Dedicated to Ninjaluver for their comment on the last chapter!!
Recap - Chapter 4:
"Hey Rivera...you might wanna see this." Ray said, calling me over. I crawled across the floor and went over by Ray, to see what he'd found.
There, in his hands, was an old metal lunch box. And on the lid, printed in bright colors? A picture of five young guys, and the words written in white, "One Direction". Two of the guys on the box? Liam and Niall. And one of the others? My father.
Chapter 5
Rivera POV:
It was easily twenty years old. Chipped paint, dented in rather obvious places and ruty beyond belief, this "One Direction" lunch box was anchient.
I was afraid to open it.
"Do I even have to ask what the fuck One Direction is, or are you confused too?" Ray asked me. It was at that point when I realized that it was probably a good idea to start breathing again.
"What do you think is inside?" I asked in a hushed tone. Ray pondered a moment.
"Eyeballs."
"Eyeballs?!" I deamnded of my brother, repeating his rediculas statment.
"Yeah, human eyeballs. Dad probably used to collent them. Those other guys on the cover were his hunters." He said. I gaped at him, my mind not even able to grasp how stupidly, well, stupid he was being at the moment.
"I'm fucking serious! What is this crap?!" I demanded, shoving the box at him. However, he'd pulled his hands away and the thing flew to the wooden floor boards, crashing down with a loud thud. The rusty lid tumbled open, and what seemed like a million different white squares errupted from the box. Ray just stared in awe as I picked up one of the pieces of paper.
Turns out, it wasn't a piece of paper at all, but a Poloriod picture. In the picture, a skinny blonde had her arms around a man with copper skin and raven black hair. She was staring at him lovingly, and he stared back with the same content. I knew that look; it was one that my father often saved for my mother. Whenever she walked into a room, his eyes glazed over in pure love.
I took a closer look at the scribble on the back. It wasn't random pen marks, but a date.
"July eighth, 2012." I murmured. "Weird,"
"Wait, isn't that the day you were born, Ri?" Ray asked. I nodded slowly, my throat growing dry.
"Yeah...who are these people?"
"It's one of the guys from the cover." My brother informed me, picking up the now empty box and closing the lid. On the tin was, indeed, the man from the picture. The name Zayn was written in a similar font to the One Direction logo.
"I guess he's a friend of dad's." I concluded.
"He's on a lunchbox." Ray replied flatly. "I know Dad's a little random at times, but people don't just get lunchboxes made with their faces on them."
I ignored my brother once again and started to look at more of the photos. One, a picture of mum and dad, standing outside the arena of the 2012 Olympic Games. Another of Aunt Danielle and her husband, Andy Samuels, hugging. On the back, was the date of her 24th birthday. It wasn't until I flipped over a photo marked "July tenth, 2012" two days after I was born, that I found my answer.
It was a picture of a man with buzzed brown hair, a blue t-shirt and jeans, holding a tiny baby with brown hair. I looked closer. I knew that picture. I'd seen that picture, of a baby, but no man. My mother had it hanging in the hallway of our house. But the one in our house was cropped, so you could only see the baby. This one...this was the full photo.
I knew that man. I knew those eyes. I knew that baby.
On the white strip below the picture, were the words "Liam & Rivera" were scribbled in my father's thick hand writing.
"Holy fuck. Ray...that's Liam." I whispered. My brother took the picture and squinted at it, then at me.
"You...you were right, Rivera." He said in a hushed tone.
I felt sick, like I was about to puke. Why? I wasn't exactly sure. I mean, okay, it was a guy holding me. But...but if Liam had held me as a newborn baby, then...why did my father want me to stay away from me? Was he a criminal? Had he hurt me in some way? No, no dad said he was a good man.
What was my father hiding from me?!
"Ray...help me clean these up." I said. He did, and we threw the pictures into the box quickly. "Wait," I grabbed one. I just wanted to see...
It was Liam again, but a bit younger with a lot more hair. A girl was pressing bright pink lips to his soft cheek and he was grinning like a kid in a candy store. That woman, that hair...it was Aunt Danielle. But...but what? Liam is gay! And Danielle is married to Andy! They have a daughter! What?
"This, is too much." I said, meaning the picture.
"Maybe they were just friends." Ray shrugged.
"I'm ignoring that." I said, crawling deeper into the attic.
