Saving Riley

52

Riley's POV

Here I stood in front of Emily's front door. Before I even begin to fix things with James, I need to know why she wouldn't tell me. Why keep this a secret when she knew I would of had a opinion on it
I can't make this choice for James, it's up to him what he wants to do but he should have been able to discuss it with me
"Riley!" Emily said trying to hug me but I take a step back
"We need to talk" I replied with no emotion in my tone, she furrowed her eye brows at me before allowing me to come into her house
"This is about James isn't it? He isn't taken the offer?" She asked sounded nervous

"Why on earth wouldn't you tell me about this" I asked her, she looked at me before taking a seat on the sofa
"Riley, this was business between James and I, if he wanted to talk to you about it then he could but I didn't need to" She replied and I shook my head at her
"Your my sister Emily!" I replied and she nodded
"I know that Riley" Emily confidently said
"Then why would you do that to me! You told me you needed a favour from James! Not that you were trying to whisk him away for 2 years" I replied
"It's not always about your Riley. Some times in life things don't go our way!" Emily exclaimed
"None of this was about me! All I wanted was for my sister to be honest with me for one damn minute, my boyfriend to not feel like he needed to lie around me!" I said clearly getting annoyed

 "I think there is a lot more going on then just this offer Riley. I think part of you wants the old days back? You know when our biggest worries were Elite" Emily said making me squeeze my eyes tightly
"I just want everyone around me to stop hiding things from me" I replied opening them to look back at Emily
"You've hidden things from James too Riley" Emily said making me look at her confused
"What are you on about?" I asked
"Lucas, George? Ring any bells" She said snarky

"You don't get to sit there all high and mighty Em. That is completely different, I told James about Lucas the second it was a threat to him. As soon as it was safe to" I yelled standing up
"I told him about George the second he got there. I know not to hide things from people we love. Mum and Dad taught me that lesson" I said shaking with anger as I walked to the front door
"Guess you missed that life lesson" I growled before leaving her house 

--

James' POV

Walking around Lost & Found waiting for the boys to show up, It seemed like every bloody minute felt like and hour
"Yo man" Luke smiled finally walking in with the boys
"What's up?" They asked all at the same time
"Let's just get practice started" I said heading to the sound booth

We continued practice for some time before Luke called it a break 
"James, what is going on. We know when something is up" Luke said
"and something clearly is up" Theo said, I sighed putting my drum sticks down
"I fucked up with Riley again" I replied and they all groaned before looking back at me
"What did you do this time" John asked annoyance in his tone growing

"Emily offered me this opportunity to go on tour for 2 years and Riley found out after I lied to her about it" I said scratching the back of my neck
Now saying it out loud, I realise truly how badly I had messed up
"why did you lie to her about it?" Theo asked
"If you love Riley as much as you claim to then this would have been a decision that you both should have made together" Luke explained and I nodded knowing he was right
"I just didn't know what I was meant to say, I was never going to take the deal so I figured it would all just disappear" I replied
"That kind of thing doesn't just go away" John replied
"You and Riley have been through the ringer James, she's always told you things before it ever became a problem but when you have something going on. You keep it hidden until it blows up and hurts her" John said

I sighed, everything the boys were saying was true, I don't seem to ever just be able to voice my problems to Riley and I know why. But it's a reason I've never been able to admit
"What if one day my problems reveal how much of a mess I really am and she walks away?" I asked, my biggest worry has always been that I'll let Riley see the mess I am and she's run scared and I would have lost her for god
I've always been my strongest alongside Riley, I've never had to let her see that side 

"James, Someone who really loves you.. See's the mess you can be, how moody you can get, how hard you might be to handle but still wants you" Luke said and I smiled slightly
"I'm pretty certain that Riley's seen all of those sides of you and she's always stuck around. Give her a chance James she might surprise you" John finished before making me nod
I've never really seen it that way, I've always been so 'don't even worry about it ' that I forgot to look at thing I was actually worrying about