coming over, and we would talk all afternoon

coming over, and we would talk all afternoon by ssaarah


 

*flashback*

“Hey Riley, you have a date to the prom yet?” Brandi, the school’s resident slu.t batted her false lashes at Ri. He shrugged.


“I dunno if I’ll even go.” He replied running his hand through his hair and turning towards me. “You going Lila?”

“Ha.” I laughed even though the subject brought up a sore spot in my mind. I was a sophomore in high school and besides the homecoming dances where we all went as a big group of friends, I’d never been to a school dance with a date.

“But if you miss it you’ll miss out on the dress I'm planning to wear.” She gave a slow smile that was probably meant to be seductive. Hell maybe it was, what did I know about seducing a guy?

“No offense babe but I’ve seen you in less.” He smirked and she took that as a yes even though I could tell in Ri’s eyes he was insulting her. Why did guys sleep with girls they didn’t even like? I’d never understand that.

“So maybe I’ll see you there?” she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking off to whoever her next victim was as we made it out of the building.

“Are you really not going to prom?” Riley asked, nudging me. “You have teen prom magazines all over your bedroom.” I flushed, knowing that was the price you paid for having a guy best friend. He knew all your secrets.

“I'm really not going.” I reiterated, moving my book bag to my other shoulder before Riley grabbed it to carry it for me. For a guy the school thought of as a player he sure was always sweet to me.

“It sounds like you don’t want to talk about it. Why don’t you just go with me?” I looked up and blinked at him.

“No. I'm not going to be your pity date Ri, I’ll be fine.” We walked across the street as soon as it was car free and he caught up behind me.

“You’re being weird.” I groaned.

“Of course I want to go to prom Riley, every girl wants to go to prom but not every girl has 6 brothers ready and willing to scare off any guy who’d even think about asking me!”

“Oh.” He nodded. “Good point….but what if-“

“No Ri, I'm not going with you. You have plenty of girls waiting for you to ask them, just choose one.”

“Hey if you’re not going I’ll just come over and hang out with you.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.

“…okay.” I knew there was no point arguing with them. “If you want to give up getting laid to hang out with me.” Riley laughed as we made it to the Trenton Manor, playfully named by Kolton. It was just an old Victorian, but we loved it, and we had a lot more room now that most of the family had moved out, but they were never too far away. I sat down on my bed and slipped my shoes off as Riley kept chuckling.

“I’d be giving up getting laid even if I went with you Trenton.” He teased, hanging up my book bag where I usually did and taking his seat at the desk chair next to me.

“True. Losing your virginity on prom night is the worst cliché ever.” I agreed, walking to pull some of my homework out of my book bag when I felt him grab my arm.

“You’re a virgin?” I rolled my eyes so hard he probably thought I was about to pass out.

“Duh. Do I have to mention the brothers all again?! I’ll be lucky if I ever get kissed again after what they did to Matt Talbot.” Riley narrowed his eyes.

“That guy was a douche.” He replied, his hand folding into fists.

“Maybe, but I never got the chance to find that out for myself did I? But it’s fine. I’ve come to accept the fact that even though I'm a smoking hottie.” I smirked to prove I wasn’t feeling down on myself and Riley laughed. “I'm probably going to remain boyfriendless until I can get the fu.ck away from my family, who I love but need to give me some damn space.” I sighed. Riley was looking at me funny. “What?”

“Do you want a boyfriend?” he asked, his hands still fisted at his side like he was angry.

“It would be nice.” I admitted. “To be out with a guy who I wasn’t related to….or you know…you.” Riley ran his tongue over his lips and stood up.

“Your brothers are going to kill me.” He said swallowing thickly as he looked down at me.

“….for what?” but as soon as I got the word out Riley’s lips were on mine. I felt…shocked. Riley had never been anything more than a good friend to me, never tried anything remotely romantic and now here he was sliding his tongue into my mouth and wrapping his arms around me like he never wanted to stop. It was….really weird. And kinda nice…..really nice. God kissing was fun. I heard a little moan escape me as I wrapped my arms around his neck to get closer, no idea what I was doing but following his lead as his groan over-powered mine and he just kissed me harder.

“Lila…” he whispered against my lips and I grinned at him.

“What are we doing?” I asked, biting down on my lip because I really wanted to do it some more.

