I Love Him...And Him?

I Love Him...And Him? Chapter 5

The next day at work, Riley avoided Miles like the plague. Her dream had really shaken her up and she was engaged to Mike now. She knew that all of her other friends would be so excited for her when she shared her engagement news. Miles would not be as excited. For some strange reason, as happy as she was to be engaged, Riley didn't feel like she should tell Miles. She was of course wearing her beautiful ring and wearing it proudly, but she just didn't think it was a good idea to tell him.

While she was helping to get all of the residents to luch, Riley stopped in Mr. Harrison's room. To her amazement, Miles was in there helping him. They were getting along fine. They were laughing and talking while Miles helped him like a pro. Riley was about to slip out of the room, hopefully unnoticed, when Mr. Harrison caught her. "Riley! How have you been sweetie? I didn't see you yesterday."

Riley smiled at the sweet old man. "Ya, Mr. Harrison. I didn't work yesterday. I'm not going to be working as much now that Miles took Cassie's old job."

Mr. Harrison gave her a disappointed smile. "Well, It's nice that you'll have the time off. But the people around here will definitely miss you." His words caused Riley to smile.

Miles piped up at that moment. "We sure will." Mr. Harrison just laughed and muttered something about young love. Riley rolled her eyes as the old man made his way out of his room. Right as she was about to leave, Miles grabbed Riley's hand. She turned towards him. "What's going on Riley?"

She looked at him confused. "What do you mean, what's going on?"

"I mean why are you avoiding me so much?" Miles looked hurt.

"I'm not avoiding you, I'm working. We're at work, remember?" Miles stepped in close to her. Riley slowly backed up until her back was against the wall and Miles's face was only centimeters from hers. "I think we both know that that's not true." He whispered. Riley's body was getting worked up at the way his warm minty breath blew across her face. Miles leaned in impossibly closer, their lips were so close, Riley was surprised that they weren't touching.

It was extremely tempting for her to lean in and kiss him. She wanted to more than anything. But Riley was wearing a ring on her left hand that gave her enough reasons not to kiss him. "Miles. Miles, we can't. I'm engaged."

Miles froze. He stayed exactly where he was though. "Riley, I'm not the kind of guy who goes after someone elses girl. I was going to stop flirting with you and stop making moves on you. Then, I decided that I didn't care. I didn't care if you had a boyfriend. But you're not dating someone anymore. You're engaged." Miles was whispering so softly that Riley could barely here him. "I want to be with you so bad that it kills me. I want to kiss you and hug you and take you out. But I can't do that. You're engaged." He kept saying the word engaged over and over and by the look on his face, the realization finally set into him that he and Riley couldn't be together. He stepped back and Riley felt a cold emptiness where Miles had been.

"Miles. Maybe if things were different, maybe if I wasn't engaged, we would have a chance together. But things aren't different. I am engaged. So we just can't." Miles looked like someone had just hit him with something. He simply nodded and brushed past her and out of the room. Leaving Riley wondering if maybe she was making a mistake by trying to keep Miles out of her life.

When Riley went on her break, she checked her phone. There was a text from Mike. 'Call me babe.' She knew what that meant. He was about to tell her something she didn't want to hear. Riley took a deep breath and pushed call. Mike's voice came across the line. "Hey honey."

"Hey Mike, you texted me and asked me to call?" It sounded like more of a question than a statement.

"My mom, dad, and I are all going out of town for a week. We're going to Seattle to visit my grandma. I'm sorry babe." Riley wasn't mad. She was dissapointed, but she wasn't mad.