Jiley Oneshots

Sweet and Salty

Season 1

The two lovers were sat beside each other on the sofa, huddled around the formed circle in the living room of Riley and Emily's house as they had held a party that night. It was Halloween after all, and every year one member of the team would be nominated to hold the best, scariest, spookiest party of the year. 

This year was Riley's turn. It was also her first year being able to show up to a party since she was now sixteen. Before, she had been told to stay locked up in her bedroom, writing in her journals. It was different this time and it meant she had every bit of control over how the house would be decorated, what foods would be put out on the table, what music would be played and what beverages would be available. Her older sister, Emily, had no say at all, much to her dismay. It had been her turn two years prior. However, although it was technically Riley's turn, she had no problem allowing her boyfriend to make some decisions for her as they had both gone shopping together only three days before.

West, dressed up in a, far-from creepy but much-more cute, raccoon costume stood in the middle of the four sofas. He held a bright, white torch under his chin and the hood of his onesie costume covered his face, making him look almost headless. He retold the story of his Great Grandma Gilda whose teeth apparently fell out of her mouth in her sleep, one after the other. It wasn't the most spookiest story to tell but with the added features of his deep, hollowed tone of voice and immediate, ear-breaking claps after a short tension, it made it that much scarier.

"And then... whilst I lay in my bedroom, fearful and restless, my door slowly creaked open," he recites in distanced syllables. He makes noises with his mouth to imitate the door opening. 

Riley shuffles up closer to James without even realising and her legs, which were once relaxed out in front of her, raised up beside her as she curled up into a ball, her head resting into the pit of his black costume. The tip of her white hat brushed his cheekbone, so he wrapped his arm around her body and adjusted her himself, allowing her to practically lay her head on his lap for comfort.

"She spoke. Words slurred and muffled. Even I couldn't understood her," the boy continues. "I watched her and backed up in my bed before I had shuffled so far away that I couldn't go any further and became restricted. She slowly sauntered closer towards me, one step after the other. Like a cat hunting down its prey. I couldn't hide. I watched her open her lips, moving them further apart this time, so far apart that I could see the bloody mucus of her gums, even in the dark. They were like thick blocks of red, slimy, watery lumps of snot. Falling from her mouth instead of her nasal."

Riley squirms. She hated blood. Detested it. Viewing it made her feel sick so just the thought of it made her stomach churn. James was the only one who knew this and so rubbed her back comfortingly. "Think of it like strawberry sauce," he had whispered to her jokingly. She didn't find it amusing. She found it infuriating; finding it stupid and silly that he was playing around with her in such a dark atmosphere.

"So as I said. Blood dropped out of her mouth, dribbling from her lips like excess saliva. Her teeth wobbled and jiggled, loose in her mouth and awaiting their time to fall out, but they never did. She spoke and spoke and spoke, mumbling, murmuring and muttering. I didn't understand her. I didn't want to understand her. I was too-focused on the spits of blood. But then she approached me and . . . BANG!" he yells overdramatically, making the poor girl shudder. She may be sixteen but she was still just as sensitive as she was back when she was nine. "She pulled the duvet down and chomped on my leg, chewing and biting, blood oozing from her mouth onto my leg and hitting my skin like a wave of warm air."

He comes to a halt in his seriousness and allows a playful, cynical smile to replace his piercing, sharp lips. Riley sighs, exhaling breathlessly and trying to calm her nerve levels down. She couldn't show that she couldn't handle this. She could. Very well, for that matter. And she wasn't about to let herself down by having any of the ex e-girls call her out for her lack of enthusiasm. They'd only just recovered from the separation of their group when each of them had parted their own ways; though it seems Stephanie and Emily still had a tendency to gang up on people as and when they felt like it.