“Go to prom with me. Not a pity date, a real one.” I blinked, I could read in his eyes that he was serious….but did I want to go there? Risk my friendship?

“You’re right. My brother’s are going to kill you.” I agreed before pressing my lips back against his.

“Worth it.” He breathed against me. Well it was too late now anyways right?

*Present*



I made it back to my apartment in record time, even if my body was still reeling over what had just happened with Travis. It was like a magnetic pull, we couldn’t seem to keep our hands off each other and when we didn’t it was all or nothing. And that kiss in the shower….no. Stop thinking about it.

“Lila!” I blinked up and grinned at Riley standing in my kitchen.

“Hey! Sorry I'm a little late.” He shrugged.

“Why is your hair wet?” he questioned and I felt my whole body flush.

“I went to the gym….took a shower after.” That was half true at least. I felt guilty, I never lied, especially not to Riley but something told me that the truth would be an awkward subject.

“Where’s your gym bag then…” he trailed off, looking back at me suspiciously. I shrugged again.

“In my car ready for tomorrow.” I winked and looked down at my disheveled clothes. “Let me change into something more dinner appropriate.” I offered.

“Actually I thought I’d cook, we could stay in.” he replied, seeming back to his old self. I grinned even wider.

“Awesome. Then I can put on pajama’s right?” Riley stopped taking things out of his grocery bag and grinned at me wickedly.

“If by “pajamas” you mean “lingerie” then most definitely.” I forced a laugh, even if it kind of killed me. I had never really ended things with Riley, just more like stopped hanging out with him one on one. Not because of Travis….I mean not specifically, but there was something icky about one guy hitting on you less than an hour after fuc.king another.

“Sweat pants it is! Did you bring some wine?” I was putting my hair up when suddenly he was right beside me.

“I knew something was different.” His voice was a few shades darker and I blinked.

“What?” He turned me around to face the mirror I had hanging in the hallway, my hair in a pony now artfully displaying the marks Travis had left on my neck.

“I think I’d remember if I’d left those…..why didn’t you tell me?” I shrugged and avoided his gaze, feeling a little guilty even if there was nothing to feel guilty about. Riley and I hadn’t been exclusive since high school.

“Do I need to tell you about every guy I sleep with Riley?” I spat, feeling defensive as I made it to my room and quickly replaced my work clothes with some leggings and a tee-shirt.

“Um. Yes. You do.”

“So you’re saying since we started…hooking up I'm the only girl you’ve gone to bed with?”

“Yes.” I looked back at him and swallowed.

“Well it doesn’t matter anyways. I'm not dating him…”

“Another guy you’ll sleep with but won’t date huh? Maybe him and I could start a support group.” He joked, but his tone was serious.

“Are you kidding me right now?! It was your idea to keep things casual when I got back from the east coast!”

“Because-“ he started, but stopped when our eyes finally met. “You’re right. It was my idea.”

“Well it was Travis’ too. Actually his idea was hit it and quit it….it just didn’t really end up that way.” Riley walked up to me and tilted my head up.

“He hurt you.” I shook my head quickly.

“No….no I knew what I was getting into. He was….an itch I needed to scratch.” I said and Riley winced. “Okay you’re not the friend to talk to about this clearly….so let’s just-“

“No! Sorry…old boyfriend habit. So I don’t like thinking about you with other guys, so sue me. But I'm your friend first, so what happened?” I looked at him, part of me wanting to force him to just make dinner and we could talk about work and tv we loved and be superficial. But the other part remembered him as my friend, my best friend…and I could really use one. Even if I was being selfish.

“It was supposed to be one night, just get it out of our system, but then….he stayed. For three nights he stayed here.” I shook my head. “I don’t know why, but then at work he was cold and-“

“You work with him? Wait is this that guy from the party?!” I blinked.

“Can we save the judgment part for later?” he sighed.

“Yeah, okay…but please no details.” He winced.

“It’s just it’s like he wants to be done with me, and I want to be done too, I was prepared for one night, but….there were moments, lots of them where it felt like more and it’s fucking with my head is all.”

“You like him.” Riley said after a few moments.

“I hate that I like him.” I whispered softly. Riley sighed and then he came to where I was on the couch and wrapped me in his arms, kissing the top of my head. I froze for a second, but then realized the gesture was more friendly than romantic and I let myself lean into the familiar feeling of being in his arms.

“I know the feeling.” He said finally.