Twenty years later…

“Come on, Remmy!” Arabelle giggled. A boy with ginger hair and sea blue eyes ran to catch up. The twenty seven year old girl rolled her eyes as Remmy went down to tie his shoe. He was seven years younger than her, but still as wonderful as ever. Even though there was that big age gap, Remmy was a few inches taller than Arabelle and they acted as if nothing was separating them.

“Abells, you’re so energetic today. Who gave you caffeine?” The boy chuckled.

“Well, no one, but you need to be on stage in ten and I know you’ll want to see Sammy before that.” I winked to him. Remmy was my best friend and Sammy was my girl best friend. Remmy had been dating Sammy for a couple years now. I thought that maybe it would ruin our friendship, but it hadn’t.

We separated for college a couple years ago. Remmy went to a California college where he studied music and business. He wanted to own his own record label, but he started a band instead. Now, they were touring on Warped for their first time. It helped that the other people he had started it with were sons and daughters of other famous musicians.

I had gone to Colorado to study engineering. This summer, I was spending back at home with my friends before I started a job. Sammy stayed at California to study Marine Biology. She had landed a nice job at a large lab to help keep oceans healthy.

Remmy Ashby was part of a band called Rebel Five. He was the guitarist. Alden Sykes was the drummer. Art Gaskarth was the Keyboardist, Jakob Cerulli was the bassist, and Lenna Fuentes was the singer.

“Rembrandt Ryker Ashby!” Remmy’s mom came up to him. She was my aunt and I waved. Aunt LP smiled.

“Hi, mom!” Remmy blushed, but tried to wave. His dad came up beside his mom.

“Don’t you forget your lucky guitar pick!” His mom scolded. I laughed a little. My parents were off, talking with the rest of their old band that had disbanded a little while ago.

“I won’t!” Remmy grinned and took my hand, running off. I saw Jack and Alex hugging their daughter as she joined us.

“Hey, Art.” Remmy elbowed her playfully. I smiled at the quiet girl. She might not talk much, but when she got on stage, she was a whiz at the keys! We all walked towards the stage together. Remmy peeled off to give Sammy a hug. I smiled when I saw her. She took her turn and gave me a hug next as the band waited back stage.

Chris and his wife, Danielle, were talking to Oli and Sara. I think mom told me they had gotten married about the time I was seven. I mean, the band members are all pretty young. Remmy’s seven years younger than I! They’re all about twenty years old, although Art and Jakob are twenty one.

Jaime and Vic were hanging around in the back, talking to Lenna, who looked a little scared. The two men had their hands laced together as I smiled. The two looked pretty happy. Lenna started to ease up as they gave her tips. I smiled as she joined us.

Jakob walked over, giving Alden a clap on the back. I rolled my eyes, but grinned. My little sister came up gave me a quick hug.

“Hey, Bets.” I grinned. She smiled.

“What’s up, Abells?” She asked with my nickname. I shrugged.

“Nothing much. Just talking to everyone here. They’re on in six minutes.” I checked my watch. I saw her eyes dart over to Jakob who was tuning his bass. She quickly turned back to me.

“I’m going to take pictures with Adam for this concert, but I’m sure they’ll do great.” She smiled. I nodded before pulling her aside.

“Hey, do you like Jakob?” I asked bluntly. She slapped my hand.

“Hey! I don’t!” She argued, but blushed deeply.

“Don’t worry…” I grinned just as Jakob walked over.

Let’s just say that I think I know a little secret that Jakob has hidden from everyone. I wouldn’t say it, but I think he could speak for himself. The boy brushed his jet black bangs from his face and nervously walked up to my sister. She ducked her head and smiled.

“Hey, Beth.” He asked shyly. Art elbowed me.

“Oooh…” She whispered. I laughed. Jakob and my sister were quietly talking before they manager called them out onto the stage. We all gathered except for Beth who had to go take pictures. She met out with Adam to start gathering photos for Rebel Five.

