Left or Right

Chapter 8

James's POV:

It was around about nine o'clock when A-Troupe, Riley and I were all gathered around the campfire West had put together. Riley sat beside me, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand while I roasted our marshmallows on its stick. She remained in her oversized hoody and leggings but I honestly couldn't blame her, it was freezing out here.

As A-Troupe continued to reminisce on our memories and talk, Ri and I stayed put in our own little bubble. Sitting back down on the log after crouching down by the fire for or marshmallows to brown, I put it towards Riley's lips for her to take a bite. She wipes the crevices of her lips where the sweet had smeared and blushes in embarrassment, making me laugh before I take my own bite into that same marshmallow.

"Tastes good," she giggles. I smirk and pass the stick to her for her to finish it off but we're shortly bombarded with a bountiful amount of stares from our friends.
"So . . . back together, are we?" Eldon questions, making me roll my eyes. One of them were bound to ask at some point tonight.

"We're making progress. Taking it one step at a time," I answer and Riley smiles at me, nodding her head whilst she yawns. 

Sensing she was tired, I shuffle closer and wrap my arm around her from behind, pulling her upper body down for her to rest her head on top of my lap which she gladly does so.
As she makes herself comfortable, she allows me to comb my fingers through her hair, a gesture which I know always calms her down even if she's not worrying about anything.

"Taking a bit long for the two of you to rekindle everything, don't you think?" Eldon continues to ramble, gaining a nudge in the ribs from Michelle who Riley laughs at.
"You can't chat, Eldon. You're the one still trying to get to thirty pirouettes to win Thalia over," Riley says, making me chuckle. Eldon glares at me then and gawps like a little lost fish.

"You told her about that?" he asks but before I have the chance to answer, Riley speaks for me.
"He tells me everything."
Eldon looks between us both before giving up and rolling his eyes in defeat.

A couple minutes of catching up with the team later, it began to rain so we all headed into our separate tents.

It was two or three people to one so Riley and I obviously shared our own tent. I had set our sleeping bags up prior to arriving here and had put Riley's on one side of the tent whilst mine contrasted hers so that we were top and tailing.
My head would be where her feet were and her head would be where my feet were. I didn't want to push her further away from me by making her feel uncomfortable.

However, after we'd got ourselves ready and actually tucked ourselves into the sleeping bags, I couldn't get to sleep. I didn't even want to sleep. If anything, I wanted to talk and listen to Riley's angelic voice telling me about everything she'd been up to while she was away, all night long. 

I sit up, feeling the grass beneath me, and I grab the torch light from the stash of things I had brought along with me before switching it on, only to find Riley there too, clearly not asleep as her body was curved, her fists clutched the fabric and she shivered in the cold. 

Placing the torch down, I call her name. "Riley?" She hums in response and sits up like I had done before looking at me. "Are you cold, babe?" I ask, though it was obvious.
She nods briefly and I laugh a little in my head. Shuffling around, I rearrange my sleeping bag so that it was beside hers but instead of getting into it, I stand up as best I could and unzip the opening to the tent.

"James, where the hell are you going?" she hisses despite nobody even sleeping right now. Music was still playing from outside and I could see the luminous shadows shining out of the tent.

"I'll be right back," I tell her.
She huffs in annoyance, amusing me all the more.

By the time I come back at least a minute or so later after visiting the car, I enter tent again to find her sat up, her conscience probably striving right now.

She was huddled inside her sleeping bag, her knees pulled into her chest as if a serial killer was about to carry her away any moment. When she does see me, she jumps a little before relaxing and then she looks at what I had in my hands as I begin to unfold it before zipping the tent up again.

"If you were cold, all you had to do was say," I chuckle. 

Laying on top of my bag, I push it right up close to hers, causing her to smile at me sheepishly. She gets under the fur blanket I had brought from the car after I had spread it over both of our bodies and I reciprocate her movements. When we lay down, our faces were only a few inches apart and I couldn't help but admire her beautiful self.

"James?" she says, looking me dead in the eye.
"Riley," I whisper, staring at her just as much. Beneath the covers, I take her hand into mine and begin to slowly tangle our legs together, noticing her continuous jerks as she shivered in the cold.

"You know I never would have left you if I didn't have to, don't you?" she says, tangling her legs with mine now. I smile at her and nod, rubbing her palm.
"I know. And I don't blame you for leaving. I can't blame you."

"But . . ." she starts off again, "you know I'd get back with you in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the circumstance, right?" And again, I nod my head.
"I know," I whisper. 

Her parents had never been a great fan of me and deep down I couldn't help but feel like that was one of the reasons why they never considered any alternatives relating to Riley staying in Toronto with someone else. They didn't want Riley to spend all her time around me, even though we'd been together for the past three years. I just wish they could see that I love their daughter just as much as they do.

"Riley," I speak again.
"Yeah?"

"None of what's happened between us in the last year is your fault, okay," I tell her, squeezing her palm.

She nods and crawls the smallest bit closer to me, burying her head into my chest and holding me close to her by wrapping her arms around my torso.
"Okay," she whispers back.

Smiling at her adorable self in my arms, I reach over for the torch, trying not to hinger her comfort, and I turn it off.

Not being able to just kiss her right now was killing me but, though we might not exactly be dating, I knew for a fact we had passed the friends zone. We're sort of a mixture of exes, friends and lovers right now and I don't even know exactly what to call us.
What I do know is that this girl has my whole heart and if I could take back everything I ever said or did which made her parents dislike me and came across as me mistreating her, I would. I'd do anything to prove to people just how much I love this girl.

"Night, James," she mumbles against th clothing of my t-shirt. I smile down at her and press my lips against her head. It's the least I could do for now.
"Night, baby," I tell her. 

I could feel her tense at the nickname for a moment, probably out of shock, but after only a two-second time period later, she seems to relax and moves her hand from my back to my chest where she absent-mindedly traces my abs.
I guess some things never change - and the habits we succumb to when we sleep together like this was just a few of those things.