Life Match

Day Ten

Riah gets home much earlier than before, toting a pizza and some of his more casual clothes, since his side of the closet was currently filled with suits.

"Your father called me," I say immediately.

He puts all his stuff away, "So how sweet must I be tonight to make it up to you?"

"I don't want sex, Riah," I grab us plates, "I want to talk about why the hell this relationship always ends up with him in it?"

"I don't control him, Love. I only barely control my own life. The begging I had to do to just get this place ended up cutting my inheritance in half."

"Why is it so important than I'm there?"

"I don't know," he kisses me, "It's just a party. Calm down."

I groan, "I'll go... but I'm not going to be happy there."

"I can make you happy after dinner," Riah murmurs. I melt and my insides liquify.

"Fine," I kiss him, "But dinner first."

***

Riah takes me to work with him, scared to leave me alone. His receptionist gives me a filthy look, but I just stick out my tongue and continue to his office. As soon as we're in there, Riah locks the door and clears his spacious desk, shoving me onto it.

"I love you," Riah kisses me.

I deepen the kiss, my tongue tangling with his. There's a knock on the door and Riah jumps. He goes to get the door and I slide under his desk. He exchanges words briefly before returning to me.

"I have meetings all day," He gives me one last parting kiss before leaving me.

With him gone, I lay around, staying away from the windows and just generally being bored. At the end of the day, Riah comes back to get me and we drive back home. I change into a dark colored dress with matching heels. Riah puts on a similar colored shirt with dark washed jeans and a tie.

He rolls his sleeves up and starts to style his hair up and away from his face.

"You look fine," I  say as he vigorously works, running his fingers through his hair repeatedly, "Calm down."

I fix his hair the rest of the way for him and he sighs. "I haven't been in the public eye since I was young, and even then it was nothing good. I just want to do better this time."

"Just be yourself. The sexy, dorky guy I'm in love with," I kiss him, "I'm ready to go when you are."

He nods and we get in the car, starting the long journey to the estate.

***

Riah parks and we head up to the main house. Packed in the main two dinning rooms is at least one thousand teens, all mingling together. I hug the wall inexperienced in dealing with large social groups. Riah is quickly separated from me, leaving me to deal with the crush of people myself.

"Of course you're here," Jericho steps from the crowd, a look of half disgust and half anger swirled on his face.

"I said I was sorry," I cross my arms. The heels added several inches to me, so instead of having to look up at him, I was now six inches higher, almost eye level with him.

"So your what now? Riah's slut? I went by your house and your parents said that you moved out."

"I couldn't stand to see you," I say, "You aren't the same anymore. You say hurtful things to me."

"That's cause you hurt me," Jericho sighs, "Can't we start over?"

"I don't love you anymore," I look away, "Not the way I used to."

Jericho, looking deflated, turns and walks away.

***

It's midnight by the time I finally get bored and start to search for Riah. The crowd had thinned by a few hundred, but it was still crowed.

I turn the corner and choose a door at random. I open and see Riah on the couch, his lips on another girl's. Riah hears the door open and looks up, making eye contact. I blush, "Sorry!"

"Sage wait!"

I quickly retreat from the room. I can still hear Riah calling me, but it's background noise to my thoughts. I shouldn't have come here. I was better off with Jericho, even if he is better off without me. This whole day has been a disaster. A mistake.

"Sage! Stop!"

I fly out the front door and into the cool night air, but Riah grabs my arm, "Stop."

I turn to face him, "What do you want?"

"Just let me explain," Riah says, breathing heavily from having to chase me, "Please, Sage."

"Let me go," I reply, "I want to go home."

"No," Riah says firmly.

"Yes," I tug, which hurts my arm a little.

"Are you crying?" Riah asks, examining my face closer. I hadn't realized it, but I guess I was.

"Let. Me. Go." I say through clenched teeth.

Riah hesitates, but releases my arm and lets me go. I take off before he can change his mind.

I continue walking, not knowing how I'm going to get home seeing Riah drove. I trip over a tree root and collide into a pillar of plaid encased chest.

"Are you okay, dear?" I look into the gray eyes of the man in front of me.

"I'm fine," I snap, pushing away from him.

"Do you need a ride home?" I turn back to him. He isn't too tall, definitely under six feet, with upward styled hair, one half dyed electric blue, the other half fiery red. Thick black glasses are on his face, a rarity for young people.

"I actually do," I sigh, "Thank you for offering."

We walk to his car and I immediately pull the death trap shoes from my feet.

"My name is Rio by the way," the boy offers.

"Sage," I say.

"Okay, Sage. Did you come here with someone, Sage?"

I look at him. He is interesting looking, but definitely not scary looking, "Believe it or not, I came here with the Elect's son."

"I've heard a lot about him. Riah is his name right?"

I nod, "I don't want to talk about him right now."

He nods, "How about you. Are you here with someone?"

"Nope. I got unmatched with the rest of you youngins though. As of a few weeks ago, my marriage was made invalid with everyone else's."

"What happened to your wife?"

"She realized she was gay and moved to Freedom," he sighs, "I wasn't surprised. I think she just liked the idea of a man, not actual men."

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Twenty."

We continue the rest of the ride home in silence. I direct Rio to my apartment and he parks, "I hope we meet again, Sage."

"I do, too," I get out and head up to my room, waiting for a restless sleep to take me.

So what do you think of Rio?

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