Chapter 6

Riker POV

I walked back to my house. Everyone was in the pool.

"Riker! Can you get my phone?" Asked Rocky.

"Yeah."

"Thanks. I'm going to text Toby and see if he wants to come over and go swimming. Do you think I should invite Megan too?"

"Yeah, I don't want her to feel left out."

"Ok. Just wondering because of her ankle and stuff."

Surprisingly, Toby and Megan came walking over a little while later. Megan was wearing her swimsuit, and her ankle was unwrapped, which made me very confused. Toby walked her over to a chair, and then left her to go swimming. I got out of the pool and walked over to her.

"Why are you wearing your swimsuit? You sprained your ankle!" I said.

"I know. But I could still sit on the edge or something," said Megan.

"Ok…"

So Megan sat on the edge with her feet in the water, watching us all swim. I felt bad because she looked bored, but Rocky kept trying to tag me during Marco Polo, so there wasn't much I could do right now.

After a little while of playing Marco Polo, we finally decided to take a break and get out of the pool.

"How's your ankle, Megan?" Asked Ross.

"It's actually feeling a lot better," said Megan.

"Oh that's good. Did you say you sprained it?" Asked Ross.

"I don't think I actually sprained it. I probably just twisted it or something like that," said Megan.

"Oh, well that's good," said Ross.

"So what do you guys want to do now?" Asked Toby.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm so hungry! I think we should have dinner. But let's go out to a restaurant. You guys have lived here long enough, what are some good places to eat around here?" Rydel asked Toby and Megan.

"Well what are you guys in the mood for? Like hamburgers and french fries type stuff? Or like pasta? Or seafood…? Like what do you guys want?" Asked Toby.

"I kind of feel like hamburgers and stuff," said Rocky.

"Yeah me too," said Ross.

"Ok, well there's a place called Christy's like 20 minutes from here that's really good. We could go there," said Toby.

"Ok sounds good. Do you guys want to get changed and meet back here in like 10 minutes?" Asked Rocky.

"Yeah, sounds good," said Toby.

"Ok."

After everyone got changed, we all met in my front yard.

"So I can drive some of you, and then whoever else drives can follow me. Sound good?" Asked Toby.

"Yeah, I'll drive," said Rocky.

Rocky, Ryland, Rydel, and Ross all went in one car, while Toby, Megan, Ellington, and I went in another. I sat in the back with Megan, while Toby and Ellington sat in the front. I wasn't originally going to go in Toby's car, but Megan had grabbed my hand and pulled me away at the last second. I was secretly happy she had, so that if Toby had anything to say about it, it would be Megan's fault. Not that I wanted to blame her, I just didn't want to get into any trouble with Toby. He was slightly taller than me, and he scared me a little bit. He could be really intimidating sometimes.

"So how was your mini vacation?" Ellington asked Toby.

"It was ok. One of the band members got sick and didn't show up, so they didn't really sound the same, and they ended the concert early."

"Oh…"

"But it was still pretty good," said Toby.

Later…

Megan POV

We had finally gotten back from dinner. I was sitting in bed, exhausted, when Toby came in.

"So how's your ankle feeling?"

"It's doing better. I mean, it still hurts to walk, but it's definitely not as bad as it used to be," I said.

"Well that's good it's getting better at least. Do you need anything?"

"No. I was actually going to go to bed early tonight. I'm really tired for some reason."

"Ok. Well then… Goodnight!"

The Next Day…

Riker POV

I woke up when Rocky threw a pillow at me.

"What?" I groaned, turning over to face him.

"Get up," said Rocky.

"Why? You're still in bed."

"I want breakfast."

"So? Go get some."

"Can you make it?"

"Rocky-"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Fine. What do you want?"

"Scrambled eggs."

"Fine."

I got up and walked downstairs to make Rocky and myself breakfast. After I delivered Rocky's breakfast to him, I grabbed my plate and headed outside. I sat down on my porch, facing Megan's house. It was raining, and really foggy. I was a little bit cold, but I wanted to stay outside for some reason. I was joined a little while later by Rocky. He had come downstairs looking for me, and wanted to talk about something I really didn't.

"Ha! Found you! What are you doing out here?" Asked Rocky, coming through the front door.

"I don't know. Eating breakfast?" I said.

"I thought you didn't like the rain?"

"Thunderstorms."

"Oh, right."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"I just… Had some questions…"

Rocky was using his very annoying "I know something" voice.

"About what?" I asked, knowing I wasn't going to want to answer them.

Rocky sat down next to me on the ground, still not saying anything. I pushed his shoulder.

"Come on, what?" I asked.

"Megan."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Come on! I want to know everything!" Said Rocky.

"What do you mean everything?"

"Are you guys a thing yet?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean! Are you guys a couple?"

"What!? No. Why?"

"I know you like her, Riker!"

"Megan?"

"Yes Megan!"

"Rocky, I barely know her."

"You've spent like every day with her since we got here!"

"So?"

"So you don't barely know her! Now admit you like her!"

"I'm not admitting anything! Why do you always try to get into my business!?" I asked, standing up and heading for the front door.

"Aw, come on Riker, tell me!"

Rocky immediately stood up and grabbed me from behind, tipping me over his shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere!" Said Rocky.

"Ugh Rocky, put me down!"

"Nope."

"Rocky seriously, the blood draining into my head is making me really nauseous."

Rocky put me down, and tried to grab my arm, but I took off into my yard, running away from him on the wet grass. He came chasing after me.

