??????????? , ?.? & ?.?

| one |

"mom?" i yelled, watching my feet on the carpeted stairs so i wouldn't trip and fall.

"in the kitchen!" her voice rang from down the flight of stairs.

i turned the corner into our kitchen and saw her washing a mix of berries under the sink, "what'd you need, sweetie?"

"i'm going over to nate's, but um-"

"nate?" she cut me off from continuing my sentence.

"maloley. brown hair, annoying personality, looks like he's the child of sam and jack-"

"no, i know who you're talking about. but, i swore you didn't like him." she turned off the sink and grabbed a paper towel to dry her hands.

"it's not like that though,", i giggled trying to lighten the mood, but it failed miserably, "it's like that love/hate relationship." i shurgged.

my mom stared at me for a few seconds, causing my head to pound and my nerves to build up inside.

"don't you have any girl friends, rilee?" she put a hand on her hip.

uh oh, she means business.

"i-"

"i'm back!" ryan said, walking through the front door with his keys and grocery bags in his hands.

i let out a small breath, thankful for ryan's entrance to stop the weird moment between my mom and i.

ryan walked over to the dining room table and put the bags down, and my mom helped unpack the food with him.

"hotdogs, hamburgers, fruit, cake mix...", i watched my mom carry those specific foods over to the kitchen, "please don't tell me we're having a party, or "little get - together"."

"it's memorial day, rilee. we always have picnics." my mom said, placing the fruit she had just washed into seperate containers for later.

my heart immediately sunk deep into my stomach.

we only did these picnics for a few years when i was younger, up until i was five and then we stopped. my mom told me she and my dad used to do them when they were dating. they'd throw little parties on memorial day with all their friends.

she kept that tradition going when i was first born since my dad left us when i was only a year old. he couldn't handle it as a teen and decided to drop from both of our lives.

i knew what my mom was doing, she was trying to create a family between us and ryan. trying to make things seem as normal as possible.

but it wasn't normal, at all. what mother dates her boss and allows him to move in with her and her daughter after about a month? no one except apparently my own mom.

"rilee?" she asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"i'm going to nate's." i spoke quietly as i clenched my phone in my hand and walked towards the front door.

i slid into the front seat of my car and turned the keys into the ignition, driving off to nate's house.

when i arrived, i stepped out on to the driveway and saw i missed a text;

12:56 pm mom// party's at 3:30, and don't forget you have an english final tomorrow, so you have to write an essay today.

i groaned simultaneously to rolling my eyes. the front door of the house i stood in front of opened in one swift movement.

"wassup, lil mama?" nate rasped to me with a smirk plastered on his face.

i put my phone in my back pocket and walked towards him, "i need something to ease my mind.", i mumbled as i stepped into his house.

"okay, well there're two options. we either get high, or we have sex."

i turned my head to look back at him from where i stood in his living room, "nate, for the last time, i'm not having sex with you." my teeth were gritted together and i knew if someone did one more thing to piss me off, i'd loose it.

"just kidding.." he put his arms up in defense and i scoffed, laying down on my back on the floor, "no you weren't."

"true, i wasn't," he layed down next to me, "what are we doing down here?"

"thinking."

"you do that a lot, don't you?" he looked over at me.

"i guess so. but, you told me to come over and hang out, what'd you have in mind?" i asked, finally realizing i didn't exactly have a purpose to be here.

"well, jack made it clear he didn't want you out of my sight, or johnson's, so i thought we could just chill."

a few minutes passed and all we did was brainstorm ideas of things we could do while staring at the ceiling.

"wanna go see 50 shades of grey?" nate asked.

i shook my head, "nah, i didn't read the book..."

"oh.." he mumbled.

"but i wonder why it's fifty shades of grey..like, why that number.." i rambled to myself.

"maybe it's the number of girls he's banged."

"or the number of orgasms she has." i threw out another idea.

"or he's fifty year's old."

i gasped and turned to look at nate, "you might be right."

just then my phone started to ring, i sat up and looked at my phone screen;

Gilinsky 💞🔥

i smiled to myself and slid the call to the right, "hello?"

"hey, princess." i closed my eyes to the sound of his voice, it was so comforting.

"hi, jack." i breathed out my words.

"how's it go-"

"TELL RILEE I SAID HI!"

someone interrupted jack from a far away distance, "what?" i giggled, not sure of what the person said.

"oh, that's taylor, and apparently, he says hi." jack chuckled.

"hey, taylor.", i giggled, "are you guys almost in indiana?"

"we left two hours ago and it's about a nine hour drive. so no.", jack sighed, clearly bored in the car, "what're you doing?"

"i'm at nate's." i told jack, making eye contact with nate who was sitting next to me, "and i have to do an english essay."

"oh shit, i forgot i have to that essay too!" jack groaned to himself through the other end of the phone, "ugh..okay, well i was just checking in on you, call you when we get there, yeah?"

"yeah, bye jack."

"bye, baby."

i ended the call with nate staring at me with an eyebrow raised, "what?"

"you're so fucking in love with him, it's insane. and more obvious than that hickey on your neck, too." nate chuckled, standing up and walking towards the kitchen.

my jaw dropped, and i had the urge to strangle him at the time.

"i'm not trying to butt into your "complicated" relationship with them, but who are you more drawn to?" he asked, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

"that's the thing...i'm drawn to both of them." i said under my breath so only i could hear.

__

*types 'nate' 900 million times in this chapter*

ew, talk about fluff. once they graduate, you'll see their lives sky rocket high with drama.

+ the usual, comment & vote, yipee, thank you ❤️😂