I Can't Cope (COMPLETED)

Chapter 2 - Riley

I don't know what's up with James. The whole way back to my house, he says nothing. I know when there's something on his mind, it's best to leave him for a while, sometimes he just needs time to sort it out in his head.

He turns off the engine and walks to my doorstep. I follow behind him. He looks down at me, making eye contact for the first time since we left Hidalgo's.

"James, what's the matter?" I ask.

"Don't even worry about it..." he replies grumpily, looking away.

"James?"

He mutters inaudibly.

"James, I can't hear you."

He turns back to me. "Riley, it's just everything never works out between us, and it's all my fault."

"James, West was only winding you up-"

"I'm not just talking about that, Riley! I want to be the one who's there for you, the one that makes you happy, the one who keeps you safe. But how can I do that if I'm always the one that hurts you - or causes something to happen?!" He bursts out.

"What do you mean?"

"Riley, whenever something goes wrong in our relationship, I'm always the one to blame. Either that or it's because of something else that I'm the reason you're involved with it. West wouldn't have stopped us if I hadn't annoyed him first."

"James, it's fine."

"No! No, it's not. Someone like you deserves someone better than me. I've mistreated you, and you don't deserve it."

"James, I don't want anyone else. You haven't been the one to blame every single time. I'm pretty sure we're both alright - we've been going out for 2 years!"

"Yeah, but we broke up, which was my fault, and got back together in that time."

"Don't you see, James? We got back together. I don't think anything you've done is so bad, because I obviously forgave you eventually!"

"Yeah, but-"

"James! Do you want to know something I've realised? We both have this opinion of each other that the other person is perfect, and we both think that we, ourselves, are not. We both think we don't deserve the other person. But we do. We both see the best in each other, any imperfections that we see in ourselves that we hate, we don't mind in the other person - well at least I don't. James, I know you feel bad about stuff that's happened in the past, but I've forgiven you for it. I'm saying this again, not everything has been your fault. So stop blaming yourself."

James stands there for a while staring into space. After some time, he looks up at me and smiles. He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, before bending down slightly to whisper in my ear: "I love you, Riley. And I will never hurt you again."

As he begins to straighten up, I carefully grab his shoulder. "Riley, what are you-" He starts to say, before realising what I want to happen.

"This time, West can't stop us. Or at least I don't think he's here..." I stop because James begins to kiss me.

The kiss is everything we left unsaid. All our apologies and all our insecurities. The reason we forgive each other every single time. We need each other. There is no one else that can replace us.

We break away. We smile at each other.

"Knowing West, he probably IS here," James says. "He'd come up with a reason to be randomly going around the neighbourhood at 10pm."

I laugh, then stop and gaze into James' eyes. "Night, James."

"Night, Riley."

I wait until James has driven off into the night, before opening the door to go inside.

"Hey, Riley!" My older sister, Emily, greets me cheerily as I walk in. "How was dance?"

She injured her knee dancing a few months ago, and it still hasn't fully recovered. I feel so sorry for her, I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't able to dance – it means so much to both of us.

She calls me her 'baby sister' and she's very protective of me. Some people might go as far to say that she's a bit controlling, but I think she's just interested in me doing well and she seems to just want to help me.

"It was quite good, I might enter for a solo competition in a couple of weeks..."

"You should, Riley - you would definitely win!"

"I don't think I would, but thanks anyway, Emily." I reply.

I acknowledge my parents with a smile before going upstairs to bed.

After changing out of my dance clothes, I jump into bed. I lay there for a while, just thinking. Sometimes things can go wrong, and there's nothing in the world you can think of to make it better. And sometimes, the only person who can fix you is the person who made you feel that way. But one thing I definitely know is, life is so much better when everything has been sorted out. You can't let someone always take all the blame, and you can't take it all either. There's a balance between the two that you have to find.

Drifting off to sleep, the last thing I think of is James. Words cannot describe how much I love him. He's changed my life so much.

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So that's Chapter 2 everyone! Comment below how you are finding it :) Next chapter's on its way ;)