Guiding Zendaya to one of the closest chairs after stumbling many times on our way to my dressing room, she grunted in content once her back came into contact of the supported cushioning. I wiped the side of my face down with my shirt as I felt my skin crying from all the hard effort of bringing my friend back in one piece because I have no clue how I was able to withstand holding someone the same weight as me for a long period of time, no thanks to Zendaya's being uncooperative.
"Do remind me to never chase you again." Zendaya yawned whist mumbling her words when positioning herself in a more comfortable position, "I'm going to take a quick nap because you tired me out."
I chucked hearing Zendaya immediately snooze from being exhausted of playing cat and mouse earlier. Quickly changing out of my sweaty clothes, I slipped one of the many sweatpants and singlets before opening up my laptop to turn it on. Just as my device turns on and I put in my password, the icon of my mum wanting to FaceTime pops up.
I clicked the accept button and I get a visual image of my entire family on the screen. Looking at where they were, it appeared that they had just checked in wherever they were staying for their trip due to all their belongings evidently seen behind them.
"Hello my beautiful family." I spoke like they hadn't noticed that I picked up.
"Hey Y/N." "Hi Ry!" I laugh how excited Blue looks as she jumped out of mum and dad's arms and fell straight forward, cutting herself out of frame.
"I'm okay!" The three of us laughed at Blue's reassurance to us as she went back into our parent's lap.
"Hey bubby, how are you?" I waved at her as she waved back to me.
"Good that I get to see you now." My parents and I awe at her response making me want to just squeeze her tight. "How about you Ry?"
"Well I just finished opening for the girls not long ago and it was so much fun!" I say as my parents looked excited for me. "I couldn't believe how many people there were out to get them pumped up for the girls."
"Get used to it Y/N because one day you'll be the one the entire stadium wants to hear as they scream your name." My dad says with a hint of confidence behind his words.
"Yeah one day I guess." I smile and I see Blue looks a tad drowsy with her eyelids on the brink of closing. She yawned and nuzzled her head in between the crook of mum's neck. "Aw looks like someone needs to go to bed."
Blue's head shot straight up resulting in colliding with mum's chin. Dad and I stifled our laughter at their simultaneous groans coming from the two. I could tell that mum had refrained herself from swearing since Blue was in the room which made it more humorous of the current situation.
"You two alright there?" The two grunted in response and I couldn't help but let go of my laughter. I held onto my stomach and rolled around as Blue whined me to stop laughing.
"It's not funny to laugh at them Y/N." Dad said as he continued to contain his chuckles and when he stopped talking, I saw from my screen that someone had opened the door.
I quickly turned around and I see Dinah and Normani's mouths hung low. I don't know if it's because the two saw my family or they overheard dad call me by my name. I don't know which it is but I pray that it's the first one.
"I've got to go. I'll FaceTime soon, love you all." I turn back and pressed the end call button then cringing at the fact that I slapped my laptop screen down harder than I wanted to.
I swiveled around to face the two girls who were now in the room with the door closed behind them. I cleared my throat in nervousness as Dinah and Normani stride towards me with grins eating their way across their faces.
"Uh ... you girls alright?" Their composure changed right as I brought up if they were fine and nodded like nothing had phased them at all. I had also just realised that the girls both changed out of their performance outfits and were now in their casual clothes.
"We just came to the room wanting to talk to you about something important." I hummed and motioned them to couch that was a perfect size for the two to sit next to one another.
"So let us discuss mission get-Ryder-and-Lauren-together." Dinah clapped and rubbed her hands together like she was ready to spill her ingenious plan.
Inwardly thanking the lords for the girls not questioning my weird behaviour. I mean if they were to find out the truth, I didn't want it to happen this way so I'm glad that they were discussing about something else. Eventually I do feel like I will tell the girls since the inevitable time we spend together plus Ally knows the truth and she'd push me to tell the girls but of course when I am ready.
"So here is what Dinah and I have planned out for you." Normani began where Dinah ended off, "In thirty minutes or we're going to have dinner and obviously you and Zendaya will come along. With this opportunity, you'll do anything and everything to impress our green eyes friend."
"Open the doors for her, pull her seat out to show how chivalrous you can be." Dinah noted out as she listed the kind of things I'll do.
"Create conversations, get to know each other better. You know, the usual things." Normani cut back in from Dinah and refrain from speaking my mind as it seems that they wanted to tell me more. "Though I do suggest to steer away from bringing up any of her ex boyfriends. It's not something that should be asked to make the night end on a bad note."
