Chapter 7

Two weeks had passed, and it was the day they all were going over to Africa. A couple days ago, Ratliff had gone back to a different hospital to get his injections and if he was honest, they weren't as bad as Ross was making them out to be. Though asking Ross about injections is a bad mistake, he'll just over exaggerate about them like he did when there was nobody else around to ask before Ratliff had gone to get them. It was a very good thing he wasn't afraid of injections, because some of the stuff Ross had told him, if he was scared of injections then he would probably of opted out in getting them injections and opted out in going to Africa all together.

Ella was going to come to Africa with them all, but she decided not to after getting into an argument with her Mom about her losing the baby when Ross hit her and trying to keep it. Yes, she's eighteen years of age and can make her own decisions, but her Mom is the only family she has left and if she went to Africa and just disappeared, she feared things between wouldn't be quite the same.

In the past two weeks, Riker and Laura had been spending a lot of time together which meant Rydel was on her own because Maia with with Rocky, which she didn't mind. Yes, she had Ross and Ratliff to hang around with, but it seemed lately that the two of them were in their own little world together lately, so Rydel never interfered with that. It seemed everyone lately had someone they loved, falling in love with someone or just had someone.

Then there was Rydel.

All alone.

She's happy Rocky and Maia together and she's happy Ross and Ratliff are.. well.. have something there now obviously but, Riker and Laura. She could live without. Why do you ask? Well, it was pretty obvious by now wasn't it? She liked Laura. Not as a friend, no like a lover. She doesn't know how long or when she's liked her for, but it's been a good 8 months now. When she was plucking up the courage to tell her, surprise, surprise Riker got in there first. She loves her big brother, she really does but, it seems that everyone gets everything they want at the snap of their fingers in her family apart from her. Never her. She never gets anything.

For a while now, Rydel has been debating to split Riker and Laura up because of how much it pains her to see them together as well as Riker getting everything he wants before her. She's been over so many plans. She was even considering dragging Ratliff into the situation by dating him to try make Laura annoyed and jealous by it, but she figured there's no point in dragging him into the situation when he has nothing to do with it. That wouldn't be fair on him, especially since Ratliff doesn't even like her in that way and would probably have to let her down easily and she'd have to act like it hurt. And why would she want to pretend that hurt her when she's already hurt enough as it was anyway?

Everyone was stood in the airport waiting for the plane to come, Ross was sat down in the chair talking to Rocky and Maia, Ryland was on the phone talking to Savannah, Stormie and Mark were together and of course.. Riker and Laura were together. Where was Rydel? Sat on her own a short while away on top of her suitcase on her phone to the fans, actually she was pretending, whilst watching out of the corner of her eyes over to everyone else as they completely ignored her.

"Rydel?"

When Rydel heard her name and a hand touch her shoulder, she let out a small shriek and fell off the top of her suitcase onto her bottom. She looked up, only to find Ratliff laughed a little bit. Rydel smiled a little as well as sending him a glare "I'd yell at you, but I suppose laughing sort of brings the colour back into your face." She said, holding up her hands to Ratliff helping her up.

This morning when they saw Ratliff, the colour in his face was drained and was very pale, he looked sick. They asked him if he was okay to still come to Africa and he said he was fine, it was just because it was so early in the morning he threw up and he's not use to waking up at 3 a.m. to catch a plane. Ratliff helped her back up to her feet "Good to know you care," He said "why are you over here on your own?"

Rydel shrugged "Just felt like it." She said, letting her gaze fall over onto Riker and Laura once more who just shared a small peck on the lips kiss.

Ratliff followed Rydel's gaze, seeing she was looking over at Riker and Laura with a sad glare. He looked at Rydel, then back at Riker and Laura trying to put the pieces together. He's not stupid, he's seen how Rydel's been sad a lot lately and it appears that when she's sad it's when Riker and Laura are around. Now, he'd say it's because Rydel's lonely and she doesn't have a boyfriend, but she's been around Rocky and Maia without Riker and Laura there and she's been all sunshine and rainbows, the Rydel Lynch she normally is. But when Riker and Laura are around.. she looks like she's going to start a nuclear war. Again, he would say it's because he doesn't want her brother dating her best friend, but she's totally fine with Rocky and Maia. He'd say Rydel liked Riker, but.. brother and sister.. incest. So that only left one person.

Laura.

His eyes widened a little bit before his face softened and his arm draped around Rydel casually "You know," Ratliff started, letting out a sigh "Laura's a really attractive girl, don't you think?"

"Yeah.." Rydel answered, totally forgetting about her surroundings and who she was with whilst she stared at Laura.

Ratliff smiled a little, starting to take this to new lengths "I mean, if she didn't have a boyfriend I would gladly take her back to my house and finish her off if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows as he said that.

