Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter Twelve

-Rye's POV-

I knew that Liv had already left before anyone else did – I'd pretended to sleep for her own sake, but by the time the sun rose and the boys began to stir again, I still hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. I lay silently as Brooklyn yawned and stretched, clumsily getting out of bed and accidentally waking up Mikey as he did by stepping on his hand.

Mikey's yelp caused Andy to wake up, sitting up slowly and rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and Jack, the heavy sleeper that he was, slept through it all. I squeezed my eyes closed, not wanting to watch the aftermath of Liv's leaving that would surely play out.

Mikey was the first to notice – "Where's Liv?" His voice was shaky. We were all a little shaken by why what – or, in the other boys' eyes, what they thought – had happened.

"Maybe she went for a walk or something?" Brooklyn suggested, ever looking on the positive side of things.

"All her stuff is gone," Mikey noted. I could hear him start to look around frantically. "She's left nothing, nothing's left!" His voice gradually began to rise. I opened my eyes, but only to study Jack – he was right across from me, sleeping in Andy's bed because it was top bunk, peacefully oblivious as to what was going on. I focused on him, trying to see if he would stir at all, woken by the chaos emerging around him. So far, nothing.

Andy coughed, and Brooklyn suddenly realized that he should still be taken care of.

"Let me get you a glass of water," he said.

"I can do it myself," Andy protested, but Brooklyn was already gone.

"Why is nobody else worried about this? Andy, she's your best friend. Don't you care?" It was then that I looked down, worried about what Andy's reaction would be. His face crumbled and he hugged his legs close against his chest. "It's not always all about you." Even I felt the blow of that insult.

Brooklyn headed back in, already feeling that the mood in the room had shifted into a rather poisonous direction. It was weird to think that we were a usually fairly happy group of people. He quietly handed Andy the glass of water before joining Mikey, who had sat back down on his bed, his head buried in his hands. For a few seconds, the only sound with the ice tinkling in the glass.

Oddly enough, it was only then that Jack began to get up. He was about to start climbing out of bed when we made eye contact. I shook my head rapidly and motioned for him to pretend to be asleep again – There was no use for him to be joining the warzone. I could tell that he was confused, but he followed my instructions anyways.

I was beginning to think that things would never be solved, that Mikey would think Liv ran away or something, when Blair walked in. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well boys, it looks like you've noticed that Liv is gone. Don't freak out. Somebody wake Rye and Jack up before I explain." I quickly snapped my eyes shut and pretended to be waking up when Brooklyn shook me. It was easier than I would've thought – The grogginess wasn't pretend.

I slowly dropped out of bed, joining Andy's side. He looked only slightly better than yesterday, and I could tell that Mikey's panic had shaken him up, as well. I grabbed his hand behind his back and squeezed it softly. Once Jack had made his way down, Blair began to speak again.

"Liv got a call last night from her family, and they needed her to go home right away. She took the 6am train, and she's really sorry that she didn't have time to say goodbye. But for now I'd like for life here to continue as normal. We've got a show in four days that we need to finish up preparing for."

"Is everything okay with her family?" Brooklyn asked.

"We don't know all of the details." Or, we haven't thought up a proper excuse yet. "I'll let you know in time. Liv is fine, just a bit shaken."

"The show's still on, then? What about Andy?" Jack asked.

"We're hoping he'll be alright by then. We might cut back on some of the dancing. I guess it'll depend on how he feels," Blair replied, and I knew he was more worried about the meet and greet than the show itself.

"I feel better already," Andy said, but the lie was transparent = He looked like hell.

"We've still got studio today," Blair said, trying to keep everyone from dwelling on anything for too long. "Andy's going to stay behind and rest. Rye, you should probably tweet something so fans aren't worrying." I nodded and went over to my bunk to find my phone – It wasn't there. I began to panic for a moment before realizing that I'd set if on the table when I got up to take a wee last night to prevent it from falling – And, sure enough, there it was.

However, when I turned it on, the lock screen was different from mine, and when I entered the passcode, I was denied. I was about to ask who played the prank on me when I realized – Liv's phone had been next to mine when I put it down. This wasn't my phone – It was Liv's.