Love Riot(A Newsboys fanfic)

Chapter 23 : What are you doing here?

"Where to next?" Jody asked me.

"We still need to hit the music store and the grocery store." I replied looking at the list we were given. "Jeff and Duncan need supplies and Michael and Marley want us to atock up the bus."

"That sounds about right."

We had one more day before getting back on the road. Jody and I had been put on shopping duty. We headed to the music store first, with a personal list of what Jeff and Duncan needed.

Jody took the lost and tore it, giving me the half that had Jeff's list. "I'll get Duncan's stuff, you get Jeff's."

"Sounds good."

We split up in the store, and went straight to where the keyboards were. Though he only needed a couple of item, I wasn't the most knowledgeable of instruments and it took me a while to find what he needed.

Suddenly I felt someone walk up to me and I heard a voice I hoped to never hear again.

"Well, look who it is?"

I turned to face him. Nothing about him looked different. His light brown hair was styled the same, he still wore the same red jacket he always did. He looked at me with a devilish glint in his eyes. So many memories came flooding back.

"Ryan?" I tried to hide the shakiness in my voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here." He replied. His voice had a sneer to it.  "Moved here after we broke up. What are you doing here?"

I gulped and froze where I stood. I never doubted that I would see Ryan again but not like this. It had been years but this moment still felt too soon.

"You looking for me?" Ryan snickered. He reached out and grabbed my arm.  "Did you realize what you let go?"

"I-I..."

I could feel my heart racing. Out of all the places he could be...why here?  Why did he have to come back into my life?

Ryan winked at me. "Come on. Why don't we get out of here?"

Was I gonna cave in? Would I let him take me? This was the first time I had seen him in a long. Everything he did, said...it all came back.

"How about you get out out of here?"

Before I could process what happened, Jody had stepped in front of me, blocking Ryan from getting to me. "She's not going with you."

"And who's gonna stop me from taking her?" Ryan challenged. "You?"

Ryan tried to push his way to me but Jody kept blocking him. "You wanna get to her, you're gonna have to go through me."

"Gladly." Ryan got right up in Jody's face.

I quickly reached out and grabbed Jody's hand, trying to drag him away before things escalated. "Jody, let's just go. We have what we need."

Jody let me drag him away, but not before he shot one last glare at Ryan. "Stay away from her."

Ryan glared back and walked out. We paid for our stuff then left, heading to the grocery store. I could feel my hands still shaking. My heart had slowed again.

Jody reached over and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into a small hug. "Are you okay?"

I accepted his hug. "I think so."

"That was your ex?"

"Yeah." I said with a drawn out sigh. "Thanks for protecting me."

Jody playfully wrapped his arm around me. "That's what I'm here for."

By the time we were done shopping at the grocery store, the sun was beginning to set. As we started back down the street, I heard his voice from behind me.

"Where you going, Mya?"

"None of your business, Ryan." I said without looking back at him.

"Look Mya, I know you wanna come with me." Ryan said. "You know you're not gonna do better."

"She already has done better than you." Jody argued. "She's with someone who treats her like a queen and doesn't take advantage of her. You're just upset you let the best that'll ever happen to you go. You're the one who won't do better than her. You're not getting her back. She's not going with you. She has him and me and four others who you have to get through before you ever try to lay a hand on her. So why don't you do her a favor and get lost."

For the first time that I had ever seen, Ryan looked at a lost for words. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that. He looked over at me for a moment before turning on his heels and quickly walking away.

I looked up at Jody. "Wow. That was something."

"Looks like you won't have to worry about him anymore."

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. "Thank you again."

"You're welcome."

"Is this what having a older brother's like?" I asked, playfully. "Cause if it is, I like having you as my older brother."

Jody smiled. "And I like having you as a little sister."

We regathered our bags and went back to the bus.

____

"Ryan is here?!" Marley gasped. "Like right this minute?"

I had just finished telling everyone what happened. "Yeah but Jody told him off so I don't think we have to worry about him anymore."

"Helmet, you told someone off?" Duncan raised an eyebrow at Jody.

"Dang JoJo." Michael said, jokingly. "Give us a warning next time so we can film it."

Thankfully for the rest of the night, there was no more interaction with Ryan and once and for all I cut off all contact with him.

With all of our stuff packed and ready to go, we set out again, leaving this town and Ryan behind.