid, sound asleep as much as before I shook her.
"Wake up, school time come on!" I hissed in a hushed tone, shaking her slumped shoulders abruptly, but that didn't work and she ignored me like I was Scar from Lion King. I contemplated my methods for waking people up, thinking about how I could do so without having her be upset with me for the whole day, but anything at this point would cause her to be mad about not getting enough sleep, "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" I hollered, earning a cringe worthy expression from Ryley as I held grip of the end of the comforter before I began to chant the other part of my saying, "Get up now or I'll pull off the blankey!"
Since she didn't move an inch in the amount of five seconds, I ripped the duvet cover off of her body which forced her into the haphazardly frigid spring air, but she wasn't too keen on happiness at this point as she scowled and recoiled into a ball, trying to savor the warmth of her body heat and she groaned when she realized all was lost.
"Now you have exactly ten minutes to get ready for school before we have to leave, hope you didn't want to do anything with your hair because that's not happening," I badgered, skipping away with a grin on my face. I was so happy today and I had no clue why, maybe reason that graduation was crawling behind me and she would no longer be a high schooler. This was the final transition to becoming an adult for her, her diploma.
"Kiwi," Ryley slurred, her voice not fully awake since she just woke up, "Pick out my outfit for me, will ya? I'm going to brush my teeth and straighten my hair, just...leggings or jeans are fine I guess, no skirts because I'm not in the mood," she explained tiredly, dawdling into my bathroom and locking the door behind her as the immediate muffled sound of water echoed.
My socks scuffed the floor quietly as I jogged down the hall, one door down to Ryley's bedroom where the amount of her clothing oozed from the closet. Regardless of the piles of clean and dirty clothes she owns, she still only wears the same pair of jeans and shirts every single day which makes no sense, but then again neither does she.
I rifled through her clothing quickly trying to hurry the process of picking an outfit for her, so I pulled out three bottoms and three tops, matching them up into outfits on the hardwood floor for Ryley to have a variety of clothing to chose from. The first outfit was a pair of high waist black jean leggings with a dark, maroon knit sweater which might have been a bit too heavy for the weather, but oh well. Second outfit was a pair of Tokyo high waist skinny jeans paired with a plain white pocket tee shirt and the third outfit was a pair of solid black elastic waist leggings and a light manilla colored sweater that would most likely need a cami underneath.
I felt satisfied with my pairings, quickly matching outfit one with her vintage lace up boots, the second outfit with her medium top black chuck all stars with white laces and the third outfit paired with her skater high top vans that are more of a faded black color since she wore them so much. If I was a girl, I would wear the color out of these outfits which is saying something since I have an amazing sense of style if I do say so myself.
"Okay you have three choices paired up with shoes too, so hurry it up women," I told Ryley as she walked in with her hair curled in loose ringlets with one of my beanies over her head. Her eyes coasted upon her outfit choices before she signaled for me to turn around so she could change, and I waited patiently for her to get done before spinning back around to see she had gone with a mixed option of outfit three and two. She wore the plain white pocket tee shirt with the elastic waist black leggings paired with the worn black vintage lace up boots, her half calf gray socks visible, but it looked cute.
"Let's get going, dude," she chimed as she grabbed her backpack from the desk chair in the corner of her room before dragging me out of her room to go downstairs to grab the keys off the kitchen island. There is a bowl in the middle that was supposed to be filled with false fruits, but instead, it's where the boys and I keep our keys to prevent us from losing them, "Oh and I'm driving today, no ifs, ands, or buts."
Once both Ryley and I were buckled up in our appropriate seats, she started the car before blasting the heat even though it blew out cold air instead of warm since it wasn't preheated, but she didn't seem to mind. Right now, it looked as though she had no care in the world for anything and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"How's school going for you? Like did you get your grades up, so you can graduate with the rest of 2014 class?" I questioned, trying to make small talk during the short ride over to the high school.
"Yeah, I'm taking some credit recovery classes for sign language and geology, so the credits I earn from those classes will actually be given to me regardless of missing so much," she spoke, happily blubbering about school for once even though today is the last day both of us would ever forcefully have to step foot in that building, "Y'know, ever since I was thirteen, I've been dreaming of the moment when I would finally be able to wear a beautiful dress and converse under my personal cap and gown, throwing them in the air after finally becoming an adult. The only day when I can wear something gorgeous without people saying it's weird to see me in such out-of-the-box outfit."
