To Live and Let Go

(Chapter Three: Rian)

“Yo Lex, let’s go,” Rian said as he pushed the door to his best friends classroom open and waltzed inside. He had fully expected that Alex’s room to be empty save for said man taking forever to pack up all his things. But as soon as he saw that Alex was with one of his students, he instantly blushed and was preparing to come up with an excuse and leave them to whatever it was that they were discussing when the student looked up.

“Hey Ri,” Finley smiled as Alex also looked up from the paper they were going over and nodded to him.

Rian nodded as he set his stuff down and retuned a smile, “hey Fin, what are you guys working on?”

“An assignment that Sir Alexander gave to us involving writing our own music,” she replied since they both knew that Alex wasn’t going to answer. The papers that they had been looking at happed to be sheet music with notes and words scribbled on it and whenever Alex had anything music related in his hand, he blocked out the world and put his whole focus on it.

“Why he chooses to torture us with such hard tasks is beyond me.” She continued as Rian laughed and Alex actually looked up from the music and frowned at them.

“It’s not that hard Fin, c’mon. I’ve been doing this since I was like 13,”

Finley just rolled her eyes, “not everyone is a musical genius like you Lex.”

“I’m not a musical genius, I just like writing. It took me a long time to actually make what I was writing make sense and actually sound good. Just ask Rian.” Alex went on as Finley looked to Rian who nodded with wide eyes confirming Alex’s statement. “Besides, I don’t know why you were freaking out about this at all, it’s really good. You don’t need to be sweating over this assignment one bit. From the little bit I read from that, it’s really good. Keep going.”

Finley blushed at that and Rian curiously snatched the paper from her and sidestepped as she tried to grab it back from him. Whatever it was that Alex had read, he really seemed to like it since he wouldn’t have said anything unless he did. And as Rian looked through the pages, he couldn’t help but agree with Alex. Finley was really good.

“Dude, this is really good.” He voiced out loud, handing the paper back to Fin again, making her blush more.

She took the papers and shoved them back in her bag as a blush grew on her face. “Um, thanks, I just wanted to get your opinion on it. But uh, I have to go, I’ll see you on Monday?”

“Dude hurry up, I want to go home.” Rian said after Finley left. The other boy just rolled his eyes as he continued to put his things in his bag so they could get going. Alex’s car was in the shop getting fixed and since they lived together and happened to work at the same place, they carpooled for the last few days. They hardly ever did though since Alex stayed back at school a little extra to give lessons or help the kids that needed so they usually took their own cars. But now that Alex didn’t have a car, Rian had been leaving work later and later. He wasn’t really complaining, but it was a Friday night and he really wanted to get out of there on time so they could start the weekend off early and have some fun.

As they climbed into his car and he twisted the key in the ignition, Rian couldn’t help but smile as Reckless by You Me At Six started to play. And he remembered that during one of their little lunch chats that Finley had mentioned that this was her favorite song by them. After the first day when they had found her in their old hide out, they met there every day for lunch. It was like a tradition for them now making it part of their daily routine after doing so since school started nearly a month ago now. They talked about anything and everything and Rian looked forward to lunch time coming around each day so they could all meet up again.

She still hadn’t said anything as to why she was repeating the year, but Rian just figured she wasn’t ready to say just yet. Sure they knew each other for a while now, but something told Rian it took Finley a while to fully trust someone. But he as ok with that. He was willing to wait. All he cared about was making sure that the student knew that she could come to either him or Alex at any time if she needed to. See seemed like she had a lot of baggage on her shoulders and not many people to talk to, and if the time came and she needed to vent, Rian wanted to make sure that she knew she could come to them.

Pulling into the driveway of their shared house, both boys got out and grabbed their things before heading inside. As soon as Rian was through the door, he kicked off his shoes and went to the stairs and up to his room. Just as he was closing the door to his room his phone started ringing and he grabbed it from his pocket and smiled when he saw his girlfriends name come up on his Caller ID.

“Hey Harper,”

“Hi baby, how was work?”

Rian shrugged even though he was the only one in the room. “It was work, I’m just glad to be off for the weekend. I finally don’t have any papers to grade or anything to do all weekend.”

