Losing My Life

Chapter 25

Ryleigh can relax now that the news is out and the bump is growing. She now has a butterfly feeling in her tummy because the baby wiggles a lot when she's in the studio recording. She has a sense the little one will follow in her footsteps and become a musician as well.

The news of it all went down well, and fans and friends expressed their delight. Kelsie's next challenge was to find maternity clothes for her growing stomach. Since the illness has passed, Ryleigh has been eating well, and her skin was glowing.

While Kelsie helped out with her clothes, Ryleigh had other ideas and transfixed into the baby and toddler section in stores. She could easily clear the store by picking up anything she thought was cute, which was nearly everything.

When she's not recording, she's on her phone, searching for inspiration for baby essentials to purchase. Since they didn't want to know the gender, it was a bit of a challenge. Kelsie helps her choose items and paint colours for the nursery room.

They ordered takeout because they didn't want to cook and sat on the couch watching TV while Ryleigh's glued to her phone.

'Why do you have the TV on when you're on your phone? You can't concentrate on two things.' Kelsie teases.

'You just sound like Rory.' She responds and lays her phone down, 'I like to have it as background noise sometimes. I don't like quiet rooms.'

Kelsie shakes her head. 'Can I change the channel? The news Celeb World will be on in a second.'

Ryleigh agreed, and Kelsie turns the channel over. A brunette woman in a tight black dress stood behind a video backdrop with the show's title on the screen.

'Good afternoon, I'm Elisa Thornton and here is your Celeb World update...Ryleigh Roberts and Rory Colemon announced they are expecting their first child together, and congrats to them...'

'Hmm, bit late to be mentioning this....as we announced this over a month and a half ago. ' Kelsie quizzes.

'...With Rory on tour, is he ready to take the settle life? While in North Dakota, he was spotted at a bar with his support act Valentina, "being friendly"...'

An image appeared with her arm wrapped around Rory, and he was smiling at her, their faces almost touching. Ryleigh's heart sank, and she hoped what she saw wasn't real because it had never occurred to her that Rory was like this when they were apart. He had a reputation from the news that came out during the competition, but he admitted the mistake with the drugs and claimed the one-night stands and toxic relationships weren't true.

'... He clearly has other things on his mind... ' The TV said.

She gets up from the couch and clenches on her phone with her hands shaking.

'Don't call him, not when you're like this.' Kelsie follows her.

'I need to know... I don't want to believe it.'

'This is what the media does, overcompensates everything. Rory would never do that.'

She huffs and holds onto her bump and feels some small movement.

'The little ones kicking....' The distraction from the bump took the stress off Ryleigh's mind.

'Let me call Josh and see what he says.' Kelsie said.

'He would be honest, won't he? If he knew what Rory was doing?'

'I'm sure he will.' Kelsie leaves the room, and her mind replaying Ryleigh's question as she saw the same thing.

'Come on...pick up.' She mutters while hearing the dial tone going and chewing her fingernail.

'Hey-'

'Hey, something came up on the news today about Rory, and we've just seen it, have you?' Kelsie cuts him off.

'No, what is it?' Josh asks, and Kelsie explains what they saw.

'...They looked pretty close... ', she says '...what's going on?'.

Josh sighs, 'I wasn't with him, as I went sightseeing to take photos. I didn't think he would leave the room...' He runs his hands through his hair and paces, '....They've been getting along, but...'

'But what, Josh?'

He sighs, 'Nothing is going on.'

The temptation to bring up the drugs and the tattoo incident was there on the tip of his tongue, but he held back as the promise from Rory crept back into his mind. Even though he adores Kelsie, he didn't want to see their relationship fall to pieces. Even though they were here to protect their celebrity status, Josh knew that certain things didn't need to be said.

'Can she speak to Rory?'

'He's playing at the moment, I'll get him to call once he's done.'

'Josh...I know you'll tell me if anything is happening, won't you?' She inquires because Ryleigh's query led her to believe Josh would take a similar approach to protect his friend.

'I will.' Josh hesitated, as this was the first secret he wasn't willing to spill.

Valentina steps onto the stage, where Rory waits for her, and winks at him as he raps in her direction. She then begins to sing while looking at him and walks past him, moving her hand across his chest and then looks at the audience. He enjoys spending time with Valentina, as she doesn't care and has a free spirit. Her positive energy gets his blood flowing and makes him feel good. Spending the afternoon with her, drinking more than he planned, but her company made it fun for Rory.

After she sings the chorus, Rory resumes rapping his verse, but he can't take his eyes away from her, and she struts closer to him. She swings her hips while draping one arm over his shoulder and sings the chorus with him, almost forgetting there is an audience watching.

Rory enjoys every moment with her, and the way Valentina approaches him no longer bothers him; he's become used to it. Valentina understood how personal the song is to him because it was written for him and Ryleigh. Adding her vibe to the track took away his fears, and she understood how personal it is to him.

She then pushes him away in a playful manner and prepares for her singing part while he stands behind her, leading the crowd. Josh watches side stage, concerned that things are spiralling out of control, and he needs to speak to him. With the news out and them acting like this, he'll have to deal with more rumours and possibly lie to Kelsie again.