I sighed as she turned the steering wheel to pull into the student parking lot, "You can wear whatever you want Ryley, it's your body and your life, you shouldn't let people get in the way of what you want to do."
She waved her hand at me while unbuckling her seat belt, grabbing her backpack from the backseat behind her seat and she held the handle of the car, "I know, Kian. Trust me, I do, but you know how I get when it comes to people telling me something about my appearance. I'm not trying to let them overrule my life, but you also have to understand that it's not so easy to go from a broken, depressed, insecure teenage girl to someone who is confident in her own skin and happy with her life. It'll take awhile, but I'm getting better. I'm slowly healing and its because of you, without you I would've never wanted to get better in the first place, you saved me from who I could've been," she thanked, sending me a tiny smile while just barely showing her pearly teeth before she waved goodbye and ducked out of the car. I watched as she sped walk into the lobby of the school before switching seats and speeding off to do what I had to.
The trickiest thing about being friends with the wallflower is that you know she gets bullied everyday verbally, you hear her tell you about the things people have called her, but the only thing you can do right now is sit around and wait it out since you don't even go to school anymore.
Once I got home after doing everything I needed, including picking Ryley up from school, her and I sat down at the seats by the island in the kitchen.
"How has your day been?" I questioned Ryley, pivoting in my seat to face her. She was staring at the plate filled with fruits in front of her.
I noticed that she wasn't going to answer, her time too occupied with the calories of her food hanging above her head, "You don't need to eat if you don't want to," I suggested.
She shook her head and finally looked up at me, "No, I need to eat. I've had nothing at all today, and if I want to get better I need to eat even if I don't want to sometimes."
"Getting better takes time, you can't just quit your habit cold turkey or in your case, start eating regular portioned meals three times a day every single day. It's okay to binge on food and throw it up after, it's okay to feel insecure and it's okay to skip a meal every so often. The whole process of getting better isn't going to happen right away, but just knowing in your mind that you will one day be able to eat three meals a day with a snack in between and that that's your goal is really good, it means you want to get better and you will."
She nodded, putting her hand on my shoulder for support as she stood up from her chair, tripping on the leg and almost falling over before laughing it off.
"Graduation practice in twenty minutes, you ready?" I asked, gazing at her as she smiled almost forcefully, but I couldn't tell completely because she looked somewhat happy about the whole ordeal of getting out of here.
"Nervous, but I'm excited, and I really want to get a job sometime after we graduate. Maybe at the coffee shop or maybe you could talk to your photographer about getting me a job or like be a mentor, because I really want to learn more photography outside of my photography classes in school," she begged, and I wished I could hook her up with a photographer, but I don't currently have one and neither does any of O2L. We are trying to get professional photos of us taken and we've talked to a few people, like Jenn's photographer Kevin, a famous one from Europe named Aslam and another kid named Joseph who has just started in the industry. We're thinking of hiring Aslam for a one time photoshoot, then Jc and I were talking about getting ourselves a permanent photographer with Joseph since he deserves somewhat of a start to show people he isn't that bad for a newbie.
"Well, uh, we don't really have a photographer right now, but we're working on it. There's this professional photographer from Europe that was going to do a photoshoot with us and the rest of the O2L boys in a few weeks if you wanted to tag along and get some tips from him, I'm sure he wouldn't mind an apprentice tagging along. I'll talk to him later today when we get home from graduation and stuff, see if we can set something up, okay?"
She grinned, "That's perfect, thank you kiwi," she moved her legs from my lap and quickly latched her arms around my neck in an uncomfortable hug since she was stretching her back in an awkward way, but it felt nice to know the kiss hadn't effected the way we act around each other.
"You're--" I started off, but was cut off by the insanely loud ding of Ryley's phone that informed her that pre-graduation ceremony starts in five minutes.
Ryley and I exchanged glances simultaneously before slowly getting up.
For the next thirty minutes, Ryley and I cleaned up the kitchen by throwing away the disposable plates with chewed up food on them, we washed the counters, and swept the floors.
"We were going to skip the practice because we wanted to spend time with family before the ceremony, we were either going to have a pre-graduation party or just hang out and have one after, right?" I asked Ryley.
