Another concert, another meet & greet, another publicity opportunity. As many of the fans had speculated the best friend duo shipped as "Rydellington" had been pressured by Hollywood Records to play up the ship for more revenue. At first it was nothing but fun, games and teasing from Rocky, but eventually putting up the façade got tiring. After six plus months of the duo pretending to have feelings towards one another the feelings became, not surprisingly, real, well more real. Rydel's teenage crush on her best friend came back with a vengeance after all the flirtatious moments, and Ellington, having no romantic ties any longer, finally opened the can of feelings he had been desperately hiding about his best friend. Again as no surprise, everyone around them knew about the feelings the duo had for one another; Rydel and Ellington had a sensed that the other had feelings towards them, but they refused to acknowledge it.

They were on their third stop in Pennsylvania when things changed for the group. They had gotten into York extremely early, so they decided to do something out of the ordinary and go hang out with the VIP fans outside the venue for a little while. As there weren't too many fans at the moment each band member was able to go through say hello to everyone, take photos, and talk for a little while. While Rydel was going through the line she noticed a guy about her age was standing in line with a little girl, no older than 7 years old. When she came up to the little girl and the guy she heard from behind her, "Sid you may want to watch out, looks like this guy over here is trying to steal your girl", Rocky felt it was his brotherly duty to inform his best friend what was happening. Rydel shook her head laughing and told the little girl, "Brothers are so weird sometimes". She hadn't noticed that the boy with the young girl had turned a bright pink, or that Ell's face dawned a bright red from slight jealousy. Rydel snapped a picture with the little girl before being dragged away by Ellington.

"Your dad said the line is getting too crazy and we need to go inside" He whispered into her ear as he put his hand on her waist. Ellington kept his arm around Rydel the whole walk back to the green room, never saying a thing, just keeping her close to him as they approached a surprise in the green room.

"Kelly?" Riker asked, knocking everyone out of shock

"Hi guys!" Kelly replied happily as she walked up to give everyone a hug, starting with Riker. Contrary to popular belief, Kelly, Ellington and the whole Lynch family had managed to stay on good terms with one another. The first few months were hard, they rarely spoke, but after Kelly and Ellington talked about "One Last Dance" they realized that they wanted to stay friends, and on good terms with everyone. As Kelly approached Ellington and Rydel to give them hugs she noticed his hand was still set tightly on Rydel's waist. Ell let go as he saw Kelly give them a look.

"I thought you were coming to the New York City show?" Rydel asked as she hugged the girl

"I am, but I had some time off so I thought why not come to another show?"

"Well as much as we want to catch up right now, we need to do our Meet & Greet photos first" Riker said coming up behind Kelly, putting an arm around her shoulder, "We'll see you before the concert though right?" he asked

"Yup! I'm just going to hang out in here for now" Kelly told everyone.

"Let's go! Rydel has to get to that guy that was checking her out earlier" Rocky joked

Rydel threw a pillow at her younger brother while muttering shut up. Everyone in the room laughed except Ellington, who was being watched by someone.

The band only had one more group until the end of Meet & Greet when "Rydel's Man" as Rocky named him, came in with a little girl.

"Hi Sasha, how are you?" Rydel asked the little girl from outside the venue.

"I'm good, but I'll be better if I can hug Ratliff!" Sasha exclaimed

"Of course sweetie!" He replied hugging the girl, picking her up in the process.

Still in the arms of Ratliff, Sasha decided to do introduction with everyone, "Hi! My name is Sasha, I'm 6, this is my brother Xander. He thinks Rydel is pretty"

"Oh really?" Rocky exclaimed.

"Yup! He wants to take a picture with her" Sasha shared, her brother turning redder by the moment.

"Well let's take some pictures then!" Ross suggested after realizing the time frame for photos was dwindling down.

The band couldn't say no to the sweet six year old who requested a photo with every band member, so they ended up with a total of 5 photos.

