“Sorry we’re late!” Ry called as we barged into the house. They all turned to look at us. And by all I mean all of Maroon 5, all of The Script, all of my immediate family and all of OneRepublic; except for one extremely flustered lead singer.
“Hi.” I greeted awkwardly, giving a small wave.
“Why are you two late?” I expected that from my Dad, but no, it came from Adam, who was sat there judging us.
“We kinda slept in.” I admitted.
“Not to mention the awful traffic on the way over.” Ryan added.
“Why exactly have we been summoned?” I asked, me and Ry had been all comfortable in bed when his phone wouldn’t stop ringing. It woke us both up and was Adam demanding a meeting ASAP. So, here we are. They all just looked at each other. “Someone better explain something.” I muttered.
“You see, it’s just that.”
“And that.”
“But, really.”
“It’ll all be okay.” Was all I heard. Everyone shouting over each other and I got absolutely zilch.
“SHUT UP!” I shouted. “One person explain.” I ordered, all eyes fell to Adam.
“We’ve had some, urm, disappointing news.”
“For fuck sake, cut the shit and tell us.” I snapped, sick and tired of all this. They woke me up, drag me from bed, I couldn’t even sleep in the car because Ry didn’t know the way. That probably didn’t help, being so tired it actually hurt.
“Zac isn’t well.” He blurted, I scanned the room. He was sat right there, looking perfectly fine. “Not him, Zac Barnett.” I was shocked.
“What do you mean not very well?” Ryan asked, wrapping an arm around me.
“Well, no one really knows.” Brent sighed.
“Someone needs to find out.” Even I could recognise the hysteria in my voice, I was close to tears. I was so close to those boys, they were some of my best friends. I couldn’t lose them.
“That isn’t all.” Zach sighed.
“Zac has it bad. He’s in hospital, but they won’t tell us anything.” Adam was the one who delivered the bad news, more bad news. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
“But, he’ll pull through right?” No one answered me, and that was enough to push me over the edge, the first tear rolling down my face. Ryan was instantly there, wrapping himself around me, pressing a gentle kiss to my head.
“He will be fine. It’s probably something he ate.” He assured me.
“We are flying back today and we can keep you updated. I am so sorry.” Adam informed us, I gave them all a hug and we said good bye. A silence fell on the room after they had left. I was still silently crying.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have an interview tomorrow. With Amy.” Drew announced. I couldn’t even bring myself to speak.
“Maybe we should skip it.” Ryan suggested.
“We can’t do that, Ryan, the press would eat us alive. Not to mention the pain the Zac would put us through after he recovers.” Eddie pointed out.
“They would have to understand.”
“Ryan, we all know the press don’t understand anything except money.” Danny reminded him with a sigh. Wow. Hit the nail on the head right there Danny boy.
“The fact of the matter is, we have to be there with Amy tomorrow by 11:15.” Drew shrugged.
“Look at her, she is not in a state to be interviewed.” Ryan argued.
“She is going to have to be.”
“No. I am not taking her, not after this news. Look at her, for a minute just look, she’s just found out one of her closest friends are in hospital.”
“So have we Ryan.” Eddie stated quietly.
“Are you this upset? No. I’ve said she isn’t coming.” Ry snapped.
“You know I am actually here. Stop talking about me like I’m not. I’ll go to the fucking interview.” I shouted, before storming upstairs and slamming my bedroom door. The shouting continued downstairs.
“She can make her own decisions Ryan.” Eddie shook his head at me. Oh fuck this.
“Really? Can she? I worry about her, she is obviously upset by this and you expect her to go on as normal. She isn’t used to that.”
“What do you mean can she?” Danny asked.
“She fucking snogged you didn’t she.” I shouted, letting the anger get the better of me. Dan actually looked hurt by that.
“Ryan. I think you need to take a minute.” Zach suggested, he knew me better than anyone here.
“I’m not taking a break Zach. I am getting this settled. She is not coming.” I insisted. I knew I should listen to him.
