C Minor // R5

Mark and Stormie's Feast in the Sky

When Ross and I get into the other part of the suite, we see everyone sitting around a small dinner table.

"Ooooooohhhhhh!" All of Ross' family says when they see are arms linked. I see Ross smiling, but I instantly pull my arm away.

"Mom, Dad, this is Nina, Nina, this is my mom, Stormie and my dad, Mark." Ross says. I walk over and shake there hands.

"Nina! It is so great to meet you! It's nice to put a face to a name. Ross has talked so much about you!" Stormie says.

"Ditto." Mark adds.

"Yeah, but not like an extreme amount." Ross scoffs. I smile. We sit and begin to eat. I wasn't that hungry, especially because I was just really tired, so I didn't take that much to eat. I noticed all of them eat a lot. Surprisingly, Ross probably ate the least of all the boys. Even Rydel ate a lot. Yet, they all seemed very fit.

"Nina, are you sure you wouldn't like more?" Mark asks me.

"No I'm good thank you." I eat a normal amount. Maybe a little less tonight, but that's just because I'm tired.

"Are you sick or something?" Rocky asks.

"Rocky!" Ratliff yells. "You cannot just say that." But I find myself laughing a little.

"I'm not sick."

"You eat like a bird." Rocky says.

"No she eats like a person. I eat like a teenage boy, and you all eat like teenage wildebeests." Rydel says. We all laugh.

"Can I asks a...personal question?" I ask.

"After what Rocky just asked? Go for it." Ryland says.

"Do fast metabolisms run in your family?" I ask. They all laugh.

"Yes. We also exercise a lot." Stormie says.  see Ratliff take his, at least fifth garlic roll.

"We're from Colorado, so we play hockey. Rydel dances, like you." Ross says.

"Oh! That makes so much sense!" I say.

"What does?" Rocky asks with a full mouth.

"Colorado is like one of the healthiest states."  say.

"And smart? She's a keeper Ross! " Mark says, taking a bite of his food. I am about to start when Ratliff says;

"They're no like that." In a mocking tone. Everyone rolls there eyes, except Ross and I. "And I'm from California. So I'm just naturally beautiful." Ratliff says striking a Beyoncé pose. I laugh lightly.

"So Rydel, maybe you could show me some moves sometime." I say.

"Yeah! We could do a duet and-"

"I think that Nina should be the one showing Rydel moves. She's crazy good." Ross says, interrupting Rydel.

"Not crazy. Slightly." I say.

"You got into this movie at fifteen. You're crazy good." Ross states. Everyone nods in agreement. I just look down.

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After dinner, I helped Stormie clean up. Ross eventually came over too.

"Thank you so much for dinner Stormie. It was out of this world." I say. Stormie smiles.

"I wouldn't say out of this world, but it was really good." Rocky interrupted.

"Yeah. It was somewhere in between out of this world and earth." Ryland added.

"It was in the skies!" Mark exclaimed.

"A feast in the sky." Stormie smiled. Stormie and the rest of the family made me miss my family. But I wouldn't be seeing them for another four weeks. I was glad filming was only six weeks. Even though everything was super rushed, it was nice because we had already been rehearsing for months.

"Maybe we can meet your family, Nina." Ross says.

"My family isn't here." Rocky spit out his soda all over Ratliff when I said this.

"What?" Rocky asked.

"But you're only fifteen." Ratliff says. I shrug.

"Well we are always here if you need us." Mark says. I smile. They've been so nice for the short time they've known me.  Suddenly I feel Ross come up behind me. His mouth is really close to my ear. His face is kind of on my hair. It feel weird having him this close. Tingly like my whole body fell asleep.  I wonder why.

"Want to go for a walk on the beach?" Ross whispers.

************************************************************************************************************

When we are about halfway down the moon cast beach I feel Ross intertwine his fingers with mine. I slowly pull away and bump shoulders with him.

"Friends can hold hands!" Ross says defensively. I know Ross doesn't really like me, but it still is a little weird.

"No...I don't think they do." I can't be sure though. I don't really have any friends at home.

"Nina?"

"Yes?"

"I'm really happy we're friends." Ross says. I look over at him. He's scratching the back of his neck and looking at the ground. I can kinda tell he doesn't say this kind of stuff a lot.

"Me too. I think you're my best friend Ross." I say. He looks up at me.

"Really?" He asks, skeptically.

"Totally." I say. He smiles.

"And we can stay this way! We can hang out all the time when we get home! We can have dinner and go on beach walks and you and Rydel can dance and..." Ross continues rambling when the smile disappears from your face and you sit on the sand. Ross looks confused and sits next to you. "What?" He asks. "I thought we were best friends." He says. I sigh.

"Ross...I don't...live in LA." I say.

"That's okay! My family goes up to Northern California all the time to surf. Sure, it won't be exactly the same, but it's still okay."

"Ross." I try to stop him but he keeps talking about his dreams of us hanging out. "Ross I'm from Boston." I say. He stops and the smile fades off his face quickly.

"Boston?"

"Massachusetts." I say. He sighs.

"Well that doesn't mean we can't be best friends." He says.

"That's true." I say. "We can be best friends. We just...can't do best friend things." I say. He looks down and starts playing with the sand. I can tell he's kinda upset. I'm upset too, so I just hug him. I've never hugged Ross before. Something about Ross just makes me want to open up and tell him everything. He put his arm around me and hugged me tightly back.

"I don't want you to leave." He says.

"Me too. But..." I pause because I feel tears. What? Emotions? NO! No! I stop them, thank god. "We'll make the next four weeks the best four weeks ever." I say. I feel Ross hug me tighter.

"Boston." He says.