Sitting In Traffic

Chapter 50- It's over now.

Riley was too kind. It didn't matter how much she cried. Or how much she was hurting. Riley drove Arthur home. Stumbled with him inside, seeing all of her stuff exactly where she had left it last. Arthur was expecting to get her back somehow, he didn't move anything. But by morning he was going to wake up to an empty closet and her record player and vinyl completely gone.

They didn't speak a word to each-other, Arthur was too drunk to even start a conversation with her. He was too drunk to apologize properly, but he knew she was upset. He saw the pout on her face, the gloss in her eyes. He knew it was because of him. Riley walked into Arthur's room with him around her shoulder, she kept the lights off, not wanting to see everything in color.

They walked over to his bed that was still dressed in every blanket that Riley picked out and put on it. Arthur sat down silently, watching as Riley made her way to his dresser. She opened a drawer, finding a pair of pants for him to wear.

"Riley" Arthur said, getting her attention, she turned around, seeing him struggle to take his blazer off. "Help"

"Why do I always get stuck doing this" She whispered to herself when she walked over to him. Riley set his sweatpants on his bed, and helped him take his blazer off. "Don't touch me" Riley told him when she slid the jacket off. Riley didn't want him to get any ideas when she was attempting to help him change.

"I won't" He told her, dropping his hands at his side when Riley started unbuttoning his shirt. He looked up at her, seeing the few tears that managed to escape her eyes roll down her cheeks.  "Riley I still love you" He whispered quietly when her eyes fell on a small birthmark along his shoulder. "I know I'm doing a shit job at showing it, but I do"

"Arthur I can't be with you anymore" Riley took a deep breath, "I think tonight really proved that you don't care the way you used to"

"Riley I still care I just drank too much"

"You drank too much with Julia" She told him, pulling his button up off his arms. "And, you got into your car with someone driving under the influence"

"It was a mistake," Arthur told her, he felt tears forming in his eyes. This wasn't how he wanted this night to go. "I wasn't thinking straight"

"You know how I feel about driving under the influence" Riley told him, "You took the one thing," She paused, holding her tears. "The one thing that hurt me the most in life, I mean I was terrified because I knew something happened"

"I'm sorry" Arthur told her. He watched as Riley took a few steps away from him. "It won't happen again"

"Good, I'm glad." Riley nodded, "Whoever you find next will appreciate it"

"Riley I don't want to find someone else"

"I'm sure Julia will be glad to hear that" Riley told him, "Arthur we are something a contract can't fix, if you thought that's what would happen you're wrong"

"We can fix it"

"We can't."

"We can"

"I don't want to" Riley said, opening a drawer in his dresser that had stacks of her clothes folded inside. "You're terrible for me" She told him the hard truth.

Arthur was everything Riley hated in a guy, but he made her love him somehow. There was something about him that pulled her in, that held her captive for months. She wanted to work something out with him, but cheating threw everything off the table, drunk driving threw it all off the table. Not that he even had a chance that night.

"Where are the polaroids?" Riley asked Arthur as she took her clothes out of his dresser.

"The top drawer" He told her, watching her set down her clothes. It was really over. It was all hitting him.