“This is bullshit, she has said she wants to go.” Danny pointed out, sounding irritated.
“No, she said she would go whilst crying, after crying since hearing the devastating news about Zac.”
“We all got that memo Ryan.” Drew rolled his eyes, actually rolled his eyes.
“You know what? Fuck you. Fuck you all. I am done with your shit.” Her family looked a little shocked. In fact, more than a little. I left the room, and walked out the front door. I can’t even be in the same house as them. They are all shits. I am so angry right now, me leaving is the right thing, I think if I stayed there much longer I may have thrown a few punches.
I heard the door slam and ran down the stairs to see Ryan had left, with them all looking shocked and a little hurt.
“Where did he go?” My voice was broken and raspy, but they still heard me.
“He just left. He’s sick of our shit.” Drew just rolled his eyes. Fuck sake, seriously can’t they tell when they’ve hurt him.
“You are all fucking stupid. He was hurt, just like last time and you keep pushing, just like last time and guess what? You get the same fucking result. Let me guess, he wanted to quit, couldn’t be around you?” They nodded slowly. “If you had paid any attention, you would have seen him clenching his fists, he does that when he is angry and upset. He was doing that before I even left the room. His eyes were most likely filled with tears, because he is stressed and upset and worried. And you assholes just argued back. Well guess what? I’m not there to talk him down this time, there’s no me to hold his hand and assure him you didn’t mean it. Because I’m not sure if that’s true.”
“You know that’s not true. He’s like a brother to me.” Zach stated.
“You know him better than anyone. But, you let him reach that point. Sometimes he needs a slap round the face, sometimes a hug, sometimes you just have to lie to his fucking face. But he doesn’t need you to sit there and yell at him. He left so he didn’t knock you out, why else would the whole house shake. He practically ran from the place. You know how he can get.”
“He insulted Dan.” Ed told me.
“We all know he hasn’t forgiven him completely, but he is bloody trying. Which is more than you guys are.”
“He said you can’t make your own decisions.”
“Are you trying to keep this going?” I asked, looking at each of them in turn. “Do you want to be thrown out of the house?” Danny opened his mouth to speak. “Daniel John Mark Luke O’Donoghue if the next thing that comes out of your mouth is a poor attempt at humour or an insult, I suggest you keep it to yourself unless you want a fucking slap.” His mouth shut immediately. “Take a thought for a minute. Put yourself in his shoes. Last time someone was in hospital and I had to watch was Ryan, and we all know how that went. Last time we were ‘interviewed’ in this case it was paparazzi, was outside the hospital after I had collapsed and they decided I was pregnant. Last time I had a drink I almost had sex with Danny in Ryan’s hotel room. Last time Ryan had to ‘leave me’ I was an inconsolable wreck. What do you expect him to do? He has all this to think about, as well as his own problems. Of course he is worried. Of course he doesn’t want me to go. Of course he is pissed. Because we don’t really have the best track record.”
“You’ve had good times as well.” Glen pointed out.
“Exactly, gold star to Glen. We’ve had good times, things that were not a total fuck up. Did you remind him of them? Or did you let him get angrier and angrier? Sometimes I wonder if you know him at all. I mean seriously, most the time he wants you to talk him round. Or you agree and do it anyway. God knows when he’ll come back now. So I get to worry about my boyfriend and my best friend.” There was silence for a minute before the apologies started coming. My eyes locked with Eddie and we sang Apologise, at least that’s still going.
“You know, you were hella scary.” Dan laughed nervously.
“Now you know what we dealt with last time we argued.” Zach shuddered.
“I will go to the interview. Although, if Ryan isn’t in a better mood you might have to call in sick. And I think you should all prepare a massive make up surprise, because I’m betting he will still be pissed when he gets home.” My parents still looked shocked. “I apologise for the language.”
“You were almost… grown up.” Mum sighed.
“I have grown up.” I shrugged. The truth hurts. But I have grown up, everyone has to at some point.
A/N - Bit long here XD Hope you enjoyed it, please vote and comment :)