"So what do you think One Direction was anyway?" Ray called after me.
"Knowing Dad, probably a book club." I called, laughing. "Google it."
"I'm not gonna fucking google it, it's probably nothing. Lets just go I want food." Ray complained. I opened another box, only to find what seemed like millions of letters.
"Holy shit." I said, staring at the letters.
"This is getting creepy. Maybe Dad's a serial killer." Ray suggested.
"Let's just go," I said, ignoring his lame joke.
He agreed and started to crawl back toward the stairs. I grabbed an old duffle bag, and filled it with a handful of the letters. I threw the lunch box inside as well and zipped it up, when something caught my eye. It was a shoebox, markd Louis. I was about to open it, when Ray called for me. So, I threw it into the bag as well and climbed down the ladder, out into the hallway.
I went and stuffed the bag into the car, then came back inside to find my grandmother waking up.
"Kids," she said. "I'm really tired and I have a doctors appointment tomorrow," She started.
"We were gonna be going anyway," Ray told her, hugging her tightly. "I love you,"
"Love you too," She replied.
"Bye Nana," I said, hugging her. She whispered in my ear,
"Say hello to the boys for me." I nodded, even though I wasn't sure who "the boys" were.
We said our goodbyes and went back outside to the car.
"Turn on the old pop station." I asked my brother as we drove.
"You're the only person I know who likes this crap." He said. I rolled my eyes and he turned on the station anyway, an old artist called Rhiana finishing up playing.
"Alright," The radio producer said. "We're coming to you from London, ready for our next tune! Here's an old favorite of mine, this is What Makes You Beautiful!"
Te song started to play and Ray slammed the breaks on.
"You're insecure. Don't know what for..." Started to play and he stared ahead, his eyes glazed over. I knew this song, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it.
"Ray?" I asked, slightly alarmed. He was shaking.
"Rivera," he whispered. I stared at him.
"Um, yeah?"
"I...I know this, I've heard this...but....but where?"
Ray POV:
The image was clear. My young mother holding my tiny three year old hand as we stood backstage. Backstage of what, I didn't know. My father bent down to my level and smiled, giving me a little hug. Then, he goes back up to my mother, and kisses her, whispering something in her ear that made her giggle. Four men, who I'd known, probably since birth, were there as well, all dressed up. The blonde with the polo gave me a little fist bump and the one with the deep brown eyes and shaggy carmel hair hugged the blonde's waist, kissing his neck and whispering about someone named James. I knew James, he was my sister's age! He was my friend, who I saw often. The pakistani boy kissed a beautiful blonde girl and placed his hand on her rather large baby bump. I remember watching the curly-haired one, as well. He glared with envey, his face flushed, and put in ear plugs to preform. The blonde kissed the carmel haired boy one last time and the pakistani boy smiled, kissing the girl. My father and mom inbraced. Then, all the boys glared at the blonde and carmel guy. Why? What had they done? My father looked not angry, but...sad. Really sad. "We better get out there," The curly one said, walking out on to the stage. That's when the screams started. The audiance screamed and I didn't know why. I just hugged my mother's leg and she lifted me. I played with the neck of her blouse, hiding my face from the screams. The blonde girl came over by my mother. "They're really doing this?" She asked, her voice almost....sad? My mother nodded slowly and I could feel her start to cry. "They...they're...I can't." My mother sobbed. The blonde took me in her arms and comforted my mother as well. I felt safe there, with her. She was kind and loving, like my mum. "This is What Makes You Beautiful..." An Irish voice had called. Dun, dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun, dun dun, dun da da da.. "You're insecure...."
And just like that, the memory was over.
"Ray!!!" Rivera yelled in my ear, shaking my arm. I shook my head and turned off the stereo with a loud smack. Rivera watched in fear.
"I...the memory...that song..." I stuttered, slowly starting to drive again after a car had honked. Rivera was turned to face me, in her seat, looking nervous.
"Ray..." She started.
I started to tell her about my memory, and by the time I was done, she was leaning back in the seat, her face pale.
"So...One Direction is..." she started.
"Let's just go home, and Google it." I offered. She managed a nod and we drove in silence, no music, no words. We had nothing left to say.
A/N: Please let me know what you think!!! Thank you for reading!!
More action in the next chapterrrr