Growing Apart

Four | James

If I'm being completely honest, Riley's apartment is exactly how I thought it would look
It has that cozy homey feeling, helped by the amount of pillows and blankets that were on her sofa
Her walls were full of photos. Some from recent times but majority of them were from back when we were kids and when we were on A-Troupe
The walls are a literal walk in memory lane 
But yet I can't stop looking at them 

"I forgot about that picture" I chuckled looking over at a photo on top of Riley's fireplace, if my thoughts are correct it was just after Regionals. Right before everything got so complicated

"The original team" Riley smiled coming to stand next to me, I looked over at her nodding
"It's crazy how different things are now a days" I said earning nothing short of silence, Riley cleared her throat before turning to walk back towards the sofa taking a seat attempting to clean up all the mess we had made over the course of the evening 

I had lost count of how long we had been back at Riley's. Everyone else was probably drunk to the point they wouldn't worry about where we were or they had all gone home with the assumption we had already done so ourselves
Regardless, I'm sure we'll hear of it Monday morning

"Here let me help" I started to say trying to take the rubbish out of Riley's hand but she was quick enough to pull away not letting me to get close enough to help at all
I couldn't understand what was happening, we'd spent the last several hours talking about things we used to do, how things had changed, it honestly felt pretty great to be able to be this close to her again
But now she was pulling away without any reasoning 

Riley got up off of the sofa walking towards her kitchen placing the rubbish into the bin taking a deep breath in
She was stuck in her head about something, I just didn't know what 

"It's getting late, I think it's time to call it a ni-" She started before meeting my eyes and freezing
"What is going on Riley? What is happening right now?" I asked but she shook her head
"It's late James" She whispered but I shook my head this time
"That's not what the problem is Riley and you know it. Talk to me" I said taking a step towards her 
This time she didn't say anything, she kept her gaze to the ground trying to avoid the problem in front of us both
"Riley" I said again watching as she frantically shook her head
"Don't shut me out dammit" I groaned right before the pair of us snapped

"You're late James!" She yelled looking up at me, her usual innocent brown eyes now tainted with pain and tears
Pain and tears I caused apparently..

"What?" I whispered
"You told me 2 years. That you would come looking for me afterwards but you didn't" she said before shaking her head moving away from me
She didn't get far, the moment she had taken a retreating step I gently gripped her wrist pulling her back towards me

"You can't say something like that and then hide Riley. That isn't fair" I reminded her
"What else do you want me to say James? I sat here waiting day in and day out for you to come back until I had to give up? I wasn't what you needed, I wasn't what you wanted anymore and I had to learn to accept that" She said making me shake my head

"Do you really think that is what happened Riley? Do you really think after all of this, it was just that you weren't good enough?" I asked stepping towards he cupping her cheek lightly forcing her to look directly at me 

"It's what it felt like" she muttered trying to tear her gaze off of me
"Ri, that was never the case. That could never be the case with you" I said but it was clear that wasn't getting through to her

"Tour got extended and I thought I would still be back before you but then it was extended again. If I hadn't gone with them then Tour would have ended. I didn't want to be the one to stop them from that" I explained
"And then when I did get back I saw that you were settled, you were happy. God you looked so happy Ri and I didn't want to ruin that for you" I continued stroking her cheek lightly 

"You wouldn't have James" She said looking up at me, her brown eyes looking up at me 
"Ri" I whispered watching as she closed her eyes
"Fuck this" I whispered before leaning down pressing my lips against her 

 Riley jumped slightly the moment my lips were pressed against her. She was expecting this and honestly.. Neither was I
My arms travelled down to her waist while her travelled to my neck ultimately deepening the kiss to a new level 
We pulled away for a second our foreheads pressed against each others with a smile on both of our faces

"Are you sure?" I asked knowing the look on her face 
"yes" She whispered before our lips crashed together again and I had her wrapped around me walking towards the bedroom

--

A few hours had passed when the sound of vibration woke me up, I turned slightly to see Riley sound asleep on my chest making me smile slightly before readjusting her so that I could get to whatever the vibration was
I picked up my trousers from the pile of our clothes on the floor to see my phone lighting up and it was clear it had been for a while

"Hello?" I whispered answering it
"Thank fuck James. Can you come and pick me up" West said making me rub my eyes heading to Riley's ensuite 
"What do you mean?" I asked turning on the light and shutting the door

"I need your help but I need you to make sure you do not speak a word of this to anyone" He said sounding a little panicked
"West what is go-" I started
"Please James" He begged
"Okay okay I'm on my way" I groaned hanging up the phone 

I headed back into Riley's bedroom sighing, seeing her asleep completely oblivious to the situation around her, her body was slightly covered by her duvet while a mixture of our clothes were dotted around the room

But with that said... I was out the door before she had even woken up.