Chapter Twenty One
Saint Patrick's Day came as a shock to the band – not the actual day, but Ria and Dia's reaction to it.
"Y'see," Ria slurred from her position on the sofa, a hand in the air to make a point. "When in the UK, y'can buy alcohim… alco… drinks, at eighteen."
"But… this is the US, you can't get alcohol until you're twenty one," argued James, who had a Dia drooping over his lap.
"Pfffft," replied Ria, and then burst into giggles. "We imported it in," she whispered loudly, succumbing to her giggles again. Kendall, sat next to her, just looked at her with an odd expression.
"Guiness is the best in the worrrld!" agreed Dia, whose accent had changed to Irish.
"Yaaaay!" cheered Ria, pumping her fist in the air.
"Isn't that illegal?" asked Kendall over her cheering.
"Who cares?" asked Dia, as Ria was still cheering.
"The authorities?" suggested James.
"They're just party poopers."
"Hurr hurr," Ria started laughing. It was rather disturbing. "You said 'poop'. Hurr hurr!"
Dia ignored her and began to sing the Irish National Anthem, which was Amhrán na bhFiann.
"I had no idea she could speak Irish," mused James, looking down at his singing girlfriend.
"I had no idea she would break the law just to get drunk," added Kendall, his own girlfriend still giggling disturbingly.
James looked at Kendall. "Why do I have the feeling that we're going to have a very interesting future with these two?"
"Because you know that any opportunity for getting drunk will be taken?"
"Probably."
"AHH! WRACKSPURT!" yelled Ria, batting at the air.
"AHHH!" screamed Dia, copying her sister.
Kendall and Ria started work on their song a couple of days after Saint Patrick's Day, mostly because Ria had to spare a day in bed due to her hangover.
Dia, on the other hand, had eventually purged her stomach that night and was fine the next day, much to Ria's annoyance.
When April arrived, it brought along Easter. Due to this, everywhere was covered with decorative bunnies and chicks, and there was a large selection of chocolate eggs to choose from.
Kendall, knowing that Ria's favourite season was Spring, decided to take her out on a date.
On the way to the main street in town, Ria stopped dead in her tracks and began to scream, just as a bus went past.
After trying and failing to calm Ria down – who was still screaming – he rang Dia.
"Hello?" came the British voice.
"Dia, it's Kendall. I have a problem."
"Let me guess, she won't stop screaming."
"Yeah… how did you know?"
"She has a very distinctive scream. That particular one is from sighting a bus."
"A bus?"
"Irrational fear of hers."
"Um… okay. How do I shut her up?"
"Try kissing her senseless. It might work. Let me know!" Without letting Kendall form even half a reply, Dia hung up.
Rolling his eyes, he tried Dia's suggestion. For a moment, Ria continued screaming into his mouth, but then she seemed to register what was going on, and started kissing him back passionately.
When they finally realised that they needed to breathe, the two broke apart.
"Wow," breathed Ria, looking a little dazed. "That was… wow."
Kendall took a few deep breaths before speaking. "I'm so glad that worked."
On Easter Sunday, Kendall and James were woken up by their girlfriends jumping up and down on their beds.
"GOOD MOORNIING!" they chorused.
James and Kendall groaned in unison when they realised what it all meant; the girls were on a chocolate high, and they would be all day.
Indeed, Ria and Dia spent most of the day squirting each other with water pistols that held melted chocolate instead of water. Then, just for laughs, they stuck mini-eggs and marshmallows to each other.
When Saint George's Day came around, the band expected another example of drunk Ria and Dia, but were pleasantly surprised when they found that wasn't the case.
Instead they were putting on a play about Saint George and the dragon.
"RAWR!" roared Ria from beneath the Chinese Dragon costume she'd bought earlier that year.
"I shall slay thee, fell beast!" yelled Dia pompously, brandishing a cardboard sword while dressed in a tin foil suit of armour.
"RAWR!" repeated Ria. Considering she was portraying a dragon, this was fairly realistic dialogue.
The two sisters battled it out, sword against claw, before dragon-Ria swiped knight-Dia's sword out of her hand, then headbutted Dia into the pool.
Dia came up spluttering. "That's not how it's supposed to end!" she complained, swimming to the edge.
Ria peeked out from under the dragon costume. "I liked it better this way," she replied with a shrug.
Dia splashed the water and consequently soaked Ria and her costume.
"Oh," said Ria, dumping the costume. "So that's how you wanna play this, huh? Well, let's do it." She jumped into the pool and began to fight her sister. Katie started taking bets from the other actors and singers at the PalmWoods.
Kendall managed to persuade Gustavo into letting him and Ria use the recording booth. Dia offered to record their song since she had some experience with the sound desk from when she'd 'helped' Gustavo earlier that year.
"Do you remember the nights, we'd stay up just laughing, smiling for hours at anything," Kendall sang. "Remember the nights, we drove around crazy in love… When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound, we'll take control of the world, like it's all we have to hold on to; and we'll be a dream."
Ria sang this time. "Do you remember the nights, we made our way dreaming, hoping of being someone big, we're so young then, we were too crazy in love."
Their voices melded together for the chorus. "When the lights go out, we'll be safe and sound, we'll take control of the world, like it's all we have to hold on to; and we'll be a dream."
After a short instrumental, they repeated the chorus together twice more, before the song wound to a close.
"That was good," grinned Dia, elongating the last word. "You sing well together."
Ria smiled bashfully as Kendall pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
"From what Kelly was saying earlier," continued Dia. "We should be able to put your recording onto a CD pretty much straight away. Let's go see if she was right."
Indeed, Kelly was right, and Ria was smiling at the CD she now held in her hands. She and Kendall had a disc each.
"Thanks for recording it," she said as Dia passed by in search of snacks.
"No problem," replied her sister from within the freezer. "Where's my ice cream?"
"I did not eat it, if that's what you're implying." Ria put the disc back into its case.
"Oh wait. Don't worry, found it." She grabbed the ice cream and removed her head from the freezer. Holding the mentioned ice cream in one hand, Dia returned to her bedroom.
It was only a few minutes later when Ria's phone began to ring. "Hello?" she answered. "Mum? What's... What? Oh... Oh, Merlin... Hey, calm down, yeah? It's - it's going to be okay. I promise... I'll tell her. Love you too, bye."
Hanging up, Ria was shell shocked. Slowly, she moved towards Dia's room, and opened the door.
"Ria?" asked Dia, looking worried at Ria's dazed expression. "What's wrong?"
Ria looked at her sister, her face blank. "Dad's been in an accident."
-x-
A/N: Plot twist, YAY! (Sorta.) Anyway, the song that Ria and Kendall sing isn't written by me - I can't write songs to save my life! It's actually We'll Be A Dream by We The Kings and Demi Lovato.