Riker POV
We huddled up in front of the stage door. "Okay." I whispered. "We gotta get our shit together. I know a lot has been going on lately, but we have one last show to do and then we can get back to the girls. We need to stay focused. Ross, the fans are gonna have a lot of questions for you...you missed the meet and greet and your mug shots were leaked on twitter." Ross sighed. I could tell that he hadn't thought about it. "It's okay man! No matter what happens, we all love you and so will Jacqueline. And dude, I'm still pretty excited to hear how you ended up in the slammer!" I joked. With that, we all went out onto the stage to roars of applause. Ross started his vocal warm-ups while the rest of us took questions.
First Ratliff picked a girl in a pink beanie. She yelled, "Ross! Why were you in jail?"
I started to talk. "Well, guys-"
All the fans were screaming "No!" "We want Ross!" I looked over at Ross and he nodded at me. He took a step forward and adjusted his mic.
"Look guys, as a lot of you know I got into a lot of trouble today...but it's nothing major. No alcohol or anything like that was involved. The situation is kind of confidential-" he looked at me and asked, "wait, that means like private, right?" I laughed and nodded. He continued, "I appreciate that you guys are concerned, but I hope that you will all enjoy the concert just like normal."
Rydel stepped up to her mic, "Okay, okay! Everyone makes mistakes. Let's get on with it. True fans are here for the music and to meet us, not to talk about Ross's personal life."
I spoke up, "Thank you, Rydel! Next question...you in the green shirt!"
"Ross! When and where did you meet Jacqueline? Are you in love with her? Are you-"
I cut her off. "Okay, that's a lot of questions. Ross?"
"I got it, bro. I met her at an R5 concert...she was in the crowd just like you guys. And other than that...everything is good." He was looking at his feet and smiling.
Rocky finally spoke up, "K...next question! Uhhhh.... you in the back with the glasses...yea, you!"
"Ross! Why do you liked Jacqueline so much?"
Ross shook his head and let out a quiet laugh. "She's just special."
He quickly called on another fan who asked, "What do you and Jacqueline do?"
He sighed, "This is the absolute last question about my love life. Umm..we haven't gotten much time to hang because I've been on tour, but we've been FaceTiming. I mean, she's in school so usually I help her with her homework because her only free time to talk to me is at night, when she does her homework."
Rydel interjected, "I wouldn't really call it helping...Jacqueline's kind of a genius and Ross doesn't know any of the answers."
"Hey!" called Ross, but the whole band verbally agreed with Rydel. "Whatever."
I spoke up to help Ross out. "Yea anyways, Jacq fits in really great with all of us, and she's really good for Ross."
We finished answering questions (mostly about our love interests) and finally got the wrap up signal from our dad. We said goodbye and ran off the stage.
Ross POV
I followed Riker offstage and when the stage door slammed shut I sighed and said, "Well, that went well." It broke the tension and everyone laughed. They told me how proud they were of me and that I handled it well. We were walking down the hallway toward the dressing room when we heard yelling. We opened the dressing room door and I saw Nicole laying on the floor, Chelsey and Rachel looking scared and Jacqueline steaming with anger. Ellington ran to Nicole and tried to comfort her.
Riker yelled, "What's going on here?" All of the girls looked to Jacqueline, who took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, when from the floor Nicole wailed.
"She slapped me! That ugly bitch slapped me!" Ratliff patted her shoulder and tried to calm her down. Riker looked at Chelsey as a witness, but she didn't say anything. I couldn't believe that Jacqueline had done that.
Jacqueline bursted, "Well, assuming that I'm the 'ugly bitch' she's referring to, I only hit her because of what she did! She was the one who called the cops on Ross in New Jersey! She wanted attention for herself! And then, when I was changing she took my phone and- and" she couldn't get the words out because she was choking back tears. Jacqueline was a very strong person so I knew something was wrong.
I hugged her and whispered comforting words in her ear. She finally collected herself and said, "and she took pictures of me changing and posted them on- on my twitter. And oh my god, this is terrible! That's illegal! And all your fans are gonna hat me! This could ruin your career! You should just break up with me now! You know what? Don't even bother! I'll just get my stuff and get out of-"
I cut her off and grabbed her arms to stop her from pacing. "Jacqueline! You're not going anywhere. This isn't your fault."
She looked at my in the eye for the first time during the incident. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." She whispered between tears. I pulled her head into my chest and kissed her on top of the head.
I turned to Nicole, with Jacqueline still under my arm, and said, "Give me the phone. Now."
"After what your stupid girlfriend did to me? I don't think so." Ellington pried the phone from her hands and tossed it to me.
Jacqueline whispered, "Ross, I should do it-"
I looked at her and said, "Babe, if everyone else gets to see it, I should too." She gave a reluctant smile as I pulled up the tweets. I only looked for a few seconds before deleting them all. "Jacq, don't worry about it."
Riker was speaking, "We will send out a public apology. Everything is gonna be fine."
Jacqueline took a deep breath and said, "What's wrong with you, Nicole? Why would you do that to me?"
Ellington said, "Nicole, either you need to make some serious changes or this is over. For good this time." Nicole looked angry at first and then burst into tears. I wanted to feel bad but after she called the cops on me and did this to Jacqueline, how could I?
Nicole sobbed and said, "Because I'm jealous of you! Okay? God! Can't you see that? Well no, you can't. And that's what makes you so perfect! You're gorgeous and nice and funny and you don't even brag about it-you don't even know! Growing up, I was always in your shadow. I got an A, but you got an A+. I learned to tap dance but you learned to tap while playing guitar-"
Jacqueline cut her off. "Are you serious? Everyone at home loves you. You're the most popular girl in school. I literally had like two friends."
"Yea, but you didn't even care which made me hate you even more. It's like nothing bothers you."
"Nicole, you shouldn't waste time being jealous of me when you are just as amazing. All this jealous has done is make you mean and turn people against you."
"I know. I just didn't know what to do. I'm sorry. For everything, for all the years of hell I put you through." They both gave weak laughs. Nicole reached out for a hug which Jacqueline returned reluctantly.
Then she led me out of the room. "I still hate her." she whispered. I laughed and pulled her in tighter. I was glad this issue was resolved, but I had no idea what to expect now that those pictures had been leaked. Plus, the news of me getting arrested. What would the press say? What would the label say? What would my mom say? Oh god. I am absolutely screwed.
