I know it seems like this story is moving along really really fast but I just wanna get it over and done with tbh. It's not like there were any important bits in between \o/

So yeah, enjoy this chapter and don't have too much of a panic attack over it :D

Disclaimer: I do not own R5, The Vamps or the song English Love Affair by 5 Seconds Of Summer, all rights go to Hollywood, Virgin EMI & Capitol Records!

Chapter 36

1 Day

Brad laid in bed, wrapped up in the sheets of his hotel room. Possibly feeling more down than he had in the past 2 weeks. And he didn't even know why.

Well, he did know why. He just doesn't like thinking about it.

He was back in America in LA with the others now. They had gotten here 5 days ago. As soon as Connor got settled down in his hotel room he took Tyler back to Rydel and asked Brad to go with him but he said no – as he knew Connor was taking Tyler back to Rydel's house, and not some place random like the park or a cafe.

Besides from that all they had been doing were little mini radio tours in LA, interviews, a concert etc. Just the usual stuff really. Brad wasn't very talkative during it. Heck, he hasn't been very talkative for a very long while now and nobody can understand why. They're just taking it as it's one of the side effects of his depression, even though they have a feeling it's not.

Connor and Rydel were still putting together their plan to get Ross and Brad back together. They agreed to attempt to do it tomorrow as neither of the bands had anything important to do that day, and neither of them would suspect a thing on their day off. Would they? Then hopefully when Rydel and Connor get them in the same place at the same time together, they can sort things out and leave as that happy couple that they all know and love.

James slowly opened up the door to Brad's room and saw him lying in his bed. Ever since that day at the hospital, he and Brad have been getting closer and back to being as friends. At least he hopes they have. Otherwise James has been nice, supportive and caring for nothing. Though, he kind of has to be in this situation because some how he doesn't think it would help Brad in the slightest.

James sighed and came into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Brad, we're going downstairs for something to eat are you coming?" He asked.

"No."

James walked closer to the bed "I wasn't giving you an option."

"I don't care. I'm not hungry." Brad said, sounding fed up and not making any eye contact with James what so ever.

James frowned "You haven't been hungry for days now. C'mon you have to eat."

"I ate last night."

James rolled his eyes "Yeah, about a quarter of your dinner. Not even that. Come on, food is important for you," James said, trying to be supportive but all he wanted to do was rip his head off "Do I have to grab you by the hair and drag you downstairs and force feed you like a baby?" he asked. Brad lifted up his head from the pillow and sent a death glare to James. James shrugged. He'd do it if he had to do it. He didn't care.

James sighed and stomped his foot a little "C'mon, Brad. If you can't eat for yourself, then at least eat for—"

"Hey," Tristan said, coming through the door and cutting James off completely. He stood next to James and looked down at Brad, turning back to James "Did I interrupt something?" he asked.

James shook his head "Nope. I'm trying to get Brad to come downstairs and eat but he won't."

"I'm not hungry." Brad said flatly.

"I don't care if you're not hungry! You can't keep starving yourself," Tristan said, being as pissed as James except James was keeping it all in. "You'll waste away and eventually end up being just a skeleton. You won't have anything left on you."

Brad turned over in the bed with his back facing Tristan and James "Good. At least that way I'll be dead."

Tristan sighed putting his head in his hands. James just gave up completely right there and then. He didn't know what to do for his friend any more, he was clearly gone and broken.

As Tristan turned around to leave the room a phone started ringing. He turned around and went into his pocket "It's not my phone." he said, holding it.

"I don't have my phone." James said.

Both their heads immediately turned to Brad. Brad sat up in his bed, reaching for his phone that was on his bed side table. His phone was ringing. He went to go answer it straight away and looked at the caller ID and stopped. "What's wrong? Why aren't you answering it?" Tristan asked "who is it?"

Brad glanced over to Tristan and clicked the answer button reluctantly, putting the phone to his ear and he took a deep breath. "Ross..?" He asked in slight confusion as to why he was ringing him.

Tristan's mouth dropped open slightly and he went to go over to Brad to take his phone from him but James stood up and stopped him from doing it.

Ross froze when he answered. He didn't think he was actually going to answer, he thought Brad was going to ignore him or Tristan was going to answer and use every curse word under the sun at him. But no. He actually answered. "Uh... hi..." Ross said, managing to only get that out.