The first had Sasha in Riker's arms, everyone making funny faces with the exception of Rydel and Xander, they had decided to do the salsa pose. The second photo had Sasha on Rocky's shoulders playing with his hair while the remaining boys of R5 just looked at them weird; Rydel however was piggy back on Xander during the photo. Ross and Sasha had the cool music based photo; everyone had their tongues out giving the "Rock On" hand sign, Xander had put his hand on Rydel's waist in this photo. Sasha was most excited to take the fourth photo because she was back in Ellington's arm. She had wanted Ell to kiss her cheek, copying the two Xander kissed Rydel's cheek, her brothers just standing there with shocked faces that were not posed. Lastly, Sasha was in Rydel's arms when she yelled, "Ratliff! Xander! Pretend to propose to us!" The two boys did just that with the girls, the Lynch boys once again looking shocked. After finishing their photos they gave out another round of hugs then went to prepare for the Q&A session.

Ellington had never really thought of himself as a jealous person until he saw how Xander flirted with Rydel during the photos. He tried hard to let it roll off his back, but everyone around him could tell he was fuming with envy. As soon as Sasha and Xander left, Ellington found himself pulling Rydel closer to him, intertwining their hands as they went to prep for the Q&A session.

The Q&A portion was going really well until Rydel chose Sasha to ask a question.

"Rydel, my brother wants to know if you're single because he likes you" Sasha yelled across the venue. Rydel was at a loss for words when Rocky added to the awkward situation with, "Hmmm Ratliff, is Rydel single?" There were very few moments when Ellington genuinely wanted to push his best friend off the stage…that was one of those moments.

"Your answer is as good as mine" Ratliff replied then quickly called upon another fan to ask a question. Ellington and Rydel briefly caught one another's eyes as they listened to the next question. The look between the two was full of confusion and slight hurt.

After the Q&A portion Ellington needed to get away for a few minutes so he went to sit in a random hallway. He soon looked over to see someone sitting next to him in the deserted hallway.

"Hey Kell" he said quietly.

"I heard what happened during the meet & greet, and during the Q&A. Are you all right?" she asked, trying to get him to look at her.

"Can we talk about something else? Anything else, please?" Ratliff pleaded with his ex-girlfriend.

"Sure, but I don't know how you'll feel about my other topic choice" she replied honestly. Ellington just nodded at her, urging her to continue, "I like Riker"

"Aaannnndddd…" Ellington said

"As in romantically" she continued

"Aaannnndddd…"

"You aren't surprised?" Kelly asked

"Some people are meant to be together and you can see it from a mile away, you and Riker are one of those couples"

"Just like you and Rydel?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, me and Rydel, you and Riker, those are things that are supposed to happen at one point or another. You and Riker, your moment is now, you need to tell him" Ell pushed

"What about you and Rydel?" she asked

"I think I may have missed my window of opportunity" he replied sadly, playing with the strings of his Louder converse

"Well I think that is complete BS, but whatever you say Ell" Kelly said as she stood up after looking at her watch.

Ellington stood up and started to walk back to the green room with Kelly, "I like her, she likes me I think. We've just faced some really weird timing issues," he said as he opened the door to the green room. When he opened the door he saw two guests he wasn't anticipating, Sasha and Xander; Sasha was playing with Rocky, and Rydel sitting on the couch talking to Xander.

"We need to get ready for the show" Riker said noticing the tension that appeared as soon as Ellington opened the door "Kelly can you show Sasha and Xander to the VIP section of the venue?" Riker asked

"Of course, follow me!" Kelly replied happily because she got to leave the awkward situation that was unfolding.

"I see you and Kelly are getting along a lot better." Rydel comments dryly as she grabs water before walking out the door to the side of the stage. Before she could leave the room she felt a hand around her wrist, "I see you and Xander are becoming good friends" he retorted just as coolly, as he held her wrist. The duo looked each other in eyes where they both saw hurt and betrayal, and then he let go of her wrist to grab his drumsticks.

The whole concert something was off between the two. Their "Seven Nations Army" duet wasn't on point, any time the two would look at one another they would miss a beat in the songs they were playing. Luckily the brothers were able to cover up a lot of the mistakes, but they didn't like what was happening between their sister and best friend. As they exited the stage Riker pulled them both into the green room by their arms.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, close to yelling.