I gripped onto Ryley's hand next to me, she stared down at our intertwined hands and didn't break gaze with them, "Something like that," She grinned.
"Okay, you have three hours to get ready I guess. Do you want to hang out in my room and listen to music for a bit until you should get ready or do you just want to get ready like now?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't need to go do her makeup quite yet.
"Uh, I think I'll go take a shower, do my makeup, get ready and then I'll come to your room and we can hang out and stuff. Are you like wearing a tuxedo to graduation or just your formal khakis and gray sweater?"
"Probably the second one, because tuxes make me feel uncomfortable and I only wear them when my publicists force me to on the red carpet or in that one photoshoot we had for the calendar, plus it's your graduation not mine so I don't really need to dress up that much," I explained.
"You're life is so extravagant," she exclaimed as she mocked the words that just came out of my mouth like saying publicist in a high pitched tone of voice. I laughed at her because she really is a character once you get to know the real her. She left to take a shower, do her hair and makeup after she was done making fun of me, so I got dressed real quick after that, then I listened to music off Jc's speaker while scrolling through Twitter.
@KianLawley: FOLLOWING SPREE BECAUSE IM BORED AF AND I RLY WANNA TALK TO YOU GUYS SO LETS GO !!
For the whole hour it took Ryley to get ready, I had talked to so many of the people in my fandom and they're really entertaining especially when they were flipping out, but they are so great to talk to and at one point I had facetimed a few of them, prank calling some others.
"Who are you talking to?" Ryley asked, looking at me weirdly when she walked into my room while drying her hair with one of her cotton tee shirts. I stared at the girl on the screen of my phone, her name was Cathy who was tan, had dark brown eyes that matched her hair color. I've been talking to her for twenty minutes now after I had hung up on Emmily once following her on Twitter.
"Come over here and say hello, Ryley," I motioned her over as Cathy was looking at me with the 'I'm going to cry now more than I already am' but I wanted her to meet my best friend, plus both her and I were talking about Ryley earlier when Cathy asked me what it was like living with her. She was really nice and avoided the sensitive topics like if Ryley and I were dating or why she was in a coma five months back.
"Who is it?" She asked again as she jumped onto the bed and scooted into the frame before waving frantically to Cathy and beaming a very cheery hello to the girl. She got really excited, breathing so heavily that she couldn't say hi back to Ryley, but I couldn't blame her. She has been supporting me for three years now, I can't imagine facetiming with the person I idolize.
"R-Ryley, you look really really pretty," Cathy gushed, tears spilling from her eyes since she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Thank you so much, you're so sweet and really pretty. How are you doing?" She asked, the two of them making small talk while I looked over at Ryley admiringly. I'm glad she isn't anxious to be talking to someone new even if it was a fan over FaceTime.
"I'm doing really great, this is the best night of my life. Thank you guys so much, you made my life like I'm so so happy right now, these are tears of joy. You guys are my life, I love both of you so much. I really wish I could hug you right now, but I can't and that's okay. I just really love you."
Ryley looked over at me, smiling before turning back to Cathy, "I love you too," her and I said simultaneously before chuckling it off and saying jinx.
"Cathy, the boys of O2L and I are going on tour around the country, do you think you'd--"
"RYLEY IT'S TIME TO GO OR YOU'LL MISS YOUR GRADUATION!" Ricky shouted from downstairs, but neither of us wanted to go yet.
"You'd be able to go get a VIP ticket to meet us?"
She shook her head no and my smile fell a bit, "Awe, why not?"
"I-I'm sorry Kian, but sometimes you have to realize that your fans aren't all made of money and most of time, the people who have supported and watched you for longer, the people who idolize you more than anyone else, those are the people who are depressed, have anxiety, have family problems, are really poor and on the verge of getting kicked out of their house. I'll have you know, a bunch of your fans watch you to forget about the things going on in our everyday lives, you make us feel better and that's why we love you so much. You make us forget about everything, you've saved a lot of people from committing suicide because without you they wouldn't have put down the pill bottle and put down the knife from their throat," as she said that, I looked over at Ryley and she had an unreadable expression on her face because that is exactly what I did for her, I saved her.
"Okay, I'm sorry," I apologized sincerely, I never knew that I helped people through their family problems and depression, "I've got to go, but I'll talk to you later."
She nodded, "Bye Kian, I love you."
