Inseparable

Chapter 8

The next morning, I woke up next to an empty bed and sunshine pouring in from the windows.

Wow, they wake early.

“About time you woke up, you sleepyhead!” Rydel shouted, teasing me again, for how much I slept. “Get up if you want breakfast, there’s not much left, the boys already took most of it!”

The boys. Ross. I thought of our conversation last night.

I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth and combed my hair and rushed back to the main room to get breakfast.

“Morning!” I said brightly. I got eight responses. Stormie gave me a platter of food and ushered me to eat. I ate as much as I could, I wasn’t used to eating American breakfasts, being a Chinese person myself. Rocky plucked a bacon strip from my plate and gulped it down before I could protest. “Hey! That’s my bacon!”

“Not anymore!” He laughed with half-chewed bacon in his mouth.

“Eeww close your mouth while you’re chewing Rocky!” Rydel complained.

“Oh sorry I was too busy enjoying the savory taste.” Rocky replied, smiling with a full mouth.

“Anyone care that I’m still missing a piece of bacon?” I asked, as innocently as I could.

Everyone laughed and Stormie gave me another piece.

Changing the subject, I asked, “So now that your East Coast Tour’s over, how long are you gonna stay in New York?”

“Oh, we’re taking a break and vacationing here for maybe about a week.” Rydel said.

“Were you at any of the concerts?” Riker asked.

“Yea I was! I went to the New Jersey one on Ross’s birthday!”

“Ahhaahhaa, so you saw him get sprayed right?”

 “Yea oh my gosh, that was so funny, and the pink, heart-shaped guitar too!” I said, and Riker and Ross laughed.

“Hey, it was a pretty sweet guitar though.” Ross said.

When you’re hanging out with these guys, there’s just no way you can’t laugh. 

“All right, so where are we going today?” Mark asked.

“Let’s go to the Statue of Liberty!” Ryland suggested.

“And then we can go shopping!” Rydel yelled.

“Ahh! I can take you guys to Soho!” I said.

“Shopping yaaayyy!!!” Rydel cheered. I smiled.

We headed out the door and into the tour bus.

“Onwards! To the Statue of Liberty!” Ratliff said, dramatically pointing upwards when we were in the bus.

“We shall progress forth!” I said, equally dramatic.

“Onwards we go!” Ross shouted, pointing upwards with us. We laughed and collapsed onto the tour bus couches.

“Aaw man I’m full.” Riker said, rubbing his belly. I playfully poked his belly and we giggled. I looked over at Ross and saw him scrolling through his phone. I stood myself next to him and looked over his phone with him.

“Whatcha doin?”

He looked up from his phone and to his side, surprised that I was standing next to him. He flashed his crooked smile and said, “Checkin my Twitter. Some people are still sending me birthday tweets. It was like, four days ago.” I laughed and looked with him. Suddenly, I saw a picture there and recognized it, it was my tweet.

“I love you Ross and I’ll do anything to make you see that! ;D” he read out loud.

“Oh my gosh really?” I said, exasperated and embarrassed at the same time.

He giggled and clicked “Reply”. He pulled his phone away from my view and laughed, saying, “You can see it when you check your Twitter!” He quickly typed something, read over it, and put his phone into his pocket. “Come on, the others are playing cards!” We both sat down next to each other and each grabbed a pile.

We played cards the entire time until the bus reached our destination. We got out and marveled at the sight of the Statue of Liberty.

“Wow, I’ve lived in this state for my whole life and I never got to visit the Statue of Liberty before.” I said as we stood back to admire the monument.

“Are you serious? You’ve never visited the statue before? But this is your home!” Ross said.

“Yea but you think my parents would’ve taken me?”

Ross was silent at this. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

“No no no, don’t apologize! I didn’t mean to say it as if I was blaming you!” I said, taking his hand.

“Oh sorry, I just, uh…never mind.” Ross smiled and we walked hand in hand and followed the others towards the statue.

At the top, we looked out into the water and buildings down below. Mark and Stormie were in each other’s arms as they looked out from the statue.

“Whoa-ho-hoa” Ratliff said. “Sweet.” Rocky replied with a cheeky smile. Ryland and Rydel were recording the scene for a new episode of R5 TV. Ross shouted to the others, “I’ll be back! I’m gonna look at it from the other side!” He took my hand and dragged me away from them.

He wore a mischievous smile on his face as he said, “Now that we’re alone, I can finally do this!” as he swooped me up from my feet. He carried me on his shoulder, saying “I’ve got the fair maiden! I’ve got her at last!” I giggled as I dangled from his shoulder.

“Help help! He’s got me!” I yelled in a fake, high-pitched voice.

He laughed and finally, he put me down. When we finally caught our breaths, he led me over to the side of the statue. We looked down at the water and the buildings. The cars were so tiny, and the people were not visible at all. I sighed at the view and turned to look at Ross, to find him already staring and smiling at me. I smiled back and we held each other’s gaze. He moved closer to me and his hands slowly took my face and waist, and pulled me closer to him. His eyes were closed and he leaned in towards me. His lips found mine and I closed my eyes. The soft winter breeze gently blew our hair as we kissed on the Statue of Liberty, 305 feet above the world.