"Nothing, we were just having an off night" Rydel replied for the duo

"That's bull shit and you know it Rydel" Ross said as the walked into the room, "You two had that weird moment before we got on stage and then when we are actually performing you two end up messing up. Not a coincidence sis".

"What happened before the concert was us making observations of one another" she told her brothers as she stood up, "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to take a shower and go to bed on the bus".

"Rydel there is a visitor here for you" Ryland said as he walked into the room. Standing in the door way was Sasha and Xander. Rydel walked over to the two, giving both a hug as Xander gave her a paper before the two left. Rydel looked at what was written on the paper then back to her brothers and best friend, without a word she took off for the showers.

The band was fortunate enough to have a few days off between their Pennsylvania shows and their New York shows, however the bus ride to the city was anything but pleasant. The boys found out as soon as they got onto the bus that Xander had actually given Rydel his number when he and Sasha were saying goodbye. The Lynch boys were upset about the situation, not because their sister had essentially been hit on, but because the situation was hitting Ratliff hard. On the bus Ratliff avoided Rydel as best as he could, she did the same with him, the two never in the same vicinity for very long. It made for an interesting dynamic on the bus, especially when trying to do acoustic rehearsals in the back lounge. It was during a rehearsal in their New York City hotel room that the Lynch boys decided they had enough of the Rydellington fight.

"That's it, we're done!" Riker exclaimed as he and his brothers went to put their instruments away.

"Awesome, I'm going to head back to my room then" Rydel said as she rose from one of the beds.

"Oh no you don't, when he said 'we're done', he meant we" Ross said pointing to his brothers, "are done dealing the Hurricane Rydellington".

"What are you talking about Shor?" Ellington asked the youngest band member

"It means, you two had a fight before our last show and now you won't even talk to one another. You two need to fight it out again and figure out what the hell is going on between the two of you before our next show or appearance" Rocky replied seriously, a side of him that only came out in dire situations.

"Rydellington has been off recently and everyone has noticed, even Kelly has said something, and she was only there for one show, and breakfast this morning" Riker told the duo

"Of course Kelly would notice" Rydel muttered while looking down at the comforter of the bed, refusing to match anyone's gaze.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ellington asked her, frustrated with her attitude towards him and now Kelly.

"Nothing" she sighed, "it means nothing." Rydel was still refusing to look up at anyone in the room.

"No, it must mean something because you were fine and excited when she was at the preshow and now you are upset and moody when it comes to her. What the hell happened?" Ratliff asked, getting up from the bed to stand in front of her. The Lynch boys saw that this would be the best time to leave the duo and hoped they would figure out what was going on between them.

"Nothing happened Ellington! Just leave it alone!" Rydel yelled finally making eye contact with her best friend for the first time in days. They finally saw each others faces, both had bags under their eyes, their eyes had also dulled, lacking all the luster they had before the York concert.

"No! Something happened and I want to know what it is!" Ratliff demanded

"You want to know what happened to me? To me? What happened to you? Before we even got to the Meet & Greet in York you were acting funny, so please why don't you enlighten me on that situation Ellington" Rydel counter argued, she stood up, joining him.

"I don't know what you are talking about Rydel" he replied, a little quieter, diverting his gaze to the floor.

"You don't want to talk to me about how you're acting? Fine, I'll go talk to someone who actually cares enough to tell me the truth" She replied grabbing her phone before striding over to the door.

"Let me guess? You're going to go talk to Xander, your new boyfriend?" Ell asked, almost mockingly.

Turning around to face her best friend she growled, "He's not my boyfriend, but at least he actually has an interest in me instead of his ex-girlfriend" with that she pulled the door open quickly before running out of the room.

Rydel was halfway down the hall to her room when she realized she left her key in the room with Ratliff, it was also at this point that she realized she was sobbing because of the fight they just had. She refused to go back and get her key, she refused to talk to any of her family at the moment, she just wanted to be alone for a while, wallow in self-pity, so she took off to her favorite place in the city.

