Freedom -- A Rocky Lynch Story

Chapter 4

Something about the feeling of the grain of wood on his knees brought Rocky back to the past, and he didn't enjoy it. The sick feeling in his stomach was not unlike how he felt when he would receive a text from Riley late at night. He couldn't bare to have this conversation with her. Especially not after what happened yesterday. It was obvious that she needed him. "I'm sorry," was the first thing he could even think of saying.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Riley asked. She avoided looking into his eyes because she felt guilty. She had no right to expect him to stay next door to her forever. There was no reason that he should stay living with his parents forever, even though that felt like the situation that Riley was in. Eventually, she became brave and looked up into his eyes.

Moisture glossed them over and his head hung low. "I was going to last night. But I felt so bad. I still feel bad." He tried to pull her into a hug, but she resisted. This caused some of the moisture in his eyes to escape and the apples of his cheeks became wet. "I'm not moving far away," he justified. "It's just a 10 minute drive! You can visit me whenever you want. I'm sure everyone won't mind."

"That's not the point," she whispered. "What's going to happen when I need you in the middle of the night. I don't have a car, Rocky! I can't just drive 10 minutes to see you!" As well as she was doing at avoiding tears, they finally came. "You're my best friend," she sobbed into his chest.

"I'll always be here for you," he reassured her. His muscular arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. "You can move in with us."

"What?" she chuckled through her tears. "Rocky, I can't just move in with you and all of your siblings. That's kind of weird. Plus Remy and Rayne need me."

He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his own tears off of his face. "Yeah, that was a long shot." The vibrations of his phone interrupted the moment, buzzing through the thin fabric of Rocky's shorts. He checked the caller ID, but dismissed it almost immediately.

"Girlfriend?" Riley asked unsurprised. She and Rocky's girlfriend of a few months, Krista, really didn't get along. Krista never understood the relationship that Riley and Rocky shared, and she was one to get jealous easily. It didn't help that Rocky was forbidden from telling a soul about Riley's personal struggles. Stories of what she went through on an almost daily basis might smooth out some of the jealousy that has formed, but it wasn't likely. So they kept their distance from each other. "You better call her back or she will be pissed with a capital 'P'."

"And a capital 'ISSED'," Rocky joked, scrolling through his contacts to find Krista's number. "I'll be right back, Riles." She shrugged, going back to looking through the comic books. She was sure that Krista would pull him away from her just like she always did, so it was better not to get her hopes up in the first place.

Rocky made his way down the ladder and back over to his backyard, sitting on one of the patio chairs and hitting Krista's name. A small amount of anxiety built in his stomach, which had been happening a lot lately when he thought about his girlfriend. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to feel warm and fuzzy when he thought about the girl he loved. But everything between them had centered around fighting. Every day, there was a new fight that left Rocky feeling hopeless. Yet they would crawl back to each other and apologize, without as much as trying to change their behaviors.

"Why'd you ignore my call?" was how Krista answered the phone. Rocky rolled his eyes as she continued to yell at him. It was the same old routine. "When I call, you need to answer! I would never ignore your call. Do you even love me?"

"Kris, I was busy. I can't always answer the phone after the first god damned ring. I called you back, didn't I? When I could excuse myself from what I was doing? It has nothing to do with whether or not I love you." He pulled the phone away from his ear for a second when she wouldn't drop the subject.

"Were you with Riley again?" Of course that was where she was going to go with this. "You spend so much time with her. I let you off the hook last night because of her birthday, but this is too much. Why do you keep blowing me off for her? She's so average. You say there's no feelings anyway, so just ditch her."

Rocky could only handle so much, and he had reached his breaking point. "Quit being so jealous. It's unattractive. My best friend needs me and I am not about to 'ditch her' just because you're bored and looking for someone to help pass the time. She's very important to me and that will never change. If you can't handle that, there's no point in continuing this thing. Think about that for a bit." WIth that, he hung up the phone.

"Another throw down, huh?" Riley laughed as she made her way back towards the house. She had to apologize to mama and papa for storming out, and needed to make real amends with Rocky. She had realized that she would survive, although it will be rough. With her foot, she pulled another chair across from Rocky and sat down. "Listen, I over reacted."

"You were justified," he responded with a sigh.

"I'm happy for you. I really am." She rested her hands on Rocky's knees and tilted her head. "I'll find a way to survive. It's not like I'm losing you forever."

Through the trees in the backyard, there was a bright orange moving truck squealing to a stop in front of a small house. A couple of guys jumped out of the cab of the truck and stood proudly in front of their new home. There were a couple of new guys in the neighborhood. Riley and Rocky didn't know it, but this seemingly normal occurrence started a chain of events that was going to change their lives forever.