The Ribbon Campaign

twenty eight || of heartbreak and love

It's hard to keep up with what goes on after my speech. I'm overwhelmed with the applause I'm given when I exit through backstage and the cameras zooming in on my face. Ryan and Caiden stay pretty much behind me, holding hands, while Bryce walks with his arm around me, laughing when I startle from another reporter yelling my name. "You're famous," he jokes.

"This is crazy," I mutter back. Bryce just rolls his eyes at my reaction and kisses me cheek, not caring that the reporter is right there and there's a camera pointing at us.

We continue pushing our way through the crowd until we've finally escaped the main chaos. By the time we finally find our car, my head is spinning from all the people we've had to walk by and all the congratulations I've received. Don't get me wrong; I'm beyond grateful- in fact, I'm sort of floating on cloud nine- but it's just so much to take in.

Ten minutes into the car drive, my mother and father call to tell me how proud they are of me. I can't help it- a tear escapes my eyes. Maybe it's from how overwhelmed I am or maybe it has finally hit me what I just did, but I'm almost in shock. I thank my parents a thousand times for being such good people, and although they seem confused by what I said, they don't question it.

The car drive back to Ohio is a long one. I find myself drifting out of consciousness. These past few nights I've just stayed up, going out of my mind from worry about this day. But it's finally over with and I can lean against Bryce, enjoy the feeling of his arms around me and his soft breath on my neck, and sleep.

x

When we finally get to Ohio, instead of going straight home, we decide to go out for a celebratory dinner. Our parents agree, considering they already had dinner, and tell us to be home no later than nine.

That, of course, leaves us arguing where we're going to go to eat. Bryce starts the 'discussion' off by claiming, "If we go anywhere that involves seafood, I will vomit."

"I hate seafood too," Caiden agrees.

Ryan frowns, "I love seafood."

"So do I!"

"Too bad."

"Let's get Italian!" I exclaim.

Ryan quickly agrees until Caiden pulls a face and says, "Too saucy."

"How can something be too saucy?" Bryce counters.

Eventually, of course, we end up just getting pizza. It's said, really, but I don't care- I love pizza and if I have to eat something to celebrate being on national TV, pizza will do just fine. As we eat, we chat about random things. Caiden and Ryan have things easy, considering they're just working for the time being rather than going to school. Bryce and I, however, have just started junior year, and we're already not doing so well (besides Bryce in English class, he has a hundred in that class so far).

Caiden offers to help when he can, since he's a genius. Ryan had to work like crazy to get into the school Caiden got a scholarship too. Although they're both going into much different programs, they managed to get into the same school- the school they both had initially wanted, too- and they're both stoked about it. I can't imagine Ryan and Caiden apart anymore, especially after Caiden has lived under our roof for more than half a year now. They've been together since fifteen, and at this point I can't see anything happening to break that. They love each other way too much.

I still remember Ryan's reaction when he thought that he had lost Caiden. He was heartbroken, thinking Caiden was actually going to go back to his dad and take up his offer on therapy. But then Ryan realized something- he wasn't going to give up a person like Caiden without a fight. I still remember the determination in his eyes mixed with an underlying fear. On one hand it was heartbreaking to see them fight, but on the other hand I admired Ryan- I still do- for not just giving up on Caiden.