Define Me

23.

Chapter Twenty Three:

Leo had been right when he told us that our names would be in the news. This morning, both Ryan's and I's phones were blowing up with texts, calls, and notifications. Somewhere between getting home last night and waking up merely hours later, media and fans were on the gossiping train of opening night.

It was weird to see your name in the body of dozens of articles, especially in reference to our music. It felt like a weird dream that I needed to wake up from because it was too good to be true.

Tonight we were heading to Phoenix, Arizona; although, we weren't actually set to perform until tomorrow night which seemed like too soon in the grand scheme of things. I really didn't want this tour to pass by at the speed of light, it already was hard to believe that opening night had came and went.

"Have you even packed?" I ask Ryan as I walk into his room. It was strewn with an abundance of clothes, nothing hanging up in his closet or folded in his drawers, and him sitting in the middle of all of it on the floor.

"I can't decide what all to pack. Like what if something comes up and I need to wear something specific but its lying around here." Ryan explains, picking up a piece of clothing before tossing it over his shoulder.

"You look like something out of a movie right now." I tell him, picking up a ratty old t-shirt before dropping it again. "How long has it been since you've done laundry anyways?"

"Last week? I think. The weeks have been blurring together honestly." He dismiss, still engrossed in his fashion options.

"You shouldn't pack a ton. It you think about it, a majority of the time will be either on the bus or performing. So, pack a few pairs of pants, a couple of shirts, some pyjamas, and of course the basics." I tell him, watching him from where I have perched myself on his bed.

"That's so much easier said than done." Ryan huffs, still working through everything in his head. I sigh, falling onto my back on his bed. "Did you read that one article about the duet?" Ryan asks after minutes of undisturbed silence.

"Which article?" I interrogate, his question peaking my interest.

"It's on my phone, I was just looking at it until I remembered that I should stop procrastinating about this packing scenario." In the blink of an eye, Ryan's phone is cradled in my hand as I scroll through its contents.

'Could Landon be someone's Mr. Wright?' Is the title that I am met with as soon as I make eye contact with the screen. As I scrolled, I was shocked by how detailed the article was when it came to discussing Landon's dating life. It went through each and every girl that he had ever been rumoured to be dating, ending the article with talking about the duet and our supposed 'romance.'

I was stunned into silence until I felt eyes lingering on me.

"Wow." I whisper, thinking about the article, about the girls, about Landon. I knew that a majority of it was probably a lie but I still couldn't wrap my head around how easily your life became public. I especially felt bad because I knew that if I never met Landon than I probably would've read the article and believed the whole thing.

"You okay?" Ryan asks me.

"Yeah, it just seems like a such an invasion of privacy, you know?"

"I get what you mean but like Leo said, we signed up for it." His voice rung through with indifference, I could tell though that he was trying to just remain positive rather than dwell on the downfalls of life in the public. I guess it wouldn't affect you as much either if you are not apart of it.