Eden // Rick Riley

Chapter 4

Tom and Estelle Riley went out with my parents for dinner one night.

"That is so amazing that Bridget was nominated for debutante." Estelle cheered.

"Yeah, she needed something good to happen to her after the incident last year." My dad said. "She said she didn't do it."

"Even if she didn't do it, it's nice for her to take a break." My mom added. "That girl was so overworked. And the amount of rivals she had made over the years was really getting to her head, I feel. I thought that she was getting too cocky with her performance. Speaking from a skaters perspective myself, getting cocky isn't the best when it comes to performing. I mean, you expect too highly of yourself and feel awful when you don't meet your own expectations." She took a sip of her wine.

"We do plan that she will that she will compete by the start of next year. By then her suspension her suspension will be concluded." My father told the Riley's.

"You don't actually think she vandalized the skates, do you?" Estelle wondered.

My parents looked at each other and shrugged.

"Tremblay says she didn't see anything, but that could just be a coach protecting her reputation. And and Bridget's friend Tiffany said she didn't do it, but that's probably just a friend looking out for a friend." My mom said. My dad looked at my mom with a disagreeing expression. "What John? Her attitude with skating has changed over the years for the worse."

"You don't believe your own daughter?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"I didn't say that. All i'm saying is that it didn't look good for Bridget and unfortunately she might've been the one to do it."

"What happened to innocent until proven guilty, Les?"

"Wasn't she proven guilty, though?"

"No, not entirely. We were lucky enough that no one had pressed charges so there wasn't a need to get technical with it. I think it had to have been someone else who framed her. This is our daughter that we are talking about. She knows better. She had many rivals—"

"Exactly, she had her reasons."

"Did she? Cause last time I remember she was an all star figure skater with olympic offers before she was stripped of those opportunities!"

"Whatever John, let's just moved past it. What's has been done has been done. There is nothing for us to do now but wait for her suspension to be terminated." She ended the discussion and looked at the Riley's. They shot the two an awkward smile as my dad rolled his eyes.

"Well on a different note, isn't it just so sweet that Rick is going to Cotillion with Bridget!" Mrs. Riley smiled. "They are just the cutest. You know, at the dinner yesterday, I saw them too playing the piano together. Absolutely adorable. I still have pictures from when they were younger sitting at our grand piano in our family room. Not a lot has changed, has it."

"Yeah, Rick needs to settle on a nice girl someday instead of those girls on the cheer squad." Tom Riley added. "I would see him talking to them, and I pray to god he doesn't take one home. They just aren't respectable enough. Bridget, on the other hand, is a respectable young lady with a future. Despite the situation, of course. Yet again, she was only in middle school. She was still young. But I can see that she has matured since then."

"We shouldn't force a relationship onto them," My mom insisted. "They are only in high school, it wouldn't last."

"Nonsense, Tom and I were high school sweethearts ourselves." Estelle Riley leaned her head on her husbands shoulder while hugging his arm.