The Cat's Out Of The Bag

Chapter Seven

I am now standing just outside of Riley's house, and I am having my doubts.

Her house is really nice, white, pretty modern, with many pink and purple flowers adorning the outside. Even some dark blue. And it's just so sunny out, a part of me feels bad to disturb whoever lovely people are inside.

But then I remind my stupid brain that inside is Riley, having a rough time, waiting for me, and my presence would in fact be a good thing to her. I think.

So I ring the doorbell and hold back my depressing thoughts as two people answer the door, obviously Riley's parents.

I first notice Riley's mother, who is a splitting image of her. Long, blonde hair growing over the shoulders, slim, but still fit, with stern but warm blue eyes.

Next to her is Riley's dad, who has caramel hair and brown eyes. Seeing them makes me feel small and inferior, and suddenly I realize how short I truly am.

"Uh, hi, Mrs and Mr. Benson! Um, I'm just here to see Riley. I'm her new friend and... I just wanted to go over some school notes with her. Is that okay?" I feel my voice squeak, and the two of them give me odd looks for a moment.

"Riley!" Mrs. Benson shouts and I hear thudding as Riley soon appears, and I hold back a laugh of amusement.

She is wearing dinosaur pajamas with a comb in her hand, and she's staring at me in shock. She obviously didn't expect me to arrive so soon.

"Oh, Natalie! Yeah, Mom, Dad, this is my new friend, Natalie. We were just going to hang out for a bit." She says quickly, grabbing my hand and swinging me inside.

She pulls me through the house and into a room and I gasp as I enter.

The room is a mess, but not a bad mess. It doesn't have piles of clothes laying or trash anywhere like that. There is just so much to look at.

First, the walls are pink, but the bed is a light blue with purple covers. Yellow and orange painted stars hang from the wall and a small stack of books are on her desk along with school work.

I don't hesitate as I run over, peering at the books. I see some titles I've read and some I've heard of, but I let out a gasp as I my eyes catch a familiar book cover.

"You have read The white wolf?" I marvel, turning to her with the biggest grin imaginable on my face.

I see her smile and walk over, grabbing three other books and showing them to me.
"Yeah, I've read the full set."

When my eyes catch the third book she's holding, I almost drop the book I'm grasping out of sheer amazement. Almost.

"YOU HAVE THE SIGNED VERSION!!" I yell, although it's more of a declaration than question.

Riley laughs again, holding out the book for me to look at. "Yeah, I was at the store and kinda found a whole stack of them for sale. I grabbed one after having a small heart attack," she giggles and I grin, beaming.

My hands glaze over the signature on the front cover, careful not to scratch or smear it with my sweaty hands.

"Cool," I say absently, my eyes glued into the novel.

After a few moments, I sadly put the book down and turn to Riley who is sitting on her bed, feet dangling. I join her, feeling the bed creak beneath me.

"So, you said something about you being in distress and needing me to come and save you. So what's going on?" I joke, and Riley tries to crack a smile, but I see very clearly that it's forced.

"Come on, I know better than that." I scold, putting on a stern face. Now Riley is truly smiling.

"Okay, okay. I'm just a little worried. At first it was just a quick conversation where I tried to convince my mom we didn't need to get rid of Night, but now she just keeps dropping the suggestion every time we talk. It's getting really annoying and frustrating. I've told her enough times that removing Night from our family is out of the question, but she always just nods and mumbles agreements like she really doesn't care."

I keep hearing the term 'get rid of' and my curiosity gets the best of me.

"What do you mean by 'getting rid' of Night?" I blurt, and feel horrible as Riley looks as if she's on the verge of tears. She turns away, rubbing her face.

"It would mean giving her back to the shelter where we got her. It's not like, death or just letting her out into the wild, but—it just sucks. We saved her from that shelter not even a full month ago, and it just pains me that she seems so ready to give up everything we've tried to do for Night. It's like all that effort has been wasted, or it didn't really matter in the first place."

Her voice cracks, and I hug her while she leans in silently. I let go after a few moments and she quickly wipes her tears away. I see her mouth start to open and beat her to it.

"Hey, no saying sorry under my watch. Whatever I do for you, it's because I want to. So no saying sorry for things that you didn't do wrong." I say sternly, and Riley smiles through tears, obviously holding back a laugh.

"Okay, fine. I just really want Star to come home. I just want to give this whole dog and cat thing another shot, but how is that ever supposed to happen if... if she's not here?" Her voice breaks, and she looks down at her feet, her blonde hair covering her watery eyes.

I feel sadness surge within me, but also this crazy feeling of hope. Hope that no matter what happens, everything will turn out as it should and my secret were never revealed but Riley will also have Star back. How was that even possible?

"We will find her and bring her home, pinky promise." I declare, shoving my doubts back and holding up my pinky.

Riley smiles through tears and wraps her pinky around mine, giggling. "Okay, I'll hold you to that," she says.

I smile and find myself laughing along with Riley.

But it isn't until I leave her house that I truly realize the multitude of my promise and how I know there's almost no way I can keep it.