Lenna confidently took the stage as a crowd gathered. They weren’t the biggest band, but they sure were gaining popularity. I clapped along as they started one of their newest songs. I saw Beth wink at me from the barricade.

Remmy passed a smile my way.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around. I grinned and jumped into his arms. It was an old friend from college that I had met.

“Hey, girly.” He chuckled. I smiled into his shoulder as he twirled me around. Oh man did I miss him. He was one of my best friends.

“Hey, Stryke.” I smiled.

“I’m glad you remembered my name. I thought that you moved back here and forgot all about me with your California boys.” He chuckled. I shook my head, feeling my face hurt from smiling so hard. I pulled him to the side as Lenna took a quick break to sip water before going to their next song.

My mom knew his dad back so many years ago, she said she lost count. She doesn’t talk much about him either. Stryke didn’t like talking about his dad so much. He said it was a hard subject. His family life was rough. He didn’t see his dad much because he fought in a war and died defending a comrade. Apparently, he had a wife he didn’t tell anyone about because there were people out there who would try to track down his wife and kill her, if they had the chance.

Stryke’s dad never gave them the chance, that’s why nobody ever knew about his wife. Apparently, his mom said that his dad would lie that he wasn’t married to others, even his closest friends.

So his dad died when he was eight, his mom raised him as a single mother, and he grew up not knowing a lot about his family. I felt bad that he didn’t know.

Stryke looked at me with blue eyes like the Pacific Ocean, so crystal clear and shining. His brown hair flopped down on his face, making him constantly brush his bands aside.

“I would never forget about you, Stryker. You’re one of my best friends.” I laughed. We met in college in Colorado since he lived there. I was surprised to see him out there.

“Well I’m glad of that.” He blushed deeply. We both finished watching the set together and walked out back.

“Hey can I ask you something?” He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. I nodded, anxious to hear what he had to say.

“Of course.”

“Are y-you free f-for dinner tonight?” He asked me. I smiled and it was my turn to blush.

“Yeah, I’m free.”

“Do you want to meet at that little bar on the corner of Phlanx and fourth?” He asked me. I nodded, eager to join him. You know, I kind of did like Stryke, the more I thought about it. I could say he was a friend, but I knew that I liked him more than that.

“Great!” He seemed surprised that I had said yes. With a laugh, I gave him a hug and ran off to go see the rest of the band. As I wove through the crowd of stage hands, I bumped into a man.

He had the same brown hair as Stryke and eyes like that Pacific Ocean. He had tattoos down his arms and looked older, a little older than my mom. He was so familiar, but I could tell I hadn’t seen him before.

“Oh, excuse me.” I said and ducked my head.

“Oh, no problem, Arabelle.” He grinned and walked off. He disappeared, as if he walked on air and fell through an invisible portal.

“How did you know my name?” I asked softly. He seemed to pop up faintly in my memories, but I don’t remember. He looked like Stryke, but didn’t remind me of a person I knew well.

Hmm….

“Hey, Arabelle!” Someone called my name. I saw Remmy and went to go congratulate him. As I talked, I couldn’t stop thinking about that man.

Then it clicked.

The man with the eyes like the ocean. The man with the brown hair. The man with tattoos and a heavy weight.

The man who should’ve been dead, but obviously wasn’t.

Notes

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..................It's Ryker......and Stryke.....and did anyone catch that references???? Did anyone see that? Did anyone see what I did there???

Hahaha, anyways, well that's the end!!!

This may be the end of the series, but not the end of my work! I'm starting up a new series and I'm writing a new story! It'll be called The Life and Lies of the How-To Manual! It's the sequel to an entry I wrote for a contest called Jaime Preciado and the Mighty Ding. So if you want to NOT be confused, read the Mighty Ding story first, and then the sequel! The Mighty Ding story is pretty short, so not a long read!

This is all on the PTV site!

I promise it will be funny and quiet exciting! Thanks for reading, everyone! Love you all and say beautiful!