When It Rains (Riker Lynch Fanfic)

(One less) Problem (without you)

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For the rest of the week, I lapsed back into my usual routine; I attended my classes at UCLA in the mornings, went to work in the afternoons, came home in the evening and ate dinner while I studied. My busy schedule didn't allow a whole lot of time for a social life; but it's always been like that for the past three years, and I liked it that way.

It was only recently, when Derek and I broke up, that no-social-life Mikaela suddenly turned into a broken-hearted couch potato; confining myself to my bed, consuming large tubs of rocky road ice cream, and drowning in my sorrows while watching The Notebook.

It was pitiful. And after that, I vowed never to fall into that kind of slump again.

I picked myself up off the ground, with Jen's help of course, and resumed life as usual. And that was exactly what I was doing now.

Only this time around, it felt...different. Everything felt different. Like I was missing something.

Or more specifically; missing someone.

During my classes this morning, when I was supposed to be focusing on the professor talking about cell function, I caught myself thinking about Riker. At least three times during that same class, I had to forcefully stop my mind from wandering back to him.

And work, thereafter, was no different. Twice, I had mistaken a blonde guy shopping in the store for him. I somehow convinced myself that it was an easy error that anyone could've made, considering that both guys had been leaving the store, so I only saw the back of their heads.

Did all blonde guys look the same from behind?

Maybe I was just trying to hide the fact that deep down, a small part of me was hoping that Riker would walk in, flash me that jaw dropping smile that sent my stomach in a butterfly frenzy and look at me with those alluring, large hazel-brown eyes that pulled me into their depths, rendering me immobile (not that I wanted to go anywhere). And that silky blonde hair that I just wanted to run my hands through again and again...

I shook my head vehemently, immediately clearing the images from my head before they could get out of control.

I groaned and let my head fall back against the living room couch. What was wrong with me?

It seemed like I was constantly thinking about him, or supposedly seeing him everywhere, all week long; I felt like I was slowly going crazy. How could I have allowed him to affect me this much? Two dates later and already I had it bad.

And it made things all the more worse when my phone kept buzzing, flashing his name across the screen; taunting me. Tempting me.

I've had seven missed calls from him in the past three days, and every time I'd see his name on my screen, my heart would squeeze painfully. A few times, my thumb would hover over the button, just itching to answer, and it took every ounce of willpower I had to hold myself back.

I must have had at least ten voice mails from him, but I didn't listen to any of them, for fear that if I heard his voice, I'd either give in and call him back, or worse; I'd cry.

And I've done enough crying in the previous month to last a lifetime.

"If you don't stop staring at that phone, your eyes are going to burn a hole right through it."

My heart jolted at the voice, and my head briefly snapped up from my phone, which I hadn't realized I was holding until Jen mentioned it. I stared wide eyed at the device, almost horrified and tossed it on the coffee table in front of me, out of arm's reach so I wouldn't be tempted to grab it again.