CALL

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Andy Fowler

  On the way to Bristol, I text the boys in our group chat to come meet us at Nando’s and when Alexandria and I arrive there; the boys are already sitting at a booth.

   “Hey, sorry it took us a while.” I say when we reach the booth.

   I let Alexandria in first, before taking a seat next to her.

   “Don’t worry about it, we just came in like five minutes ago.” Mikey replies.

   “Oh,” I chuckle. “where’s Rye?”

   “No one knows.” Brook shrugs, fixing his sweater.

   “Yeah, he just left without saying where he’s going.” Jack adds.

   “We tried to contact him, but he isn’t replying to any of us.” Mikey further explains.

   I thought he was just ignoring my texts, but it turns out I wasn’t the only one. I wonder if it’s still about yesterday’s event at Nottingham, I look over at Alexandria and she seems upset.

   “Well, why don’t we order already?” I change the subject.

   The boys agree, Mikey and Brook take our orders before they leave to go to the counter. As we wait for them to come back, I type a text to Rye.

to: Rye
      — are you okay? let’s talk later.

   Jack, Alexandria, and I are just quiet as we wait for the two as they order our food. After a couple minutes, Mikey and Brook come back and we just start to talk about the show later.

   “Alexa, are you going to come to the show?” Brook asks.

   She shakes her head and smiles a little, “I’d love to, but Nana’s at the hospital right now so I have to go to Somerset.”

   “Why, what happened to her?” Mikey furrows his eyebrows in concern.

   “Stroke.” I simply reply for her, which took the boys by surprise.

   “But she’s okay already, she’s just at the ICU.” she adds reassuringly.

   “We’ll come over and visit her tomorrow.” Mikey looks at us and nods.

  “Yeah, since we don’t have a show tomorrow.” I add.

   “Thank you, guys.” she says, smiling.

   After a few minutes, our orders come. We all start to eat and I could tell that Alexandria starts to feel a little better by the way she acts, I am happy to know how being with us helps her to somehow forget about her problems.

• • •

   I start to walking out of the station and take a taxi, heading to the venue at Bristol. As I walk down the hallway to the green room, I open the dial pad to call Alexandria.

   “Just tell her the truth already.” Mikey says.

   It was the first thing that I heard when I walk in as they talk to Rye.

   “Hey, you’re back!” Jack enthusiastically utters.

   I just nod and smile at him, before taking a seat on the sofa at the side of the room.

   “What did I miss?” I ask, sitting back.

   “Rye just told us why he wasn’t in the mood yesterday.” Brook answers.

   “Yeah, it was because of Alexandria; she said that the reason why she’s avoiding him is because she doesn’t want to get hurt.” Mikey says, the puzzlement in his voice perceptible.

   “Is it just me or it really doesn’t make sense?” Brook looks around the room for an answer.

   “Everything doesn’t make sense to you.” Mikey retorts.

   We all laugh except Rye, who looks anxious. I feel bad cause I already know the reason, but I know that I am not in the right position to tell him that.

   “Did she say anything else?” I put my elbows on my knees, leaning forward.

   “No, she just left after that.” Rye finally speaks up.

   I sigh, “Just talk to her already, Rye, there’s certainly a reason behind her actions.”

   “Yeah and tell her how you feel already.” Mikey adds in persuasion.

   “Mikey’s right, if you like her; just say it, you can’t just hide it from her forever.” I say.

   “Precisely, you’ve been hiding it ever since you two first met, right?” Brook raises his eyebrows in question.

   “We know it isn’t that easy, you’re scared that things might not go the way you want it to be but to be honest, we’re already there.” I tell him.

   “Yeah, exactly.” the boys agree.

   “She’s already avoiding you, Rye, and the only way for you to find out why and to fix it is to talk to her.” Mikey says.

   “I don’t know, guys, I am just waiting for the right time.” Rye breathes out and looks down, playing with his ring.

   I unconsciously look over to my phone and see that Alexandria’s on the line for five minutes already;  she probably heard everything.

   “Shit,” I curse, drawing the boys’ attention and I immediately put the phone to my ear. “Alexa?”

   I heard shuffling on the background then she hangs up, I look over to the boys and I could tell that they’re just as nervous as I am right now.

   “Did she hear our conversation?” Jack finally asks, breaking the silence.

   “I think so.” I reply with uncertainty.

   As soon as I said that, Rye gets up from his seat and leaves the room.

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