When Ellington had gotten enough willpower and nerve to open the door and go after Rydel he saw her getting onto the elevator. He could see the tears running down her face and he knew he had to fix what was going on between them as soon as possible. He grabbed his phone and raced down the stairs to the lobby, trying to catch Rydel before she left, but instead he ran into Riker and Kelly.

"Did you…see where…Rydel went?" Ell asked, panting after running down 8 flights of stairs.

"No, I take it you two finally blew up at one another?" Riker asked his drummer

"Yeah, and I think I figured out why she's been avoiding me, so now I need to let her know why I've been avoiding her, and I just need to fix this with her" Ell replied finally catching his breath

"Finally" Riker and Kelly said at the same time, "Well go find her," Kelly added before pushing Ellington towards the door. Before exiting the hotel Ellington turned around and yelled across the lobby, "Glad you two finally made it official!" causing Riker and Kelly to blush as they looked at their intertwined hands.

Rydel loved Disney, especially Disney Princesses, and although Giselle from Enchanted is not a full Disney Princess, she still loved the film and her character all the same. That movie was how she found her favorite place in the city. In the movie there's a huge dance near the fountain in Central Park, and that's where Rydel was. It was just about dusk, the city was covered in a pink and orange hue that made the fountain sparkle a little more than any other part of the day. Rydel sat at one of the many benches surrounding the fountain, just thinking. She thought about Xander, she thought about her single life, she thought about her overprotective brothers, but she mostly thought about Rydellington. Her feelings on the ship, the ship name, the publicity stunt associated with it, the guy on the ship, her best friend. She didn't want to lose Ratliff, she knew she wouldn't ever really loose him, but she knew things weren't going to be the same after the blow up they just had, it wasn't huge, but it was big enough. As she continued her thoughts some tears started to flow down her cheeks, she watched couples walk hand in hand through the park, taunting her with what she wants but doesn't have.

"One of my all time favorite dance numbers takes place in front of this fountain" a familiar voice said from beside Rydel. Quickly wiping her face of any tears that had formed she replied to him with, "Mine too, that's why it's my favorite place in the city." Rydel refused to face her best friend who had taken a seat next to her on the bench.

"She's with Riker," he said quietly after a few minutes of silence, placing his left hand on her right kneecap, slowly rubbing circles on it.

"I don't know what you're talking about Ell" Rydel whispered, her eyes fixed on his left hand.

"Kelly and Riker are dating. They've liked each other for a while, they just didn't know how to approach me about the situation." Ellington pulled his hand off her leg as he turned to face his full body towards her. "And I'm happy for them, they seem like one of those couples who are just meant to be together, they just seem right for one another."

Rydel's head was spinning, she didn't know her older brother liked anyone, let alone Kelly, but looking back she could see the signs of it.

"It makes sense now, why he would always be the one to bring her up in conversations" she replied to her best friend, her cheeks tinted a slight pink from embarrassment.

Ellington stayed facing her, waiting for her to look up at him, when she still refused to look at him or speak after another five minutes he spoke up again, "You're right you know."

That caught her attention; it was rare for Ratliff to ever admit he was wrong, so she looked up to see what he was talking about. "About what?" She asked, examining his face, noticing he had dried tear tracks on his cheeks as well.

"I was acting strange at the York concert, before the York concert actually" he told her, examining her make-up smeared face.

"Are you going to tell me why?" she asked, expecting a reason to his actions.

"Not until you tell me why Kelly bothered you so much" he bargained with her. Rydel just shook her head, her pride getting in the way of telling him the truth.

The two sat on the benches a little while longer. Background noise filling the sound void as the sky turned from a magenta to a dark purple.

"Lets go for a walk Delly" Ratliff said sweetly as he stood up from the bench, his hand reaching out for hers. Rydel looked up to see his hand and then his face; he looked like Aladdin when he was asking Jasmine to join him on the carpet ride. She hesitantly placed her hand in his as she stood up from the bench. He refused to let go of her hand after helping her up; instead he laced their fingers together, rubbing his thumb on the top of her hand to assure her that everything was going to be okay. The two walked for a few minutes in silence around Central Park before Ellington got the nerve to speak up.

