Rhea Ripley- Masterpiece

Chapter 17

I haven't heard from Raine in days. She's gone silent since she encountered Shotzi. From what Demi has told me, Shotzi and Raine are going through the same thing we did. This whole situation is upsetting me. I don't like seeing one of my best friends hurt their soulmate. Does Raine understand at all?

"Love, you're getting worked up again." All I was doing was getting some water, and then I started getting upset again. Just thinking about it is affecting me. Demi snakes her arms around my waist. She kissed my shoulder, then my cheek. Her touch caused me to relax. "Were you thinking about Raine and Shotzi again?" I nodded and drank from my water bottle. "This is really bugging you, huh?"

I turned around in Demi's hold and hugged her. "I don't like seeing Raine do this to Shotzi and herself. It hits too close to home. Especially because Raine and Jake were the ones who wanted soulmates."

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down; it's okay, love." She kissed my forehead to ground me. I leaned into her touch. "Is this causing you to think about when you were resisting our bond?" I nodded and let out a shaky breath. "You know that's in the past, right? I've long since forgiven you. You don't need to dwell on it. If it's bothering you so much, then let's go talk to Raine."

"Ok, yeah, let's go." Demi and I went outside and approached Raine's door. I knocked on it. "Raine, are you in there?" I barely heard a response, so I walked in. She's on her couch, lying down. Raine looks terrible. She looks like how I felt when I was resisting my soulmate bond with Demi. I walked over to the couch and kicked her legs off so Demi and I could sit down.

"Why are you here?" Raine grumbled and then sunk back into the couch.

"Isn't it obvious? You've turned into a complete ghost since bumping into Shotzi. You don't want to talk to Eli. You're resisting the bond-" I gestured to her appearance. "-and now you're exhausted."

Raine sighed and readjusted herself. "Come on then, get it over with."

Demi took my hand to give me support and spoke first. "We know that you don't wanna hurt Eli, but we all think it's best if you talk to him."

"No! This is my decision. I couldn't care less about what anyone thought. He was my boyfriend before I met her, so why should she be the one to change that?"

I don't appreciate hearing anyone, one of my best friends of all people, be rude to my partner. I did my best to remain calm. "What Demi is saying isn't to dictate your relationship. We just think that it would be better for you to at least tell him you have a soulmate. Just so you're not lying to him anymore."

I feel I'm trying to be reasonable, but Raine keeps pushing back. "And like I said, I don't care. I'm not going to change my life and hurt someone dear to me for someone I've barely even met!" My anger was rising and now I'm about to shout back to talk sense into my bestie. Then, Demi chuckled with amusement. "Is this funny to you?"

My soulmate nodded. "A little bit, yeah. I mean, call me rude, but you're being selfish."

"Excuse me?"

I looked at my girlfriend as she continued. "Yeah, I mean, you have found your soulmate. You know you have one, and you know that Eli isn't your soulmate. Yet, you still keep him in a relationship that isn't meant to be. You're keeping him from finding his soulmate and you're hurting the person you're destined to be with. If you can't see how that's selfish, you're blind!" I squeezed her hand briefly. Demi is speaking from experience.

"Wow...you know what? Get out! I don't want your help. I didn't ask for it, so I don't expect you to give it to me. From now on, I will be living my life by my rules! I don't wanna know about soulmates, and being selfish. So, will you please just leave!"

Without another word, Demi and I left. We walked back into my house. "Hey, bestie, how did it go?" Bestie Jake and Liv are on the couch. They were picking out a movie to watch.

"Fucking terrible! She won't listen to reason. Why can she see she's hurting Shotzi? It's not right and it's not fair." I'm so frustrated that tears are building up in my eyes.

"Woah, bestie, it's ok." I sat down beside Jake and angrily wiped my tears away.

"This whole thing is hitting Ryder pretty hard. She keeps thinking about what we went through." Demi sat down beside me.

"Yeah, I get that. It's weird for me too. Out of the three of us, Raine was the one who wanted a soulmate the most. This is not how we thought this was gonna go." I notice my bestie is resting against Liv.

"She'll come around. Just give it time." The blonde said as Jake pulled out their phone and messaged Raine. "In the meantime, let's all watch a movie and calm down."

I like Liv's suggestion. Before anything else happend, I texted the only person that Raine would listen to; her aunt. After that, I put my phone away and leaned against Jake. Demi followed my lead and snuggled against me.

"Bestie! It's a Liv4Brutality sandwich, and we're in the middle!" I laughed at what Jake said. Gods, they are amusing to no end.

"Of course you'd be excited about that. I love you, bestie. Never change." My attention went to the movie.

"I love you too and, hey, it's me. Do you expect any less?" I laughed again and shook my head.

"You are adorable, bunny." Liv kissed Jake on their forehead. Jake cooed and kissed her on the forehead too.

"Awwww!" I then made gagging noises, much to everyone's amusement. "You two are so cute, I might just barf."