"Me too- Wait, what?" Rydel looked at Ratliff, puzzled and confused. Also in disbelief.

Ratliff let out a small laugh "Oh Rydel, you're not very subtle in hiding these things." He said, ruffling her hair like she was a child.

"Hiding what?" Rydel asked, becoming nervous.

"That you-oh no.."

"What? What 'oh no'? Ratliff what is it?!"

"I'll tell you when I get back, I need um.. to go.. be um.. sick.." He said, turning around and heading back to the toilets. where he'd been before just now.

Rydel watched Ratliff in puzzlement "Again?!" Rydel yelled after him "dude, that's the 4th time since we got here!" She shook her head, picking up her suitcase and making her way over to the others so Ratliff wouldn't question her anymore about what she thought he was questioning her about.

Around an hour later, everyone was on the plane and on their way to Africa. Riker was sat with Ross and Laura on one row, Ryland, Rocky and Maia were sat on another, Stormie and Mark were together which left Ratliff and Rydel on a row together, which Rydel didn't want after him bombarding her with questions and trying to figure out what was going on with her. And if she was honest, she thinks he's already figured out what it is, and if he has… She won't hear the end of it from him.

She sat at the window on the row they were sitting on, the plane was still waiting to take off as people were still getting on board, Rydel was sat on her own again as she told Ratliff to go find the toilet on the plane if he was going to be sick. Instead of telling him to do that nicely, Rydel just snapped at him, so he didn't ask any questions he just went anyway and hadn't been back for about five minutes now. Though, when Rydel looked up, Ratliff was stood there looking at her, not knowing whether to sit down or not. He was basically acting like he was approaching the back of a horse "Can I sit down without you biting my head off and telling me to go somewhere else on the plane other than here?" Ratliff asked, sounding serious in his voice but it was obvious he was joking.

Rydel just rolled her eyes away from Ratliff and looked out of the window, with the side of her head resting against the window. Ratliff sighed, rolling his eyes himself at Rydel's attitude, and sat down beside her, even though he had the option to sit on the end seat away from her where she couldn't attack him. But with what Ratliff wanted to talk to her about, he was almost sure Rydel would want him as close to her as possible so nobody else could hear "So…" Ratliff said, quietly "Laura."

That caused Rydel to lift her head and turn it slightly to Ratliff "What about her…?" She asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing," Ratliff shrugged "just what we were talking about in the airport before I went to the toilet. I went to say something, but I got interrupted," he said, which made Rydel's face drop to nervousness and feel like she was going to be sick herself out of the nervousness "I know, Rydel. It's not difficult for me to figure out over these last few weeks. I know—"He stopped, looking around and leaning closer to Rydel so it was quieter and nobody could hear him "I know you like her."

Rydel looked up and at Ratliff "I-is it that obvious?"

"Well, to me, yes," Ratliff said with a small nod "you know. I'm smart at figuring out these sort of things, luckily for you Riker and Laura aren't."

"Yeah, but… how did you figure it out?"

Ratliff sighed, sitting more back in his chair as he looked up to the roof of the plane "Let's see… Whenever your around Riker and Laura, your always uncomfortable, but when your with Rocky and Maia your absolutely one hundred percent perfectly okay. When Laura's around you when it's just her and nobody else, you seem happier than ever before – that is of course until Riker comes along and takes her out somewhere, then you look like your waiting for Satan's hand to shoot from the ground and punch Riker up the ass."

Rydel let out a small laugh. Ratliff then put his hand on Rydel's that was on the arm of the plane chair, throwing her a sympathetic look "Why didn't you come tell me before?" He asked "I'd of understood and helped you get through it, longer than now."

Rydel shrugged "I don't know. I figured it'd be better keeping it to myself and bottle it up, rather than go tell people," she admitted, staring off at the back of the plane chair in front of her, with fear and nervousness growing in her eyes and facial expression "because… if I tell the wrong person, they'd tell Laura and she'd tell Riker. And I've seen how Riker gets, I remember one time when Riker had a girlfriend before – his friend tried to steal her from him, he wasn't happy about it. I thought he was going to kill him."

"Delly, he's your brother. He won't hurt you."

Rydel met back with Ratliff's eyes "That's the thing. You weren't there a few days ago…"

"What happened a few days ago?" Ratliff asked, seeming worried and concerned how this was affecting her.

