Let's Bend the Rules.

The room is completely full of my entire family, I didn’t even know I had this much family! I guess though when you add your mum’s side and dad’s side together things to get into the higher numbers. I’ve been cornered and bombarded by my aunts from mum’s side all asking me about a boyfriend. Why do old people nag so much?!

“Now Zaria-”
“Rhydan” I cut across for the fourth time. Aunt Jean doesn’t seem to notice my tired or exhausted voice. These questions are getting a little repetitive as the alcohol seems to be downed quicker.
“You’re getting very old dear, when are you going to start experiencing the relationship stage, the boys won’t wait for you, you know!” She giggles with Aunt Genny. I roll my eyes, being in desperate need of escape.

I shoot a look at Zaria from my side of the room, she’s talking with Tom and Harry. She gives me a one shoulder shrug and turns her back on me, ugh! So much for sisters. Just as the song changes I see my mum walking towards us, I try to catch her attention, she seemed to be looking for me anyway and smiles when she sees me.

I glance at my five giggling aunts,
“Sorry, mum’s looking for me” I rush and break from the small group. I sigh slightly as I walk towards her. She’s all smiles tonight.

“How’s the birthday going?” She asks me. I shrug.
“I haven’t really been able to experience it, I’ve been stuck with your sisters” I pretend to glare at her and laugh. Her smile widens a little.
“Well now you have the chance to go off and have some fun, I think Danny just went outside the back door” She gives me a small smile and glides away. I perk up and little and start manoeuvring my way towards the back, exit door. I bump into someone on my way,

“Oh god, I’m sorry!” I laugh a little and step back, but immediately take everything back once I see who it is. Gerard is standing before me. I glare at him. “What are you doing here?” I ask him harshly. His face drops a little.
“I was invited, look Rhydan I really am sorry about that time before… on the date” He apologizes. I roll my eyes.
“Whatever, just stay away from me alright?” I snap and walk past him. I’m slightly fuming now as I reach the back door, I slam down on the lever and throw myself into the cold air. Two figures jump as I come out, they turn out to be Danny and Dougie. They look strangely suspicious about something.

“What are you guys doing out here?” I ask them, folding my arms. Dougie glances at me then Danny,
“Uhm… bye” He mutters and slinks past me and back inside the room. I look at Danny, my eyebrows raised.
“N-nothing, Dougie just wanted a smoke and I joined him” He shrugs. I narrow my eyes.
“You don’t smoke” I point out. Danny shrugs.
“He wanted company” He states.

“Okay… well are you going to join me inside or are you going to make the birthday girl sit on her own for dinner?” I ask him, smiling a little. A huge smile breaks across his features and he steps towards me.
“Of course I’ll join you” He tells me and takes my hand. The two of us turn and walk back into the stuffy room.

Ten minutes later we all get called into another room which was set up for us for dinner. I sit between my mum and dad, Zaria beside dad and Gerard next to her and my mum. It worked out that the McFLY boys had to sit someone where else at another table. I was slightly disappointed about that and slightly infuriated that Gerard sat at my table. What made it worse was, was that Zaria took it upon herself to have a lengthy conversation with him, it looked like she really didn’t mind being friends with him.

“So how’s the tour work going?” Dad asks me. I turn to him a little as I eat the small salad left on my plate after the main course.
“It’s going good, there was only a few breakdowns and bumps along the way, but the crew pretty much know the whole routine, so it’s easier now” I tell him. He nods pleased.
“I’m glad you’ve got it all under control” He tells me.

“How was France?” I ask him, as the waiter takes my plate from behind me, I thank him quietly.
“Oh I didn’t tell you! I got another artist signed to the company, she’s new to the whole music industry but she has a great voice and I feel she’ll do well” He tells me.
“That’s great” I smile. Dad nods.
“I’ll be back in a minute” Dad excuses himself to go to the bathroom and mum finally speaks up properly for the first time during dinner.

“So how’s everything going?” She asks me.
“Fine” I tell her.
“Are you sure? You didn’t seem so fine earlier this morning, are you and Danny okay?” Her tone drops and octave lower and she glances at Gerard briefly.
“Yes, we’re all good. We just had a little stupid tiff this morning” I tell her, shrugging.
“Okay” She sighs.

“Would you like a dessert?” The waiter comes back, holding some menus in his hands.
I look towards mum and she winks at me,
“Yes please” She nods and the man gives the menus to everyone, leaving one for Dad.

A movement from across the room catches my attention and I see Danny walking towards me, a smile wide on his lips, I return it.
“How’s your meal?” He whispers into my ear, I look up at him and smile.
“Gorgeous, what did you have?” I ask him.
“Steak, yum” He laughs, of course, what else would I expect him to have?
The chair moves from beside me and Dad sits down next to me.
“Danny, what are you doing over here?” He smiles at Danny.
“Just wishing Rhydan a Happy Birthday is all” He replies calmly.
“I thought you’d be sick of her by now, spending a month in her presence?” Jeez Dad, nice compliment there. Danny shoots me a grin.
“I could never get sick of her, she’s too amazing” He nudges me in the ribs and gives Dad a small hesitant smile. I hear Zaria and Gerard’s conversation come to a close as they watch.
“Yes, she is amazing, a great daughter to have” Dad smiles and puts his arms around me in an awkward one-armed hug, almost in a protecting manner. I smile awkwardly at Zaria, I want to slap the amused look off her face.
“I’m sure she is” Danny smiles at me cheekily.

