sweets || bryce hall

Chapter 65: Back

This is one of the chapters that was previously published in the sequel before being moved into the book. If you were up to date on the sequel, you should skip to Chapter 70!

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Kio POV

"So what do you think?" I ask, pacing in my kitchen as I talk to Blake and Bryce on the phone,

"Dude I don't know," Blake sighs,

"Kio, they literally showed up everywhere. We're so lucky Rory thought to text everyone, because they went to the Compound, the D'Amelio's, Tana's, even all the way out to the Hype House. Tayler and Thomas both didn't even let them past the gates, and Tana's security kicked them off the property. The D'Amelio's just didn't answer the door and a security guy asked them to leave. Everyone else has made sure they've said she isn't there and that they haven't seen her before everything escalated, but, they actually went everywhere. They know everything, everyone," Bryce's voice cracks and I wince, sighing,

"Well, then does she stay here until we know they're gone? Is there anywhere else they would know to go? Or would they go back to you?" I scratch my neck and turn around, looking up to see Rory standing at the entrance to the living room in the hallway. She looks exhausted, like she didn't sleep at all, with her arms wrapped around her body and her hair in messy waves,

"Are they gone?" She asks tentatively, her voice groggy. I bite my lip as Bryce calls through the phone,

"Was that Rory? Can I talk to her?" I just shake my head at her before removing the phone from my ear and clicking a button,

"You're on speaker," I say, resting the phone on the couch and walking over to the kitchen. As Rory walks over to sit next to it, she cross her legs and then she begins speaking, faster than I think I've ever heard anyone talk, as if it's exploding out of her after basically not talking at all since Jaden left yesterday in the early afternoon,

"Bryce? Are you okay? I can't believe they're actually here, that they went to the house, and talked to you and tried to with everyone else. I can't believe you talked to them! You followed through with the plan right? You didn't yell at them or punch them or anything? They would take advantage of that, they always do. I had this one friend when I was in elementary school, named Rose. She walked home from school with me one day and they found out that I was actually friends with someone, and that, that? That did not go well," My eyes widen as I get a glass of water silently, other than snickering ever few times that I hear Bryce try to interject, even though she's talking so fast that he's never going to be able to answer a single one of her million questions until she's done. I start to walk towards her as she continues, going to hand her the glass, "They were not happy at all about that, but y'know, she, now that I'm thinking about her, kind of reminds me of Charli. Which makes a lot of sense, why me and Char became such good friends so fast. I miss her, I hope I can see her soon. She texted me last night, y'know, when they showed up. Said how horrible they seem and how sorry she is. I'm glad she has nice parents. They're so nice to me too though, they're great. I'm glad Charli has them, and Dixie, and I'm the one who ended up with this kind of a family. I do want all of it to be over though. Is Kio- oh, thank you Kio-," she takes the glass from my hand before finishing out one last question, "Is Kio right? I can't come home today still?" She lifts the glass to her lips with both hands, slowly taking a sip,

"Uhhm, well," Bryce stumbles, clearly not sure what he's supposed to answer, "I'm not sure you coming home is the best idea yet, Sweets. You know I miss you more than anyone here, but I don't think any of us or you want you to be here if they come back. And as far as we know, they could come back anytime baby, and honestly I can't let you put yourself through it with them again. I let you leave a couple of months ago, I know let isn't the right word, but when you left, I knew I couldn't say anything. I knew I had to leave you alone and stay away. I didn't know if you would ever come back, and I don't know if I ever did, but in the back of my mind I was terrified I would have to come to terms with never getting you back. I'm not doing that again. I can't do that again," I hear his voice breaking a bit at the end and I wince, sitting down and watching Rory sets her water down between her legs as she listens to her boyfriend.

I see a single tear roll down Rory's face, but she clearly tries to hide it in her voice, shaking her head, "Okay, well, this will be over. We know that. Because this time, we're fighting something together, and we, you and I, Bryce? We're, we're stronger than them. We will be okay, and soon I will be back home. You don't have to do it again, because this time I'm not gone. I'm just somewhere else. We can do this," I clench my jaw and drop my head, seeing her strength in her eyes even as something is clearly breaking at the same time. She's gone through so much recently, and being with Bryce is her medicine, her recharge. I hear her swallow as she waits for a response, everyone on both sides of the phone unable to speak after both of their powerful words. Bryce finally begins,

"Alright. You're right, Sweets, um, wait-" He gets interrupted,

"Yo, they're back!" A loud voice whisper yells some distance away from the phone on the other side, sounding like Blake. My head snaps up, my eyes widening along with Rory's,

"Wait, what Bryce? What's going-"

"I gotta go, Sweets. I love you, okay, soon. Everything will be back to normal. I swear," Rory evades my gaze as she goes to answer him, more and more tears falling down her face,

"Okay, I lo-" Before she can finish her response, he hangs up. She falls silent, staring at the phone in her hand. After a moment, she picks up the glass from her lap, setting it on and end table, before standing and walking towards me, "They'll always get in the way," Her voice comes out shakier and quieter than before, her hand outstretched to hand me the phone before softly padding back into the hallway to the guest room she had been in before.

After only a few moments I hear her sobs sound through the walls, her strong exterior she's been trying to keep up showing it's cracks.

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Authors Note from before I moved everything out of the sequel:

I hope you guys like this, and that you can understand what I'm trying to do with Rory's character development.

Let me know what you think, in any way you want, and comment what you're expecting!

I might release a short of Rory just being Rory that's completely separate from this story arc because this is very emotionally draining to write.

I love you guys, thank you for reading and supporting my writing!