his little girl // jiley

Chapter XIX

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C H A P T E R
N I N E T E E N
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I WAKE UP next to Riley, who is still asleep, her blonde hair sprawled across the pillow. I smile slightly, and hug her closer. She starts stirring slightly and her eyelids flutter open, revealing her brown eyes that, with the light shining through the gaps in the curtain, have gold flecks in them.

"Morning," I say.

She smiles for a second, but then her face drops and she jumps up. I hear her throw up in the bathroom a few seconds later. I jump up and run in after her, holding her hair back and rubbing her back as she leans over the toilet.

"God, babe," I say, when she stops throwing up and sits miserably on the cold bathroom tiles. "I think you've got a bug. Go back to bed— I'll get Hazel to school then come back to you, okay?"

"No... no, I'm fine..." she tries to insist, but she sounds so groggy I don't believe her. She looks at me worriedly.

"No. You're sick." I say. "Get back into bed."

She sighs, and I help her back in to our bedroom. She closes her eyes when she's under the covers, and I leave quietly.

I knock on Hazel's bedroom door and she says "I'm up, I'm up!" In a tired voice. I go into the kitchen of our small apartment and throw bread into the toaster as I wait for Hazel, who soon enough, comes trailing down the stairs.

"Come on, you can't be late for the first grade," I say. "This is serious — dude, this is the most important grade!"

She half laughs, and half groans when she walks in. I smile and then grab the toast from the toaster and spread butter on it and set it in front of her.

Mornings are Hazels worst part of the day — she's slow and tired and moody and it takes her years to get out that door and in to school in time.

But we manage it — with great difficultly. Riley is usually the one who gets us out on time, and without her we're all over the place.

When I get back to the house I'm exhausted — and I've only been up for an hour or so. Riley is the first thing I think about — I need to check on her. Be with her, when she's sick.

She's asleep when I get into our room, so I just quietly lay down beside her and lie there for a while, dozing off.

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I wake up later on to Riley getting out of the bed, and I groan a little bit. "Babe, you're sick," I say. "Get back into bed."

"I have to go to the studio," Riley says, grabbing her dance clothes and trainers. "One on one lessons, remember?"

"You're not well enough to teach them J-Troupers, Riley," I tell her, sitting up.

"I am," she avoids eye contact. "It was just... a morning thing."

She's acting really weird, but I choose to ignore it. "I'll be okay." She insists.

"Alright, then..." I say, "I'll drive you, though."

Riley just nods and walks out. I furrow my eyebrows. What's up with her?

Eventually, I drag myself up and into the kitchen, which smells like burnt toast and the orange juice Hazel spilled on the floor. I grab my keys from the counter and toss them in the air, catching them flawlessly when they come back down.

"James!" Riley shouts. "Can you get the post before we go?"

I sigh and push myself up from leaning on the counter. I grab the envelopes that are scattered on the floor in front of the door, and I flip through them quickly, but it's basically just bills, bills, mortgage overdue, bills, bills, etc, etc.

You know what? I fucking hate having responsibility.

Riley comes out of the sitting room, hopping as she pulls on her left shoe. She looks at the envelopes in my hands.

"Bills?"

I nod.

She sighs. "Lets go."

The studio is quiet because most of the kids are at school, except for Gabi and Becca, who are homeschooled and get extra classes from Riley because of it. But — they have to pay a hell of a lot for it.

While Riley teaches their class, I chat to Miss Kate in her office. After a bit of small talk, I ask her if she's noticed anything weird about Riley. I need to know that I'm not just being paranoid.

She thinks for a second. "Kind of," she admits. "She's been throwing up, and awkward when you ask her about it."

"Yeah, I know," I sigh. "She won't tell me what's up."

"I'll talk to her," Kate promises. "I'm sure it isn't serious." I don't really believe her.

Me and Riley made an agreement that we weren't going to have a relationship built on lies. Is she really going to break that?

I look out at her teaching her class. She smiles as she demonstrates a move to the girls, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. She looks like she's clouded over with something, like something she's worrried about... but Riley worries about everything. She even worries about worrying. She's just... a worrier.

She catches my eyes, and I give her a look, but she just shrugs and shakes her head slightly, then ignoring me.

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Hey, hope you liked this :) I'm feeling pretty crap today so I'm sorry if this isn't good :( xx
- Emma xo