Heaven // Ryan Tedder

Chapter Twenty; Wherever I Go

That same afternoon, Janelle tried to pass the time until Ryan would come and pick her up by napping for a bit, watching television, and eating various snacks. She was rather excited to see Ryan again; she had enjoyed their conversations, and honestly, his company. She was beginning to feel a connection to him that she had only felt to a couple of people before. She believed that they were truly becoming friends.

By the time four came around, Janelle had texted Ryan the directions to her apartment, and she had already put on her shoes; now all she had to do was wait for him to show up.

She decided to do some scrolling around in her various social medias, something she didn't really get to do much since she was typically too busy. While in her Instagram, she decided to see if she could find Ryan's account, if he even had one.

She typed in his name, and sure enough, his profile appeared. She tapped on it, before letting her finger hover over the follow button for a moment. She pressed it, before scrolling down into his posts. The day before, he had posted a mirror selfie, which caused Janelle to smile a bit when she saw it. In fact, as she scrolled through his posts for the next fifteen minutes, her smile grew even wider.

He sure posts a lot of selfies, she thought to herself.

As she continued to scroll through his many posts, she happened to hear a knock at the door, causing her to look up. She quickly shut off her phone, sliding it into the pocket of her jeans, before making her way over to the door.

She unlocked it, opening it up to reveal Ryan, who was wearing a white T-shirt with a print Janelle found to be interesting on it, a jean jacket, and instead of his typical black boots, he was wearing a pair of white Converse.

She looked at him for a moment, before her pink lipstick stained lips curled into a small smile. "Hi, Ryan."

He smiled back. "Hey, Janelle," he said, before motioning for her to walk out of the apartment. "Your chauffeur awaits." He Said in a fake British accent.

She laughed a little, before grabbing her purse, which hung by the door. She stepped out of her apartment, and the two of them made their way down the stairs to the lower level, before heading out the door.

His black SUV was parked right outside, so they both went right over and got in. Janelle was surprised at how clean the interior of his vehicle was, and she almost felt bad just sitting in it. She reached over and buckled herself in, before Ryan started up the engine, pulling out of the parking lot.

As they drove down the street, Janelle looked out the window, trying to figure out how to start a conversation to break the silence.

"Thanks for doing this, Ryan." She Said, running her hand through her hair, which she had yet to put up into a bun or ponytail.

He chuckled a little. "It's no problem, really." He said, looking over at her and giving her a small smile before he looked back out at the road in front of them. "What time do you get off?"

"About nine, usually," She Said. "But Joshua picks me up since he's already off work by then."

She guessed that Ryan was going to offer to pick her up, too, which was kind of him, of course, but she wasn't about to take off from work and not tell Joshua.

She looked out the window, seeing as they passed a bunch of palm trees. As she gazed up at them, she lifted up her hand, pulling a hair tie off of her wrist. As she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, she felt Ryan's eyes on her.

She looked over at him, and he quickly averted his eyes back to the road.

"Is something wrong?" She Asked him as she finished up with her hair.

He shook his head. "No," He said. "Why?"

She bit her lower lip. "Never mind."

She looked back out the window, thinking to herself a little. She wondered why he was staring at her like that, but she decided to forget about it; it was probably nothing.

It wasn't long before they made it to the restaurant, where Ryan parked the closest he could to the door. Janelle thanked him one last time, before opening the door and getting out. Afterwords, she made her way into the restaurant, mentally preparing herself for the long night of work ahead.

After dropping Janelle off, Ryan headed to a nearby bar and grill, where he had planned to meet his band that day. It was something they did occasionally, and all they really did was talk and have a couple of drinks, or, a few in Eddie's case.

Once Ryan got there, he pulled up into the parking lot, putting his black SUV in park, before stepping out. He shut the door, making sure to lock it before he made his way up to the doors.

As he opened them and stepped inside, he could already hear his friends over at the other side of the building, laughing as Drew told them a story. His lips curled into a small smile as he began to step towards them, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

Brent happened to look up as Ryan approached, smiling widely. "Hey, Ry!"

"Hey," Ryan Replied, pulling out a chair and sitting at the table with them. "What'd I miss?"

"Not much." Eddie shrugged. "Drew was just telling us about the time he.."

Drew elbowed Eddie in the chest roughly. "I told you not to tell Ryan!"

"Everyone else already knows!" Eddie protested, putting his hands up defensively.

"Yeah, but Ryan has the power to fire me from the band."

Zach shrugged. "He makes a point."

Ryan chuckled a little, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. They had clearly already had some to drink already.

Eddie brought himself to his feet. "Do you guys want anything else to drink?" He asked.

"I'll have another beer." Zach nodded.

"Same here." Drew added.

"Ryan?" Eddie looked over at him, and he shrugged.

"I guess I'll have the same."

Eddie gave him a thumbs up, before stepping away, heading over to the bar at the other side of the restaurant. Ryan rested his head on his hand, elbow propped up on the slightly sticky table, as he began to drift away into his thoughts.

He had had a lot on his mind lately, with all that was going on with Janelle. He was sort of glad to be here with the guys, it was kind of like a day off from his typical stress. He just hoped Brent or Zach wouldn't bring up his relationship troubles with the guys. The last thing he needed was all of them knowing. Besides, he didn't want them to worry about something that didn't really matter that much.

The more he thought about it, he was still stressed about everything. Even being with the guys was making him nervous, since he feared that Zach and Brent would tell the others. At least, If they hadn't already.

Only a moment later, Eddie returned, holding up an entire six-pack of beer. "Who's Ready for a stress-free night?"

Everyone cheered, but Ryan didn't hear, as he was still thinking about the whole Janelle situation.

"I'm mostly talking to you, Ryan." Eddie added, before taking a bottle of beer out of the case, sliding it over to him.

Ryan pulled himself out of his thoughts, picking up the beer his friend had given him and opening it. He took a long swig of the alcohol, before sighing a little.

More like a long night, he thought to himself.