A Beautiful Mess - A Before You Exit Story *On Hold*

Chapter 4-Starbucks For Two, Or Three, Maybe Four

Tegan's POV

I woke up on Tuesday morning thinking that maybe today Thomas and I would actually get along.

I was wrong.

"Just stay away from her McDonough! I don't want her to get hurt!" I heard Thomas yell from the back lounge.

"Did you ever think maybe you're the problem?!? Stop sheltering her from us Thomas! Let her make her own decisions!" I heard Riley shout back.

"Why do you think that every girl is into you?!? You are so self obsorbed that you can't see it. Look at what happened with Alli!" Thomas retorted.

"Don't even go there." I heard Riley say, he was obviously fuming.

"It's true!" Thomas yelled.

"Fine! I'll stay away from her!" Riley yelled before he stormed past the bunks and I heard the bus door slam shut.

I pulled my bunk curain back and looked around to see Connor in the bunk below Riley's. He looked up at me sympathetically.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." I replied.

"Wanna sneak out and go to Starbucks?" He asked.

"Are we in New York?" I questioned.

"We are." He asnwered.

"Alright. Just let me get ready." I said as I grabbed some things and headed for the bathroom. 

I got changed into a pair of light washed jeans, a mickey mouse sweater, and I threw a beanie on as well. When I got back to the bunks, I grabbed a pair of my Vans and slipped them on before meeting Connor in the front lounge. From what I could tell, Thomas was preoccupied by Chris and their video games.

"Ready?" Connor asked.

"I was born ready." I replied with a grin.

"Wow. No response, at all." He said as he shook his head and opened the door.

I followed him out into the slightly chilly New York air. It was pretty early, so it would hopefully get warmer soon.

We walked about two blocks in silence before reaching a Starbucks. We walked in, ordered out drinks, which Connor insisted on paying for, before taking a seat at a table by the window.

Suddenly, I noticed a familiar figure sitting two tables behind Connor.

"Riley is here." I said gesturing towards him.

Connor turned around before getting Riley's attention.

"Ri! Come sit with us." Connor said as Riley looked up in confusion.

When he realized who it was, he stood and brought his drink over before sitting down next to me.

"Sorry about my brother." Was the first thing I could think to say.

"Don't worry about it." He said with a slight smile which you could tell was fake.

"He can be such a jerk." I said with a sigh.

"I'd say." Connor said with a quick laugh. 

 "How did you two even get out together?" Riley asked.

"We snuck out." Connor said.

"Wow, never thought you were the dangerous type bro." Riley said.

"It's not like Thomas can keep her locked up on the bus for the whole tour." Connor retorted as he rolled his eyes.

"At least someone understands." I said with a sigh.

"Sorry if the yelling this morning woke you." Riley apologized.

"It's alright. It's not your fault. Thomas can get quite annoying I suppose." I said.

"You guys are so lucky that Thomas hasn't left the back lounge. If he knew you were here, he'd probably flip." Toby said as he walked in and sat next to Connor.

"He'll have to get over it. He ccan't keep me from you guys forever." I said.

"And it's not like we can simply ignore you the entire tour. I don't know what he was thinking." Riley said as he shook his head.

"No idea, but I can already tell I enjoy hanging out with you guys more than him." I said.

"We were aiming for that to happen. Now I feel accomplished." Riley said smiling.

"So, now that we're in New York, what do you guys want to do?" I asked as I took a sip of my drink.

"Sight seeing is all really. Just here as a break from tour." Connor said.

"So you wouldn't mind if I tagged along?" I asked.

"We'd love to have you explore the city with us." Toby smiled.

"Awesome." I said returning the smile.

"Let's see how much we can get done before Thomas realizes you're gone." Connor said smirking.

"Too late." Riley said as he held his phone out, showing that Thomas was calling.

I let out a groan before laying my head on the table in frustration.

"He's never going to give up." I sighed.

"Should I answer it?" Riley asked.

"No." I said, feeling rebellious. "Let's just go have fun. Ignore his calls."

"You sure? I mean I could get in a lot of trouble for this." He said.

"What, from Thomas? Don't worry about it Riley. I'll take care of him later." I replied.

"Dangerous and rebellious. I'm starting to like this girl." Connor smirked.

"Better not like me too much. Might get into some trouble with my brother." I said with a wink.

"And that's a risk I'm willing to take." Riley said as he put his arm over my shoulders.

"You McDonough boys are something else." I laughed.

"Well Silvers, you're about to find out just how much fun we can really have." Riley said happily.

"McDonough, you act as if what we do today could be the most badass thing I've ever done. And let me clarify, I have done things that not even you idiots would even think of doing." I said as they all looked at me with wide eyes and disbelief.

Riley's eyebrows were raised as if he didn't believe a word I said. Little did he know, it was true. I had done some things that had gotten me in trouble in the past, inturn having to go from foster home to foster home. 

But when I got to Miss Clearfield's house, things had changed. I didn't have to do bad things to get the things I wanted, because she would just give me everything I wanted. It wasn't always great seeing as people say that what you work for means more. Getting everything I wanted was great, but I felt bad about it. I hardly did anything in return. But that wasn't my fault.

Miss Clearfield always told me not to worry about anything. She would say that I was young and that she would take care of everything. Even when I tried to help do something, even something as simple as cleaning up around the house, I would get a 'We have people for that.' It was honestly the worst sometimes.

"Earth to Tegan!" Riley said as he waved a hand infront of my face.

"What?" I asked as I snapped my attention back to them.

"You zoned out." Riley said.

"Sorry about that." I apologized.

"It's alright." he said.

"We should get going if we want to get anything done." Toby said.

"Godd idea." Riley and I said together.

And so we set off for a day in the city.