Scandalous Love

23. | James

For whatever reason, Riley was a no show. I'd been waiting in the garden for her for over thirty minutes and the longer I waited, the more obvious it became that she wasn't going to turn up. I'd texted her multiple times but she never responded and that hurt. It hurt more than me getting arrested did. 

I don't know what she's doing, what she's planning or what she's trying to get at but the more I time I spend with her, the more I'm reconsidering trusting her. I want her, I like her, I'm into her.

But I don't know how much longer I can go on like this where I'm always there at the drop of a hat and she's caught up in family circumstances. 

She's supposed to be settling down with Axel. He's the guy she's meant to fall in love with and later marry, not me. Maybe she'd be better off with him. At least then there won't be any troubles and life would just be simple. 

I snuck out through a pathway I found in the back garden which led onto the park on my side of town. 

After shooting a quick text, I arranged to meet up with the boys at the studio. It was eight o'clock at night and Miss Kate definitely wasn't going to be there but Michelle would be running the late J-Troupe class. It would just be the four of us at our usual hang-out in Studio A and right now, that was all I needed. 

I entered the dance studio in my casual attire where I found the three of them sat lounging around, West and Eldon trying out some new tricks while Hunter was sat on the bench, scrolling through a set of songs he had downloaded onto his phone. 

As soon as they lay eyes on me, however, the two boys stumble and fall and the smirk across Hunter's face becomes evident. "Done with Pretty Princess?" he teases as I sit myself down beside him for him to ruffle my hair like I was a little kid. 

I roll my eyes, shaking my head and looking towards my feet. "I'm the only one allowed to call her that and you know it," I mutter under my breath. 

I wasn't expecting him to have heard but Hunter had the best set of ears on the planet. His nosy self was able to detect absolutely everything. "What's wrong, man?" 

"Trouble in paradise?" West chuckles, looking at me, but they honestly had no idea. 

Riley's a good person. I know she is. And lately I've been falling for her more and more as cheesy as it may sound. But if this is what being in a relationship with her is going to be like in the future then I don't know if I want it. I can't go around being treated like a second-hand item... 

I don't know how, when or why but eventually I ended up telling the three boys everything about where I had been the past twenty-four hours and what had gone on between Riley and I.

West and Eldon were the most chill about it, trying to advise me on what to do but Hunter never took such things lightly. He may be an idiotic dick sometimes but he's also the most loyal and protective friend out there. 

"Nah," he exclaims in response to West's lenient piece of feedback for me. He wanted me to go and talk to Riley and tell her how I feel about this but clearly Hunter doesn't think that's vert smart. "She's throwing him around. She's messing him up." 

He flings an arm around my shoulder, looking directly at West and Eldon. "We all know James is the best person to ask when it comes to girl troubles. The fact he doesn't know what to do when it comes down to his own troubles shows a lot. She's not worth it," he adds.

I couldn't tell if he was just trying to be a supportive friend by taking my side or if the anger was bringing the worst out of him. I appreciated him trying his best to back me up but he was wrong.

Riley's not the girl he's describing her as. She's just been brought up with complex and complicated expectations to the point where she can't distinguish her private life from her public life. But I don't think it's fair to pin the blame on her... 

"Come on," Hunter says, standing himself up. "Us four haven't danced together for a long time. It's never too late, right?" he asks.

"Yeah, let's do it," Eldon smirks, heading over to the stereo to connect the music. 

"It'll get your mind off her for a bit," Hunter continues, patting my back. 

West looks at me empathetically, like he could understand where I was coming from and it was obvious he disagreed with what Hunter was saying about Riley almost as much as I did right now. 

I begrudgingly stand myself up, forcing myself to have some sort of fun. Ever since meeting Ri, she's been the only person on my mind. It wouldn't hurt to spend some time with these guys and let loose every now and then.

We come to an end in our routine and it had only been a couple minutes since I'd been here but as soon as I raise my head, I swallow and the smile on my face immediately wipes off. 

She seems to do the same as she stands there, biting her lip and when my eyes drift down, I find her picking at her fingernails. She keeps hold of her lip between her teeth and then takes a couple steps inside before looking past the boys and straight at me. 

"James, can we talk?" she asks, causing me to go silent. I had no idea what she was even doing here. She's only putting herself at a higher risk of getting in trouble and the last thing I want is for either one of us to get hurt again the way I did last night. 

I move my lips to respond but Hunter steps forwards and puts an arm out in front of me to stop me. "I think whatever you have to say you can say to all four of us, princess," he tells her brutally and instantly I could see he had hit a nerve. 

She takes a step back, a hurt expression becoming drawn across her complexion but once West catches onto it too, he stands up for her. 

"Enough, Hunter," he mutters forcefully. "Let them talk." 

Hunter raises an eyebrow, scoffing as he faces me. "Don't, James. She's not worth it." 

"I can come back another time, it's okay," Riley calls out from where she was stood but I could hear the stagger in her breath as she spoke. She picks at her nails even more vigorously and turns around, still chewing her lip as she begins to head back out. 

I shake my head, pushing Hunter out of the way. "She's not going to do anything to me, Hunt," I tell him fiercely. 

I leave Studio A and run after her. "Riley, wait!" I call out to her and at the sound of my footsteps, she stops and turns around, facing me. 

She breathes in and out but I could sense the quickness of her breaths. She was practically shaking as she stood in front of me and through the fearful look in her eyes I could see just how shaken up she truly was. 

"Ri, what are you doing? You shouldn't be here," I whisper to her, stepping closer. 

She looks at me, trying to put words together but she was clearly unable to. 

I pause, licking my lip and thinking of what to do before I sigh, moving my hands to her waist where I hold her close to me. "Did anyone see you leave?" I ask her. 

She shakes her head. "No," she whispers, her voice shaky. "I-I don't think so." 

"Okay." I lean down and kiss her on the forehead, rubbing her arms softly to calm her down and make her feel less tense. 

She continuously looks back through the glass to gather the boys' judgement but that was the last thing I needed her to fret over. 

"Come on. Let's go somewhere else, okay?" 

She nods her head and I keep my arm wrapped around her as I led us out of the studio. 

Clearly there was more to the reasoning behind why she didn't show up at the gardens earlier. And I'm going to find out what that reasoning is.