Sitting In Traffic

Chapter 17- This Love

Riley was in her room later that night after dinner. Sloan and Ava were there too, staying in the same room as her for their last night. Riley was sitting in bed, scrolling on her phone while Sloan was just getting out of the shower. Ava was half asleep already bundled up under the covers. She tried to stay awake as long as she possibly could, knowing that Riley was going to be gone when she woke up.

Riley looked at the bathroom door when Sloan walked out of it, closing the door behind her quietly. Sloan had a serious look on her face, paired with a glare as she wanted to continue discussing the conversation from dinner that kept getting shut down. Sloan sat on her bed, facing Riley with her legs crossed. Riley looked at her oddly, not knowing why she was staring at her.

"Well goodnight to you too" She laughed, turning her phone off and putting it on the nightstand.

"Arthur doesn't want kids?"

"I guess not" Riley shrugged, she didn't want to make a big deal out of this. Riley wasn't even sure where she saw her and Arthur going anymore. She knew she wanted to go forwards, but a family wasn't something she could imagine with him. "We haven't talked about it yet"

"Well why the fuck not" Sloan asked quietly, she knew the walls in the house were thin, and didn't want to risk Arthur over hearing them. "You guys have been dating for nearly half a year, you and Jonah would've had it figured out already"

"Okay well Arthur's not Jonah" Riley said, not knowing why this was bothering Sloan so much.

"Yeah, thats pretty fucking obvious" Sloan said, mirroring Riley's movements and getting under her covers. "Riles you have always, and I mean always wanted kids"

"Yeah I know"

"If he doesn't want kids then don't stay with him" Sloan told her seriously, "Holy shit you would be miserable"

"I don't know how I feel about having kids anymore" Riley lied, she's wanted to have kids since forever.

This was honestly a topic of conversation Riley was going to have to talk to Arthur about at some point now. It was a normal conversation that couples had, she shouldn't feel awkward about it. Riley just didn't want it to put unwanted tension between the two of them right now.

"Rye that's such a lie" Sloan emphasized, "He's not right for you" She whispered quietly.

"I thought you liked Arthur"

"I don't think he's the right guy for you anymore" Sloan told her, "And before you said 'he is' and 'i can fix him'; you can't"

"Oh no really I can" Riley laughed laying her head down on her pillow. "Sloan he's a nice guy" She told her quietly, or at least Arthur was a nice guy. Riley kept covering up everything bad that's happened between them lately with what he's done for her in the past.

He was good for her in ways. Riley was scared she wouldn't be able to find someone like that again, someone who wouldn't judge her.

"Well when you've been dating for 4 years and you can't tie the knot because he doesn't want kids," Sloan started, "I told you so"

"Okay Sloan"

"Have you guys talked about marriage yet?"

"No"

Riley honestly wasn't sure if she wanted to right now.

~~~

April 21st, 2019

Riley was sitting on her boat with Jonah, Joshua and Tristen on Easter Sunday. They were hiding away from their families, well everyone but Tristen was. Hank left town again unexpectedly last week. It took Tristen a few days to notice, but when he did he showed up outside of Riley's house with a duffle bag full of clothes, his book bag for school and a pillow in hand.