Intimate

Part 20 THE END.

RILEYS POV

“Riley, get out of bed.” My father pleaded. He ripped off the comforter from my body and clutched it in his hands, “You need to get out and do something.”

“I went to school.” I reasoned.

“Yes, but then you go straight and hide in your bed when you get home. You’ve been doing that for the whole two months you’ve been here. You need to move on Riley.”

“You don’t understand dad. He was the only one who was truly there for me when mom was gone. I loved him.”

“Everyone goes through heartbreak, but it’s destiny for you two not to be together. You’re only seventeen Riley, if you hadn’t moved away there would have been another reason for you two not to be together.”

“I wish it was another reason. I wish we got into a big fight so I could hate him, but no. I can’t go a second without loving him, without longing his touch. He told me I was beautiful in my darkest times, he looked me straight in the eye and told me I was a goddess when I was a crying mess. He didn’t run away when he found out much hell my life was.” I hid my face in my pillow, it hurt so much. “And now he’s back at home, drinking away his pain.”

Marissa and Kat had kept me in touch about Jace and told me my worst nightmare. Everyone in the town knew that he quickly fell to drinking when I left, and people have hardly seen him.

“Honey you promised you would do something.” My father whined, still holding the clump of blankets in his arms.

“Fine.” I sat up and looked my father dead in the eye, “Get me a plane ticket.”

I twiddled with my golden feather on my necklace. I stood at the door of Jace’s apartment, scared to see what he turned into. I knocked for the tenth time, and again there was no answer. I twisted the door knob which was shockingly unlocked. I raised my eyebrow as I cautiously walked in. The smell of liquor gave me an immediate headache. “Jace?” I ventured into his room, where he lay passed out on his bed. Tears filled my eyes, vodka bottles were sprawled out all over the floor. “Jace.”

“Mum?” The poor boy asked, slightly raising his head. He quickly grabbed it to try to control the headache.

“No, it’s Riley.”

“Not funny.” He snapped, keeping his head buried in the pillow.

“Jace get up.” I directed, trying to pull his heavy upper body into a sitting position.

“What do you-” His sentence got cut short when he realized who spoke to. “How are you here!?”

“Jace, remember that promise I made you? Back at your birthday?” He stayed silent, “I promised if you were to become like your mother, no matter where I was, I would somehow get to you.”

“I’m not an alcoholic.” He argued, scowling at me.

“I don’t know the correct classification of being an alcoholic, but if you aren’t one, you’re pretty damn close.” I lectured, “Think how your mother ruined her and your life. Please don’t do this.”

“You don’t understand…”

“Drinking won’t make miracles happen.”

“It’s the only way I can move on.”

“You call that moving on? It sure looks like drowning to me, which is worse than not letting go. Don’t drown, let go of that anchor that’s drinking and swim to the top. It’s the only way.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to.”

“I can’t.” He repeated, louder and angrier.