whisper | rilaya

sixteen

My mother's voice was rang from upstairs as Riley and I sat in silence in the basement. "Oh hi honey! Maya's downstairs, I don't get why she insists on spending all her time down there. Just teenager things, right? I'm sure you can relate."

I cringed, when I heard my mom trying to have small talk with Lucas. At least she's trying, I guess.

Every muscle in my body tensed when I heard footsteps descending down the staircase. Riley must have had it worse. Her leg jittered uncontrollably, like she was a drug addict suffering from withdrawal.

"I came here as fast as I could." His voice echoed slightly in the nearly empty basement. He was slightly out of breath. "Is everything-"

Lucas froze as he turned the corner from the staircase and came face to face with Riley and I. His blue eyes grew wide. He stared emptily at Riley.

Unsure of what to do, the girl tucked a thin strand of her chestnut coloured hair behind her ear and waved timidly. "Hi." She said softly.

"Is that really you?" Lucas' voice cracked as he stepped closer, gently caressing her cheek to make sure this wasn't an illusion.

I stood to the side awkwardly, feeling like I was watching some cheesy rom-com where the lovers reunited after spending decades apart. To be honest, a wave of jealously hit when Lucas touched her like that. I knew that they were extremely close friends so I figured it was best not to ruin their moment by telling Lucas to back off.

To my surprise, he embraced her in a tight hug. Apparently this took Riley by surprise as well. Her arms stayed down against her sides as her wrapped his arms around her. "Oh my gosh, you're okay." He sighed in relief.

Riley chuckled and nodded, finally returning the gesture. "Yeah, I am."

After the hug prolonged for more than 10 seconds I pushed my way through the two of them, separating the hug. "Okay, that's enough cowboy."

"Aww, baby, are you jealous?" Riley teased, turning her body to press a kiss to my cheek.

Lucas watched the interaction between the two of us with a confused look. His eyebrows furrowed together, trying to make sense of what had happened. I'm sure he already had a plethora of questions and watching Riley be romantic with me just made it worse for the boy with a pea sized brain.

"I need to sit down." He sighed, looking at the old mattress before taking a seat.
"What in the world is happening?" Lucas asked.

For the next hour and a half, Riley and I explained everything with extreme detail to Lucas. From how we met to how I eventually pieced together the fact that Riley was the one who was accused of killing Mason, not some other girl. We even told him about how Danielle came into the picture, telling me to stay away from Riley.

Lucas  stayed silent throughout he entire conversation, allowing the information we told him to sink in.

"Wait, are you two a thing?" He asked slowly.

Riley and I looked at each other before turning back to Lucas. "It's complicated." We replied in unison.

"Okay..." His voice trailed off as he thought of something else to say. "Well what can I do to help? I want your name to be cleared just as badly as you do, Riley."