First of Two

First of Two - Chapter Seven

Hey. Thanks for reading this :) Um, I might have to do more than ten chapters after all. So yeah. Enjoy and please do tell me what you think! Thanks.

Daphne

First of Two – Chapter 7

R I L E Y

Weekends were painful.

Becca wouldn’t get up until four on Saturdays and Riley would sleep in until noon. Didn’t use to be like that, her sleeping habits. Not until she and Adrian started talking on the phone on Friday nights. It had almost been a month and a half and the workload was getting heavier that they even spent their lunch breaks in the cafeteria studying while eating.

They had been together almost every day but because they usually only studied, the Friday phone calls felt like the longest conversations they would have all week.

Though at times, Riley would catch Adrian sneaking peeks at her while they read at their table, and she would pretend she didn’t notice. Usually, he would even keep his eyes on her and she would feel herself stiffen every time, only realizing that she’d been distracted by him minutes later.

In class, as she still avoided chit chats with anybody, Adrian would bump his pen against hers. “Hey,” he would whisper with a smile and she would smile back. Not even out of politeness, but because she couldn’t help but smile every time he did.

Adrian always did this kind of things and without intending to, it distracted her from everything. He’d push her lose hair away from her face. Or poke her cheek. Or whisper things like, “When it’s too quiet inside that head of yours, you know where to find me” and “What are you thinking?”

And it was like a chain reaction, she’d noticed. Whenever he did anything like that, he would drive every single thought inside Riley’s head away and it felt like her chest and heart were in a competition on who could thump oxygen and blood faster. She was starting to realize that this was something out of her control—a feeling so strong leading her to the conclusion that she had to do something about it.

But what could she possibly do?

Around the middle of October, Jim, one of Adrian’s buddies at Philosophy came over to their cafeteria table. He had lots of them; there was Marco, Denise, Chrissie, Eli. She knew all their names and who they were but never considered talking to them.

At first, Riley didn’t even notice until Jim spoke. “Hey, Ade.”

“Hey, what’s up?” Adrian replied, giddily as always.

“Why don’t you come hang out at the lounge some time?” Jim’s typical approach. “Bring your girlfriend with you.”

Adrian glanced at Riley who simply shrugged uncomfortably. She didn’t really know how to feel about that. “Oh,” he laughed. “We’re not… we’re not dating.” But if anything, his response made her feel uneasy.

“Oh, my bad man,” Jim replied, eying Riley with a smile. “But you’re both welcome anyway.” And then he left.

“I don’t really mind if you want to hang out with your friends, you know,” Riley mumbled without looking up from her book.

“Would you come with me?” he asked, slightly bumping his arm against hers. She turned to him and his smiley, hopeful face was right in front of her. Maybe she should go. It would be something she could do in return of the companionship they shared. It wasn’t even fair that she was too quiet.

And then it occurred to her. She knew what to do.

A D R I A N

“But I’m not your girlfriend, remember?” she blurted in a not-so-Riley way. With a smile. But this smile wasn’t Riley’s usual shy smile. It was like she was challenging him. He wanted to laugh so badly. Laughing was the best way he could think of to express all the tingles he felt in every one of his nerves.

“Riley,” he said with a gulp. “Is there—“

“Adrian. Listen.”

“Okay?” He kept his eyes on hers. They were wide open, like she was electrified. Adrian sat closer to her and only then did he realize her hands were shaking as she twisted her fingers around each other on the table. Just like that day they met.

“It’s too quiet in here.” She gently lifted her finger and touched the side of her head. “But every time you’re in it, it gets too loud. And I don’t really know what that means… so I figured you could tell me.”

Adrian was going to lose it. He was going to laugh for sure. But he tried to hold it and only chuckled a little. That made Riley smile. “For the record, I don’t know what that means either. But here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t think we’ve been spending so much time next to each other for no reason. I don’t think I feel like my inner organs are having a party every time I’m near you for no reason. And for such a reserved, quiet person like you, I don’t think you would spend hours on the phone with me for no reason.”

“Of course there’s a reason,” she whispered, looking down. “Well. I’ve always hated company, to be honest. Never felt comfortable studying with anyone around me, especially someone who stares at me.” He never thought she noticed. “I’ve never forced myself to think of things to say to keep a conversation going. I don’t even respond to shut people up.”

Riley shrugged and laughed a little. “Of course there’s a reason I do the total opposite of those when I’m with you, Adrian…” He didn’t know which came to him first: that he could literally feel his heartbeat in every part of his body, that he was goofily smiling like a clown, or that he was feeling another strong urge to laugh bubbling up in his throat.

“Then,” he managed to say as she locked her eyes on his once again, “should we stop acting like there isn’t one?”

If only they weren’t so close to each other, he could see the smile that he felt formed on her face. “Yes.”

Although unspoken, he knew that Riley answered the other questions in his mind with that one, simple yes. He wondered if, “Can I kiss you right now?” was included.

“Not dating, huh?” They both jumped at the voice coming from Jim who swung by them with a tray in his hands. “Better see you two at the lounge any time soon,” he added without looking back. They both laughed.

Adrian would say that Jim ruined the moment, but honestly, nothing ever could.

And then it occurred to him. He knew what to do.