"So your parents are the reason you two broke up?"

"It seems that way.." Maddie trailed off. After all this time, she was right. You can't go from loving someone one day, to not loving them the next, like Ryan had claimed. She knew from the moment he walked back on to the bus after signing with fans that something was wrong. And now, all of this confirmed her suspicions. "Did they really think I wouldn't find out?"

"They must have, and like you said they want you to go to Stanford. They probably thought talking to Ryan - or rather making him feel guilty- would do the trick, and you'd want to go." Olivia reasoned.

"Well they were wrong," She replied. "I'm not going to live my parent's lives, I'm going to live my own." With that, she tore her acceptance letter in half and put it back on the counter, with the concert ticket on top of it - just for dramatic effect. "That should send them a message - loud and clear." Olivia and Grace smiled, happy to see Maddie returning back to her old self.

They grabbed all of Maddie's boxes and made their way back to the car, locking the door behind them.

"So what now?" Grace asked as she pulled away from the house. Maddie shrugged, opening her mouth to respond with a 'No idea' but Olivia beat her to it.

"We go find Ryan."

Maddie hesitated. "I don't know..."

"He still loves you, and never wanted to break up in the first place! If anything, this just shows how much he loves you. He sacrificed his happiness for what he thought would be yours."

"So, let's look and see where their next show is, and we'll go there. You two clearly need to talk."

"And you two should really look at careers in sales," Maddie joked, defeated.

- - - -

To say Ryan wasn't himself was an understatement. The guys knew it, the fans knew it, hell even his own mom knew it - and they only talk on the phone once a week. His high amount of energy was completely gone on stage, he sang the songs, played his guitar and that was it. No crowd interaction, they were lucky if they got a 'thanks for coming out'. And he knew it wasn't fair, to take out how miserable he was on his fans and the rest of the band and crew; but he couldn't help it. He was never a good actor. Of course all of the guys tried to help him get over Maddie.

Nash tried to get him to come out to the bars and have him well, drink away his problems. Of course, Ryan wasn't interested in that, he hardly ever was. So instead, Zach and Chuck would accompany him, and they wouldn't see them until early hours of the morning. But hey, to each their own. Then there was Ian and Cam. They would try and get him to go shopping with them, and he knew tomorrow would be especially as bad since they'd be in Chicago. But no matter how much they insisted, even with the promise of Topshop and Starbucks, he didn't want to go. Jamie was the hardest to pass up. Every night after shows he'd ask him to play FIFA with him; but when Ryan turned him down, choosing the company of his lyric notebook and Ipod instead, Jamie would walk away, with a look of hurt in his eyes. In all honestly, he missed spending time with his brother.

Ryan knew he was being a bitch about it; but really, Maddie was the first person he ever fell in love with. You can't get over your first love in just five days. So, the way he coped was via songwriting. He finished Keep You WIth Me, and worked out all of the kinks in it; moving on to a new song. He didn't have a name for it quite yet, but he was getting there.

"We're going out for some drinks in about an hour when we get to Chicago, do you maybe want to come with?" Ryan looked up at the hesitant voice, that definitely wasn't Nash's. It was Jamie. Previously he's said no almost immediately after being asked but this time was different. He looked sad, and that wasn't fair. Him and Jamie were incredibly close, and they hadn't been spending a lot of time together, and he kind of owed it to him.

"Sure, I'll go take a shower then I'll be ready."

"Wait..seriously? You'll come?" His excited expression and surprised tone of voice hurt a little, but Ryan pushed it away.

"Yeah, I'll come."

"Nash!" Jamie yelled, running down the bus hallway. "Ryan is coming with us tonight!"

Ryan shook his head as he got up from the Kitchen table, he really did owe that kid. But tonight, he'd make it up to him.

- - - -

A/N woo, two updates in two days! (That is if you read my other HCR fics c:) But yay progress is being made! So please vote and comment your feedback, I really do appreciate it. Thanks xx