Her Sister's Boyfriend

23

James's POV:

I knock on the girls' door the next morning, knowing full and well everyone else had gone downstairs already to get breakfast before the male and female solo rounds today. Everyone's still pretty much mad at me, even after my whole speech about how much I love Riley, but I couldn't care less about them because I care more about her. I wait for a few seconds but there wasn't a response so I knock once again. "Ri, it's me," I call through the door. I hear a few quiet movements before the door opens and I see Thalia standing there, arms crossed as she didn't allow the door to open wider for me to see Riley.

"What do you want with her?" she asks me suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. I know that she and Riley are really good friends which is supposedly why she's being over-protective of her just as much as Cierra is, but they don't understand what's really going on between us. I sigh, rolling my eyes.

"Look, I know Ri's probably really mad at me for what happened yesterday since I didn't end up doing anything and allowed everyone to shout at her and blame her for things she couldn't have any control over, but could I please just talk to her and apologise?" I say. Thalia opens her mouth to respond but then a voice stops her.

"I'm not mad," the person's small voice says. She walks over towards Thalia and opens the door wider for me to see her as she stood in a white robe, her hair let loose. "It's okay, Thal. I can take it from here," she tells her. Thalia eyes me for a little while before hugging her friend and then walking out of the room, already wearing her Next Step uniform just like I was. She puts two of her fingers on either sides of her nose before pointing them at me and glaring to which Ri chuckles and then she walks out, making her way down the hallway. "You can come in," Ri tells me. I nod, stepping inside as she closes the door behind me and then we both sit down on the foot of her bed.

"You're not coming down to eat?" I ask her as she bites her lip.

"I will in a bit. They stop selling breakfast at ten-thirty and it's eight-forty-five right now, James," she says in a duh tone. It seemed as if she wanted to stifle a small chuckle but she didn't allow herself to as she kept her same dull expression. I nod, reaching for her hand in the attempts to hold it but she immediately retracts, pulling it firmly against her chest. "I can't," she says quietly, looking at me. "I can't do this at the moment." Her eyes were filled with hurt and fear and it made me ache. All I want to do is be around her everyday but I can't because this whole thing is such a mess and it's all my fault.

"Ri, I'm sorry. I love you and you know that. Please, just let us be together because I can't do this without you," I tell her. Her eyes scout around mine for a while as she shakes her head and my heart drops. 

"James, as much as I want to be with you... I just can't. We have to break up, you know we do-"

"We can make it work, Riles. Trust me. I'm not going to allow you to go through a pregnancy all on your own-"

"I'll get an abortion," she retorts. I look at her, my eyes showing pure confusion as my heart feels like it's suffering from a million different emotions as thoughts fly through my mind. "It's the only way out of this," she adds. I can hear the silent breaks in her voice, the sense of her not truly meaning her words. There's nothing wrong with her choosing to get an abortion apart from the fact that I know it's not what she wants. I can tell and it's evident in her eyes.

"We don't need to find a way out of this, babe-"

"Don't call me that, James," she says. I shake my head forcibly and grab her hand despite her trying her hardest to pull it away from me. She finally allows me to hold onto it and that's when I know for sure that she really doesn't want to let go of me. She wants us to be together but can't bear to go through the consequences and that's exactly what I was dreading. I knew she would end up getting hurt and now it's happening right in front of my eyes.

"I won't let you go, Riles," I tell her softly. She shakes her head, her eyes peeling off of my face to look down at our linked hands until she slowly but surely removes her palm from out of touch with mine.

"You would if you loved me," she says. I stare at her, my lips agape as I process those few words. I do love her. More than anything for that matter. But I can't allow her to leave me. But at the same time, if that's true then why does what she just said to me keep repeating in my mind? Why do I know that she's right and that it's the truth? "Let me go, James," she whispers, bringing her eyes back to mine. "Let me go."

"I can't..."

"You have to. It's the only way we can still stay friends." Friends. I don't want us to just be friends when I know I'm the father to her baby and that I love her more than words can describe. We can't just be friends when we've gone through so much, including the numerous kisses we've shared. "You just have to let me go, okay?"

"Riles..." She looks up at me, biting her lip.

"Do it," she grabs hold of my hand once again, "do it for me and do it for us."

"No," I tell her. "I'm not allowing me to leave you because I know it'll be the biggest mistake I'll ever make."

"James-" I cut her off by pushing my lips against hers. She doesn't kiss back for a few seconds as she takes it in but then slowly but surely melts into it. When the two of us pull back, she doesn't smile nor show any obvious and clear expression on her face, instead she just rests her head on my lap whilst I play with the ends of her hair and we enjoy the valid company of one another.

Thalia's POV:

"Where are James and Riley?" Kate asks me in a stern whisper as we walk through the breakfast buffet, placing different foods on our plate.

"They're talking in our room," I tell her. She raises an eyebrow.

"James is supposed to be here right now. He's the male soloist," she tells me. I nod, taking my phone out and then checking to see if Ri had replied to any of my past texts but I see that she hadn't.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon. She's pregnant, remember? Plus the whole Emily situation doesn't really help," I say, trying to convince her. 

"Mm, okay. Well just tell them to hurry up. They need to eat something soon."

"Will do," I say before texting Riley again.