Pretty Odd (A Ryden fic)

The Angsty Plot Twist Chapter

*aggressively jams out to Les Mis while writing this part*

Cape Town wasn't where I planned to break up with Ryan, honestly I never planned to break up with him at all. I approach him directly after the show before he could sneak off.

"Ryan, why do you keep leaving? Am I not good enough for you anymore?" I ask quietly

"Brendon, it's not like that. And you seem perfectly content with your new toy." He says back, acid tinging his voice on the last bit.

"Nevermind him, I only brought him because you were ignoring my existence. You bring home some hooker every night, you're constantly trashed, and I'm worried about you." I look down at the floor. "You aren't the same Ryan I fell in love with."

"People change Brendon, get over it."

"People don't change that much. I just want to know where the Ryan that loved me went."

"I fell out of love, that's what. Brendon, do yourself a favor and get over me."

"I'm not gonna get over you because I love you, I know you love me. Ryan please don't leave."

"I'm leaving you, I'm leaving the band, I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

"No, you're not leaving. I refuse to believe you don't love me."

"Face the music, we've grown up, things change. Get. Over. It."

"You're on something. It's not simply weed. Don't lie to me, what is it?"

He turns away from me. I move to see his face, he pushes me onto the floor and runs out.

"Ryan?" My broken voice was barely a whisper, I look around hoping nobody was around to see me completely break down. I aggressively sob on the floor, just wishing the Ryan I love would come back and say it was all a joke and he hasn't been on drugs or sleeping with strange hookers. But he doesn't. I hear the door open after about an hour or so of sobbing. By this point I wasn't making any noise, but the tears were still flowing down my face. Jon walks in with Spencer's arm around his shoulder. They both stop.

"Bren?" Jon lifts my face so he can look at me. "Who did this to you? Was it a fan that snuck on the bus? Did some thug get on the bus?" I shake my head before laying back down on the floor. As if on cue, Ryan walks in, trashed and making out with some new girl. Jon looks at him, then me, connecting the dots.

"Ryan did you do this to Brendon? What the hell bro? You two were inseparable, and you go and hurt him like this? This isn't the Ryan we know." Spencer defends me.

"Spencer, people change, you of all people should know that." Ryan slurs.

Jon looks at Spencer. "What's he mean 'you of all people?'" Spencer shakes his head. "Spence honey what does he mean?" Jon moves away from Spencer, looking hurt.

"It's nothing Jon, trust me, if you needed to know I'd tell you." Spencer tries to defend himself, to no avail. Jon and Ryan go to the bus, leaving me and Spencer alone and defeated.

The trip back to the U.S. was long and awkward, since we bought tickets sitting next to each other. A few of the crew members offered to trade seats so that there was at least a little space between our broken band. This wasn't what I had planned to happen. I didn't want our band to break up. I wanted to be more like The Rolling Stones- four guys forever. Now it was just me and Spencer. I get back to my apartment, and start crying again. All the memories of Ryan flood back, the photos of us, the messy sheets we left before tour, even the cute little notes he would leave in the bathroom piled up in a neat little stack on my dresser. I was alone, and nobody would fix it. After a week, a small knock rang through my quiet apartment, I answer it to see the root of my problem standing there, bags under his bloodshot eyes. The eyes that I loved, that didn't love me back.