"Hang up." Tristan whispered.

Brad glanced over at Tristan and sent him a glare "What do you want?" Brad asked, not really knowing how to feel about Ross calling him. He missed him like crazy, but heck he never expected this. When Rydel has been at the hotel to bring Tyler to see Connor she'd talk to him and ask him if he wanted to see Ross again and if he still loved him, but Brad never really had an answer.

Same thing for Ross, when Rydel asked him them questions the other day he just avoided them. You know... Up until he over heard Rydel on the phone to Connor about how they were going to get them to meet up at the diner together, and by that point he realised what they were trying to do. Ross took a deep breath "I er... I need to talk to you." Ross said.

Tristan and James could only just hear Ross's voice on the other side of the phone. Brad looked at James and James looked at Tristan. James looked back at Brad and nodded. "I need to talk to you too. It's kind of important." Brad said.

"WHAT?!" Tristan asked, raising his voice. James slapped Tristan.

Brad glared at Tristan, but started to feel himself shake nervously "B-but... can I tell you now?" he asked.

"Um... no," Ross said, looking over to his bedroom door where he saw Riker stood there watching him. Riker was the one making sure he was doing this because he couldn't stand seeing Ross so miserable all the time. That way Rydel and Connor didn't have to do any sneaking around. "I was kind of wondering if we could talk in person..." Ross said, looking away from Riker.

"When?" Brad asked, nervously.

"Tomorrow?" Ross questioned "I mean, I'm not doing anything important... I heard Connor tell Rydel he wasn't either. So I'm assuming you guys have the day off..." he told him, letting a short silence fall over the phone "so... what do you say?" he asked after a short while.

Brad moved uneasily, getting up from the bed "I don't know..."

"Please?" Ross asked, begging slightly. He's never wanted to fix something more than anything in his entire life "we'll go somewhere, where we can't get disturbed. Like... the diner?"

Brad rolled his eyes "I should have known you'd pick there," Brad said, making Ross let out a soft laugh. He looked at James and Tristan, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable "Still... I don't think it's a good idea."

Ross sighed "Brad... c'mon, please? I'm sorry. I made a mistake okay. Please come. Then we can talk about what I wanna talk about and whatever you want to talk about to me. And if you're still not happy with me after we talk, then fine. We never have to see each other again. Okay?" he asked.

"I'd love to never see you again, but unfortunately that's never going to happen."

"What do you mean?" Ross asked, confused.

Brad paused for a while "Rydel and Connor."

"Oh, yeah..." Ross said. He looked down and back up again. "So... what do you say? Are we going to meet or not?" he asked.

Brad again looked back to Tristan and James. Tristan was shaking his head, telling him no, whereas James looked like he was debating about it in his mind. He ran his hand through his hair before walking up close to Brad, which confused him. James grabbed hold of the phone in Brad's hand and took it off him, putting the phone to his ear "Ross," James said "it's James..."

"Hi..." Ross said flatly.

"Tomorrow? At the diner?" James asked "You want Brad to meet you there so you can both talk?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay. I'll make sure he's there. Bye." James hung up, seeing the look he was getting from Brad. James rolled his eyes "Oh, c'mon, you've got to face him sooner or later."

Then it was Brad's turn to roll his eyes. "Still!" Tristan said "you can't force him to go meet someone he doesn't want too! I won't let it happen after what he did!"

"Oh please, Tristan! He didn't mean to do it!" James said, raising his voice at him "He was angry! You're telling me that if you were dating a girl and you found out she and her best friend kissed, you wouldn't be pissed?" James asked, Tristan fell silent "exactly," he turned back to Brad "are you going to go?" James asked.

"Well I'm gonna have to now!" Brad said, his voice raised slightly in annoyance. He didn't want to go, but he knew he had to go and meet him and talk.

"No you don't." Tristan said.

"I am," Brad said, getting his coat "your not my Dad and your certainly not my brother. You can't tell me what to do." he slid on his coat.

"After what he did?!" Tristan asked.

"Like James said! He didn't mean it! He was angry!"

"ALRIGHT!" James shouted over Brad and Tristan's loud voices arguing. "You, don't stress yourself out," James said to Brad "and you. Shut up." James turned to Tristan.

