A disastrous book

Chapter 21: Newton's cradle

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."-Isaac Newton

Alex's POV

I freeze as Riley 2.0 launches herself at me and holds onto me for dear life as she cries her heart out.

She hasn't even stepped foot inside the house, she just jumped me when I opened the door for her.

I slowly wrap my arms around her, reciprocating the hug tightly, letting her soak my shirt with her tears but I didn't give a fuck, her cries were twisting my heart and filling it with dread that I almost cried myself.

"It's okay, come here." I pull her inside and grab her backpack, tossing it somewhere in the living room as I take her hand and lead her upstairs to my room.

"You want some water?"

She weakly nods, her cries reduced to sniffles.

I run back to the kitchen and return with a bottle of water, I hand it over to Riley who was now sitting on my bed.

Riley 2.0. She was here, in my room, sitting on my bed. It almost felt like a dream.

You'll have time to reminisce over that later, talk to her you idiot!

"Why are you crying?" I whisper to her as I take a seat next to her.

She keeps her head down, denying me of seeing her beautiful face.

A few moments of silence passed, until it was broken by her soft voice.

"I think I'm in love with someone." She brokenly whispers.

I'd be lying if I said that I was surprised to hear this, because it was rather obvious from the beginning, but I wasn't going to say anything. She needs to tell me that herself when she felt comfortable.

And I think now is the time.

"Okay," I play along, "why are you sad then?"

She swallows before answering. "They're already in love with someone else."

I raise my brows. Now this, I didn't know.

"Who is it?" I ask, knowing exactly who it was but hoping she would tell me so herself.

She pauses then slightly shakes her head. Fair enough. Telling me that she likes our chemistry teacher would be considered quite scandalous, so I understand her secrecy, and I won't push her.

But the part about him liking someone is new. It's probably some woman his age, where they could have a normal, LEGAL relationship.

I may sound horrible for saying this, but I'm kind of relieved.

Riley deserves to be with someone who she can go out with publicly with no complications nor any fears. She deserves to be with someone who doesn't just like her back, but appreciates her everything, acknowledges that what he has is a rare kind of beauty, inside and out, someone who will make it his long life mission to make her happy, just so he can bring that intoxicating smile on her face, knowing he caused it.

Someone like...me.

I shake that thought before I get way ahead of myself.

"You should tell him." I blurt out.

She frowns a little at that.

"You should tell him how you feel, if he says that he likes you back, great. If he doesn't, well it'll suck, but at least you'll get your answer and won't regret not ever telling him. Maybe then, you can move on."

Ok, I can explain.

This sounds like the opposite of what I should say, but if she tells him, I'm sure that he will gently turn her down, for multiple and obvious reasons. She'll be hurt, but will eventually heal and move on once she realises that it wouldn't have worked out anyway, and she'll get her closure.