"Come on Riker! Tell me!" Shouted Rocky as he ran after me.

I ran around our house to the backyard. Rocky was gaining on me, so I ran back to the front yard, not wanting to go in the woods and get lost.

Rocky POV

I could almost reach Riker as we ran to the front yard. I was so close! Riker jumped on the side of the porch, slid forward 3 feet, and fell off the porch. I watched as he flew forward, arms out in front of him, as he landed hard on the wet concrete walkway. I carefully jumped up on the porch, and ran over to him. Riker rolled over on his back, holding his wrist. Both of his knees and elbows were bleeding.

"Are you ok!?"

"My wrist really hurts! Ugh, and my side."

Riker lifted up the side of his shirt, showing scratches above his hip.

"Come on, let's get you inside," I said.

I helped Riker stand up, and walked inside to the bathroom where I started helping Riker get cleaned up.

"Do you think you broke your wrist?" I asked.

"No, it just hurts really bad."

"Ok, good."

Riker grabbed my arm suddenly. I looked at his pale face.

"I need to lay down. I feel like I'm going to faint."

Riker was now laying on the ground in the bathroom, which was really awkward because the bathroom was really tiny, and he didn't really fit.

"Riker? You still ok?" I asked.

"Yeah…"

When Riker felt better, he stood back up, and I helped him get cleaned up. When we were finished, we walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Don't ever chase me when it's raining out," said Riker, sighing.

"Yeah, everything was really slippery. How's your wrist feeling?"

"It hurts when I move it."

"Do you think you can still play tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we're playing at a coffee shop like 30 minutes from here."

"Oh, that's right! Uh, maybe. I hope so."

Later…

Megan POV

"Megan!" Toby yelled.

"What?" I yelled back.

"The TV's broken!"

"What are you talking about?"

"It won't let me play videogames!"

"Hold on, I'll be there in a minute," I said, pausing my show.

I walked downstairs to the living room to find Toby angrily pressing random buttons on the remote.

"Stop! You're only messing it up more!" I said.

He handed me the remote as I walked over to the TV.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I didn't do anything!"

After spending a little while trying to make the TV work, I gave up. It just didn't want to cooperate right now.

"I can't fix it," I said, standing up.

"Do you think Rocky or Ryland would be able to fix it?"

"Maybe."

"Ok, I'll text them."

5 minutes later, Rocky, Ryland, Ellington, and Riker came running over in the rain. I thought Riker looked different, but I was probably just imagining things. Apparently it takes 5 teenage boys to fix a TV and game system. Actually it doesn't. They weren't able to get it working. I was in the kitchen when they all came walking out of the living room, unsuccessful. That's when I noticed Riker…

Riker walked over and sat down next to me at the kitchen table. He noticed me staring at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Riker asked.

"What happened to you!?" I almost shouted.

"I fell."

"That's it? How do you get that hurt from falling?"

"Well Rocky was chasing me around my yard this morning in the rain. When I jumped back up on the porch, I slid right back off and landed on our walkway."

"So you scraped both your knees and elbows?"

"And my side," said Riker, lifting his shirt so I could see.

"Oh my gosh! Does it hurt!?"

"Not really anymore. But my wrist hurts. I landed on it weirdly."

"Wow… That's crazy. I'm glad you're ok though!"

Riker laughed.

"Yeah, me too."

Ellington POV

"Hey, we should see if Rydel can fix it. She can fix almost anything," I said, pulling out my phone and texting her.

So that wasn't exactly the reason I had in mind for texting her to come over... I just wanted to see her perfect face. I had always liked her, and living with her every day now, was driving me insane! But she had never said anything that led me to believe that she liked me, so I was stuck living every day, secretly in love with her. And it's not like I could tell her I had feelings for her. If I did that, and she didn't feel the same way, it could screw up the band and our friendship. I wasn't willing to risk that.

A few minutes later, Rydel and Ross showed up. Toby showed Rydel the problem, and she started working on it. Ross had come over to hang out, but we weren't really doing anything, so he just stood awkwardly off to the side.

Toby came back in the kitchen and ordered pizza for all of us. Just as he hung up, Rydel came back in.

"I fixed it!" She said.

"Rydel I love you!" Said Toby, hugging her.

I'll admit, I was a little jealous…

Instead of playing videogames, we just waited for the pizza guy to show up. Toby had told us this particular place had really fast delivery. We had lunch as the rain got stronger, as the clouds got darker. Riker was hiding it, but I knew he definitely wasn't liking it at all. I noticed he kept looking out the window. But for what?

Later…

Megan POV

We were all sitting in the living room when the power went out.

"NO! I was so close to beating that level!" Shouted Rocky.

We were practically sitting in the dark. There was a tiny bit of light coming through the window, but it would only be getting darker from here.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Said Rydel, excitedly.

"Now!?" Asked Riker.

"Yeah. It's kind of creepy in the dark. It'll be fun!" Said Rydel.

We pushed the furniture against the wall so we could all sit on the floor in a circle. I was sitting between Riker and Ellington. Riker seemed a little nervous, but I was sure he'd be fine.

"Rocky, you start," said Rydel.

"Ok, Riker truth or dare?"

I wanted to laugh so bad! Riker looked really scared when Rocky immediately wanted him to go first!

"Uh…"

Riker looked at me for a split second, trying to pick.

"I guess dare."

"YES! I have the perfect dare!" Rocky shouted.

Oh no… This was going to be a long night…