Prove Me Wrong

Part Four

"You want me to tell you a bedtime story tonight? That's it? Based on your tone I thought you wanted me to write your history paper," Riley tells me as she tosses me the remote to the TV. "I'm going to finish my run, I'll be back in an hour." She tells me and I nod my head.

I turn on the TV and lay back as The L Word has a marathon on TV. Time passes quickly while watching a bunch of hot girls on a show with a great plot.

"I'm back," Riley smiles, and glances at the TV. "THE L WORD! I love this show!" She exclaims and I laugh. She grabs clean clothes and quickly changes in the bathroom before emerging back into the room. Riley throws herself on the couch and begins to watch. As soon as she sits down the marathon ends.

"Can't catch a break, can you? Sit down to watch TV and it ends, go on a run and have to postpone it because you went with a roommate you hate, who got injured; leaving you to carry them two miles back to the dorm room. Sounds like a crappy day to me." I tell her and she laughs. Riley smiles and laughs a lot, more often than she doesn't.

"First off, it doesn't matter that it ended. I have the entire series on DVD," She says, tossing a black DVD case labeled 'The L Word' on my bed. "Second, that isn't a crappy day. I promise you, I've had worse. And third, I don't hate you, I simply told you I dislike your morals, I don't like how you treat people, and that I'm never going to like you, let alone love you, or even hook up with you, ever."

"Isn't that pretty much the same thing as hating me?" I argue and she shakes her head.

"Not at all. If I hated you, I would have left you in the forest. But I didn't. I carried you back, and you owe me now, although the favor that will leave you no longer in my debt has yet to be decided." Riley grins and I chuckle.

"Fine, I admit, that makes sense. Can I ask you a question?" I asked and Riley nods her head. "How many piercings do you have?" Riley widens her eyes and laughs.

"Give me a minute to count," She says, and mumbles to herself as she washes her face. Riley rinses off the foam and pats her face dry before turning to me. "Ten piercings. Two lobes on each ear, three cartridges, a tragus, my nose and tongue. And four tattoos, but the story for those are all much longer." She tells me and my eyes widen.

"Holy shit, so do you just not care what your parents think of you?" I ask and a grim look comes across Riley's face.

"It's not that simple..." She mumbles wearing a look of pain so strong I'm surprised she didn't fall apart then and there.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"Not to you. It's not like you'd care. It's not like you'd understand either." She spits out, and I stare at her astonished.

"Are you okay?" I ask and she sighs.

"No. But okay or not, it's not like you can do anything about it. I still have to keep going. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'll tell you about my parents when I'm ready. But not today," She forces a smile and puts in a random disc of The L Word and presses play. "Today, let's just watch this."

Riley sits down on the couch and I turn my head to look at her, although the pain she wore only seconds earlier had magically disappeared. I turned back to the TV, and tried to figure out what a girl as perfect as Riley had to be sad about.