18 Days ➳ Riley McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic

3.

February 11th

R I L E Y

I was probably having the best sleep I've had in months, but it was rudely interrupted by my phone ringing.

I grabbed it from my nightstand and let my eyes adjust to the light, before I answered the call. It was 12:22 in the morning. Who the hell would even try calling me at this hour?

"Riley?" Jade's restless voice rang in my ear and made me forget about my exhaustion as I tried to sound as awake as possible, for her sake.

"Yes, princess?"

"I can't fall asleep," she replied. "Can you come over?"

"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes."

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up, swinging my legs to the side, so that they were hanging off the edge of my bed.

"The things I do for you," I whispered to myself. I would always go to some crazy extreme just for Jade, because that's just how much I love her. And it'll probably always be like this.

I threw on some sweatpants and a thick jacket, because it was starting to get pretty chilly outside, and, for once in my life, I just didn't bother with my hair, leaving it as it was.

I stuffed my phone in my jacket pocket and grabbed my car keys from my desk, before walking out to my car and driving to Jade's house.

The streets were completely empty. It was like I was the only one alive. Everyone else was either dead asleep in their beds, or didn't exist at all.

As I slowly approached Jade's house, I saw a small figure seated on the curb.

I put my car in park and sat next to the figure, pulling her close to me and she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Are you alright?" I asked and she nodded.

"I'm really sorry for bothering you. I know how tired you are and that you want your sle—" she ranted, but I cut her off.

"It's fine. I'll always be here when you need me. No matter what time it is and where I am."

She looked up at me and smiled, genuinely. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"What are you talking about? I'm the lucky one," I said, rubbing our noses together and she giggled, softly.

"Well, I guess we're just really lucky to have each other."

"Indeed, my love."

She stood up, abruptly, and looked at me with a glint of mischief in her eye. I knew far too well what that meant.

"Alright," I sighed, standing up, and dusting any dirt off of my clothes. "Where do you want to go?"

"Let's just drive around until we run out of road."

I took a step closer to her and placed my left hand on her waist as the other traced her jawline.

She looked so beautiful with the moonlight illuminating half of her face, leaving the other half in the dark and making her look mysterious, but in reality, that's exactly what she was. A mystery.

I started to slowly lean in and within moments, our lips were connected and it felt like the faded stars had left the sky and started tickling me all over, giving me a tingling feeling throughout my entire body; inside and out.

It was a short-lived kiss. Probably, only lasting for about five seconds, but it was a damn good kiss.

"Come on, Riley!" Jade exclaimed, already getting into the car. "Before the sun comes up."

I raced over to the driver's side and got in, putting the key in the ignition and driving off. No seat belts and windows down.

I watched from the corner of my eye as Jade stuck half of her body out the open window, and just let her hair get whipped around by the chilly, midnight air. It was quite a majestic thing to see.

Every now and then, she would let out a gleeful howl, which made some people, living in nearby houses, turn on their porch lights and see what us, hooligans, were up to. Most of them gave us dirty looks. Others, or the younger ones, smiled and some would even howl back.

"You really should try this sometime, Ri," Jade exclaimed and I smiled to myself. "It feels amazing!"

"Alright, love. I will. But I'm driving at the moments and I don't want to kill anybody."

We drove around for about half an hour and eventually, we did run out of road, as all four tires began cutting through some sand.

"Jade," I said, killing the engine. "I think this is our stop."

Despite, the car coming to a stop and the words that I had just spoken, she was still staring out the window, dreamily, as if she was in some sort of trance.

"Look! That shop's still open. Let's check it out," she said, pointing at a store down the boardwalk, right beside the beach. It was the only one that still had lights on and of course, she was eager to find out what was in there, to satisfy her curiosity.

I looked into the rearview mirror for a quick moment and began ruffling my hair, trying to make it look as presentable as possible, and not like I'd just been hit by a truck.

"Riley, come on!" Jade squealed, grabbing my arm with both of her small hands and practically dragging me down the boardwalk.

"Slow down, love. There's no need to hurry," I said, calming her down and she instantly let go as her cheeks flushed red.

"Oh, sorry. I got I little carried away."

"You don't have to apologize. Come on," I held my hand out and the empty space in my palm was quickly filled as she slipped her hand into mine; perfect fit.

The two of us walked down the boardwalk, taking our time. I swung our hands back and forth as out feet thudded along the wood.

We finally reached the source of the light and I took a quick peek inside.

It looked like a really cozy cafe and there was only one other person in there.

I pushed the door open as I heard a chime of bells and the middle-aged lady looked up from her outdated newspaper.

"Hello there, how may I help you? And at such an early hour too!" She said, smiling at us, warmly.

"Do you happen to know where we can find some adventure?" Jade asked, before I could even get a word out.

The lady smiled once more at her questioned and whipped three cups of coffee out of nowhere.

"I hope you guys enjoy story time, because I've got loads to tell."

And there we sat, for hours and hours, listening to this strange woman talk about her own adventures from when she was our age. They weren't extraordinary or anything, but they were memorable and really enjoyable to listen to.

We just sat there, counting the hours with the number of coffee cups that were piled up in the middle of the table.

We drove out here searching for some adventure and we went back home with tales to tell. Not exactly our own, but amazing, nevertheless.