Off Limits

Chapter Ten

ELLIE'S POV

I winced awake at Ruel zipping open his suitcase, 'Oh my god. Did I wake you?' he sounded worried but I shook my head

'No, you're all good' he smiles and walks over to my bed to bend down to give me a long and sweet kiss

'I guess this is going to be a regular occurrence...' I mumbled with butterflies in my stomach

'I guess so...' he says back as we both smile before getting ready for the day and going to the venue early to help set up.

I picked up an amp with Joel and place it to the side of the stage before helping plug in cords to the back of it, Hey Ellie. Can you go film the line outside? Just go past with the camera and tell everyone to wave or scream or whatever' I nod and smile before I jog backstage and run into Ruel

'Where you off to?' he asks

'Going to film fans outside'

'Oh sick.' he pecks a kiss on my cheek before I grab the camera from behind him and smile. 

I walk outside and I smile at the girls in the front. 'Hey. I'm filming for Ruel so do you mind just screaming or waving to the camera while I go down the line. Hopefully, people will follow along'

They nod and smile as I press record and they smile, scream and wave at the camera and everyone catches on as I walk down the long line that went around the block.

'Thanks guys!' I click the camera to stop and start to walk back to the main entry when a girl taps your arm

'Hey. Are you like working for Ruel or for the venue or...' she asks and I nod.

'Well yeah, I'm one of Ruel's videographers.' I explain and another girl speaks up.

'Woah. How did you get hired? You're like so young' 

'I'm Joel's sister and I'm doing this for work experience. It's really fun.' I say and they are all amazed.

'That's so cool, what the hell'

'Yeah, it's a blast' I smile as the first girl asks again and I felt like the surrounding fans were listening in on our conversation. 

'How old are you?'

'I'm 16'

'Wow. Imagine doing this for work experience, that's so lucky. Is it hard keeping away from Ruel?' the fan says and I instantly am flustered. 

'Yeah, I know I wouldn't be able to' the other girls say and I shrug. 

'Not really. I mean, we don't actually see each other that much'

Lie

'We keep things professional, you know?'

Lie

'I'm so lucky for this opportunity, I'm not going to put my job on the line'

Another lie

' Well have fun!' they say and I smile and wave at the girls before opening the entry door after scanning my lanyard.

I walk into the green room to see Ruel on his phone, sitting on the bench with his legs on the ground. Tall people...

'Hey hey' he says, looking up from his device.

'I thought you had soundcheck' I say and he instantly gets mock defensive.

'What? You don't want me here? Fine'

'You're stupid' I roll my eyes as he puts his phone down to walk towards me

'I'm joking...' he pulls me into a hug, my arms loosely around his waist.

'I'm tired...' he mumbles, resting his chin on the top of my head and sighing

'You got this. Just over a week left,' I tighten my grip on his shirt as he pulls me closer and I can feel his heartbeat as I rest my head on his chest.

'Ruel. Soundcheck,' we both pull away quickly and Ruel walks out the door to the stage. 

I turn around to see Nate still standing there. He didn't look mad, just disappointed, 'Nate I-'

'I don't care Ellie. Just stay away from him or you might not be finishing the tour'

He walked away and my heart just stopped. Did he just threaten to kick me off the tour?

RUEL'S POV

I got the message from Michelle that this was the last person to come in for the meet and greet. 'Hi I'm Lily'

'Hi Lily. How are you?' I ask and I notice her hands shaking a little bit.

'I'm a little bit nervous but we'll be ok,' I pull her into a side hug and rub her arm as she starts to talk, 'Ok, so I was diagnosed with anxiety in the last year and I just wanted to thank you because I wouldn't have gotten through it without you and your music. You're literally never not smiling and that just makes me happy and whenever I'm nervous, I just look at videos of you and it just makes me smile and laugh. So yeah...'

'Thank you so much. I hope it's getting better and stuff' I say, making her crack a smile and nod

'Yeah it is.'

We pose for the photo and I give her a long hug before she leaves the room and Nate comes in

'Should I warm up now?' I ask and he nods.

'Yeah, just do it in here' he shrugs but I'm instantly confused. 

'What? Why? We always do it in the green room.' I say and he quickly forces words back at me.

'Well, it's just quicker if we do it here'

'There's no rush...It's still like an hour until the show. Plus, it's really cold in here. Won't it affect my voice?' I ask and he shakes his head.

'It's fine. Just do it,' I give a confused look to Nate as he walks back out into the stage area.

It was soon time to go on stage and I walk past Ellie, I hadn't seen her in a while

'Hey. You filming tonight?' she continues to walk past me, down the hall to the other side of the stage, completely ignoring me. I shake it off and try to focus on the show ahead.

The show went by really quickly, everyone was so happy and hype and it was a good show but Ellie completely ignoring me backstage, I just couldn't stop thinking about it. 

I run off stage after thanking the crowd and I run into the green screen to get a towel and see Michelle and Ellie looking at Michelle's phone. My heart drops when I see a tear fall down Ellie's cheek.

'Hey, you ok? What happened?' I instantly rush over to her but her reaction was the last thing I expected. 

'Check for yourself,' she walks past me, shoving the phone into chest and continuing to walk out the venue and my my mouth drops as I see what they were looking at.