The Night We Met

Chapter 6

Riley's POV:

Later that day, it soon turned evening and I walk out of the bathroom after styling my hair and doing my make-up, wearing a black off-the-shoulder top with a grey sequined knee-length skirt and opened-toe strap heels on my feet. (a/n: pic above)

"Is this alright?" I ask, turning around to face the girls. Michelle looks up from her phone at the same time as Thalia looks away from where she was giving herself a pedicure and Giselle pauses what she was studying for a moment.

"You look gorgeous, love," Michelle says, making me laugh a little. "Where are you going though?"

"I know it sounds bad, but I met this guy last night and he kind of asked me out," I tell them slowly. Michelle's the only one who seems excited, though. Giselle and Thalia look worried.

"Don't you think it's a bit soon?" Giselle inquires. I raise an eyebrow in confusion. I thought they'd be happy for me. "I mean, you and Aiden just broke up. And you just met this guy last night. Are you sure you're ready to go into another relationship so soon?" she expands. My bottom lip quivers but I try to not make it visible. Michelle gets up and stands next to me, putting her hand on my shoulder for support.

"Who cares about Aiden. He's a loser. Ri's moving on so good for her, girls! Where's the support?" she asks them.

"It's not that I'm not happy for you, Ri, I am," Thalia says. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again." I sigh, scratching the middle of my forehead.

"I know after what happened with Aiden, you're just trying to protect me and I appreciate it, but I'll be fine. I can protect myself. Even though it is sweet to have you care this much." They smile at me softly before standing up, walking over and engulfing me in a hug. I giggle, wrapping my arms around the three of them as Michelle soon makes herself present in the cuddle as well. Then my phone vibrates in my hand. They stand back and watch as I check it, finding a text from James.

J: Outside, waiting where I dropped you off yesterday x

R: On my way x

"Okay, well I have to go now. He's outside-"

"Wait, is he the guy you stayed with last night?" Michelle asks, pulling me back with the tug of an arm. I smirk, but keep my lips sealed.

"What's his name?" Thalia questions before my ginger-haired friend adds,

"At least tell us what he looks like." I roll my eyes at their requests and end up giving them no detail other than,

"He looks good with a shirt off," leaving them all practically drooling and thinking of more questions; all of which I'm bombarded with as I walk away. "Bye . . . !" I tell them, waving my hand in their faces before I shut the door behind me and grin slightly to myself.

When I see James, I find him standing outside the car door with his back leaning against the vehicle as he held his phone in his hand. But when he sees me, the same goofy grin I had witnessed yesterday becomes plastered across his face once again before he puts his phone into his back jeans pocket. I reach him and take his hand when he puts it out for me.

"You look beautiful," he whispers into my ear when he hugs me briefly. I blush a little, pulling back.

"You look pretty handsome, too," I tell him, though I felt like an idiot. No one calls a guy they've known for just over twenty-four hours handsome, do they? But he did call me beautiful . . . I shake the thoughts away when he opens the passenger side door for me, letting me in. Once I'm inside, I nod to thank him and then he closes the door to walk around the front of the car subsequently. I do up my seatbelt and put my handbag on the flooring by my feet. "So, which restaurant are we going to then?" I ask, facing him.

"Which one were you hoping to go to?"

"I don't mind. I eat pretty much everything."

"Including Chinese?" he inquires.

"I love Chinese." He places his hand down by my seat again like he had done yesterday, but this time I'm quick to take it in mine.

"Good, because I booked us a table for two at a Chinese buffet only a few miles from here," he says, then brings my knuckles to his lips for him to kiss it. I smile to myself, watching, and loosening up in my chair.

~

I stood by James as we walked around the buffet, serving ourselves by scooping random dishes onto our plate. James stood behind me, his hand placed firmly on my back as he followed me around.

"You want some?" he asks me, picking at the lemon chicken with the provided spoon. I nod and then he scoops some and puts it onto my plate, next to the portion of fried rice.

"We didn't even get starters, you know," I chuckle, looking up at him with a mockful smile.

"Oh well. Who's to say the main course can't be a starter?"

"What?" I mutter under my breath jokingly. He smirks and rubs my arm, lightly pressing a kiss over the top of my head, and I feel the touching sensation of it transition to beneath my scalp.

"I'm joking," he says. "Just eat whatever you want, whenever you want, Ri. No one's watching." I laugh a little and then pick up the black, plastic tweezers to place two vegetable spring rolls on my plate in response to his previous statement.