Left or Right

Chapter 2

James's POV:

Staring at her, I'm shook. I hadn't seen her for three months and I hadn't expected to see her ever again but here she was, standing right before my eyes, looking as beautiful as ever and all I could do was stare. The ground felt like it was shaking beneath the soles of my feet and I struggled to rise up from the windowsill. Watching me carefully, she took charge and walked over to me instead. Before I had the chance to stand up and hug her, she reached me and sat down beside me instead, in her usual spot. As she did, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back down before she placed my hand over the top of her knee and she held my palm.

"Riley," I repeat, this time with certainty. She smiles softly at me and then leans over to rest her head on my shoulder. I watch as she closes her eyes and the refreshing scent of her cherry-flavoured shampoo fills my nostrils. Her lips were painted in strawberry lip-gloss and her nails had acrylics on them, medium-lengthed and semi-lilac, semi-white. "What are you doing here?" I ask her. She sighs and removes her head from off my shoulder to look at me.

"I really need to talk to you, James." She looks down at our linked hands and her breathing hitches slightly. She looks around, as if she thought someone was watching us, so I scoot closer towards her and take her free hand in my other one so both sets of our fingers were linked.

"No one's here right now," I whisper softly. "It's just us. I promise."

She looks at me and it's only when I examine her facial features that I take in how different she looked. Don't get me wrong, she was still gorgeous, but she looked like a different person. She'd dyed her hair brown again, curled it and dipped her face in make-up. Looking at her, you'd think she was as confident as ever, but by the way she was looking into my eyes right now, I knew that wasn't the case. 

"Riley, what's going on?" I ask her. 

"I got a train back from Montreal to stay here for the duration of the holidays. Mom and Dad let me so everything's fine there. They were always at work and I got tired so thought I'd come and spend the summer with you guys," she tells me. 

"How long are you thinking of staying?"

"Six weeks at most," she mumbles. My face drops and all happiness is washed out of my veins. I should have known she wasn't staying here permanently. She couldn't. It's a family business her parents run and they're not going to give that or their daughter up just for our relationship. I don't know what Riley and I are right now but what I do know is that it'll be a long shot if we were to get together again. Not that we ever even officially broke up . . . 

"I've missed you," I tell her, avoiding all awkwardness between us and she smiles, squeezing my hand.

"I've missed you too," she responds. We look at each other and as I get lost deep inside her eyes, I eventually break focus only to glance down at her luscious lips. Noticing my gaze, she licks them slightly, clearly feeling a bit self-conscious, so to not make things more awkward than they already were, I look back at her and shuffle forward to drape my arms around her neck. "I'm glad you came," I mumble, my chin resting on her shoulder as she does the same.

"Me too," she chuckles lightly.

"Now I was hoping to see the rest of A-Troupe too?" she asks, giggling softly. I chuckle and nod, standing up on my feet and putting my hand out for her to take.

"Come on, I think they're in Hidalgo's."

Riley's POV:

James drags me down the staircase and through the corridors until we get to the usual spot at the restaurant café around the corner from Studio A. On one booth sat all of A-Troupe, and seeing them gave me the nerves. I know I left them hanging on thin ice before I left to go to Montreal. I didn't know if they were angry at me for not having told them beforehand since I left it to Kate to tell them all but even if they weren't, I'm sure they were still annoyed at me in some kind of way for having left them just after Nationals.