Not that bad // Rhea Ripley

5- Always

"When the world gets too heavy, put it on my back I'll be your levy."

Panic! At The Disco

"Hey why are you that hard on Luke ?"

I was a bit taken aback by his question. To be honest I expected it from anyone except Michael. But the worst is that I didn't really have an answer, so I just looked down.

" Well he kinda insulted me and ...."

" Since when do you care about that Roxy ?" He looked at me in disbelief. "Usually you just let it slip without saying a word. What's different with the poor guy ?"

" You see ! That's what I hate, everyone is taking him in pity, because he's the new guy, he's shy, he's mr perfect or god knows what." I snapped. "Nobody even knows him, or maybe Calum does, I'm not even sure anymore."

" He reminds you of Phil right ?" Mike cut me off. I never thought of that. Maybe he does, a little. "This is not just the fact that he talked bad about you right ? Maybe that irritated you in the beginning, but now it's not just that, am I wrong ?"

" I ... Maybe, I don't know, I've never took the time to think about it this way."

" Sweetie, you overthink everything, I know you've thought about this in all of the aspects possible." He patted my back to reassure me. "Don't be so hard on him, like you said, we don't know him enough yet alright ? But you're right to stay on your guards for the moment too. Anyways, I'll be here to protect you."

I hugged him, and we walked the last meters to Cal's house. His house was kind of isolated, so our way to let Cal know we're here is either to throw rocks at his window, or make his phone ring until he wakes up. Today we chose the rocks. It didn't take long before he answered, which is surprising. But the most surprising is that it's not Calum who answered the window.

" ASHTON ?! I yelped.

" Yes it's Ashton." A sleepy Calum answered. "I'm throwing the keys to you, come in by the front door, and please don't be too noisy."

I caught the keys Cal gave us and took the matter in my hands, since Michael can be quite clumsy, clumsier than me. But my hands were shaking with excitement since Ashton was here. Ashton is our best friend since forever, we met him on camp when we were only like 10 years old. The problem is that he lives in Europe. He is one year older than us, so he doesn't have to go to high school anymore. Calum is one year younger, but Michael and I had to redo a year because of personal problems, so we're in the same grade as him. I didn't even know Ash was coming back. I rushed upstairs, as quietly as I could -which is not really quiet- and chimed in Calum's bedroom, directly heading towards Ashton.

" Hey Roxy !" He said as he picked me up. " I missed you too." He chuckled

" I didn't know you were coming back ?!"

" Yeah, I only told Cal, surprise guys ! "

" SO you're living with Cal ?" Michael asked as he hugged Ash too.

" Yeah, temporarily, I'm searching for an apartment here." He explained.

" An apartment ?!" I squealed. "That means you're staying ?!"

" Yep, I'm settling here for at least a year, until you guys graduate, and then I'll see what I'll do."

I swear I could have cried right on the spot. Ashton is like the best out there. He's a good listener, a good friend, he's funny and gentle. Well all my friends are, but Ashton is like the older brother type.

We spent hours talking, waiting for Cal's parents to wake up, so we could start practicing without waking anyone. Calum led us to the basement where our instruments are. Ash's drums were here too, and he explained us that he got them to fly here with him. We got everything prepared when someone knocked on the basement door. It was Mali Koa.

" Hey brother, your friend is here."

" Oh, yeah, let him come !"

I then saw my favorite blonde hair walk through the door. I glanced at Michael who gave me a reassuring smile and I inched towards him. Cal introduced Luke to Ashton, and the blonde guy waved at us. I decided to force a wave back, but then went to prepare my mic.

" I decided to invite Luke, since he's a singer and guitarist too, maybe he could play with us." Calum said. I felt a pinch in my heart.

" Wait, are you trying to replace Roxanne ?" Michael snapped.

" No no, not at all !" Calum defended himself. "I'm just saying that adding a guitar, and maybe a male voice could be good, don't you think ?"

" Yeah, we can try someday."

We rehearsed Take Cover by All Time Low one last time, since we've started learning it last week.

" Hey guys, how about we work on some original songs ?" Ashton says. "We have a lot that are not finished yet."

" I'm down !" Michael and I said together.

" I'm okay too."

We starting reworking on a melody we first wrote weeks ago, so Ashton could be able to have an idea and add some drums on it. For the next year, we'll be able to practice a lot with him, which is great. I just hope Luke won't be here at every practice, I have a really tough time concentrating when he's here. I let them readjust the rhythmical parts of the song, before adding guitar, and then the singing. I'm a bit self conscious since it's been a lot of time since we worked on this song, but eventually it all went well. We ended practice at around 5 p.m, only stopping for some snacks from time to time. I left with Michael, and Luke went the other way, which is pretty good to me. I pecked Michael's cheek and headed back to my own home. When I got there, I looked at the house across the street. It's been empty for years, how am I only noticing that it's been refreshed. I stared at the house maybe a bit too much, and I saw a little blond head arriving there. He turned around and oh God , there was Luke.

// Finally Phil appears. This is long, and everything takes time, but I promise it'll be worth it haha