Love Will Save You

-Ryan-

Melanie and I walked through our front door when we got home to find Jamie's feet propped up on the coffee table and Danielle sleeping with her head laying in his lap as he played with her hair in complete silence. The TV wasn't on, there was no music playing; It was just...quiet.

"Where are Nash and Ian?" I asked. Jamie looked up, "They went to bed about half an hour ago." "What are you still doing up?" "I just got her to go to sleep," he said quietly, nodding toward his girlfriend. "Why? She's always the first one out," Melanie said. "Sarah," Jamie replied plainly. "What happened?" she asked, rushing over to sit on the couch.

"I just gave her the ring and I was playing Forever Unstoppable for her. I finished and she wanted to hear another song, so I played another and that's when Sarah walked up-" Melanie cut Jamie off, almost yelling, "What do you mean Sarah walked up?"

Danielle mumbled Jamie's name and moved around a bit, but didn't wake up. "Melanie," Jamie whisper yelled, nodding toward the girl laying in his lap. "Sorry," Melanie whispered. "What happened?" "Like I was saying, I was playing another song for her and I saw her look behind me and her smile immediately dropped. I turned my head and Sarah was walking up. She said some not-so-nice things to Danielle and tried to grab her. Basically, one of them walked away with a bloody nose and a cut lip and it wasn't this girl," Jamie said, nodding toward Danielle again.

"That's my girl," Melanie smiled. Jamie chuckled, then continued, "Anyway, as I said, the things Sarah told her weren't very nice and I could tell they really got to her. So, after Danielle hit her, we came home and just hung out with Nash and Ian." "What did she say?" I asked, finally taking a seat on the couch. "Called her a bitch, loser, jealous - you know, the usual stuff. She did ask me at one point 'why I was dating an ugly whore like her' and then pulled out this picture from I don't even know where of Danielle and Nash hugging and tried to tell me Danielle was cheating on me," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"That bitch," Melanie mumbled under her breath. It was really no shock to any of us that something like that said to Danielle would get to her. "I know it wasn't the accusation of cheating on you that got to her either," Melanie said, looking down at Danielle as Jamie continued to play with her hair. "What do you mean?" I asked. "She never acts like anything bothers her. And truthfully, barely anything people can say does. Except when they call her ugly," she sighed. "I tell her she's beautiful every chance I get though," Jamie said, shaking his head. "I thought she believed me." "And she probably did up until today. All it takes is one comment, Jaim." Jamie sighed, "I'm just gonna take her upstairs."

Jamie carefully lifted Danielle's head off of his lap and stood up, turning back around to pick her up off of the couch. "Goodnight, guys," he said, walking away. "Night, Jaim," Melanie called back.

*The next day*

I woke up the following morning and noticed Melanie wasn't laying beside me. Funny, I could have sworn she was there when I fell asleep..

I walked into the kitchen to find everyone already awake and sitting at the table just talking. "Well, hello there, Sleeping Beauty," Nash joked. I laughed sarcastically, then replied seriously, "Shut up." I earned a small giggle from Danielle as she took a sip of her orange juice. Nash rolled his eyes and I sat down on the chair beside Melanie.

"Good morning, beautiful," I said to Melanie, kissing her cheek. "And good morning, beautiful to you, too," I said, looking at Danielle. Her smile dropped and she looked over at Jamie. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Danielle sighed, looking back at me, "Nice try, Ryan." "You are and you know it," Nash said.

Danielle sighed again and stood up, "I'm going to go get dressed now. You better be ready when I get back," she said, pointing at Ian. She walked upstairs and I asked, "Where are you guys going?" "Danielle and I are going to go on a motorcycle ride so I can teach her about photography," Ian replied. "She's actually going to get on a motorcycle?" I chuckled. "It was the only way Ian said he would teach her," Jamie laughed. "You are such a dick," I said, looking at Ian. He shrugged and smiled, "I know."

"Let's get this over with, Keaggy," Danielle mumbled, reappearing in the kitchen about 10 minutes later with her camera. Ian chuckled, taking the last sip of his coffee and stood up from his seat, "See you guys when we get back."

Danielle walked over to Jamie and gave him a kiss. "I love you," Jamie said when she pulled back. "I love you, too," she replied, turning around and walking toward the front door. "Don't crash, Ian," Nash called after them, smirking. "Go fuck yourself, Overstreet," she yelled, not turning around.

"You really are mean to her sometimes," Melanie laughed. "It's only because I love her," Nash chuckled. "Well, you love her a little too much," I joked. Nash simply shrugged and Jamie looked at him. "She's like my sister, Jamie. Quit your worrying," Nash said, rolling his eyes and getting up from the table, heading into the living room.

-Ian- (haha, bitches.)

"Put this on," I said, handing one of my helmets to Danielle. "This is gonna mess up my hair," she whined. "Look, in the off chance that I do crash-" She cut me off and screamed, "Ian!" "Just put it on, okay?" I laughed, hopping onto my bike. She groaned and put the helmet on, climbing on behind me.

"How long have you been riding motorcycles exactly?" Danielle asked. "About 4 years," I chuckled again, shaking my head. "I'm not gonna crash." "There's a first time for everything," she mumbled. "Danielle, you're gonna be fine. Just close your eyes, it'll be over before you know it." "They are closed. It's still not over."

