Living With Stranger Boy

Chapter Thirteen

"Hey I just met you
And this is crazy
But here's my number
So call me maybe.
It's hard to look right,
at you, baaaaabyy
But here's my number
So call me maybe!"

He noticed me staring at him with a flat look the entire time, but ignored it.
"Are you done? Or is there more annoyance left?" I asked, raising my eyebrows questioningly.

"That was beautiful, wasn't it?" he smirked.
I laughed sarcastically, "If you call 'a boy singing an awful pop song in a high pitchy voice like a Barbie doll' beautiful, then totally," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

His face lit up as if an idea popped into his head. Uh oh.

"I'm a Barbie girl-" darn me
"In a Barbie world
I'm made of plastic
It's so fantastic!
You can brush my hair
Undre-"

"Ookay!" I interrupted, raising my hands as a sign to stop for heaven's sake.

He laughed loudly and got a weird look from my father and his father who were sitting on the couch.

Oh, so they find his laugh weird but not when he sang in a horrible imitation of girly, high pitched voice. What normal people I live with. Note the sarcasm.

"Did you find a dress to the dance?" Ryan asked, completely off topic from our previous conversation. Well, our previous conversation didn't really have any specific topic to start with...

I nodded, "Chloe and I went to the mall earlier. We both got our dresses."
He nodded. "Isn't she going with Seb?" he asked.
"Yup," I replied, popping the 'P'.
"Are they a thing now, or...?"
Sadly, I shook my head, "Not yet, anyways."

We both smirked. We knew what was coming. It was so clear they both liked each other.

"You could literally read it on their faces that they like each other," he said.
"I know right!" I exclaimed. And then added, "They'd look so perfect together," I pouted my lip.

He chuckled.
"I mean, just look at them!" I began to say, "Chloe, the beautiful blonde, with blue eyes and pink lips. And Seb, the dirty-blonde haired, blue eyed jock. Sounds perfect."

A smirk plastered onto his face, "In my opinion, even we'd look perfect," he whispered in my ear.

I playfully pushed him away, a fake scowl on my face.

"In your dreams," I spat.
"Oh, I do that already," he winked at me, and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket that was on the table we were sitting at. He got up and left. Not knowing what to do now, I started playing Temple Run 2 on my phone. I swear, that game is an addiction.

It was already 11 pm, so I decided to go to sleep.

Before I went to bed, I prayed tomorrow will be good to me. Otherwise, I would just have to cope with it.

***

Needing to cope with it, I shook in anger.

Tears were freely falling from my eyes, and no matter how hard I tried, it was hard to hold them back.

You're gonna have to let the tears fall, Riles. Just let them fall.
His voice interjected my mind. No. Don't think about him. Now's not the time.

I sobbed into my hands, not caring how cold the snow felt on my bare arms and uncovered head. I knew I would get sick, but that was not my biggest worry. My biggest worry right now is that he came back.

My past. My deep, dark past.

***

flashback to this morning

After my very exhausting day at school, finally I entered my warm and cozy home. I was greeted by Mr and Mrs James who were sitting by the kitchen dining table, sipping on their coffee.

The time was now 4 pm. Usually, I'm home from school by 3:30, but some days I just hang out with Chloe, Holly, Seb, Nate or Evan. Or all of them together.

Ryan is somewhere, I don't even know. I hadn't seen him since last period, but I shrugged it off.

"How are you guys? I barely see you two at home," I said.
Amy smiled at me, "Usually we have business trips. And I'm sure you saw Richard here yesterday, I was sleeping the entire day," she said sheepishly.

I smiled back and told them I'd be in my room. I changed into comfortable clothes- batman printed pajamas and a plain black T-shirt.

I turned off my music, I was listening to 'Overdose' by Alessia Cara, and snuggled up in my warm bed, already drifting off to sleep. In my head, I had already decided it would just be a power nap.

~

"Riley, honey?" a voice interrupted my very peaceful sleep.
After some while, I stretched in my bed -still not getting up- and peeked my eyes open to see who it is.

Amy was standing there, in the middle of my doorway, holding the doorknob.

I groggily sat up, "Yes?" My voice was husky with the effect of just waking up.
"Dear, there's a man here who wants to meet you."

A man? Who? I literally had no clue who it might be.

I nodded lazily, saying I'd be out there in five minutes. She nodded her head and left my room, closing the door behind her.

I washed my face and changed into more presentable, but home-comfortable, clothes and brushed my hair out.

I looked at my phone to see what time it is, and it said 6:46 pm. Along with that, I found a missed call from Ryan.

Before I headed out the door to see the man who wanted to meet me, I decided to call Ryan back, knowing it wouldn't take more than a minute.

"Hey," I greeted.
"Where were you?" he asked.
"Uh I was sleeping, sorry. So what's up?"
"Are you busy right now?" he asked.
"I mean, I was awakened by your mother who said a man wants to meet me. So I'm going to see him right now."
"What man?" I could imagine him knitting his eyebrows as he asked. I shrugged, "I don't know. But I'll call you back later."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye," I said and hung up.

I stuffed my phone in my back pocket, and closed my bedroom door behind me as I made my way to the living room, where I assumed the man would be sitting.

Or standing...
A man was standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, but I couldn't see his face.

His back was turned towards me. Assuming from the back of his body, I could tell he was maybe in his early to mid thirties. He was in jeans and an overcoat, and his brown, almost black, hair all over the place, as if he was running his hands through it constantly.

"Um, hello," I greeted kind of awkwardly. Yeah, I'm not very good at first introductions.

I could tell the man was startled, because his shoulders jumped slightly.

He turned around, that way he could face me, and my jaw dropped as my eyes widened at the face in front of me.

It's him.

Was the only thing I could think before my mind went blank for about 10 seconds, as I continued staring at the man in shock.

A barely noticeable, ghost smile, on his lips.

No, no, no, no, no.
This could not be happening to me right now.
Even my luck couldn't be this bad!

I stared at the man in complete and utter shock, clearly written all over my face.

"Hello, Riley. It's been a long time..."

The next thing I knew, I was wiping my tears furiously as I sprinted towards the front door, and ran outside.

I had to get away.

end of flashback