Chapter 6

Rydel POV

I ran toward where the loud noise had come from. Rocky followed. Ross and Ellington were standing in the hallway near the back door staring down at the drum set they had just dropped.

"What happened!?" I asked.

"We dropped his drum set. But he said it still looked fine, so it's all good!" Ross said.

I walked back into the kitchen, Rocky right behind me.

"Rydel, calm down. What's the worst the girl is going to do?" said Rocky.

"I don't know what she would do. That's what scares me. She told me earlier when I texted her at school that her parents were staying at her aunt's house until Sunday now. She's home alone for a week!"

"Rydel-"

"No, don't say anything. I know I'm being paranoid about her, but I feel like one of us should check on her every couple of hours and make sure she's ok."

"Rydel? What do you think she's going to do? Kill herself?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Well you sure are acting like it."

"I'm just worried, Rocky."

"Fine, if it will make you happy, one of us will go over there every few hours and make sure she's still… alive? What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. But could we seriously do that? Please?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," said Rocky.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It would be weird if I went over there every time. I was glad we would be taking turns so it didn't seem so much like we were checking up on her.

"Hey, where's Riker?" I asked.

"He's in the basement trying to figure out the manuals that go to the well, and the pipes, and all that stuff. The plumber never called us back and we still don't have running water," said Rocky.

"Well yeah, I guessed that by your greasy hair and the fact that we still have to go to the bathroom outside."

I walked downstairs to the basement to tell Riker about Alex.

"Hey, what's up? Did you drive that girl home?" Asked Riker.

"Um, yeah, and that girl has a name. It's Alex. And I'm worried about her," I said.

I explained to Riker what had been going on with Alex. The whole time I was talking he listened and seemed interested in Alex.

"Well I volunteer to go first," said Riker.

"No, you can't go first. First of all, I'm going over first because I was invited over. I'm supposed to leave in a few minutes actually… And second of all, you have been completely uninterested in this girl until just now when I told you about her," I said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Riker. You went off to the grocery store yesterday, even though I told you that Alex wanted to meet you. You called her that girl just 15 minutes ago. And let's not forget that before I went to pick her up, you said I owed you for the gas money because you didn't want me driving random people around for fun. Riker, I am seriously worried about her right now. You can't just decide that you care about her and your usual nonsense. I don't have time for it right now," I said.

"Rydel-"

"No, Riker, just stop. Go back to reading about the pipes. I have to go meet Alex now. I'll see you later."

I walked upstairs, and out the front door. Sometimes I just couldn't understand why my brothers did things.

Alex POV

Before Rydel came over, I cleaned my room up. My math homework had only taken me about 20 minutes, much to my surprise. Once I had cleaned it, I still had 20 minutes left before Rydel was coming over, so I decided to start learning a new song on my guitar. Whenever I was mad or upset, playing the guitar just took me into my own world and helped me forget about whatever was bothering me. And right now, my problem was Katelyn… I decided on "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees. In an episode of R5TV, Riker and Rydel had made up a dance to it, and ever since, the song just stuck in my mind.

A little while later, Rydel came over. I felt like she was acting different, but I decided I was just being crazy.

We watched some shows on Netflix, nothing too exciting. We talked about general stuff to get to know each other. Then, we got hungry. We decided to make nachos. It was fast and easy. And yummy…

We ate out on the screened in porch and Rydel tried asking me what was bothering me. Again. She had been doing this all day since she came over.

"Rydel, nothing is wrong!"

"Alex, please. Just tell me what's bothering you."

"You really want to know?" I asked.

There was no way on this earth, I was about to tell her about Katelyn. I barely knew her, and Katelyn was my own problem. She didn't need to know about personal stuff like that.

"Yes Alex, please," she said.

"Well… You see, right now, the only thing bothering me is…" I knew I had to be driving her crazy by not finishing that sentence…

"What?"

"YOU! You keep asking me what's wrong or what's bothering me! I'm fine Rydel! I'm glad you're worried about me, but there's nothing to be worried about!"

Rydel decided to go home. I guess she felt bad about bothering me so much. It was getting late so I got ready for bed.

Rydel POV

I walked back to my house. I was annoyed I had let myself push Alex too far in asking her what was wrong. I was scared I might have pushed her away and she would never tell me now.

