Love Me Now

sleeping under the stars

•James•

I pull to a stop and get out of the van that I borrowed from the band. I run over to Riley in the passenger seat and open the door for her.

"Where are we?" She asks curiously, looking around at the abandoned field I brought her to out of town.

"I just wanted to go somewhere cool for our date," I smile and lead her to the back of the van.

I got the boys to help me renovate and finally clean the van, the backseat are taken out.

I open the back of the van, Riley smiles at me and giggles, "A picnic date?"

She walks closer to me and pecks me on the lips, "A tailgate picnic date," I correct and help her up.

I've decorated the van with pillows, a picnic blanket and the basket in the middle. I'm so thankful for the band for helping me out. I'll be just as special as our date back in Studio A, minus the baloney sandwiches.

Riley plays with the string of her hoodie and sits cross legged in the back, turning on the lights overhead. I lay out the food and she laughs.

"Shawarma?"

I nod, "We can't have a proper date without a shawarma, can we? Don't worry though, I brought some apple pie which I actually baked myself,"

Riley raises an eyebrow, "Since when do you cook?"

I roll my eyes, "Ri, I can turn on a microwave," I can tell she's about to hit me on the chest so I shake my head quickly, "Relax, Piper actually baked it for us,"

"Piper knows about this date?" She asks curiously

"Of course. In this family, we tell each other everything," I smile, "Oh and my Mum said hi," Riley hits me chest this time, "Ow," I exclaim and smile at her. Riley passes me a shawarma and we start eating, "How's your family going?" I ask

Riley shrugs, "I don't know, to be honest. I'm really missing Emily though, she's gone to live with Stephanie in Los Angeles. It's kind of lonely at home because I talk to her about everything,"

"You know you can talk to me about anything," I suggest

She smiles at me, "I do James but there's girly things as well,"

"Oh, like boys?" I say casually

Riley nods seriously, "Yeah there's this really hot dude in the juice bar. His accent is the best thing ever, do you reckon I should ask for his number?" I stare at her for awhile. I do not like this one bit. Riley breaks down laughing, "You should have seen your face! Oh man, that's priceless. James, you know that I would never do that to you,"

I take a bite of my shawarma and watch her roll around on the blanket. After awhile she stops and looks back at my expressionless face.

"James?" She asks with a worried expression on her face.

That's when I start laughing and Riley smiles at me, "Never prank a prankster, Ri," I chuckle, "That was great though but seriously, you know that I won't fall for that,"

I finish my shawarma and watch as Riley finishes hers. The sun is going down, I cut the pie and hold out a piece at Riley's mouth.

She takes a bite as I feed her it, "Did you want some?" She asks

I shake my head, "I ate before this date because you know me, I'm always hungry and besides, I'm sorta sick of eating Piper's pie everyday,"

Riley giggles and finishes the piece. I wipe away the crumbs on her face with my thumb and she leans forwards and pecks me on the lips.

We smile at each other and I start packing up the leftover food back into the basket. Riley observes me silently.

After I finish, I move closer to Riley so that I'm sitting down right in front of her. I have to lie down on my pillow so that we are the same height.

"Why'd you bring me here tonight?" She asks

I smile at her, "I wanted to sleep under the stars tonight," I tuck a strand of your hair behind her ear and Riley smiles back at me shyly.

"We'll it doesn't really help if there's a van roof above our heads," She laughs

"Oh shut up," I roll my eyes jokingly

Riley shoves me playfully and I tickle her on the stomach. She squirms with a laugh and lies down next to me, resting her head on my pillow.

We both look at each other and I can't help but stare at her. She's so beautiful. She's so amazing.

"What did I get to deserve you, James?" Riley whispers and comes closer to me.

"A lot of things actually," I smile and also move closer to her, our noses touching.

She stares into my eyes before looking down at my lips. She bites her lip unsurely before looking back into my eyes again. I chuckle lightly at her and Riley presses her soft lips against mine in a sweet and lingering kiss. My lips tickle slightly at the feeling of it.

I pull away and Riley curls up into my chest cutely, nuzzling her head on the crook of my neck. I wrap my arm lovingly around her and give off a content sigh. We've been through so much but now I'm happy. I'm truly happy.

I'm happy with her.

"Goodnight James," She yawns and snuggles closer to me

"Night, Ri," I whisper and kiss her on the forehead

A wide smile grows on my face and I turn off the light overhead and press the lock on my car keys, throwing it aside and returning back to Riley.

I look down at Riley and she also has a smile on her face. She moves around slightly before finding a comfortable position in my arms. Her breathing slows down and steadies before she falls asleep. The same peaceful and cute smile on her face.

I glance out the fogging window of the van at the night sky. We're sleeping under the brightest of stars tonight.

***
1024 words

I'll be posting other one-shots in between Reason to Stay lol. Thanks for reading, part 2 of Reason to Stay will be out next Saturday ❤️