don't leave me this way

s e v e n

The brunette girl woke up the next morning to an empty bed and sighed lightly hoping she hadn't scared the boy off with her conversation last night. She walked through to the kitchen and saw a note stuck to the fridge, making her way over to read it.

'Will be gone most of today, I'll come see you later- R x'

She sighs lightly before grabbing herself some fruit for breakfast. Once she's done, she washes up the dishes from that morning and the previous night before making her way back through to her room to find an outfit for the day. She grabs a pair of denim jeans that hugged her waist and a black shirt that she tucked in and opened a button at the top. She paired this with some trainers and pulled her hair into a bun.
She continued to do chores around the house for the next hour or so, including washing her and any of Riffs clothes that were lying about, making sure all the cupboards were stocked with snacks and cleaning up the house. She had finally taken a seat on the couch after her busy morning when the phone started to ring and she groaned. She stands up and makes her way to the kitchen to retrieve the ringing object, pulling it close to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey Lis, it's mouthpiece"
She would never understand their street names but oh well.
"What's up?" She sighs.
"So don't get mad, but there's a rumble tonight and the cops took a few of us in and are asking questions but we don't know nothing and they won't let us leave so can you please come talk some sense into them? Please?" He rushes and she knows he's trying to hide this call from everyone else in the precinct.
"How many of you?"
"Seven"
"Right, I'll be there in ten minutes but don't do or say anything that can get you in any more trouble"
"Thank you Lis, you're the best"
"Yeah yeah whatever" she replies before hanging up the phone and grabbing her things so she can leave.
Riff and his gang would surely be the death of her.

Lisa walks into the room where the boys are being held and questioned and they all perk up brightly, hoping she'll be able to free them.
"Ah Miss Johnson, if you're looking for Riff he's not here" Officer Krupke smiles at her.
"I'm not looking for him today officer, I'm here about these boys" she gestures to the small group of jets.
"What about them?"
"Mouthpiece over here says you won't let them go even though they don't know nothing about this apparent rumble that's happening tonight"
He sighs as they all start nodding along with what the girl says.
"Look Lisa, I would love to help you out here but this is serious and we're trying to make sure no one gets hurt or worse"
"You want to talk worse? If Baby Johns mom finds out that he's being held by the police, she'll have a heart attack, you want that on your hands?" She asks the officer, guilt lacing in her words which makes him pause for a moment.
Lisa knew all the tricks to get the boys out of trouble, lord knows she'd guilted the man more times than she could count to get Riff out of that place and home to her apartment.
The man looks back at the young woman and she shares a smile with him as another means of convincing him to let her friends go but he eventually shakes his head.
"I'm sorry, this is in the best interest of these boys, you know I wouldn't keep them here to get information if I didn't want to protect them" he reasons and she nods understanding that he just wanted to help.
She appreciated it deep down even knowing that it would upset the boys that she couldn't help them. She didn't want this rumble to happen either and she for sure was going to be having words with Riff when he showed up at her place later.
"That's alright officer, I'll let them know" she smiles sadly, walking over to the boys who looked at her with hopeful eyes.
"I tried but he wants to keep you here, he just wants you all to be safe and so do I, so if you know anything about tonight, please just tell him, incase something bad happens, for my sake, couldn't bare to lose any of you" she tells them and they nod.
"Some more than others" one of them whispers making the others smirk in agreement, they all knew Riff was her main priority and they would never forgive themselves if something happened to the pair before they had their chance to be together.
"That's okay Lis, thanks for trying anyways" they all smile and she nods before standing up and walking out of the building.

Her mind was fuzzy walking home. She knew Riff had spoken about potentially setting up a fight but she had hoped he wasn't going to go through with it. She knew Bernardo could pack a punch and she didn't want him coming home with more bruises and cuts all over his face and body that she would no doubt have to clean up before he'd fall asleep in her arms before she even got a word in. She wondered if had he known how she felt about him, would he continue to go out and risk his life or would he stay in every night. Would he go out with the jets, avoid the trouble, pick up the groceries before coming back to their home and helping her cook their evening meal before retiring to the bedroom where they would dance with no music like they always did. Would they dance until they got tired and then crawl into bed together, both of them relishing in the feeling of being so close to the other.
She didn't know. And so Lisa found herself back in her apartment, sat on the sofa awaiting the arrival of her friend, who she hoped would stay.