The American Spirit

Chelsea stared at the phone resting in the palm of her hand. She had just gotten off the phone with her mother, who basically just told her to stay on the tour. Stay on the tour while their father lie in the hospital? How could she live with herself if she did that? Although, her mother said that their father was fine, just a minor myocardial infarction. She had said that they got to the hospital on time for the doctors to be able to keep him going. Chelsea could actually hear her dad in the background telling them if they came off the tour, he'd beat them, despite them being twenty and twenty two respectively.

"Is everything okay?" Ashleigh murmured, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What did your mom say?"

Chelsea chuckled. "My dad is being a stubborn ass and my mom is encouraging him. So he's obviously fine. He said if we jumped off the tour, he'd beat us."

Faye snorted, nearly spitting out her coffee. "Yeah, that sounds like y'all's dad. I could see it happening."

Chelsea shook her head and smiled, softly. That was definitely true. Ryanne and Chelsea's father was probably the favorite father of the group. He was very blunt and opinionated, but he valued everybody else's opinion just as much as his own. He was the one who suggested Chelsea take up drumming and Ryanne to start singing again.

As if Ryanne could hear her thoughts, she bounds into their hotel room, hair wild and wearing the same clothes she had on last night. Faye wolf whistled and Ryanne cut her eyes at the red head, who flinched back. Obviously Ryanne had a very bad 'don't mess with me' look that got her to shut up very quickly.

"Alright, we need to book a flight back to Memphis." Ryanne began going on a tangent. "Nick, you might want to tell Lyman that we're going to be off a couple of the dates. I need to get some of my stuff together."

"Ry-"

"Chelsea, we'll need to make a few arrangements for staying."

"Ryanne."

"Did mom say what happened? Or if he's okay?"

"Ryanne, chill out. Mom called back. Dad is fine. He says if we leave the tour, even for a few of the dates, he'll beat us." Chelsea grabbed her sister by the wrist. "You need to calm down."

Ryanne dug her teeth into her bottom lip, tasting blood on her tongue. If she didn't go back to Memphis, she would feel terrible for not going to see her sick father. But, if she did go, she had no doubt that her father would make good on his word. Sick or not. It made her feel sick, not going to make sure her father was okay.

"Ryanne, I can hear your gears grinding. I can call mom back if you want me to." Chelsea asserted, making Ryanne looking at her. "We should stay on the tour. Dad said he wanted us to stay, we should respect that."

Nodding once, Ryanne sat on the edge of the bed that Faye and Ashleigh were both occupying. Ashleigh placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to try and get her to relax some. It wasn't good for her to freak out like she was. It induced panic attacks for her and, when she got into that mode, there was no getting her to do anything. She would crawl into bed and stay there the entire day.

"So, I'm totally psyched to go on those roller coasters. Wanna see how many times we can ride each of them?"

**

"Oh, my god. Please don't make me get on another one." Chelsea groaned, clutching her stomach. She should not have eaten that funnel cake. "Cody, please don't let her make me go on another one."

The Set It Off singer chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You aren't having fun, Chels? I'm having a blast."

Chelsea glared up at the singer. "You won't be having so much fun when I puke on your shoes."

He paled. "Hey, Ry? I'm gonna take your sister to go play some games."

Ashleigh waved him off, watching Ryanne as she tried to decide which ride to go on again. She was trying to make this day about the sisters as much as she could to keep their minds off of what was going on back home. It was working for the most part. Ryanne was having a blast on the rides and Cody was helping Chelsea by keeping her busy. But, she knew it wouldn't last long.

"Ryanne." Andy tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her away from the group. He had a giant cotton candy in his hand. "Here you go."

Her heart stuttered as his blue eyes gazed down at her sweetly. She felt more adrenaline rushing through her at this one look than if she had gone on all of the roller coasters in the world. It was an exhilarating feeling, standing there as if it were only the two of them. But, of course, the moment couldn't last without someone shouting and breaking them of the spell they're under.

"Come on, Ry!" Ashleigh called, grinning over at the two. "There's only a few rides that we haven't hit yet. We gotta get on them!"

Green eyes turned on the purple haired girl, angry that she pulled their attention away from one another. But, at the same time, she was glad she did before she jumped the blue eyed giant in the middle of the fairgrounds. She was certain that was frowned upon, even in the state of California. She stuck her tongue out at the girl, but followed her anyways.

"Let's go. We're going to dominate these rides!" Ryanne cheered, looping her arms with Ashleigh's.

Ashleigh sniggered. "It looks like Andy wants to dominate something else. Or someone else." She waggled her eyebrows, only stopping(and grunting) when Ryanne elbowed her. "Ouch, you bitch."

**

The rest of the was spent joking and laughing (and a bit of screaming) as they finished riding all the rides. After a while, Ryanne and Andy split off from Ashleigh, whom had teamed up with Christian, and finished some of the rides for themselves. At the present time, Andy and Ryanne were at the top of the Ferris wheel eating more cotton candy and admiring the California sunset. Cheesy? Very. But she definitely didn't mind it. She knew he and the others were mainly doing all of this to keep her and Chelsea occupied. Their minds off of their father. It made her want to cry and laugh and hug them all at the same time.

"Thank you."