He heard her giggle from the other end making him smile more. “That’s why I was calling actually, wanted to see if you were busy tonight.”

“No, I’m totally free, why do you have something in mind for tonight?”

“Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to do dinner and a movie tonight, what do you think?”

“Sure,” he answered as he glanced to his left to see that it was a little past four. “Pick you up at six?”

She agreed happily and then mentioned she needed to go and get ready. After they hung up, Rian went through his phone a little more since he didn’t need that much time to get ready really. By the time five o’clock rolled around, he forced himself up off the bed and to go to his closet to find something to wear before jumping in the shower quickly. Once he was finished, he grabbed a pair of shoes and his phone and wallet before heading out of his room and downstairs.

When he walked into the living room, he found Alex sitting on the couch with his feet up and Mac on his lap. There was a random show on TV playing and a glass of wine sitting on the table next to him. This was such typical Alex. On a Friday night Rian could usually find him just like this or in the room where they kept all their music playing his old acoustic or writing lyrics.

Alex glanced up from his computer when Rian walked into the room and gave him a curious look. “Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, Harper and I are going out tonight.” Rian replied catching the annoyed look Alex gave him when he mentioned Harper but chose to ignore it. Alex and the rest of the guys didn’t hide the fact that they didn’t like Harper but they were just being ridiculous. There was nothing wrong with Harper. Sure she could be a little demanding and over the top at times but he loved her all the same. They’ve been together for a little over two years now and Rian couldn’t be happier.

Alex just sighed and went back to his computer, “well have fun then.”

Rian just rolled his eyes at his friend and turned to the door to grab his keys. He wasn’t going to let Alex ruin his night just because he didn’t approve of his girlfriend. He hardly ever got to see her and he thought that because they weren’t touring that he would see her more often, but he still didn’t see her enough and was really looking forward to that night. So he just muttered a quick bye as he headed out the door to his car to go pick up his girlfriend not waiting to hear if Alex said anything back.



It was nearly eleven o’clock when Rian got back from his date, opening the door to their house and not caring how loud he was being. He knew that Alex would still be up and was proven right when he found Alex right where he had been when he left, only now with an empty plate that must have held his dinner next to a bottle of wine. Just as he was wondering if Alex was still pissy when he had left, Alex glanced up from his computer and asked him how the date went as he kicked off his shoes.

“It was fun,” he replied as he undid the top few buttons on his shirt and sat on the chair across from him. “Did Fin call at all? She said she would to see if we could get together this weekend sometime if she’s off.”

Alex snorted at that and Rian gave him a confused look. “You’re not home more than five minutes from your date and you’re already asking about another girl. I think that is proof enough that you and your girlfriend aren’t right for each other.”

“What are you talking about Lex?”

“I’m talking about the fact that as soon as you get home you ask if Finley called and don’t even mention anything about your own girlfriend.”

“You don’t even like my girlfriend,”

Alex rolled his eyes, “but it never stopped you before to talk about her while I was in the room.”

“You’re ridiculous,”

“I’m truthful,” Alex replied. “And to answer your previous question, no your future girlfriend did not call. She texted me though and told me that she would get back to us tomorrow.”

“She’s not my future girlfriend,” Rian answers. “I already have a girlfriend. I’m not going to leave Harper for a student. That’s illegal and I don’t even like Finley like that.”

“Could have fooled me,” Alex muttered as he went back to his computer.

Rian decided to just let it go, not really in the mood to have this conversation with Alex right now. He stood and mentioned he was going to bed and Alex just hummed in reply as the younger began walking out of the room. Heading upstairs, he shut his door behind him and then pulled off his shirt and pants changing into basketball shorts and a t-shirt from high school.

But as he pulled the covers back on his bed after putting in a movie and flicking the lights off, he couldn’t help but think about what Alex had said. Was he falling for Finley? Sure he did ask about her right after he got home but he was just wondering about the plans about the weekend. That didn’t mean he cared for her, much less more than his girlfriend. He loved Harper and sure maybe it wasn’t exactly like it had been when they first got together, but they still loved each other.

He only saw Finley as a friend. They had a lot in common and he liked hanging out with her, but that was it. A simple friendship, nothing more. At least he thought. But the more and more he thought about it, the more he realized that might not be true. Oh crap, was Alex right?