Right Back After This

Season 2, Episode 15

Riz is dizzy by the time he crawls back into bed. He watches dancinh light on his wall, swirling pink through his window, and isn't sure when he falls asleep. He's sure he can't get away with this. He's sure of everything and nothing.

And yet, he wakes up in the morning. He showers, he dresses, and as he kneels in front of the sink he checks his texts. And he's got a text from Kiel.

I miss you already.

Riz doesn't know how to label the feeling in his chest, the swell that builds up and feels like he's going to vomit it out. Me 2, he responds, and looks at the battery- it's at half. Riz chews on his lip, but when the solution isn't immediate, he can't act on it, and so he just tucks the phone away in the waistband of his pants and goes to the morning meeting. The dizziness is still there, but there's too many possible reasons for it. He's not concerned.

He locks eyes with Dahlia as he enters. She's got her arms crossed, but that smile is still there. Riz can't help but feel like there isn't a trap, and that makes it all the more difficult to look for it. Maybe she pulled her Frater Raro trick, to try and demoralise him, and that was her big smart plan. Maybe it's Sonja she's bullying. Maybe she's just dumb.

He prays she's just dumb. Because if she's not, he's already set foot in the trap.

Sonja looks anxious, but she's looked anxious every time. Paloma's taking control of the meeting, same as every day, and she doesn't look Riz's way this time. She doesn't have a note to give him, as she individually addresses Shia, Wrenley, Amello, and tells all four of them that they're to do interviews today. Riz isn't prepared for that, but she doesn't give any more information- so he hopes he won't need to know more.

Riz is given another drink he downs without question; it doesn't taste as sweet as it did yesterday, but this time, he's pretty sure Dahlia's only staring at him to fuck with him. He chokes a little on the bitter taste, but it's just a taste, and it can't hurt him. Dahlia's got nothing but a bad taste to hurt him with.

Paloma looks at him when there's seconds left, fazed out as he is, and says, "Riz, you have to stay back for five minutes."

"Huh?" Riz asks, and panic strikes him like headlights in the dark, guns trained on him. He's still slow to react, feet in the mud. "What for?"

It's not the reaction he should have. He shouldn't question a request so simple and uniform, not coming from Paloma, and the creeping chill up his spine isn't just the stares suggesting he's done something wrong. It's the worry that he's gotten cocky. That's not how anyone else would see it- anyone who sees a victim, anyway- but top of the polls, nothing bad happening from Dahlia's arrival yet, and he's getting careless.

Paloma narrows her eyes at him. At least she doesn't hide the consequences. "You'll find out, won't you? Just wait. The rest of you, get out."

The scramble is oddly slow. After what happened with Ares, nobody's really as afraid of Paloma as they'd otherwise be. The production assistants process the idols quickly out, although Amello's fingers skim over Riz's back as he leaves, a gentle gesture of solidarity. Riz wishes it felt like much. The three managers stay exactly put. Paloma is squinting at her tablet, Sonja is staring at the ground, and Dahlia is staring at him. She's still fucking smiling. Riz might've wanted to punch her, at some other time, but now he wants to smile back. That's more of a rebellion, anyway.

Riz briefly considers the possibilities. There's a lot it could be about- number one ranking? An angle they want him to take? An update on Ares? There's worse possibilities- they found the phone signal, maybe?- but Riz waits patiently to be slapped in the face with whatever it is, and doesn't flinch early. All three of them being here makes it hard to predict- but it also prevents Dahlia from any truly evil course of action. Paloma is mean, but she isn't cruel.