Tristan felt so frustrated. He loved Brad like a brother, hence why he didn't want him to go back to Ross only for him to turn around and hurt him again – like he knows will happen. "Brad, I swear to god... If you meet up with him and go back to him I will hate you."

Brad shrugged after a long, tense silence "Guess you're gonna hate me then." he quickly turned around and went to his door.

"Oh, now where are you going?!"

"For a walk!" he yelled, slamming the hotel door behind him.

Ross hung up the phone and slowly got up off his bed, turning round to face Riker. Riker had his hands together, looking at Ross hopefully "And..?" Riker asked.

Ross nodded "He's... he's gonna come meet me at the diner tomorrow." he said with a small smile.

Riker smiled with relief and kept it on his face "Thank god for that! I didn't know how much longer I could take seeing you so sad," Riker said, Ross nodded seeming happy then before, playing with his phone in his hands "just be careful tomorrow, yeah?" he asked.

Ross nodded again "Yeah, will do."

Riker left the room, smiling at Ross. Ross smiled to himself and dropped back onto his bed, feeling happier and more at peace with the world than he did before.

Tomorrow could quite possibly be a good day for him.

0 Days

James walked out the door of the hotel they were staying in, twisting and turning his head looking for Brad. He had been into his hotel room fifteen minutes ago and he was there, but then he went in a couple of minutes ago and he was gone. So he assumed Brad either came out here for some fresh air or he's made his way to the diner. If he's began to make his way to the diner already, that's a shame because James wanted to make sure he was okay with going still.

He scanned everything outside. Passing cars, a couple of parked taxi's, people walking by, people sitting on bench's. Everything was so calm and peaceful today. Still, he could not see any sign of the familiar curly, brown haired boy.

That was until he looked at the steps and saw the back of Brad's turquoise plaid shirt. He was sat on the steps leading up to the hotel. James walked down them until he got halfway, which was where Brad was sitting, and sat next to him a step up from him. "Hey," James said, Brad turned to him "how come you're out here? I thought you'd gone."

Brad shrugged "I was just getting some fresh air. I felt a little bit sick. I still do now to be honest."

"Well, that's what you get for not eating properly." James said with a small shrug. Brad let out a soft laugh and turned away from him.

They let a small silence fall over them. James played with his hands nervously "So... er... when are you going to the diner?" James asked.

"I don't know..." Brad said, looking up at the sky "I don't think I want to go any more."

James gave him a suspicious look "Why?" he asked, again Brad shrugged "is it because of what Tristan said last night? About hating you if you go back to Ross? Because if so, I have never heard the most stupidest excuse in my entire life. Tristan cannot tell you what you can and can't do and where you can and can't go. You don't necessarily have to get back with Ross, you can go meet him, talk to him about stuff and both leave the diner as friends again. Not as boyfriends. As friends." James explained to him.

Brad shrugged "Yeah... something like that. That's not the only reason I don't want to go meet him." he said with a sigh, beginning to subtly stroke his face.

Even though he was trying to be subtle, James caught him rubbing the side of his face gently and he rolled his eyes "He's not gonna hit you again," James said "he was angry. Even if he does get angry in the diner, I don't think he is going to do it where people are watching him. I know Ross is stupid, but he's not that stupid."

Brad let out a small laugh, dropping his hand back down onto his knee. He shook his head, letting his smile drop "No, it's not that. That's the thing I'm least worried about. It's just what he's going to say really, and what'll happen. You know what I mean?" he asked, James nodded. He sighed "Maybe I should just stay here and not go. I'd be better off without him anyway, wouldn't I? I'd get to be friends with you again without him being paranoid or scared of anything happening and Tristan won't hate me," he said, his voice cracking as he thought of the good things about not getting back together with Ross.

James frowned, seeing it was clear on Brad's face that he was upset that these were the things holding him back from going to meet up with Ross and getting back with him. He hated the fact that he was one of the reasons too. Brad took a deep breath, forcing a smile on his face "And it's not like when Connor meets Rydel at her house to look after Tyler that I have to go with him. Do I?" Brad asked. He leaned back on the steps a little bit "I mean, why would I need someone who made me feel the happiest I ever have done in my life? Those type of people don't stay in your life forever. Do they? Don't get me wrong, you, Connor and Tris make me happy... but he made me a different kind of happy... and safe too... like really... really safe..." he started trailing off, going into some sort of day dream. He shook his head "But, no. He ruined it," Brad said, trying to convince himself of that "he ruined the relationship by being paranoid and hitting me. Other wise, I would go back to him. But no. It's over and done with now. I don't need him any more."

