The Uries (The Urie's Daughter Adopted By Brendon Urie) Book 2

This Ain't A Scene

One Week Later

Ryleigh
Dallon was home now. He was still resting and not fully back to the way he was before he was shot. It would be a few more weeks, at least. The rest of the tour was postponed for two weeks until we were sure Dallon was ready. I've spent a lot of time in my room. I know that mom and dad are worried but I didn't know what else to do. Dad has also been talking to the label about getting the new record out.

Things have seemed tense between Dad and Dallon, too. I'm not sure why and I haven't seen Dallon much. He hasn't come by the house. Everyone else has been in and out to check on me. I was back to being depressed as much as I wished I wasn't.

I was living the life most fangirls dreamed about. I was sitting in my window seat upstairs, drawing in a sketchbook when the doorbell rang. I ignored it. I didn't want to get up and see what else was new.

"Ryleigh!"mom yelled. "What?"I yelled back. "Adam, Emily, Charlie, Melissa, Gerard, Frank, Ray, and Mikey are here,"she said. That got me up. I ran downstairs quickly. I jumped off the bottom step onto Mikey's back. "Moikey!"I yelled cheerfully. Everyone laughed at that. "Ryleigh,"he said and I jumped down to hug him. He returned the hug gratefully.

"I'm so happy to see you guys! It's been too long!"I said and pulled everyone into a hug one at a time. Dad had been out at meetings all day. "How have you been? We haven't seen you at school in ages,"Charlie said. Adam and Emily eyed me. I was still the closest with them though I hoped to know the others better. "I've been alright, just busy,"I said. I didn't want to go into all of the trouble of the last few months.

Emily gave me a look that said she didn't believe me but we would talk later. I nodded. I gave them a confused look. "No, there's no special reason. We thought we'd do you a favor and bring them by for a while then if you want you can come with us later to rehearsal,"Gerard said. I nodded as Ray raised his eyebrows. I wasn't acting like he expected me to.

"Do you guys want to go swimming?"I asked. "Sure,"they all shrugged. We left the guys inside to talk to mom after we all changed and went outside. It was nice, we hung out like we haven't been apart for most of a year. I loved my friends, they could get me laughing when I didn't feel up to it.

Gerard called for them awhile later and they changed. Gerard promised to be back in an hour to pick me up. Emily ran to me and hugged me tightly. "I'll see you when school goes in, okay?"she asked. I could've swore she was crying. "I love you, Em,"I said. "Love you, too, Ry,"she said and then they were gone.

Gerard
"How is she holding up?"I asked Sarah as soon as Ryleigh and her friends disappeared outside. "Its hard to say. Some days are worse than others but she never leaves her room. I think she worries over Dallon and blames herself. It was a scary situation and he hasn't been by much since because he wants to do his own project sometime in the next couple years. I'm happy for him but Bren not so much,"she replied. "Oh,"I said.

She nodded and looked away to see Ryleigh through the glass sliding door. "Brendon wants Dallon to stay. Yeah, I know deep inside that he's happy for Dallon and wants to help. He also doesn't want Panic! to get caught up in a mess. I can see where he's coming from, those fandom people are crazy,"Sarah spoke absently.

"The big problem was having to fire Kenny. That tore him apart and he hasn't found it in him to tell Ryleigh the truth about that situation, yet. Ryan and Ian are around more. She doesn't know this but, when they return to tour, Mike Naran is joining as a full time touring member. He's toured with Andy Black,"Sarah said. I watched out the window as Ryleigh appeared to be having a good time but I couldn't tell from a distance how much was fake. I could see her trying to hide her scars from her last attempt. She felt insecure and self conscious. I couldn't blame her.

"Do you guys want any coffee?"she asked us. "I do, please,"I spoke up. The guys looked up from their phones and nodded. It was pretty silent then. Who knew what to say? We were all waiting for the next bad thing to hit us. I kinda wished things would be easy but if they were then we probably wouldn't have met Ryleigh. She's brought so much joy to us all and she doesn't even know it.

After they came in, they sat on the couch to watch a movie. Ryleigh fell asleep and I took the others home. I came back to the guys who were waiting at the Uries. As soon as Ryleigh woke and was ready, we were going on an adventure and hopefully it'll be inspiring or a good distraction if nothing else. We wanted to get her out of the house and hopefully diffuse whatever tension was building.

We were starting to watch the news as Ryleigh woke up. "Oh, hey guys,"she yawned. "Hey, Ry,"I said. "What's up?"she asked as she sat up. "We're going to go out awhile. You wanna come along?"I asked gently. I hoped she wouldn't say no. Brendon and Sarah needed some time too. Brendon just arrived a few minutes ago and he looked stressed and wore out. He went right to the shower.

"I want to but I should ask dad,"she whispered. "It's okay, Ry. If you wanna go then go. I'll let him know,"Sarah said. She nodded. "Give me a few to change,"she said and ran upstairs. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I was so afraid she'd say no. Frank, Mikey, Ray, and I shared a look. This ought to be fun.