I furrow my brows but understand nonetheless. I couldn't help but just wonder, what happened to Lauren and her ex boyfriends? Like it's understandable that when you break up with someone it can end horribly but from the little sources of what I know of her ex boyfriends that have been shared in public is that she was so in love with them. Publicity stunts are very normal in the music industry so I could comprehend if all the words she had said about the person she was matched with was all falsified to keep their label happy.
"Are me ears deceiving muah or do I 'ear my wittle Y/N/N gettin' some?" Zendaya's head pops up and slurs her words with a giggle. I had totally forgotten about Zendaya being in the room and her tendencies when waking up.
Fact to be known about the actress is that if you give her the strongest poison a person can buy at a any bar, she'll be the most coordinated human on the planet. It's like she is immune to getting drunk off alcohol but the moment she wakes up from her slumber, I swear on my life that she had literally drunk her life away with no worries about her life. I really don't know how it's possible to be honest and usually I find it hilarious when she wakes up but this time it wasn't something to chuckle over.
"Y/N/N? Who's that?" The two spoke to Zendaya and my eyes widened. No way am I going to let her answer that so I stood up from my seat and ran to Zendaya.
"Y/N/N is ri-" I swatted my hand over Zendaya's mouth to stop her from spewing words that will ruin me. Zendaya's words were now mumbles and whines as my hand had stopped from formulating any words of the English dictionary.
"How about I meet you two outside with the other girls for dinner while I get Daya all sorted?" I forcefully smiled and kept my hand right in the same position as Zendaya was prying off my hand away. She even went to the extreme of giving my hand a broad lick which I wanted to move away as soon as the girls would leave the room. It took everything in me not to flinch away from her mouth in disgust.
Sceptical with what Zendaya had said of my nickname that was only supposed to be spoken when we were away from everyone who didn't know my full name. The girls listened and left the room with Zendaya and I. When the door closed behind them I immediately backed my hand away from Zendaya and wiped my palm on my shirt.
"Daya! That's disgusting!" I sighed and rubbed the growing wrinkle in the middle of my forehead. "What is my full name?"
"Y/N/N ... uh ... Carter." She over exaggerated to think hard with her index and middle fingers on the side of her temple like she was a mentalist of some sort.
Waking over to my belongings, I reached for a water bottle in my bag and unscrewed the cap for her to drink. She groaned, not wanting to take the only thing that makes her sane.
"I swear to god Zendaya that I will scream at the rooftops of Texas that you have a crush on Allyson Brooke Hernandez if you don't take the bottle." Holding the bottle in front of her as I was technically taunting her to do my command.
She gave me the most disgusting stanky eye and snatched the bottle which some of the content in the bottle went over the floor but that didn't matter. I need my friend to come back right now. It's a damn emergency. Not leaving a single drop of water in the bottle, Zendaya passed me back the bottle and stood up.
"Alright, what's my name?" I ask once again when I throw the bottle in the rubbish bin.
"Y/N Ryder Knowles Carter."
"Thank god you're back." She looked confused per usual as she never believed that she acted the way I describe she was to be when she wakes up, "You were being a drunky anyways that's besides the point. The girls invited us to eat dinner with them and ... and ... I want to impress Lauren."
Zendaya awed at me and began to poke my stomach. I smacked her hands away and Zendaya rested her hands on my shoulders.
"Look there's nothing to worry about okay? There's no point in being someone who you aren't." I gave her my signature look with an eyebrow raised up with a knowing look, "Well besides the point of not showing everything about you at least but that doesn't mean that she won't like you."
"I'm not oblivious about her feelings towards me Daya but I'm scared what she'd think about who I really am. It is constantly a thought that continues to eat my sanity." There was a knock at the door and I swung around to get a jumper just in case it was going to be cold later. "We'll be out just a minute!"
I tied the jumper around my waist then went to the door to turn the handle but Zendaya stopped me before I could open the door.
"Just breath Y/N/N, if she really likes you then she'll accept you. I can't guarantee how she'll react when you tell her your secret but if she doesn't take it well then you know where the relationship will stand."
I nodded and opened the door to see it was Ally and this time it was Zendaya's turn to feel nervous. I tapped on the back of her hand to get her attention to me. Eyes now on my own I tried to not verbally speak to her that she needed to relax too. Zendaya seemed to get it as I saw her take a breath that looked like she didn't know she held in.
"Hey Allyboo what's up?" I asked as if I had no knowledge of why she had come to see us.
"The girls and I are going to grab a bite for dinner. Would the two of you girls like to join us?" Ally asks and looks between the two of us. As if Zendaya was hypnotised under Ally's doe-eyed mien.
"Of course Allyboo. Lead the way." I smiled and we walked together side by side.
