"You're so beautiful." Ryan muttered as he kissed up my neck.
We were sitting under a small tree behind the bus parking lot, away from everyone else. I giggled, burying my face against his chest. He stroked my hair before pulling me onto his lap.
"Die, die, die, my darling!" The pocket of my jeans sang.
"Shit." I grumbled, pulling the phone out of my pocket. "Hello?"
"Where are you? Our signing is in 5 minutes." Chris' voice said.
I sighed. "I'll be there." I ended the call and stood up, pulling Ryan up with me and stuffing the phone back in my pocket. He put his arms around my waist and leaned his head down to kiss me. I stood on my tip toes and wrapped my arms around his neck, giggling when he picked me up off of the ground.
"I'll text you after our signing." I said quietly as he sat me down.
He kissed my head and I began a swift jog towards our merch tent. When I got there, all of the boys were already sitting down. I sat down on Chris' left, getting a strange look from Ricky. We began signing everything from CDs to shirts. After about 20 kids, three young girls stepped up.
"Are you stupid?" One of them said to me, smacking her gum.
"Excuse me?" I closed the sharpie in my hand and sat it down on top of the shirt she'd handed me.
"You must be stupid if you think you're anywhere near as good as Ryan. You're just a stupid, ugly bitch."
I sighed, uncapping the sharpie and signing her shirt, handing it back to her. She laughed menacingly.
"Does the baby of the group not have a comeback?" She crossed her arms, leaning down to get right in my face.
"Bitch, shut the fuck up." Ricky shouted at her.
"You have someone else to fight your battles? Pathetic." She called as she walked off.
I stared blankly at the table for a few seconds. I didn't want to get in another fight, even though I knew I could kick her ass.
"Are you okay?" Ricky whispered to me, signing a CD.
I laughed sarcastically. "Sure."
I finished the signing in a blur, scribbling my name on things without even really looking to see what they were. When we were finished, I stood up quickly, ignoring the guys and leaving the booth. I walked around aimlessly for a while. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was looking for that girl. I never spotted her. I heard my name being called and turned around, seeing Ricky come towards me quickly.
"What?" I snapped.
"Chris and Ryan are fighting on the bus, I think you need to break it up. Like, now."
I groaned. "Fuck."
We ran quickly back to the bus, Ricky running ahead to pull the door open for me. I jumped up the steps and immediately heard Chris yelling from the back of the bus as I ran closer and closer.
"-told you to stay the hell away from her, but did you listen? Of course not!"
I stopped running when I reached the door, instead deciding to calmly walk through. I let myself inside and both of them shut up and looked up at me.
"Kayla, leave." Chris growled.
"Shut up." I said calmly. "What are you two arguing about?"
Chris stood up, walking over to me and looking down on me angrily.
"Why didn't you tell me you were dating him?"
"Because it was none of your damn business." I glared back up at him.
"Are you stupid?" He yelled at me.
Ryan shot off of the couch, walking over and pushing Chris away from me, putting a few feet between us.
"Don't talk to her like that."
I could see that Chris was about to hit Ryan, so I ran to put myself in between them. Both of them lowered their fists to their sides, clearly frustrated.
"Kayla, get the fuck out of here!" Chris shouted.
"Are you gonna fucking make me?" I looked up at him. I used to be afraid of Chris, after all, he was almost an entire foot taller than me, but I knew now that he wouldn't hit me, no matter what I did.
Chris looked over my head at Ryan.
"Stay away from her, or I swear I'll end you."
He stormed out of the room, slamming the door.
I turned around to look at Ryan, who was already looking at me. He walked towards me and pulled me close to him. I sighed, laying my head against his chest.
Someone knocked on the door and we immediately split apart, putting a little space between us. It was Ricky.
"Is everything okay now?" He asked, sitting down on the couch.
"No, everything is not okay, Ricky. Why would you tell Chris about me and Ryan?" I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a confused look.
"It just slipped out while we were watching RAW with Angelo, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, guys."
"S'okay, man." Ryan said, patting Ricky on the back.
I refused to say a word to him after that. After a while, he got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. I sat down in the spot he'd just been in.
"What are we going to do?" Ryan asked, sitting down next to me and grabbing my hand.
"I don't know." I sighed, looking at my lap.
He was quiet for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry, Kayla." He said quietly.
"For what?" I looked up at him, a confused expression on my face.
"For this."
He got up and started walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" I called after him.
"Home." He shouted back.
My breath caught in my throat. Did he just break up with me? I pulled my knees up against my chest, biting my lip to keep from crying.
I sat like that for a few hours, well past bus call. I heard Chris and Balz talking in the front of the bus and I grew furious. I stormed out of the back room and walked swiftly towards him.
"Thanks." I shouted, standing in front of him.
"You're welcome." He said, looking down at me. "But for what?"
"Ryan broke up with me." I said quietly, feeling a few tears roll down my cheeks.
He looked at me for a few minutes. "I'm sorry, Kayla."
He leaned down to hug me.
"Don't fucking touch me." I hissed at him, shoving his chest hard before running towards the bunks, hoisting myself up into mine.
I layed down and cried, for what felt like days. After a while, I heard someone just outside of my bunk.
"Open up." Angelo said softly, pulling back the curtain. I wiped my cheeks quickly, not wanting him or anyone else to see me cry.
Instead of pulling me out of the bunk like I thought he was going to do, he got in the bunk, stretching out and letting me lay next to him. I layed my head on his chest. After a while, I started crying again, quietly.
"Everything's gonna be okay, Kayla." He whispered, stroking my hair.
"No it's not." I said quietly, wiping my eyes.
We both layed silently for about an hour. I felt exhaustion begin to take me into unconsciousness, and I didn't fight it. I got comfortable next to Angelo and fell quickly asleep.
