Ride The Wind

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Liss

Luca

"I'm kinda worried." Andy admits.

"Why baby?" CC wonders.

"I know why." I admit. "Rikki and Liss have never fought like this. It takes a lot to make her want to stay with her family."

"And Rikki never sleeps this much." Bret says. "It's killing him."

"What if she doesn't want to come back to LA?" Andy asks worried.

"You don't think..." CC trails off.

"Dude, don't joke about that!" Bret says. "Rikki may die without her."

"I think we need to fix it." I say and everyone agrees.

"Do you guys know about that place in the middle of the woods? That little cute clearing?" Ashley wonders and I shake my head. "Let's set them up on a picnic there and leave them."

"So they come back and kill us?" Bret wonders.

"Or they'll stay together and be a whole lot happier." Andy says. "Luca?"

"Yeah this is huge. I've never seen Liss this upset, she gets mad she makes dumb choices. I'm ready to say let's take the risk." I admit and they nod.

We decided that CC would go get everything set up while Andy and I track down Liss and Bret tries to move Rikki.

We drive up to Clint and Ray's house. Nobody is Rainsville locks their doors so we walk through the house to the back door. We stand in the screen door and watch the three of them load bows and shoot arrows. Lissy stands in between her two hot older cousins, she's so small between them. Her black hair falls all down her back with red ends about six inches from the waist of her jeans. We out the door and stand on the deck.

"Hey Clint? What's Tulsa backwards?" Ray wonders as he shoots his arrow into the bullseye.

"A slut." Clint let's his arrow go and into the bullseye. "Ally, what's a slut backwards?"

"About a hundred dollars." Liss laughs as she fires her arrow into the bullseye.

"Lissa!" Andy calls and she turns around, hunting bow still in hand.

"Andy." She smiles and Andy hugs her.

"Come on." I smile and Liss looks over at me.

"Where are we going?" She wonders.

"We went with you to the rugby pitch without any questions. You need to do the same for us." I say and she sighs.

"Fine whatever." Liss looks back at Ray and Clint. "Stay out of trouble."

We drive along the old dirt road and I look over at Liss who sits between Andy and I. Liss is playing with Rikki's star necklace, completely unaware of what's going on. Not being with him is completely killing her, I hope this works. We can't lose Liss to Alabama, I don't think we'd survive without her. I mean, I've been living with her for close to four years. She saved Andy's life and the boys love her like family. Andy watches  Liss play with the necklace to. Liss sighs, smiles, and looks up.

"Where are we going?" She wonders as we pull up to the tree line.

"We're gonna walk." I say.

We walk for a while and Liss kicks the ground with her black boots.

"Where are we going?" She asks again.

"You'll see." Andy smiles.

"Andrea." Liss glares at her.

"I'm not saying a word." Andy laughs.

When we get to the clearing, the plaid blanket is set up with a basket and CC is sitting at the tree. Rikki and Bret haven't got here yet. Liss crosses her arms and glares at all of us.

"What the fuck is going on?" She demands.

Just then, Bret and Rikki walk up the other path having similar conversation. Liss and Rikki make eye contact, they miss each other you can tell. Just Liss is stubborn, she crosses her arms and glares at Andy and I. Like burning a hole in my skull kinda glaring.

"I'm going to hurt you two." She mutters.

"Fine but after you two talk." Andy says.

"Yeah! Your problems are our problems and we don't like it when you fight." Bret adds.

"You can't make us stay here." Rikki speaks up.

"Yeah!" Liss agrees but scowls at he idea of agreeing with Rikki.

"Watch us." CC says and we all start to walk away.

"I hate all of you!" Liss calls as we walk away.

Liss

"I hate all of you!" I yell as they walk away. "Fuck."

I start to kick at a rock and Rikki sighs. I look up at him. He walks closer to me and lifts up my chin, crashing his lips into mine. Rikki's hands pull my hips closer to him and I put my hands on his shoulders. I kiss him back, I'm mad at him but I missed him. God I missed him! Rikki pulls back and kisses my forehead before studying me.

"I missed you, Liss." He says quietly.

"I missed you to but--"

"Baby, I'm sorry. Bobby just pissed me off, I don't share what's mine. Honey, you're mine." Rikki says.

"You shouldn't be fighting with your friends because of me." I say and he kisses my cheek.

"I can't help it, it just pisses me off. He shouldn't be looking at you." Rikki says. "I love you."

"Baby, I love you so much." I say and I kiss his lips.

"So you're not staying in Alabama?" He laughs.

"No, too close to my dad." I admit.

We sit down on the blanket and Rikki just looks at me for a really long time, studying my eyes and playing with my hair.

"Blue." He whispers in my ear. "Your favourite colour is blue like the sky. Not green like your eyes."

"You remembered that?" I smile and he pulls me onto his lap and I face him.

"Honey, I remember everything about you." Rikki smiles. "Your name is Alyssa Keira Lynn Swagger, you're from Brooklyn, you speak German and Italian, there's a picture of your mom in that locket." He gently picks the locket up in his fingers. "And this Yankees cap was your mom's." He takes my cap off. "I know everything about you, I love you."

Rikki picks my face up and kisses me again.

"When do you go home?" I wonder and he smiles.

"Soon baby." He kisses my neck.

"I miss rugby." I admit.

"Soon." Rikki tells me.

I'm ready to go home, too many bad memories here.