Safety Pin | Luke Hemmings' Little Sister (COMPLETED)

47 | Riptide

Michael's POV (because I've never done this yet!)

"Are we there yet?" I ask, poking Luke's cheek. We're flying from Michigan to Florida today, which a fairly long flight.

"No," Luke sighs, annoyance clear in his voice.

"What about now?" Rya pipes up from his other side, and I grin. Rya, being her annoying little eleven year old self, has a very short intention span. She's been doing this since we got on the plane. I, however, being the immature annoying 19 year old I am, decided to join just to get on Luke's nerves.

Luke turns and flicks the side of Rya's head, causing her to whine and stick out her lower lip. "No," he snaps, turning to me and flicking me as well. "Just shut up, both of you," he says with a chuckle. No matter what we do, we really can't get mad at each other. We just love each other too much.

—

About two hours later, we've finally arrived in Florida, gathered our luggage, and made it safely to the little beach house we'll be staying in. Feldy thought it would be cool if we got some inspiration by writing by the beach, which we all happily agreed to. Who doesn't love the beach? Okay, I am a gremlin of some sort that hides away and hates the sunlight, but I'm really feeling the beach mood today.

"Okay, we have today off so we can do whatever we want, and tomorrow we'll be writing with Feldy," Ash tells us once we settle in. John Feldman will be joining us to write some songs, which Rya seems happy about.

Since there are only two bedrooms in our little beach house, Luke, Ashton and Rya get one while Cal and I take the other.

"Are you sure? I can take a couch, I don't mind," Ashton says, but Rya shakes her head.

"Sleeping on couches is bad for your neck, mum says so," she says in a childish voice that makes us all laugh. Luke rolls his eyes. "Can't argue with Mumma Liz," he says with a chuckle. Ashton smirks as he brings his suitcase into their room and Luke helps set up a blow-up air mattress for him.

As Rya stands by and watches, I find myself staring at her, thinking yet again about how horrible it must be having to deal with such a huge loss. She seems to be handling it fairly well, but knowing her I'm worried she's keeping her feelings bottled up. Luke did tell me about the little breakdown she had on Willow's birthday though. It broke my heart hearing the muffled sobs one room over, but I'm glad she's close enough with Luke to feel able to express her feelings around him.

"We should go for a swim," Cal says, looking out at the ocean. We have some pretty sick views. I nod in agreement and flop down on the bed in Luke and Rya's room.

"Wanna come swimming with us?" I ask as I roll over. Rya looks over to Luke for approval and when he nods, so does she. We all part ways to put our swimsuits on and meet outside the house.

"Look over there," Rya says, pointing to a little tide pool a ways down the beach. It's very rocky, but it looks intriguing, so we all make our way there.

We all tip toe carefully on the rocks since they're either sharp or slippery. As I expected, Rya goes out as far as she can on a narrow rocky ledge to try to get a better look at whatever's below the little cliff. She's always been one to go just a little over the edge . . . this time she might literally go over the edge.

"Hey, watch your step," I warn as she leans over to look below her.

"Rya, come back a little bit," Luke says, looking up with a worried expression. She does as she's told and makes her way back to us, where we sit on the rocks and dip our feet in. Rya tests the water to make sure it's not to deep before sliding in and dunking her head, coming back up and pushing her hair out of her face.

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" She says, disappearing in the murky water again and reappearing a few feet away from me. I kick some water up at her and she splashes me back, making me retreat as Cal slides in.

"Mikey come swim with me," Rya whines, and I laugh.

"No, I don't like swimming. Be lucky I even came outside, I hate the sun, too," I say, and she pouts. I groan, sliding into the water. Come on, who can say no to that adorable innocent little face?

We all splash each other and swim around for a bit, until the tide starts to get higher. The waves are slowly growing, and when they hit us they're bigger, stronger, reach farther, and pull back further as well. I can tell Rya's starting to have trouble fighting the retreating current, and I think Luke's taken notice, too.

"Come on, let's go swim somewhere else," he says, getting out. Rya pouts, but starts to swim over to the rocks as the rest of us follow. I pull myself out of the water and turn around to grab Rya's hand, just as an extremely strong wave rushes forward. Rya manages to steady herself, but as it retreats it pulls her with it. Another wave comes and I feel my heart skip a beat as Rya disappears. I slide into water and anxiously await for her head to pop up as the wave begins to retreat, but it doesn't. My heart is pounding now as I search for the little blonde girl.

Thankfully, she reappears a moment later, but she's definitely too far out. She knows how to tread the water, but she may not be strong enough to fight another wave. Even if she is, it will still pull her out further.

"I've got her," I tell Luke. I make my way partly out to her and wait for the next current to come. When it does, Rya disappears again, but when she comes to the surfaces she's closer to me. I quickly close the distance between us and grab her arm, just as the wave pulls back, taking us with it.

Rya wraps her arms around my neck as I tread the water and begin to make my way to the rocks. Another wave comes and I hold onto her tightly, fighting the current. We finally make it to the rocks and I hand my little friend up to Luke, who quickly hauls her out of the water. She gasps and coughs a little and Ashton helps me out as Cal wraps both Rya and I in towels.

"Don't scare me like that!" Both Luke and I say at the same time, making Rya give us a shy smile. "You're the closest thing I have a sister, so make sure you stay perfectly healthy," I joke, bending down to Rya's height. She smiles and snuggles into my arms, and Ashton "awww's."

It is true though. Me being an only child, I always loved having Rya around, even though when her and Luke were younger Luke was always annoyed when Rya tried to crash out band rehearsals or he had to bring her somewhere because he was babysitting her. But I never said anything, because she's adorable and cute. I've known these idiots for so long now that they're a part of my family, and so is Rya. I really enjoy having her here with us, and I hope she feels the same way.

A/N - aw, look at Michael being all protective and sentimental:) guys I only have two more days of school left, YAY! I hope you all have a fantastic day xoxo - Em:)