“Danny are you and the guys going to be performing later?” Zaria asks him.
“Yeah, I think so, after dessert, I think” He replies in a distant voice.
“When you’re grandparents go to their room” Dad concludes.
“Oh right, are you staying for it dad?” Zaria asks. Dad turns to look at Zaria.
“Of course, I haven’t seen my best band perform in a while”
Danny nods awkwardly.
“Well, I think they’re taking the orders at my table now, if I don’t leave I’ve got a feeling Doug will order me something I’m bound to hate and something he’s bound to love” Danny excuses himself and goes, I watch as he walks over to his table and glances down at the menu, then quickly back at me, giving me a small wink. I smile to myself and look down at my own menu.

“Rhydan?” My father’s gruff voice, makes me turn my head to look at him, he doesn’t look happy.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“You-… you tend to look at that boy an awful lot” He notes, narrowing his eyes.
“Danny?” I ask, a knot forming in my throat. Dad nods stiffly and I feel everyone’s gaze from the table on me. “We’re just good friends is all” I manage to say, my throat dry.

“Would you like to order?” The waiter interrupts whatever Dad had in mind of saying. Someone - Zaria most likely - kicks my leg under the table harshly.
“I’ll have the apple-pie” I tell him and hand him the menu. Everyone else orders and I stay quiet during the rest of the meal. Most adults get coffees and shots afterwards. I wait patiently for the elder company to leave and for Danny to walk away from his table.

When the whole of McFLY stand up together and exit my sight, I sit up a little straighter, a small on my lips. They come out on stage and Danny opens his mouth.
“Happy Birthday Rhydan, hope us guys haven’t bugged you too much in the past month” He grins and starts playing his guitar, to a slow melody.
Walk In The Sun.
My favourite song Danny wrote on an album.
Five songs later and I see the room is full of mainly my thirty-four cousins, a couple of the younger aunts and uncles, mum, dad and Zaria - and… Gerard.
Danny, Dougie, Tom and Harry all walk off stage, smiling widely and sweating furiously, but they part ways and Danny starts walking towards our table. I frown a little and stand up to meet him.

“Danny?” I ask him, smiling, a warning in my voice. I don’t know what he’s up to but I can see a look in his eye.

“Rhydan…” My heart starts thumping strangely, the odd notion that whatever he’s about to come out with is going to get me into a lot of trouble. “I haven’t given you your birthday present yet. Save the best for last right?” He asks, fishing in his pocket. I narrow my eyes at him, what’s he up to? He turns to my dad suddenly.
“Mr. Simmons… I have to tell you something” My eyes widen automatically.
“Danny” I whimper, shaking my head, but he ignores me.
“I have a confession-” Dad looks at Danny with hard eyes, I can tell he has no idea what’s coming next. “-And I suppose, I might as well tell you this before I give Rhydan her present because… you’ll obviously catch on.” The whole room is quiet. All my cousins are watching him, most confused and asking what’s going on but nobody can answer. I glance at the ‘FLY table and see Dougie, Harry and Tom all quiet and watching Danny, but they have a knowing look on their faces. I frown deeply. Zaria and my mum are as frozen as I am.
Danny opens his mouth and I can sense a long speech coming on. How to I stop this?
“Five years ago when McFLY were only starting out, you signed us to your label and banned any of us from dating Rhydan. None of us thought anything of it, she was just the bosses daughter, it would’ve been impossible to get around it and we all thought she’d be a stuck up, smart girl who wouldn’t even glance in our direction, think we were just another band that you owned. But I was wrong, after a month of being in her company every day I found I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her. Her beauty was overwhelming, it was like she was drawing me in. Despite all you told us, I disobeyed you and asked her out, not caring if she turned me down - at least I’d asked right?” I glance at my father and see his face has gone ghostly white, I bite on my lip and shoot a frantic glance at Danny, he doesn’t seem to notice. His voice stays calm, as if he’s simply reading a story to a young child.

“But she didn’t just ignore me, she agreed to go out with me and I was thrilled. After about a year of dating you continuously reminded all of us that no one was allowed to go near Rhydan, she started getting older and this was obvious to you. I thought you had already figured us out but Rhydan was content with continuing our relationship. I could tell she struggled with lying to you about it but she never said anything. We had our trouble like any couple but four years on we were still together… and then Zaria shows up. I was completely shocked when you allowed Dougie to ask her out, I couldn’t believe it and thought maybe you were softening, but no. Dougie and Zaria were forced to break up by you after a… certain incident and you threatened to drop McFLY if you found she’d disobeyed you. I panicked when this happened but Rhydan told me to stop and calm down.

“For five years I’ve been with your daughter and come to believe that I truly love her as much as physically possible for a human being. I talked to the guys about this and we came to only one conclusion when I told them what I was planning to give Rhydan for her birthday-” I stare in horror at Danny. Is he actually insane? Did he seriously just confess to my father that we’ve been together for five years? I can feel the expression on my face, my mouth is clamped shut and I’m pretty positive that my lips have gone white, my eyes are staring at Danny in horror and my body is completely frozen in this standing position. The only sound in the room now, is my father’s heavy breathing.

Danny turns to me, “Rhydan, I love you” He tells me in a slightly quieter voice. I open my mouth but can’t seem to make words form. “I’ve thought about this for months and months and with the guys’ help we’ve made my decision plausible. They’ve accepted this and are behind us one hundred percent. I love you” He repeats. “I can’t imagine not being with you when we’re old and grey… I hope you’re on this level with me” I frown a little, what the hell did that last sentence mean? He takes a deep breath and removes something from his pocket. I watch in a daze as Danny gets on one knee at my feet. I hear the difference between the gasps of shock around the room and the rough exhale of my father.
Very slowly Danny removes one hand and lets a small black box show, he opens it slowly, dramatically, and almost breathes the words in a whisper.
“Marry me?” My thoughts are disorientated as I take it in. I take a deep breathe and glance very quickly at my mother; she actually has tears in her eyes.

“No!” But the word doesn’t come from my mouth.