Saturday, 1:35 P.M, Shane's P.O.V...
The day had finally come. Over the course of the week, Price and the girls had convened with one another until they came up with a practicing plan that catered to all 4 of their own personal schedules. It was decided that they would come together on Saturdays and Sundays from around 2 in the afternoon until basically whenever they felt like stopping. The reason being the fact that they had the freedom to do so. Ruby suggested that band practice take place at her home inside the garage since she and Liv sometimes had jam sessions together there anyway. So now, Shane was on the way to Riott's home. He'd taken the train about 8 stops toward downtown before getting off and walking the rest of the way.
"Okay, if Liv stopped messing with me and actually gave me the correct address, I should be riiiight here."
Ruby's home was relatively normal from the looks of it. It honestly reminded Shane of his old house back in Arizona. Price made his way up to the front door, and politely knocked 3 times. He waited for a while until someone answered it. That someone was the mischievous cheerleader herself, Liv Morgan. To say that she was happy to see him would be an understatement. She gasped and then to Shane's surprise, jumped onto the blonde boy, wrapping her arms and legs around him.
"Shane, honey! You're here!" Morgan happily.
No matter how many times it happened or how many people did it, Shane was still caught completely off guard when someone suddenly decided to embrace him. Luckily, surprise was the only instant feeling he was experiencing. Contrary from when Bayley or one of his teammates decided to be affectionate toward him, Liv's grip, although firm, wasn't bone crushing in the slightest. Price responded to the happy cheerleader.
"Yup. Jeez, you seem really happy to see me, Morgan." He said with a smile.
"Uh huh. I'm always happy to see my favorite boy." She beamed.
"Number one favorite?"
Liv nodded and Shane laughed.
"Yes! I made number one on the list. Just, be careful calling me that around my girlfriend. She wouldn't take too kindly to that I don't think."
"Oh, trust me. I'm fully aware of how jealous Lexi gets... Gives me ideas."
Price raised an eyebrow at her like a parent.
"And you better keep those little ideas in that mind of yours, Morgan."
Liv pouted.
"Hmph. You AND her are no fun. No wonder you're together."
"No wonder you two are friends. You both pout whenever you don't get what you want." He countered.
"I do it the best though."
"Eh, that's debatable."
Instead of engaging him one on one in a verbal contest, Liv decided to just be Liv and stick her blue tongue at him. Shane playfully rolled his eyes at her.
"Wow, real mature."
As the two jokingly bickered back and forth like a couple of siblings, another female voice could be heard.
"Hey, Liv! How long does it take to answer the door? You left my room like 5 minutes ago to go do it." Ruby questioned while walking out of the room herself.
"Sorry, Rue Rue. Me and Price Boy were just greeting each other." Liv said while fluttering her eyes and trying to make herself seem as innocent as possible.
"Yeah, if your idea of greeting someone is ambushing them and pouncing on them out of nowhere. If that's the case then I'm getting the greeting of a friggin lifetime." Shane sarcastically remarked.
"Oh, don't act like you don't love all the attention I'm giving you."
"The only thing I'm acting like is a guy with a girlfriend who's trying his hardest not to get in trouble later."
"And with that being said, Liv, get off of the boy. You've had your fun with him for today. He came here to get to business. Come on, down you go." Ruby ordered her friend.
"You heard the lady." Price seconded, just to poke a little fun at Liv.
Reluctantly, Morgan obeyed Riott and let go of the blonde boy, but not without a warning.
With a devilish smirk, Liv told him, "Don't think this is the last time I'm gonna mess with you. Little Morgan always has a plan", before laughing and heading back to Ruby's room.
Ruby shook her head and sighed before turning her attention to Shane.
"I'll try my best to keep her under control, but I can't promise too much."
Price chuckled.
"No worries. I know what she's all about. I'm just still trying to figure out why every short blonde haired girl I come across in my life is so hell bent on finding ways to screw with me. Don't get me wrong, I love Alexa to death and Liv's my little homie, but man do they love finding ways to push my buttons."
Riott smiled.
"Honestly, I couldn't tell you why. Anyway, I'm happy that you were able to make it over today. Today's gonna be more of a preliminary day than anything else. You know, sort out the kinks and bounce around ideas on what we're going to be doing from now on."
"Sounds good to me. Is Rhea here right now too?"
"No, I just got a text from her about 20 minutes ago saying that she's on her way. She said she should be over in a little while, so we don't have to wait that long. While we do wait though, do you want something drink or snack on? I can grab something if you like." Ruby offered.
"Nah, I'm fine. I whipped myself up some food before you for offering though." He said, respectfully declining her offer.
"Oh. Well, let me get your coat then, so I can put it in the closet."
Shane obliged and handed her his black North Face coat.
"You're a really good house guest, Ruby." Shane complemented her with a smile.
