Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter Five

-Rye's POV-

The sound of water splashing caught my attention – My head bolted up, and I saw the circles of waves reflected in the lake, signaling a big dive. I watched the space, waiting for Andy's head to pop back up, hair wet and spiked, flinging water everywhere like a dog, but he didn't. The water stilled, and yet there were no signs of him coming back up.

A bad feeling rose in my chest as I scrambled to my feet, my arms pumping as I ran to the other side of the pond. Halfway there I tripped up and fell, scraping my leg on the rough edge of the water, but I didn't feel a thing as I picked myself back up and finished the race against time. I was off the board and into the body of water almost before I had the time to take a breath.

I had never been afraid of the ocean, or the creatures that might be hiding in it. I didn't feel threatened as I stood on the edge of the horizon, watching it stretch out beyond my frame of view. I was never afraid of much, but fear overtook me as I swam deeper and deeper. Desperation filled me as I strained to find him in the grainy water.

My body was screaming for air, and I was about to give into its demands, when I saw him – Another rush of energy allowed me to grab ahold of him and drag him to the surface, making sure he hit the air before I did, even though my lungs were bursting and black spots were beginning to creep into my vision. I didn't want to think about what the water could've done to him in the time that he was down there.

His body was limp against mine, and his weight finally struck me as I struggled to swim us the last few meters to shore. My mind became overwhelmed with frantic, racing thoughts once I'd pulled him up, but it settled on just one: I had to save him. In the heat of the moment, I couldn't remember a single thing that I was supposed to do – CPR, yes. But what was the proper way to do it without hurting him?

Luckily, before I had time to do anything – The correct way or not – He suddenly came back to life, spluttering and coughing up water. The heat seemed to burn into my skin as I pushed him onto his side, and I wondered if this was Hell. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as it hit me just how close I had been to losing my best friend.

It was difficult to picture a future without him, but I couldn't imagine an outcome that wouldn't be disastrous. The band would probably fall apart without him as our glue, and we'd simply become strangers, too consumed with grief to remember what we once had. My future of performing around the world would be crushed, traded in for one of checking in purchases at Asda.

I waited to speak again until he was sitting back up, wiping streams of water out of his eyes.

"What the fuck?" I yelled, my sharp voice shocking even me. "Why the fuck would you do that?" Hot tears crept out, a result of anger and sadness and shock and disbelief.

He looked confused and overwhelmed for a second before croaking out, "I...I...My foot got caught on something and I couldn't come back up." His voice was hoarse, as if he was ill. I knew that it was a lie – There was nothing but smooth sand down there.

"I'm not fucking around, Andy. Do you realize what just happened? We could've lost you. I could've lost you." My voice cracked on the last sentence, the emotion bare and raw, leaving us both vulnerable. I watched as he started to shake.

"I'm sorry," He whispered, and, just like that, my anger broke.

"Don't ever do anything like that again...Please." I gathered him into a huge, keeping him close to me. I felt his heart beat against my own.

"I won't," He mumbled into my shoulder. I felt ashamed of myself for not seeing the signs – What would've happened if I hadn't been there to save him? If I hadn't dived right in? Pondering on it made my chest ache.

I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew that something had to change. My world felt like it had been shoved off kilter. Things couldn't stay the same after this.