Elephants - A OneRepublic/Ryan Tedder Fanfic

Chapter 68

I woke up to a whisper fight.

“Tell her.” That was Brent.

“She’ll love it. Okay. I’m not telling her it’ll ruin the surprise. Now go away. You are going to wake her up.” Ryan sounded unusually stroppy.

“Ryan, you aren’t thinking this through.”

“Brent, seriously. She is my girlfriend, I know her better than anyone here.”

“Remember the last time you kept something from her?”

“Completely different circumstances. This is a surprise for a special occasion, are you telling me I should tell her what presents I get her? Just in case she gets mad because I didn’t tell her. She isn’t like that.”

“I just-”

“Brent. Fuck off. I can’t deal with this right now.” Ryan snapped. That doesn’t usually happen, like ever. I heard Brent sigh and walk away. My face was pressed up against Ryan’s stomach, so I must have been rolling around in my sleep. Ryan ran his hand through his hair, sighing as well, whatever it is that’s the ‘surprise’ it is really stressing him out. “Maybe I have fucked up.” And his voice was so broken and dis-heartened, I almost cried, I think he was close to it as well. I moved closer to Ryan, yawning.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, not completely awake yet, or at least not sounding awake yet.

“Don’t worry about it.” He was trying to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes the way it usually does.

“Whatever it is. You can tell me, but I won’t make you babe. Just, don’t let it bother you.” I couldn’t let him know I heard their conversation, not when it was about me, but I heard the other guys talking in hushed voices. I feel like I’m splitting them up, dividing them into teams, Ryan spends less time with them and there seems to be more and more fighting. At this point Zach walked in.

“You didn’t have to speak to him like that.” He stated simply.

“Look, let’s not fight about this. Really, it’s an issue between me and Brent, and just us.” Ryan tried.

“No. It’s not. Ryan let’s face it, we are all drifting apart. YOU are drifting apart. You fight with us more, about the stupidest things. You chose the girl over us. We are a team, and at the moment you are letting the team down. Over and over again.” Zach argued, then he turned and left us alone. I looked up and saw that Ryan was crying, or was about too.

“Baby, they don’t mean it.” I told him softly.

“They do.” He whispered, a lone tear rolling down his face. “I’ve let them down.” Then the tears started coming, he was so upset. I sat up and pulled him into a hug, he cried onto my shoulder. Unable to say anything.

“Everyone has their ups and downs. Remember, that’s what you said last night. This is just a down.” I comforted him. “You guys have been together for so long, you are all friends, this is just a bump in the road. Okay, they are saying things to hurt you, to make you change. Or realise what you’ve done. They don’t mean it, they are angry and tired.” Ryan was still crying.

“I’ve known Zach for years. He meant every word.” Ryan sobbed, choking on his own words. What they said obviously really hurt him.

“Look, how about I give you some time to talk to them. Some time to be guys again. I can chill with Danny.” I suggested, what I really wanted to do is cry and storm over to the guys and make them see what assholes they have been.

“Are you sure?” Ryan looked up at me, his eyes were red and his face was wet with tears. He looked like a broken man, so different to earlier. But there was a glimmer of hope that he could recover from this.

“Of course baby.” I gave him a soft kiss, and wiped away some of the tears on his face. “Text me if you need me.”

“Love you.” He curled himself up, hugging his knees to his chest. It might be a while until he talks to the boys.

The boys were silent when I walked out, I had cried a bit with Ryan and my shoulder was wet with tears. I went straight to the driver, asking him if we could pull over when possible so I could change busses. He radioed the other bus, 10 minutes. Great.

“Why are we stopping?” Eddie asked, seeming uncomfortable with the situation.

“I’m going to join Danny.” I replied simply.

“And Ryan?” Zach asked, I could barely look at him.

“Ryan will be staying here.”

“What is your problem?” Zach snapped.

“Seriously? My problem is you guys are assholes; that is my problem. That you guys speak first and apparently don’t even think later. What do you think is wrong? Ryan is heartbroken, he is hurting and feeling like he fucked up big time. Which, as far as I’m aware he bloody hasn’t. You better leave him alone until he is ready to talk to you. Because I swear, if you guys could possibly hurt him more I will kill you.” They looked slightly shamed, maybe just a bit. “My problem, is that Ryan can’t see a solution. He thinks this is the end, he has lost his smile, he has lost his friends and he has lost his hope. As far as he’s concerned the band hate him and the band is over. YOU chose yourselves over him. YOU let the team down. YOU have broken him. And it’s your job to fix him, you better start thinking of ways to make this right. This band means the world to him, you guys mean the world to him. Maybe you should think about that next time.” The bus had stopped by now, which meant I could have a dramatic exit.

I had text Danny, letting them know I was joining their bus. They love hearing about the gossip, but they knew that this was serious. The guys had fought before, but this one was different. If they don’t make up, I think it could be the end of OneRepublic.

A/N - As promised an interesting chapter XD Thanks for getting me over 4K guys, please vote and comment! Love to hear what ya think :)