sweets || bryce hall

Chapter 54: Broke Him

"No Jaden, okay? I got cheated on, and I know you were trying to protect me, but you also tried to hide it. I had to leave. And I love all of you but it was too hard. I had to rebuild myself, not even just because of what happened, but because I lost the trust in all of you that I had that kept me standing. I felt alone. And yes, I had Chase, and all of them. But that wasn't on them. I trusted all of you to help me, to care about me, to be my family. So now I'm back and I get that me not calling-" Now he stands up, stopping me from speaking with a hand over my mouth.

"Rory. I do not care that you left. I care that we had no idea how you were. Bryce freaked the fuck out, calling Noah and then snapping on him all the time that way or when he would come here. Josh and I and Quin and Anthony have had to try to be here as much as possible, and then Griffin and Tayler haven't spoke to to Bryce since that night. He's so angry so Griffin has had to crash at our place. I haven't even been able to process how I feel towards them to me honest. Blake and I barely held it together because we were so worried, but we knew Bryce would loose it if we let him. We knew you needed the space. But..." He looks at me, and I let my arms fall, "You're like my little sister Ro. So, I didn't want you to leave. I wanted to protect you though and I knew the only way to do that was to hide it. I know it didn't work, but you were so... But I would never do that if I didn't think I had to. I care about you. Okay? We all do." I smile, and he pulls me into a tight hug, "Never scare me like that again, okay" I just nod, knowing I don't really need to say anything else as we stand there.

-

Rory POV

"I will say, the hair? As on of your stand-in California older brother? Way too sexy for you to be posting all over social media now with the Nach girls like you did. Not okay," He pulls away, firmly looking me in the eye. I laugh, before realizing that he's completely serious. "You might not be with Bryce, or be whatever you are, you guys didn't officially announce anything, nor did you guys completely split for real either. And the whole internet has noticed. So guys have noticed you, more than ever online, and it's gotten a little... scary," I look at him confused. Wow I really need to look at my comments more, "We've all been watching it even if you haven't. You need to be careful. I hate it, I do, I go through it with Mads, but you have to be careful what you post as a girl online. But," He pauses, gripping my shoulders, "We will protect you. No one will do anything to you." I nod, understanding. Lauren and Cynthia and I probably did go over the line with some of the pictures we posted. It was a joke, but he's probably right. I think for a second before asking,

"Do we need to explain it? Like make a video or..." as I tilt my head. He smiles lightly, saying,

"Well, if you ask Josh, it's a good idea. Mads and I never did because we didn't know what was going on. We didn't know what to tel ourselves, let alone our fans. We ended up back together, but we were too scared to be sure. And if we have all learned anything, you have to be sure when you tell the fans anything." He pauses, "Bryce said that you know," I tutor my head, confused, so he continues, "When he posted about you the first time, and talked about you for real. You know him, "The Party Animal", a lot of people thought it was a joke. Not because of you, but because, as we all know, he's changed a lot in the last year. He said, when we asked if he was sure he was going to post all of that, that he was sure, and that he knew." I stare at him for a couple of seconds, before saying,

"Has he really changed? All that much, I mean. You're one of his best friends, I don't... What am I supposed to think now Jay?" I ask, widening my eyes up at him, not really knowing what I'm asking. But Jaden knows me better that most, I'm hoping he knows how to read my rambles. He sighs, saying,

"You leaving, Ror? That broke him. In a different way than anything that anyone did to you did. Because that time Rory, he was the one doing the something. To the girl he loves. Okay? And to be honest, I know at least, that that shocked him into reality more that anything else could have. He was drunk, Ro, and you want to know what he is now? Sober. Has been for weeks. He's trying to fix himself so he can trust himself. He loves you. So he's doing that for you. For your relationship. Because that is his priority right now. It used to be the drinking, the partying, social media. All of that. But now, that's different. That's what I know. The rest, you'll have to talk to him. Because that'll be up to both of you." He says, and I nod absorbing what he said.