"This is why I was acting weird in York," he told her as he looked down at their intertwined hands. Before continuing he stopped the two of them on the bridge, then pulled her over to see the NYC skyline's reflection in the water below.

"This thing we have is weird Delly, I know there are feelings on both sides but we don't know what to do about it. When we were in York and that Xander guy was with you I…I got jealous. You were taking photos with him using OUR poses, those photos…they were our thing and when you did them with him so easily I realized you could easily replace me and that made me jealous…made me hurt," he whispered the last part.

The duo had let go of one another prior to Ratliff's confession; instead they were leaning against the bridge railing, leaving a few inches of space between the two.

Rydel took a deep breath before moving closer to him; placing her head on his shoulder, and intertwining their hands once more before she started with her confession, "I thought you and Kelly were going to get back together," she started. "I thought you two were going to get back together and I was so furious because she had already had her chance with you. I saw and felt how you would drop your hand from my waist and distance yourself from me when she was around and I thought it was because you didn't want her to think we were together. After the Q&A last show I went to go find you and make sure you were okay because you had been acting weird, when I found you I also found Kelly. You two were sitting next to each other in the hallway smiling, talking, and I got jealous. So instead of walking up to you two I walked up to Xander and invited him backstage to hang out with me. If you could flirt with someone else, then I could too, that was my spiteful logic" Rydel explained.

They were quite for a few minutes; they just played with one another's hands, waiting for the other to say something.

"Ell," Rydel whispered as tears started to slowly roll down her cheeks, "I can't pretend anymore."

Ratliff looked over at his best friend crying but all he could think about was her beauty. After kissing the top of her head he pulled her to where they were facing one another, almost seeing eye to eye. He raised his hands to wipe her tears then cup her face, as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling them even closer together.

"We are quite the jealous ship aren't we?" Ellington joked, a slight smirk accompanying his comment.

"That we are Captain Ellington, that we are" she joked back as she pressed her forehead against his, just enjoying the closeness they had been lacking the past few days.

"I'll make you a deal," Ell started, "I'll try to be less jealous if you agree to be my First Mate on the Rydellington ship".

"Wait…what?" She asked a little confused, looking up into his eyes.

"Rydel Mary Lynch," he said, her face still cupped in his hands, "will you be my girlfriend?"

Rydel didn't think she had ever smiled as big as she did when he asked her that question, "Finally!" she jokingly replied, "I would love to be your girlfriend".

As soon as her reply came out he kissed her hard, releasing all the pent up emotions and feelings he's had for her the past few years. She released her arms from his waist and instead moved them to his neck, one hand making its way into his hair. They pulled apart after a minute of not breathing, foreheads connected, one of his hands on her cheek, one on her waist.

"So I realized I can't be your First Mate on the Rydellington ship," Rydel said with a smile.

"Oh really? And why. Is. That?" Ell asked, punctuating each word with a soft kiss to his girlfriend's lips.

"Because everyone knows Rocky is the Captain of the Rydellington ship!" she joked.

"That is true my lady, that is true" he replied, "How about we go tell said Captain that the ship is official and let him announce it to the world?"

"Sounds good," she replied, as they broke apart to start walking back to the hotel, hand in hand.

"Hey Ell," Rydel said getting her boyfriends attention halfway through the walk back.

"Yes love?" he acknowledged, a smile growing on both of their faces because he could finally say that to her without it being weird.

"Are you actually going to become less jealous now that we are together?" she asked looking up at him.

"Ummm, why?" he asked, very curious as to where this conversation was going.

Stopping the two on the sidewalk, Rydel rose on the ball of her feet to whisper in his ear, "You're sexy when you're jealous." She then winked at him before taking off running towards the hotel.

I wanted a more fun ending for the story this time, and I wanted to give Riker a little loving too! Hope you enjoyed it!
I do have this story on Wattpad as well under the same pen name, so if you've seen it on there that is probably why!