Make You Feel My Love | Riff Lorton

Chapter 5

Valentina decided to close the shop early with everything going on. Tony volunteered to close up, letting me and Valentina go home. As I was walking to my apartment, I saw cops walking into the police station with some of the Jets.

Were they being arrested? Was it because of the rumble? Did they find out Riff had a gun? Could he go to jail? Questions were racing in my head, and I knew I had to find him. I started walking all around New York until I found Riff in an alley.

"Riff." I say, quietly, just in case cops are looking for him. He looks up at me.

"Hey." He says.

"Is the rumble still going on tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Riff, I-"

"Listen, Sel. I know that you know I got a gun, but it's only for protection. Action's got no doubt that the Sharks are bringing knifes. It's just to scare them off. I know how much they mean to you, so...I won't use it. I don't want to hurt you." He cuts me off.

I smile, "Promise?"

"Of course." He says, leaning close to me.

"Thank you. I know you just want you and your friends to be safe, but I also need my friends to be safe."

"And, I'm sorry for being the way I was earlier. I'm just...rattled for tonight." He says.

"It's all good. Is it possible for you to come over until the rumble? I mean, with all the cops going around, you need to be hidden. And there's no way they'll think you're in a Puerto Rican apartment." I say.

He smiles, "I didn't know I was dealing with a genius."

I give him a quick kiss before I grab his hand. Before we even step out of the alley, we see Anybodys running, along with cops.

"You assaulted a police officer, that's against the law!" One of them yell.

"Krupke, go check on them Jets back at the station." Another one says. Officer Krupke runs down the opposite direction while the other officers chase Anybodys.

"Jesus, what did they do?" I ask. Riff gives my hand a squeeze, and we start walking back to my apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riff and I walk into my apartment, and I close the front door behind us. I open the curtains and place my bag down.

"Do you want anything? Like maybe a drink, or something?" I ask.

"Nah, I'm okay." He says.

I head to the kitchen, and pour myself a glass of water. I walk to the living room, and see that Riff isn't there. I hear shuffling coming from down the hallway, and walk into my room to see Riff looking at decorations around the room.

"Y'know, last I was here I didn't get enough time to look at your room?" He says.

"Yeah? Why is that?" I ask, taking a sip from my water.

He looks at me, "I was looking at something else."

I blush and set down my cup of water on the counter, making my way to the couch and sitting down. I motion for Riff to sit next to me and he does just that.

He puts his arm around me and I wrap my arms around his torso, cuddling into him. I hear him chuckle and kiss my head.

"You doing okay?" He asks.

"To be honest...no." I say sitting up. Riff looks at me, now concerned.

"It's this whole rumble thing. I've seen the guys at the gym and the boxing ring practicing on each other. Seeing everyone like this is weird." I say.

"Yeah, I know. But soon, this'll all be over. We'll be able to be together because we've got privacy and things will be better." He says.

"What if they don't? What if you get hurt badly for nothing? Someone's gonna lose tonight and they might not want to listen to those rules anymore."

"Hey...hey. Thing's are gonna be fine. And even if you're right, we'll figure things out. Alright? We've been doing good so far." He says.

I stand up, "No we haven't. We're one of the reasons this rumble is happening, Bernardo almost went off on you at the dance, everything is a mess."

Tears start to form in my eyes as I speak. Riff notices and stands up.

"Okay. Okay. Come here." He says. He opens his arms and wraps me in a hug, as I cry into him.

"I just want everything to go back to normal. I'm tired of fighting for the right to just live." I sob.

Riff places his finger under my chin and raises my face, "Hey...I promise you, I will do my absolute best to make sure things feel good again. 'Kay?" He asks.

I nod and he kisses my forehead. I wrap my arms around his neck and he holds me tightly. I close my eyes and stay there, letting Riff hold me.

I yawn and he chuckles, "You tired?"

"Yeah. I couldn't get much sleep last night." Before I can say another thing, Riff picks me up and carries me to my bed.

He lays me down as he climbs in next to me and wraps his arms around my waist. I smile as he kisses my temple and rests his head behind me.

"What about the rumble?" I ask.

"Eh, I've got a few hours." He says.

I turn around and look at him, he opens his eyes and smiles at me. Riff strokes my hair and kisses me softly.

"Yo te amo." I say.

He raises his eyebrows at me, "And what does that mean?"

"I love you." I say. He looks taken aback as he stares into my eyes.

Should I not have said that? Was I supposed to wait for him to say it? Should he have said it first?

"I love you too." He whispers. I lean in and kiss him. I feel him smile onto the kiss as he places his hand on my face, moving any hair out the way.

I pull away from him to see he's still smiling, "Let's go to sleep." He says. I smile and nod, turning back around and closing my eyes.

3 hours later...

I wake up due to the dent in the bed being lifted. I turn to my right and see Riff fixing up his clothes, looking at himself in my mirror.

"What are you doing?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.

He looks up at me startled, "Oh, I uh...I've gotta go with the guys. Y'know, the rumble and all."

I sigh and get up out of bed. I walk up to Riff and wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. I feel him wrap his arms around my waist and kiss my neck.

"I'll see you tonight, yeah?" He whispers in my ear. I get shivers down my spine.

"Mhm..." I hum. He kisses me quickly and let's go of me. He walks to the front door, and waves goodbye to me.

If Riff said everything would be alright then why did this feel wrong?