Hanging On (A Lusher/Ryen Fanfic)

1

Lia's POV

I wake up to the sound of my phone being spammed with messages.
This isn't new.
I sit up with a groan and reach for my phone, missing the side table entirely and grabbing only air. Smooth.
I finally get it and open my messages.
57 new messages from Brayden
Jesus Christ Brayden.
I scroll through them, seeing a few different ones.
LIAAAA
WAKE UP
MOO
GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF BED
WE HAVE PLANS
Plans?
Oh right. Ryan's making us vlog.
I sigh and stand up, pulling on a grey v-neck and tie-dye jeans, a gift from Ryan. Shocker.
"KRISTEN!" I yell, getting only silence in response. I roll my eyes and go to her door, knocking obnoxiously.
Trust me, she would want this.
After a few minutes of this, she whips open the door with a glare.
"Hey Kris!" I say, being sarcastically cheerful. She continues to glare at me and I smirk.
"Don't you remember? Ryan's forcing us to do things in the outside world."
She scoffs. "Ugh. Fine. Give me ten minutes." She slams the door and I head down to the kitchen, grabbing a granola bar from a bowl on the counter.

Kristen and I are both 17 and in our senior year of high school, as are Brayden and Ryan. We live in an apartment with our "guardian," Zach. He's really just one of our friends, but he's 24 so it takes care of legal issues. He's not home very much though. I met Kristen about 6 years ago, in 6th grade. We both went to the same school, along with Brayden and Ryan. I met Kristen first, and we got really close. At some point over the next 2 years, we met Brayden and Ryan and became an insane little inseperable group of four. Over time, I became closest with Brayden out of the four. I can tell him anything. I'd trust any of them with my life, honestly. They're my everything.

"KRISTEN HURRY YOUR DAMN SE-" I'm interrupted by her dragging me to the front door.
"Come on, let's go already!"
She's wearing a light blue hoodie and black jeans. "Okay, okay, calm down, I'm coming." I grab my phone and stuff it in my little purse and head out the door, Kris not far behind me.

---------------------------------------------

We agreed to meet at a little coffee shop near where we all live. When we get there, Brayden and Ryan are already there with coffee and snacks.
"Well that took you long enough!" Brayden complains and I smack his arm lightly.
"Shut up, all you have to do to get ready is stand up and put on clothes. I have to do makeup and hair, it's a whole process."
He shakes his head. "You could make it so much shorter if you skipped makeup. You don't need it."
I smile slightly and feel myself blush a bit. "Thanks, but society would disagree."
"Screw society!" Ryan yells, jumping into the conversation. "You're both beautiful just the way you are, end of discussion."
Ryan's so sweet. I look over at Kris and see that she's grinning and blushing as much as I am.
"It means a lot," she says, and I nod in agreement.
There's a moment of silence before Brayden stands up, clapping his hands. "Okay! So what're we doing today?"
I can't help but laugh a bit at the reference. "I don't know, ask Ryan. He's the one who brought us all out here."
He stands up with a smirk. "We're going skydiving!
This should be eventful.

---------------------------------------------

"I can't believe you're just spontaneously taking us skydiving..." I mutter nervously. I've never like heights much.
"Yeah, it's going to be amazing!" Kristen comments excitedly, making Ryan laugh.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine Lia," he says comfortingly. I take a deep breath and nod.
After a few more minutes, Ryan pulls into the little parking lot and leads us to a building.
"Okay, we have to watch a video and stuff first," he explains. "It shouldn't take too long."
A lady goes over basic safety procedures and then shows us a video of what will happen. It seems pretty cool, but I'm still terrified.
"All right, you guys ready?" Brayden asks.
I shut my eyes tightly and calm myself down. "Yeah, as I'll ever be."
The lady takes us to a runway with a fairly small plane on it. She helps us into our harnesses.
"Both Brayden and I have skydived before, so you guys have to be strapped to us. So, um, I'll take Kristen?" Ryan says, looking over at Brayden. He nods in agreement and steps over to me, allowing the lady to attach us.
"Hi Brayden."
"Hey Lia," he replies, a smirk clear in his voice.
I roll my eyes slightly. "This isn't sexual, stop trying to make it that way."
He laughs at that. "Okay, whatever you say."
We're loaded into the plane and sat down on little bench things.
"It'll be about 20 minutes," the pilot yells back.
This will be a long 20 minutes.

---------------------------------------------

We're about to jump, and I think I'm more terrified than I've ever been in my life.
"Brayden, I... I don't know if I can do this." I'm shaking, and my heart is pounding so hard. I know he can feel it.
"I've got you, Lia. I won't let anything happen to you, don't worry. I've got you."
I take a deep breath. "Okay. Let's do this."
We walk over to the open door of the plane where a helper guy is standing. "You guys ready?"
"Yep!" Brayden replies from behind me, and I take another deep breath to calm myself.
"You two have fun!" Kristen yells from where her and Ryan are standing, waiting for us to go so that they can jump.
I laugh lightly. "Okay, let's go now, before I freak out even more."
Brayden puts his mouth near my ear and whispers, "You'll be fine. I promised."
It sends shivers down my spine. I hope he didn't notice.
The helper guy counts down. "Alright, in 3... 2... 1!"
And then we're in midair.
For a moment I can barely keep myself from hyperventilating. Brayden wraps his arms around me, muttering things about how it'll all be okay.
I steady my breathing and after a minute or two, I'm looking around and admiring the view. "Wow... It's amazing."
I feel him smile. "It really is, isn't it?"
I nod. "I can see everything..."
There's a few minutes of blissful calm and beautiful views. Eventually, it's time to pull the chute.
"Okay, here goes..." He releases it and it shoots up into the sky. I'm mesmerized, but that quickly changes.
"Um... Brayden? Why aren't we slowing down?"
He turns to look and I hear a quiet gasp.
"Brayden? What's going on?"
He pauses. "I... The chute's tangled."
A chill goes through my body. "What do you mean, the chute's tangled?" I'm shaking again.
"The... It's not going to open."
It suddenly dawns on me what he means. My throat is choked with fear.
"Here's what we have to do, Lia. We need to roll. When I say go, I need you to turn to the right as hard as you can, okay?"
I nod, my eyes tightly closed.
"In 3... 2... 1... Go!"
I push as hard as I can, and I feel us shift so that Brayden's under me.
That's when I realize what he's doing.
"Wait... Brayden..." I can't get the words out. He has to stop. I can't let him do this! I can't let him risk his life for me!
"Shhh, Lia. It's okay. You'll be okay. I promise."
I can't breathe. I can't lose him. "Please..." I manage to choke out, a single tear escaping my eye."
"I promised, Lia. I don't break promises."
Impact happens all at once, and it knocks everything out of me. I can't breathe. I can't see. I can't hear. I can only feel.
And what I feel is broken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SO IM SOBBING.
Don't hate me <3

This is my new fanfic with Lusher and Ryen!

If you don't know those ships, Lusher is transparentcakexRusher and Ryen is kristasticalxDolphin.

I like it so far, I have plans :D

I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'm going to be switching up POVs, don't worry.

--Flamingo

(Also, most chapters probably won't be quite this long. This one is special xD)