Rydel's POV
I woke up a few hours later with possibly the worst headache I've ever had. I glanced at my phone for the time, squinting to shield my eyes from the brightness of my iPhone screen. 3:25pm, I'd slept through nearly the entire day! I must've drifted off after talking to Ellington. The memories of what I'd done just a few hours ago were now flooding back to me. I had actually broken up with the first boyfriend I'd ever had. Forget boyfriend, he was my best friend. I'd broken up with my best friend, and he hadn't done anything wrong.
I didn't hear any voices from outside my bunk and felt a slight wave of relief. We were probably in Chicago by now so they must've gone exploring or something. We were playing a show tomorrow at the House of Blues and had today off. I had planned to spend it with Ellington, but clearly that wouldn't be happening today. All I wanted to do was sleep and sleep until I wasn't thinking about him anymore. Suddenly, I heard footsteps up the bus steps, my stomach dropped.
"Rydel." Someone whispered. Once I realized it wasn't Ellington or Riker, I relaxed a little. "Ry-del!" The voice whisper-screamed now, annunciating each syllable as if they were separate words. Once I heard that, I knew it was Ryland. I opened the curtains slowly and peered out. He smiled when he saw me awake.
"What?" I replied, trying not to look as tired as I felt.
"They're gone all day." He was smiling so wide, I was confused.
"Who?" I asked. He laughed.
"Who do you think?" Ryland smiled.
"Where did they go?" I was still so confused about what was going on.
"I don't know, but mom said they won't be back for hours."
"Really?" I sat up in my bunk, dodging the ceiling making sure I didn't bump my head.
"Yeah, let's go eat or something!" He threw me my shoes from the floor next to him and walked towards the front of the bus. I guess I didn't really have a choice in the matter, but I was happy to have something to do and not think about Ellington.
We walked for a while, until we reached a little coffee shop near the harbor downtown. I didn't really drink coffee, and neither did Ryland, but there wasn't much else around that we wanted, so we settled. I got a smoothie and Ryland got some weird juice thing. Very Lynch-y.
"I know you don't wanna talk about it, but what happened?" Ryland asked, avoiding eye contact.
"Honestly, I don't really know." I replied. I sipped my drink and quickly put it down when I realized how cold it was.
"It wasn't his fault you know, it was Moms. You know what, actually, don't blame Mom, blame me if you want, or Ross, always blame Ross." He rambled. We both laughed. Ryland had a way of making me laugh no matter what was going on in my head.
"I don't blame anyone, I think I just wanted a break, you know, I just wasn't really ready for all this."
"Who is?" Ryland asked. That got me thinking.
After we finished our drinks we started walking back to the bus. We talked about songs we liked and movies we liked and even girls he liked. I loved spending time with Ryland. It was something we hardly got to do with just the two of us. There was always someone else around when we had a minute to talk. I guess that's what you get when you have 5+1 kids in the family.
"Can I tell you something?" Ryland asked out of nowhere.
"Sure." I replied. He was usually pretty upfront about asking things, so for him so ask like this, it must've been different.
"Why Ellington?" Ryland looked me directly in the eyes. I was speechless. "Nevermind," he looked away. "That was a dumb question."
"No," I was entirely serious now. "I ask myself that a lot, actually."
"He's your best friend."
"Yeah." I began to smile.
"Do you love your best friend?"
"Of course I do."
"No you don't."
"What?"
"You don't love your best friend, you're in love with your best friend."
Ryland left me completely speechless. I was in love with Ellington Ratliff. Completely head over heels in love, and nothing would change that. At that very moment, Ryland was my favorite person on Earth.
Author's Note
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