I decided to text her after a while and ask her if she wanted a ride home from school tomorrow. She told me yes, but she had a half day tomorrow so I had to be there at 10:00. That was normally the time my brothers woke up. Well, except for Riker. He was always up bright and early every day.

"Rocky!" I yelled.

"Yeah?"

"You should go over to Alex's and take a shower now. Make sure she's ok. I may have made the situation worse," I said.

"Ok, I'll be over there in about 5 minutes," said Rocky.

Alex POV

I was watching TV when someone knocked on my door. I was just hoping it wouldn't be Rydel because I just needed more time to think without her bugging me so much. I walked to the front door.

"Hi. Uh, I'm Rocky. I wanted to know if I could take a shower...? You're Alex right?"

"Yup," I said.

"Rydel told me a little bit about you. You're an R5er?"

"Totally!"

"That's cool, having a fan across the street."

"Well it's even more amazing to have my favorite band living across the street. So, the bathroom's just down the hall, on the right."

"Thanks."

Rocky POV

I got in the shower and thought about everything that had just happened. It felt so nice to finally be showering after 2 days. The rest of my family had taken showers outside with buckets of water. My mom and dad had filled them up from the lake. Showering outside was not something I was going to do anytime soon, so I was glad we had Alex as our neighbor. Rydel was also glad. She would rather be dirty than take a freezing cold shower outside with lake water. The showers weren't the worst part of not having water though. The worst part by far was not having a bathroom inside. Especially at night, it was freezing!

Rydel had said something seemed to be making Alex depressed. She didn't seem the least bit depressed when I talked to her. She was probably just excited. Plus, it wasn't too hard to put a smile on your face and hide your feelings. I decided I would make some excuse to talk to Alex for a little while after my shower. Maybe if she got to know me, she would trust me and tell me what was going on.

I turned off the shower and got dressed. I texted Rydel before coming out. I told her my plan to find out Alex's problem. Well, it was an attempt…

"Alex?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to take a walk down to the beach with me. I haven't seen it yet, and I don't know where it is. Rydel keeps telling me how beautiful it is," I said.

"You want to go now?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"I'm in the middle of making my lunch tomorrow. I'm going to be a few minutes. Actually, a little more than a few minutes. I'm cooking some chicken for my salad," she said.

"Oh, well we can go when you're done," I said.

"Uh, sure."

I sat on her couch while she finished. She left the kitchen and went into her room and closed the door. When she came out, she was wearing a bikini with some shorts over it.

"Why are you wearing your swimsuit?" I asked.

"After I show you the beach I was thinking about maybe going for a kayak ride, and I usually get wet."

"Oh, that's cool. How many kayaks do you have?"

"Just one. Why?"

"Well, I've never been kayaking before."

"If you want, you could try to sit on top of it. But, that's a little crazy. If you wanted to do that, you should plan on getting wet," she said.

"I'm up for the challenge. Let me grab my swim suit from my house. I'll be back in a minute," I said.

Alex POV

Rocky was about the same age as me, but I felt like he was way younger than me, just because of how crazy he could be. I never thought he would take me up on that offer…

Rocky POV

I ran inside, ran upstairs to the hallway, ripped open my suitcase, and found my swimsuit. I knocked on the bathroom door.

"What? I'm brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed!" I heard Riker shout.

"I need to get changed. I'm already late! Hurry up!" I yelled back.

"I'll be out in 10 minutes!" Riker yelled back.

10 minutes was way too long. I tried the doorknob and Riker hadn't locked it.

"Dude what are you doing!?" said a very surprised Riker.

Riker was putting acne cream on his forehead when I came in. He stared at me, and his face turned red. I knew he was self conscious about his acne. People from our old school used to make fun of him for it.

"Sorry but I need to get changed right now!"

I stepped into the bathtub and closed the shower curtain so I could put on my swimsuit. I got out of the bathtub and looked at Riker who hadn't moved.

"Riker," I said.

"What?"

"You shouldn't be embarrassed," I said.

"Wait, why are you wearing a swim suit?"

"I'll tell you later. I have to go."

I ran out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and out the door. I saw Alex standing outside her door, locking it.

"Hey, I'm ready," I said.

"Great. Let's go," she said.

We walked down the road. The sun had set and it was getting dark. We got to the beach, and it looked amazing. The water was very still. Alex showed me where her kayak was, and I helped her carry it over to the water.

I wouldn't know until later, that I was about to make a huge mistake…