The Celts (West Side Story: Riff X Reader)

Chapter 13

(In case I didn't make it clear in my writing, Andrea is Riff's little sister. She's one of those characters that are very difficult to like. She's sharp, mean, and to be honest, she's not a very good person lol)

That night, as I had predicted, something jolted Andrea out of sleep. I was not sleeping, so I was only startled when a man jumped the tall brick wall separating the outdoor jail cells and the outside world. 

"Liza!" A dark voice hissed. Andrea was staring into the darkness with wide eyes. "Liza, don't make me look through all these cells."

"Over here!" I whisper-shouted. Andrea hurriedly lit a match that she had gotten from the depths of her pocket and lit it with the brick wall that she was leaning on. When she did, the sudden light flashed against the Riff's dusty boots. He turned his head to make sure that it was us, flame flickering in his blueish eyes. He didn't seen to immediately notice Andrea, who did not make a single move to greet her long lost brother. Riff knelt down in front of me on the opposite side of the metal bars. 

"Are you stupid?" He asked in a hushed tone. "Why did you do that?"

"Ronan died and the Celts were disbanded." I said quietly. Andrea watched from the corner of the cell. "You go to jail and the Jets will disband."

"Especially since Tony left." Andrea whispered.

"You know Tony?" Riff asked, head snapping to look at who he did not know to be his little sister. She, without breaking eye contact with him, butted out the match on the dusty floor, thus allowing the darkness to hurriedly creep back into the cell and completely envelope Riff again. 

"You and Tony were friends when we moved out of Uncle Mark's place." Andrea said in a slightly bitter tone. I heard Riff's breath leave his body and practically felt the blood drain from his face.

"You're telling me that you've been in Manhattan the entire time I've been keeping tabs in Virginia and Jersey?" Riff said.

"You're telling me that this is the first time you've seen me in five years and that's all you have to say?" Andrea said, matching his snarky tone. He smiled and shrugged before examining the cell the two of us were in. There was a black tarp where a ceiling should have been.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Riff said, looking at both me and Andrea with quite a bit of urgency behind his eyes. Without finishing his thought aloud, he stood up and made several attempts to grab the tarp. He did eventually get it. When he did, he twisted it into an awkward rope and tossed one end over the top of the barred wall. "Climb."

"You go first." I said to Andrea. She nodded and cautiously scooted the entire way up.

"Move." She said to her brother before jumping down. I followed only moments after, Riff catching my hand when I landed. 

"Good to have you back." He said in a sentimental voice that I'd never heard from him. 

"Alright, buddy-boy." Andrea said in a sharp whisper. "Where are we going now? There's gonna be bulls after us." 

"I think we gotta pay the Sharks a visit." Riff said darkly. I knew that the Jets and Sharks had a rocky history, but had been relatively civil with each other following the rumble that happened a year ago. 

"Damn." Andrea cursed under her breath.

"Don't do that, kid." Riff said to his sister. "We don't want to cause any trouble right now. When we go, you gotta behave yourself."

"Fine." She huffed. 

It did not take long for the three of us to silently climb over the brick wall and slink into the shadows of the streets, making Andrea and I escaped convicts. 

"How's Bernardo?" Andrea asked sarcastically.

"Married." Riff whispered back, stopping to light a cigarette and using the brief illumination of his old lighter to see the alley that we were in. 

"To Anita?" 

"Yeah," he said. He then dropped his lighter back into his pocket and took a long drag from his cigarette. I could see smoke billowing even in the darkness.

(SMOKING AND VAPING ARE BOTH BAD, DON'T DO IT!!! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE SEEING THOSE WACK ANTI-VAPE ADS ON HERE,, LISTEN TO THEM MY GUY)

"Are Jets allowed on Shark turf?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"With good reason." Riff replied shortly. "This is good reason."

"What's our reason again?" Andrea asked, voice dripping with dull humor.

"I forgot to tell you's." He said, stopping in his tracks and facing us in the darkness. None of us could really see each other, but I felt Riff's hand touch my own and linger for a moment. "The Celts isn't disbanded. Clanner got them back together and they's scheduled a rumble with the Jets tomorrow afternoon, once he got them all back from Jersey."

"Yikes, this Clanner dude don't  seem happy." Andrea breathed. "He armed?"

"I dunno." Riff said. "They probably got knives."

"I don't like knives." I whispered in a worried tone. 

"Liza, you got a knife in your pocket right now." Riff said with an almost audible smile on his face. 

"I don't like fighting people that have knives." I corrected myself.

"You might have to." Andrea said quietly.