"Bye Cathy, I love you too beautiful. Keep your head up high, don't give up hope, we'll meet someday. Never say never, I won't ever forget about you, I promise."
She grinned, wiped her tears and waved goodbye before ending the call. I saved her iCloud email in my contacts, so I would always be able to contact her and I did this with every fan I talked to tonight.
"Can we just go, I don't want to talk about it," Ryley asked in a hushed tone, knowing I would want to bring up what Cathy just said. Reluctantly, I nodded and she slipped on her converse that Jenn got her for her birthday before throwing on a red checkered flannel and heading downstairs to meet Ricky, Connor and Jc in the car. I knew Trevor and Sam would meet us there, it would be the second time she ever encounters them. I'm hoping everything goes okay.
"Good news!" Jc screeched as soon as we pulled out of the driveway. I looked toward him excitedly as he stared at me through the rear view mirror, "We're having our first real professional photoshoot with Aslam in two weeks at an abandoned railroad track, below a bridge. He says it's a really great place to take some cool photos."
I nodded, smiling and tugging at the sleeves of my pale gray sweater.
"We're so proud of you Ryley," Connor beamed from the front seat, "Now go get your diploma, cap and gown. You'll do amazing, we love you so much. We'll be in the crowd cheering you on."
"Thank you big brother," Ryley joked, sending him a wink and unbuckling her seat belt to give him a kiss on the cheek before she hopped out of the car to walk into the school. Ever since the airport reunion with her and Connor, they've been joking around and calling each other brother or sister, it's a usual for them.
The cap and gowns were a deep green color that she rocked out. The fabric was light which came in handy since the stage lights were very heavy on her. We sat down at our assigned seats in the crowd and I laid eyes on Ryley, she sat next to the girl Jenn was hanging out with at prom.
Awards were given out first, almost everyone received one except for a few other kids, but Ryley had gotten four or five which was amazing. The award ceremony took about an hour to an hour and a half, and when Ryley stood up to collect hers, the only thing you could hear were the boys and I cheering her on.
Next, diplomas were about to be given out, so the class began to get off the risers that were set up on stage and they followed each other in an orderly line to wrap around alphabetically order back stage. One at a time, someone would walk out to the middle of the stage to accept their diploma when their name was called and when she was called, it was a very emotional time for me and I began crying along with Ryley when she accepted it.
Afterwards, pins were handed out to the very few high honor students in which Ryley was one of them, then there was the after party in the cafeteria, but she just met back up with the boys and I instead.
Jenn, Jc, Connor, Ricky, Trevor, Sam, my whole family and I were waiting there in the seats for her to come down from the stage. The theatre was deserted completely, leaving only family in there with us and I rushed up to my mother, giving her the biggest hug I could ever give. I shared affection with the rest of my family, then there was a group hug with the boys which Ryley joined in after Connor tugged her into it.
"Mom, this is my best friend Ryley. She has been with me through thick and thin for almost a whole year and I'm really proud to call her my best friend," I said, standing back as they shook hands with each other. After she met my mother, I introduced her to all my siblings, "That's Reo, Izzi, Cole and Tabs."
Her nerves seemed to disappear after meeting everyone, Izzi and Tabs were excited to finally have another girl to hang out with since Andrea never hung out with them, so after graduation we all went out as a family together--including Jenn and all of O2L--Ryley fitting in perfectly with my siblings as she sat in between Izzi and Tabs at the restaurant while they got to know each other.
The night was filled with great fun, food and just family hanging out and I couldn't be any happier for the way this evening has gone. After dinner, we all went bowling and Ryley was on a line with Reo, Cole, Izzi, Tabs and Jenn while I was on a line with Jc, Connor, Ricky, Sam and Trevor--my parents just watched both lines play out on the sidelines, joining in to throw a ball at the pins once or twice whenever someone needed to go to the bathroom on their turn.
Once bowling was done, gifts were given out to Ryley back at the house before everyone found a couch, bed or floor to crash on.
Never would I regret tonight nor would I ever trade the time spent tonight with family in for anything in the world if I had the chance because the only thing I needed in life was my family, friends and time well spent with all of them together.
That is exactly what I received tonight and I wished it never had to end, but now I was cuddled in bed with a beautiful girl who I am happy to call my best friend.
Nothing in life could be better than it was right now at this moment.