"You think so?"
"Of course. The hospitality you're demonstrating is top tier." He said, throwing up the okay sign at the end.
"Well, thank you. I'm really not used to having people in my home besides... Well, Liv mostly. I kinda keep to myself a lot of the time." She confessed.
"And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Plus, Liv has enough personality to make up at least three people, so I don't blame you."
That made Ruby giggle a bit.
"That's accurate if nothing else. Well, you can join me and Morgan back in my room while we wait for Rhea to show up if you want. Again, I will try my best to keep her in check."
"Something tells me that she's still gonna find ways to get around you."
Riott sighed again.
"It wouldn't be Liv if she didn't."
25 minutes later...
As promised, the Australian guitar player known as Rhea Ripley had finally arrived inside Ruby Riott's home. She had her instrument strapped to her back in a case, so she came prepared as well which was a plus.
"How's it goin' there?" She asked Shane when she saw him.
"I'm doing great, thanks for asking. The three of us were having a random debate about pancakes. More specifically, Ruby and Liv have been begging me to make them blueberry pancakes for the last half an hour damn near."
Ripley laughed in both joy and slight confusion.
"Wait, wait. Why?"
"Because, this boy here's cooking is fucking amazing! He made us breakfast one time, and we couldn't get enough." Liv answered enthusiastically.
"And we were just wondering if he'd do us a solid and make us some blueberry pancakes." Ruby followed.
"So, what's the problem, Shane? Why won't you?"
"Because I fucking hate blueberry pancakes! I don't like blueberries in general!" He proclaimed, almost angrily.
Rhea put her hands up.
"Whoa there, mate. I'm not the one asking you. Calm down."
"Sorry, sorry. Look, the point is, I'm not doing it and that's final."
Ruby and Liv both looked disappointed.
"Oh, alright. Anyway, the squad's all here. Let's head over to the garage to get started." Riott suggested.
They all did just that. When they got there, Shane found himself exploring the garage and the equipment inside.
"Whoooa. The inside looks way bigger than the outside. There's so much room in here."
"Yup, the acoustics in this place are great." Ruby pointed out.
"Question. Why do you guys have a garage if there are no cars in here?" Ripley asked.
"Oh, my mom's car got totaled like a year ago, and he just never got a new one. We just take the train and bus everywhere now."
As Ruby and Rhea were busy conversing, Shane was still looking all over the place until his eyes fell on the two instruments he assumed were owned by Liv and Riott.
"Yo these drums look clean. And this bass looks really, really expensive. I've never seen one like it before."
Ruby smiled.
"Thanks. The reason why it looks like that is because it's custom made."
"Yup", Liv continued, "It originally belonged to Rue Rue's mom actually. She's the one who taught me how to play. And when she thought I was ready, she let me have it. Cool, huh?"
"So cool." Price agreed.
"So music runs in the family then, huh? Is that why you play?" Rhea asked Ruby.
"Uh, kinda. I never knew my dad so I don't know about that side of the family, but my mom did mention being involved in music for a little while. She wanted to teach me how to play bass like her, but I gravitated more toward the drums. So, when I was like 12, she bought me a drum set and I've been playing ever since. When me and Liv first met back in middle school, I told her about my mom and she begged me to ask her to teach her. And the rest is history."
"Yup, we've been best friends ever since!" Liv happily exclaimed before jumping on Riott's back and hugging her close with her eyes closed and a big smile on her face.
The display of affection brought a smile to Shane's face and a smirk to Rhea's.
"That's pretty sweet." Rhea stated.
"I'd say so. Maybe Liv's not such a little devil after all." Shane said.
"I wouldn't go that far." Ruby joked.
"What do you mean? I'm a good girl, through and through." Liv proclaimed while again flashing the most innocent smile she could possibly muster.
"Does that mean you're gonna behave yourself and not mess with Shane?"
"Uhhhh... no promises."
"Yeah, she's totally a good girl." Shane sarcastically said.
Ruby then told Liv to get down, she did, and now Ruby had shifted her attention toward the whole group.
"Okay, now it's time that we get to work. Everyone agree?"
Rhea, Shane and Liv all nodded. Ruby then stuck her fist in the air.
"Squad Up?"
The rest all joined their fists with hers and repeated, "Squad Up." Finally, it was time... to jam.
AN: Uh, hi. Hello everyone that didn't forget that this existed on account of me being inconsistent as a motherfucker. I was finally able to set aside some free time to work on the story again and this what I came up with. I hope you enjoyed. Again, I don't know when the next chapter's gonna come out, so please bear with me. You guys are still the best! Also, side note, writing Liv in this story hurts my soul knowing what she's doing in real life right now. That who Rusev/Bobby Lashley thing sucked from day one. They couldn't have her come back some other way? Really? I really hate wrestling sometimes.