Not going to lie, it really felt like I was the third wheel but seeing how flustered Zendaya was with Ally's sudden actions of intertwining their arms like a pretzel was pretty darn cute I'd say. Though I'm surprised that Ally even swung that way just because from what I knew about her past partners were guys but that didn't mean that she wasn't bisexual.
When we make our way outside of the venue, the other girls were standing near a black Range Rover and turned to us as they finished up their conversation. I gave them a quick smile before I realised that Xander popped out of nowhere and opened the doors for the girls. It took everything in me not to call him his usual nickname when seeing but I did acknowledge him with a small hi.
"Alright get in the car girls." The girls scurried away into their seats with Normani sitting at the front as Dinah, Zendaya and Ally sat in the middle which left Lauren and I to sit in the back. I cursed at the small smirk I was getting from every girl but shook it off.
"Thanks Ryder." Lauren smiled as I motioned her to go in first and I gave all five four a piercing look which got to face straight ahead rather too quickly. When I got into the seat next to Lauren, it was clear that she had giggled and shook her head. It was also clear that her giggles was something I wanted to hear for the rest of my life.
Jamming with the songs Dinah blasted through her phone as we waited to get our way through the traffic, Lauren was fumbling with my hand that was closest to her side. I wasn't bothered about it since it seemed to keep Lauren at bay of some thoughts that were clouding her mind.
"Hey you alright there?" I whispered loud enough over the music for Lauren to hear. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked between me and our hands. Just as she was about to let go of my hand, I grabbed her hand tighter so she wouldn't let go.
"You probably have something on your mind so it's okay to share with someone your thoughts to make you feel better." I gave her a warm smile and as the street lamp brings light to Lauren, I could see prominent goosebumps on her arms. I took my hand away from hers and untied the jumper that I had on my waist to give to Lauren.
Lauren took the jumper in her hands and thread her head in first which was super adorable because her hair went a little messy. Putting her arms in after she sighed in content and rested her head on my shoulder making me a little shocked but I relaxed, not wanting to give away how nervous I actually was around her.
"Thank you for the jumper Ryder." I slightly turned to look at Lauren who was glowing with a lovable smile. Damn it Jauregui, you've gotten me under a spell through the way her eyes captivate me in a way that there's no one around us and how the way her cheeks form into perfect globes when her lips raise up.
"Finally we are here! I'm starving!" Dinah cheered and one by one we got out of the car. Xander made sure that we had gotten everything we needed before heading inside of the place we were eating.
A worker brought us to a table that was more secluded due to Xander's request and of course Dinah and Normani had told Ally and Zendaya to take up the spaces to leave Lauren and I side by side. I did appreciate the effort the lengths the two were doing for me.
A waiter came over and passed the menus to everyone on the table and I saw the way the guy was staring at Normani. Well this is going to be interesting.
"Hi I'm Jake and I'll be your waiter for the night. What would you all like to have?" He stood beside Xander and Ally as we look a good look of the menu.
Everyone ordered what they wanted and I could see him eyeing Normani time to time. Even went to the extent of winking at her and I heard Lauren pretend gag as she had witnessed it too creating the two of us to go into a fit of giggles. When he had taken everyone's orders he went away to go grab us our drinks and I could see Dinah slightly mad. She was doing really well to cover up her anger when Normani began to talk to her.
"Are the two oblivious of each other's feelings for each other or do they actually know?" I leaned to Lauren's ear so no one could hear us.
"Oh very oblivious." She stated and chortled. "But I have my bets that tonight be would the last."
"And why is that?" Lauren motioned me to look at Jake who came back with trays of drinks, giving him a thanks before giving the last drink to Normani.
"For the beautiful girl." He winked but then ran off as we witnessed Dinah putting her arm on Normani's shoulder and peppered kisses on the cheek. Normani not realising any of the flirtatious moves from the waitress boy since she was too caught up in Dinah's presence.
Since the food wasn't out yet, Lauren and I conversed about anything and everything as we got to know each other more than the media would know. It was fascinating to find out about her childhood and how she had to cope with wanting to finish school but her music career hadn't allowed her to. She even started talking about the things management made her and the group do for publicity stunts.
"Wow that was a horrible thing to say. What kind of people would say that?" I spat in disgust of the story of these One Direction wannabes saying degrading things about Lauren.
"They were immature boys but enough about me, tell me about you." I thought long and hard as to what I should tell her.
"Well you know I'm the eldest daughter of Beyoncé and Jay Z with my sister Blue Ivy. I actually still live with my parents because my mum hated the idea of me living away from the family. My mum is super family orientated which had grown on me too because I love my family to bits even if they can get on my nerves sometimes." She nodded in agreement when I said about family members getting on my nerves.
