Losing My Mind

Chapter 38

The girls' room was bare, with just the two of them. So they changed into their PJs, and Ryleigh gawked out the window.

'What a complete prick! I hope he gets kicked out now.' Ester says this while putting her things away, and it's clear she's preoccupied. 'Ryleigh?'

She glanced at the sky and the LA cityscape, anything to occupy her mind as she couldn't decide which worried her more. What Blake meant to do or the way Rory attacked him and how far he would have hurt Blake if no one was there to stop him. Ester calls her name again.

'Sorry, I wasn't listening.' She looks over her shoulder and back at the window.

'It's ok.' Ester decided to leave her alone with her thoughts and noticed Rory leaning against the door frame, wondering if he might speak with Ryleigh privately. He didn't need to say anything, Ester guessed.

'I'll be back in a bit.' She calls out, and Ryleigh doesn't say anything. Instead, she hugged herself, finding another way to stop thinking.

Rory makes his way up the window, keeping a safe distance from her. He saw how terrified she was due to his response and despised himself for it. Ryleigh notices him out of the corner of her eye but doesn't make it obvious.

'I never get tired looking over LA.' He says.

'Yep, it's a beautiful place.' She supplied small talk, which isn't why he was here. Her hair falls gently over her shoulder when he stares at her, and her skin gleams in the moonlight.

'I'm not like that anymore, Ryleigh, I promise you that.' She tries not to look at him. 'When I care about someone so much, it hurts me when I see them hurting. It may get me into trouble. I try not to, but I just can't have something like that happen to you. Not ever. The last thing I want to see is someone as amazing as you be damaged by something like that.' He pleaded for her forgiveness.

She finally looked at him.

'You didn't have to hit him that aggressively. Alright, he deserved it, but it could've been worse.' She thought, 'Why didn't you stop after the first punch?'

Rory hung his head down in shame.

'I tried. I really did.' He tells her, and she can see the honesty in his eyes. 'I hated how he talked about you girls. It's disrespectful! I used to know people like that, and it makes me sick to my stomach, thinking that they are some god and flocks of women will fall to their knees.' He starts to get angry. 'I'm not perfect, I know. But I don't want you to be scared of me. You're the only person that saw right through me as a normal human being, and I haven't had that from anyone. Forgive me, Ryleigh, please?'

Ryleigh's mind sometimes overthinks things, and she avoids the wrong people she believes are troubled in some way. This would be her chance to tell Rory she wants to be friends, but he does something to her and Rory's honesty shines through. Profound, to keep her surprised, whenever he strips his strong armour.

'Rory..' She mutters '...I know why you did it, and I know you have so much shit to deal with...' Rory had his head down, thinking he'd lost her. '...But I don't care.' He stared at her in shock.

'We all react in different ways with which some people don't agree, but you saying all that to me is a big deal.' Ryleigh moves closer to him. 'And I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me while I've been here.' She grabs his hands and squeezes them, 'Let's make it a new day tomorrow and forget what happened tonight.'

'I can't thank you enough, Ryleigh. I don't deserve it.'

Ryleigh elevates onto her tippy toes and kisses his cheek. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

Drawing her mouth into a smile, he smiles back. Ester presents two small taps, and Rory chooses to leave. From the rosy red cheeks displayed on her face, Ester could tell what had occurred, and she didn't need to say anything.

That night, she had a wild dream about Rory, recalling the last half of the night and regretting that she should have kissed him on the lips, not on the cheek, and picturing him passionately touching her and how much she would enjoy sleeping by his side in his arms.

Ryleigh didn't want to wake up from her REM dreaming state, but her stomach was telling her something else, and it wouldn't stop grumbling. She showered, dressed, and proceeded downstairs to prepare breakfast. The bitter flavour of tea and overcooked toast was unpleasant and unappealing to eat, but she suffered through it.

Not long after, everyone started to come down. Ashton, Jayden, Elliot and Ester wanted to know what happened before Rory punched him and what made him do it. Rory made his way down before she spoke, and the first person he wanted to see was her. He wasn't a morning person, so he gave her a tiny smile, happy that she had forgiven him.

Rory kisses the side of her head and also nods to her that it's fine to tell them. Ryleigh went into great detail, and most of their jaws dropped. Rory kept his head bowed, trying not to indicate how irritated he was.

The room went quiet as they saw Blake make his way towards the kitchen, the atmosphere changed, and Rory's mood suddenly did too. He slammed the water bottle down and shielded Ryleigh with his body, signalling that he should not approach her. Blake had a completely black right eye and blue and yellow marks on his nose.

'Wow, he hit you hard.' Ashton said.

'Yeah, it really hurts. Thinking about going to the doctor to check it out. Hopefully, nothing is broken.' Blake responded. Rory was adamant about not apologising for hitting him. In his view, he deserves it. 'Ryleigh, I owe you an apology.'

She peered over Rory's right side, pressed her hand on his arm, and felt the veins rising.

'Rory, it's fine.' She says to him, making him move to see Blake clearer. 'Thanks for saying sorry, but I think we should stay clear from each other from now on. Ok?'

Blake accepted and began preparing his breakfast. Ryleigh then left to gather her belongings in preparation for her trip to the recording studio. Rory didn't want to stop her, but the producer told everyone to be ready in five minutes for an urgent meeting with the judges.

They assumed Blake would be disqualified for his actions, but based on Rory's portrayal of him to the producers, Ryleigh feared Rory would be booted as well.

Kelsie, her initial point of contact, encouraged her to share her story in great detail as soon as they arrived at the studio. She didn't want to repeat it, but Kelsie was the one who needed to know. Disgusted, Kelsie shook her head.

'I can't believe it. If you want time out, please let me know, won't you?'

Ryleigh nodded her head. Ideally, her schedule this week should keep her mind occupied. They were instructed to form a line by the crew. Rory was on one end, Blake was on the other, with Ryleigh standing between Ester and Ashton.

'Ok, we called you all up because an incident happened last night.' Marcus stated the elephant in the room, 'We've spoken to the producers and decided on what is happening this week.' He went quiet for a second. 'We're still going to do the live show this weekend, and we are not disqualifying anyone.'