James sighed, moving his eyes up and down Brad slowly. He had an emotionless facial expression, feeling quite depressed himself by what Brad had told him.

"Go to him." James said.

Brad turned his head to James in surprised "What?"

"Just... go to him, Brad," James said, his eyes crinkled a little bit "he makes you happy, and you're still in love with him. You've just proved that right there by what you said. And you do need him, Brad. You need him more than anything right now."

Brad blinked a couple of times "Are—are you sure?" Brad asked, James nodded "w-what about you? What about Tristan?" he asked.

"Tristan can go shove his attitude about it up his arse. He can't tell you who you can and can't love or be with. It's not his choice it's yours. He loved you guys together at one point and I'm pretty sure if you both get back together today he'll build a bridge and get over it eventually. And if not, I'll help him build the bridge and then I'll dangle him off it until he does decide to get over it."

Brad smiled, beginning to laugh. James smiled "There we go!" he said, nudging him gently "I have been waiting to see that smile ever since you stopped smiling!" he told him, Brad kept on smiling even though he was trying not to "Now, get up, and go to him whilst you're still happy."

Brad let out a soft laugh, looking down at the floor with the smile on his face. He looked at James with a slight grin "You're the last person I thought would want me to get back with Ross."

James shrugged "Hey, once upon a time I would have wanted you to break-up. But then I realised you were happy together so I left you both alone. And believe it or not it was actually before I stupidly kissed you drunk when I had that realisation," James said, looking off in the distance thoughtfully which made Brad laugh again. James looked back at him "Seriously though, there's plenty of fish in the sea. I'll find someone else eventually, but until then... if your happy, then I'm happy. No matter who you're with or wherever you are."

"Thanks." Brad said, smiling.

James motioned his head towards one of the taxi's "Go on. One of them's for you. I ordered one so that you didn't bail out of doing this." James stood up from the step he was on and held out his hands, helping Brad up from the floor.

Brad took James' hands and got up from the floor, looking at him for a little while before wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tightly in a friendly way. James hugged back, but slightly confused at where the hug had came from. "Thanks for everything." Brad said.

James patted his back, having a smile on his face "No problem. Anything for a friend."

Brad pulled away from the hug "Anyway, I better get going."

James nodded "Yes you better, and I will see you later," James said, still smiling "hopefully you won't be coming back alone."

Brad shrugged "Maybe. Maybe not."

James pushed him gently "Just go." he said, having enough of Brad just standing there and wasting time when Ross is probably sat in the diner waiting for him.

"Alright, I'm going!" Brad said, laughing a little bit and slapping James' hands away from him. He made his way over to the taxi's with his arms folded across his stomach, mainly due to the nerves he was feeling about doing this. What if it all goes wrong and the friendship they could have had and saved gets ruined even more than their relationship did?

James watched from where he stood as Brad went over to find the taxi James had got from him. He still smiled watching as he went over, but it slowly dropped "Hey, Brad!" James called.

Brad stopped walking and turned around to face James.

"Good luck." James said to him with a nod.

Brad smiled back at him with a small nod before continuing to the taxi. He quickly asked the taxi driver if it was going to the diner and he said yes, so he quickly opened up the door and jumped into the back seat.

James sighed, watching as the taxi drove off in it. He smiled a little, being glad to finally see Brad happy again. It's all he's been wanting for this past month with what he's been going through. Heck, it's what everyone's been wanting. To see him happy and smile again.

It was just a shame James was never going to see that again.

All I'm going to say is that you might want to prepare your hearts for the next couple of chapters... If all goes well (as well as it can go really lol) THE chapter should be over and done with by Monday... So good luck.

Thanks for reading :)

Oh & have you guys watched The Vamps new music video of "Oh Cecilia" it reminded me of Pass Me By a little bit. Idk. Did it remind you of it? If you haven't watched it, go watch it now and tell me what you think :)

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