Rydel took a deep breath, seeming shaky "W-well… Rocky was being Rocky basically. It was just me, Riker, Ross, Rocky and Ryland downstairs in the living room because Mom and Dad had took an early night," Rydel started to explain as her voice became shaky "and… somehow Rocky got onto the subject about talking about girl-on-girl. Then Ross brought up that the day you stayed at ours after you collapsed outside, you and Ross wound Riker up about me and Laura doing girl-on-girl and he seemed a little… annoyed by it. So, Rocky, Ross and Ryland decided to talk about it more and tease Riker more a little by it, then it just went past funny to really annoying for Riker, I could see it in his eyes. I thought it would be fun to joke about it and—"her voice then broke in sadness as her eyes glistened with tears that were about to fall.

"Rydel, if you do end up doing that with Laura whilst I'm still dating her… I will kill you." Riker said, looking down at Rydel.

Rydel was still laughing and smiling at how her and her brothers were having a joke around about it, she looked up at Riker – obviously knowing he was joking. But, by his facial expression as he looked down on her, he looked like he actually meant that he would do that, by the way he glared down at her and his face was just tense. It was almost like he was trying to warn her without him letting her know he knew.

Let's face it, Riker's not stupid. Of course he knew Rydel likes Laura in that way, he's seen the way he looks at her all the way and checks her out, he's not stupid. Yes, that was a subtle warning to Rydel. If she did end up doing something with Laura whilst he and she were dating, he promises himself someone will be hurt or dead.

And he's not talking about himself or Laura.

Ratliff's eyes widened before he brought Rydel into his arms for a hug as she sobbed quietly "Oh my god, Rydel…" He said, rubbing her back gently as she sobbed "if he's talking to you like that, then I don't think he should be with Laura at all. Especially when he's making threats like that to his own sister." Ratliff took a quick glance over at where Riker was sat with Ross, Laura was elsewhere on the plane. He thinks she went to the toilet because he saw her get up a couple minutes ago.

Rydel pulled away from Ratliff and rubbed her eyes "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," He said, still with his hand on top of Rydel's not letting it go, as something came into his mind "in fact, Riker shouldn't even be with Laura at all now that I think about it. If he's threatening you like that, then… imagine what threats he'd give to Laura…" His face showed some sort of horror as he thought about it.

"What do you mean?" Rydel asked, rubbing her eyes and face with the sleeve of her jacket.

"I mean, I'm going to help you get Laura." Ratliff said quietly.

Rydel's face dropped, she didn't know whether to be happy or scared about that "You're what?"

Ratliff smiled "Leave it to me, okay? I promise if I have anything to do with it, nobody will get hurt or die by the end of it."

"I don't know whether to be happy or scared, but I'm still gonna hug you!" She then hugged Ratliff with some sort of smile on her face, giving him a peck on the cheek as she pulled away.

"Ratliff… Rydel…" Someone said suspiciously.

Rydel and Ratliff both looked up where they saw Laura stood there, they looked at each other before looking back up at her. "I-is there something going on here…?" She asked.

"W-what makes you say that?" Rydel asked, nervously.

"Well, you just hugged him and kissed him on the cheek… that, and Ratliff's still got hold of your hand. When I walked by before he had hold of it."

Rydel went to go say something, but was cut off by Ratliff. Ratliff looked at Rydel and looked up at Laura with a smile "Oops. Busted. You caught us." He said.

"What?" Rydel said confused, looking at Ratliff puzzled.

"There, there Rydel," Ratliff patted her hand "no need to keep it from Laura, do we?" he then looked at Laura "yes Laura. We're dating and have been for a long while." He said, making Rydel looked around confused as if she'd entered some sort of alternate universe or that Ratliff had lost his mind.

And Ratliff couldn't help but smile more at the look on Laura's face. "H-how long for?" Laura asked.

"How long have you and Riker been dating?"

"3 months."

"We've been dating for 6."

"You have?" Laura asked. Ratliff nodded, Laura shook her head "Well… I'm happy for you guys," she said, seeming unsure of whether she was "I'll-I'll see you off the plane." She then walked back over to where Riker was.

Ratliff looked at Rydel, who was sending him a death glare. "What the hell was that?" Rydel asked.

Ratliff rolled his eyes "Jesus Christ, I don't do anything for you, get my head bitten off, I do something for you… I get my head bitten off. You know, there's just no pleasing you, Rydel." Ratliff said, folding his arms and looking away from her.

"Oh, what? Pretending that we're dating?" Rydel asked "have you not thought about what that could cause and do?" Rydel asked.

Ratliff shook his head "No. I don't really think about the things I say or do. I just kind of go with the flow," Ratliff said, making Rydel roll her eyes again "back in a minute." He said standing up.

Rydel looked at him as he did so "Gonna be sick again?"

"Oh yeah," he said "now unless you want your 'boyfriend' to throw up all over you, I suggest you quit your complaining and let him get on with it."

Rydel then gestured him to go.

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