"In high school you'd think that I was the most popular person but it was quite the opposite really." Lauren scoffed not taking me seriously to my words.
"I'm not kidding! I had braces for three years, I had glasses and had a huge issue with self-confidence. I was basically the nerdiest person in the school but then I met someone who helped me overcome those obstacles and I'll be thankful for those memories." I smiled as I didn't get into depth of who the person was to me.
A different waitress came and served us all our food which made us slightly confused as to why Jake wasn't serving us. The waiter had told us that Jake was too ashamed on hitting on someone that was already taken then walked off before Dinah and Normani could tell them that they weren't a couple.
I tucked in my lips to stop myself from laughing and took a sip of my drink before all of us ate our food. Xander had a phone call and excused himself from the table. The girls didn't think much of it but something was off the way his face had contorted when his screen had lit up earlier. I told the girls that I had to make a call to someone so I got up and walked outside, pretending I was taking a call as I tried to hear in Xander's conversation.
"How do you have this number?" I peeked to the side to see that Xander was in fury as he clutching on the phone till his hands had no signs of blood flow within his entire right hand.
"You're lying and I'm not doing your dirty work. I don't even know you, piss off!" Xander yelled and abruptly ended the call. He turned to face me and I immediately felt intimidated at his glare.
"Uh .. mum I'm going to call you back." I pressed my screen like I had ended the call and walked back into the place to take my seat next to Lauren.
"Is everything okay?" Lauren shook me as I was just blatantly staring at the food in front of me.
"Y-yeah everything is fine." I cleared my throat as Xander came back to take his spot before scuffing down his burrito. I avoided eye contact with him as he looked at me when he was wiping the corners of his mouth. I wanted to point out that there was some sauce on his cheek but I was scared at him and the conversation he had with the person he had on the other side of his phone.
No one had spoken up about the mess that was still on Xander's face as it bugged me like no other so I took a napkin and wiped his face without focusing on him as I was finishing off the rest of my food. He jerked back when the tissue touched him but when I pulled it away for him to see the stained tomato sauce on the napkin, it was almost like he had seen a ghost when his face went pale.
I didn't understand why he was pale as his eyes were looking afar at somewhere and when I turned, all I saw was the words 'think carefully'. Okay that was super creepy and I knew it meant more sense to Xander just the way he was behaving. I had no clue what it meant to me but I could tell that something was coming for Xander or at least I think it was.
Xander took out a fifty dollar note and rushed the girls and I to leave. Right when we opened the doors, flashes were coming left, right and centre. The bodyguard in me instantly took the two closest girls in my arms and forcefully pushed us through the crowd of paparazzis. With the car unlocked, I had freed Normani and Dinah to get inside as did Zendaya and Ally who Xander had taken but there was no sign of Lauren.
I erratically searched around the flashes and yells of rude questions to see Lauren being pushed around by two male paparazzis that had their cameras right in her face. I wasn't able to control what happened next as all I saw was red filling my eyes as I vigorously pushed each and every person away so I was making a clear path to Lauren. From the exerted force I had put on some of the people on their bottoms so then some of the people had moved back to make my way to Lauren faster.
"Lauren how do you feel about those photos of Ty Dollar and an anonymous woman?"
"Are you and Ty still together?"
"Where is Ty, Lauren?"
Questions spewing from these people just clicked this trigger inside of me when a hand had grabbed Lauren by the shoulder. She yelped in pain and I storm my way to the person's hand to rip it off Lauren. I twisted their arm and knocked them on the ground to make sure I heard a pop. Now the attention was on me and no longer on Lauren.
I go back to Lauren who is a sobbing mess, I carrying her back bridal style to the caras she is unable to walk with her left ankle slightly swollen. I didn't care at this point if I was going to be on the front cover of a magazine with something to do with my actions of hurting a paparazzi. As long as Lauren was safe, I didn't care anymore.
Dinah and Normani took the back seats which allowed Lauren and I to get in faster as I closed to the door. Xander drove the moment the door closed and I had to put on Lauren's seat belt as well as mine with her clutching onto my left arm. When that was done, I held the beautiful girl in my arms and calmed her down as I hummed a tune I would use on Blue if she wasn't sleepy.
Moments later Lauren's breathing had evened out and her tears were no longer flowing from her eyes as the girl I was falling in love with was holding on to me like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow.
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I'm so sorry for not updating yesterday! I was so busy the day before and yesterday with some personal stuff. Forgive me 😞
- Joy