Raura's Daughter

thirty four.

Ross' POV

"I can't believe this... dad is going to kill us." Rydel groaned from beside me. The five of us were stood on a boardwalk in New York City outside one of the corner stores with raincoats to shield us from the rain and a bunch of suitcases which were soaking wet by this point. The evening sky was pitch black and there wasn't any sign of transportation to take us to the airport despite the five of us spending the entire day searching for someone to get us home to safety. "All because you two jerks decided to piss our manager off." Rydel muttered, pointing her finger aggressively in mine and Riker's faces. 

"He was being a jackass!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes at my older sister who had shown little to no compassion for how myself and Riker had been feeling since leaving our children behind. My hair was drenched from the rain and it was hanging limply over my eyes but I still managed to glare at my sister in disgust due to her selfish attitude. "I told you that you could stay on the stupid tour anyways... you didn't have to hop off the bus with us-"

Rydel chuckled sarcastically to herself and threw her arms over her stomach. "Hop? They practically drop kicked the five of us off that tour bus, Ross! I didn't have much choice! God, you are such an idiot sometimes!"

"Says you!" I argued back, furrowing my eyebrows in frustration at her. "Oh I'm little miss perfect, I haven't made any mistakes in my life, everything is always about me, me, me, me, me!"

"Shut up!" Rocky bellowed in anger. He stepped in between the both of us, pushing Rydel gently into Ratliff's arms and holding me back with an exhausted expression on his face. "Come on Ross... you're a dad now, stop acting so childish."

I chuckled angrily at him. "Let's not forget that Rydel is married! Maybe she should grow up a little."

"Let's not forget how much of a cheating, lazy and arrogant piece of shit you are." Rydel spat back at me before slumping herself up against the brick wall of the corner shop, tears glistening in her worn out brown eyes. "I mean god, you have everything you've ever wanted served to you on a silver platter and it's still not good enough."

I frowned at her. I was confused at her choice of wording. I understood the first three insults that she threw at me but I didn't understand how I had everything I've ever wanted. I mean, hypothetically, does anyone in this world really have everything they've ever wanted? When can you truly settle and be content with what you've achieved in life? The answer? You can't.

"How do I have everything I've ever wanted?" I asked. The sound of drunk internships and passing vehicles began to echo through my ears like an ongoing headache. New York was beautiful but being stuck out on the street with no solution of getting home and having to camp outside of an old corner shop wasn't exactly classy; even for me. 

"Please Ross... save us the pity story. You've been mom and dad's golden boy since the day you were born. You've always had everything you've wanted, the parties, the grades, the scholarships, the girlfriends... need I go on?"

Rocky shook his head at Rydel and patted me gently on the back. "That's enough Del. The way mom and dad raised us has nothing to do with Ross. It's not his fault."

I managed to smile at my brother despite being freezing cold and having the world's most soaking wet hair. "Thanks bro. I appreciate that."

Riker raised an eyebrow at Rydel who in return scowled at him. He cupped his hands underneath his chin and continued to glare at her. "Delly... do you not think that maybe... just maybe, Rocky, Ryland and I have always seen you as the golden girl?"

Rydel let out a bitter laugh before standing up from her place on the boardwalk and brushing her black and red dress down. "Do not try to turn this around on me, Riker!"

Riker and Rydel continued to bicker loudly to one another until finally Ratliff stood up from the ground and threw one of his drumsticks against the wall, causing all four of us to turn to him in shock. He shook his head disapprovingly at us all and scooped his drumstick back up from the floor. "What the hell happened to being a family, huh?"

Nobody answered him. We all stood with our mouths agape. There was a brief moment of silence lingering in the air space between the five of us until finally Ratliff spoke up again. "Ross and Riker came to a decision." He turned his head towards Rydel who stood with her arms wrapped tightly around her body, an embarrassed look on her face. "Alright, to some of you, it may not have been the best decision. But guess what? We're all still together. We had a chance to show a quarter of the world what R5 is all about. I don't know about you guys but that month we spent on tour was one of the best months of my entire life. I don't care that it ended. I'm excited for our future. No matter what happens from here we promised that we'd always stick together. This isn't sticking together guys... this is us going against one another. Like enemies. I don't want to lose any of you... this is the only real family I've got. So suck it up and quit fighting or I swear to god I'll walk away right now because if this is family... then I don't want to be apart of it."

Tears began to fall down Rydel's cheeks as she ran into Ratliff's arms and placed her lips gently on his. "I'm so sorry, El. I've been so horrible... to you... Ross... pretty much everyone."

I exhaled and nodded my head in agreement to what Ratliff had said. "You're right man. This is our family. I think sometimes it's really easy to lose sight of what's important." 

I turned my head to face Rydel as the black rain clouds began to fill the evening sky in New York city once more. I beckoned her over to me with my index finger and sulkily pulled her into my embrace. "I don't think that your little miss perfect... or that everything is always about you."

She glanced up at me and smirked slightly. "I don't think that your a cheating, lazy, arrogant piece of shit."

Rocky chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess that was an apology?"

"It was." Rydel and I said at the same time before laughing quietly amongst one another.

Riker grabbed an acoustic guitar and gestured to Ratliff's drum kit with a smile on his face. "If we can't have our world tour... then let's bring the world tour to us."

Rydel ran excitedly to her small keyboard and plugged it into the corner stores electricity. Riker handed Rocky and I an acoustic guitar each and the five of us smiled encouragingly at each other. 

"New York City how are you feeling tonight?" I yelled out into the microphone with a grin on my face. People on the dark streets of New York City began to walk over to us with confused faces. "We're R5! And this song is Pass Me By!"

***

a/n

i hope the dudes get home soon lmao

i love you all so, so, so much!

i absolutely love writing this story, reading you guys comments on my chapters puts me in such a good mood and i'm so happy that you're all enjoying and interacting with me!

all my love forever,

b x