I shook my head again and started the engine, feeling Danielle jump slightly. I pulled out onto the street and she wrapped her arms around my waist tightly, causing me to laugh. About 20 minutes later, we stopped at one of my favorite photography spots near the mountains.

"Is it over?" Danielle asked, still clinging to me. "Yes," I laughed. She jumped off of my bike and took off her helmet as quickly as she could. "It really wasn't that bad," I said, taking out my own camera from my bag. "You've been doing this for four years. Shut up," she mumbled. "The faster we get this lesson over with, the faster we can go home, and the faster I never have to get on a motorcycle again." I simply chuckled, but dropped the subject, "What do you want to take pictures of first?" "Flowers are pretty," she sighed. "Well, I guess we should go find some flowers," I replied.

We found a bush of small purple flowers and Danielle rushed over, sitting on the ground in front of them and pulling out her camera. She was taking pictures of the flowers when I decided to pull out my phone and take a picture of her, posting it on Twitter.

"@IanKeaggy: Photography lesson today with this pretty little thing. Oh, and @MissDanielle137 is here, too. :)"

The next thing I knew, I got a reply from Danielle.

"@MissDanielle137: @IanKeaggy Ahahaha. Fuck you, Keaggy."

I laughed loudly, causing Danielle to laugh as well. "I love you, too," I chuckled sarcastically. "I know," she winked.

After another hour of taking random pictures, sometimes of each other and posting them on Twitter, we decided to stop for lunch before heading home.

"So, what happened yesterday?" I asked Danielle after our food was brought to us. I could tell she got slightly uncomfortable, so I added, "I know you don't want to talk about it, but I also know talking about it would help." "Nothing. Jamie told you everything," she shrugged. "Danielle." "What? He did!" "So, you're saying you hit her because she tried to tell Jamie you were cheating on him? Not because she called you a bitch or ugly?" She shrugged again, "When you become so used to being called things like that, it doesn't really bother you as much."

"You know we're not lying when we call you beautiful, right? And I can guarantee Jamie's not," I said after a couple minutes of silence. She just shrugged again and mumbled, "I guess so." "Then what makes you doubt it?" She sighed, "Of course he says I'm beautiful now. He's my boyfriend, he has to. But what about if we ever break up? Then he starts saying I'm ugly and how he only dated me because he felt sorry since no one would actually want to date someone who looked like me. I can't let myself believe him because the last time I believed it, it blew up in my face and I don't think I can handle that happening again."

"He's not lying. He would never lie about something like that. He would never lie to you at all," I said quietly. "How do you know?" she choked. "Look at that ring on your finger," I said, a little more loudly. She looked at the ring Jamie gave her as I continued, "That's how I know. That's how we all know. He's not going to intentionally cause you any pain, and if he does, I'll kick his ass. I can tell he'd rather be alone if he can't be with you. He loves you more than anything and we all know you feel the same about him."

"Can we just go home now?" she choked again, not looking up from her ring. "Sure, come on," I replied, leaving enough money on the table to pay for the food and a tip. I grabbed her hand, pulling her up, and we left.

-Jamie-

I heard Ian's motorcycle engine cut off and he walked through the front door a couple minutes later with Danielle on his back. "Have fun?" Ryan chuckled. Danielle immediately jumped off of Ian's back, quickly walking over to me and hugging me tightly. "I love you, Jamie," she mumbled quietly into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her waist and looked at Ian questioningly. "We talked about it," he mouthed. I nodded and hugged her back tighter, pulling her close to me, "I love you more."

"So, what did you guys do while we were gone?" Ian asked. "Mel totally kicked Nash's ass in Call of Duty," Ryan exclaimed. "She did not," Nash yelled. "I just wasn't focused!" "We can pretend that's what happened, but really, I just straight-up kicked his ass," Melanie smiled, looking over at Ian. "Jamie, help," Nash whined. "Bro, she owned you so bad," I laughed, still holding Danielle.

"Anyway," Nash sighed, changing the subject, "Good to see you didn't crash, Ian." Danielle let go of me and narrowed her eyes at Nash, "I will cut you." "I'm sure it wasn't that bad," I laughed lightly. "I don't know, man. The girl had her arms wrapped around me so tightly, I could barely breathe," Ian chuckled. "And if any of you ever make me get on one of those again," Danielle said, pointing at all of us, "I will end your life faster than it began." "Alright, touchy. Calm down," Melanie giggled.

"We did take some pretty awesome photos though," Ian said, trying to lighten the mood. Danielle smiled, "We did, huh?" We all sat on the couch as they showed us the photos on their cameras and everyone started commenting on how good they looked.

"This one's my favorite," I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket and handing it to Melanie, who was sitting beside me. She passed it to Ryan and as it went around the room, they looked at Danielle with grins on their faces. She raised her eyebrows at me in confusion.

Nash poked her arm and held out my phone to her. She turned to him and took the phone, looking down at the screen to see the first photo of herself that Ian took while she was sitting on the ground taking pictures I had set as my lock screen. I noticed that as she was looking at the photo, she was fighting back a smile. "I think the girl in the picture is much prettier in person though," I shrugged.

As soon as Danielle looked up at me, I leaned in and kissed her. I felt her smile before I pulled away and her face was starting to turn a light red. I rested my forehead against hers and said quietly, "And she always will be." She rolled her eyes and smiled, kissing me again.