The fake girlfriend deal. ||BEING HEAVILY EDITED||

25~Parents Debate (Edited)

Yuna-

    I awake to the sound of pen on paper, scribbling away. As I blink my heavy lidded eyes, I make out the light of Riven's nightstand lamp, lit up and casting the room in an orange glow. I blink again and rub the grit from my eyes. Riven was sitting upright in bed, writing on a piece of paper he had pinned to a clipboard. When I squinted, I could tell his eyes were glossy. 

   "Riven?" I turn and grab my phone, Four AM? Why was he still up this late?

    "I couldn't sleep. F-Figured I should go ahead and write the letters." He stammered from lack of sleep, letting out a small yawn. 

"What do you have so far?"

        "Finished writing the letter to my parents, I'm working on what to say to Marc..." He runs a hand over his short hair, "I honestly don't know what to tell him." 

   His voice was croaky and dry, laced with barely hidden emotion. I look at the page and see half of it had been covered in words. 

   Riven set his pen down on the nightstand and let his face fall into his hands, a groan escaping his lips. By the dim light, I can make out the scars on his ribs as he slept shirtless. They're long and jagged, swollen and white like they had just begun to heal- making me wonder if he's been picking at them to slow the healing time.  

       "Maybe you need to sleep for a few hours, then you'll be refreshed enough to write."  I shrug, hoping a bit of sleep would help with his anxiety.

    Riven leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed his prosthetic, "Yeah." He mutters, sliding it on and standing. I follow behind him, watching him go to the bathroom. I watch as he grips the rim of the porcelain sink until his knuckles turn white. I watch him stare at his reflection in the mirror.

   His deep eyes are bloodshot and glazed over. His Jaw twitches. 

    "When they let him take over the company, Marc just moved out." He says slowly, "He left us. We were his siblings and he left us. Knowing what mom and dad were like. He should have protected us."

   His voice is strained, crackling as he pants for breath. A few ragged exhales escape him as he glances down to the floor, still gripping the sink. 

  I place my hand on his upper back and he very slightly flinches from the touch. "I don't know..." I start, "I don't understand how anyone can leave their family, especially when they know how much harm could come to them."

    "My parents hated me and my own brother didn't care enough to save me from them."

Hunter leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling as he scoffed,   "Madison doesn't even consider him a brother anymore." 

              "I don't understand how anyone could do what Marc did. You were nothing but good to him." I wonder if maybe the guilt could be why he doesn't face his brother, though that's not an excuse. 

He took one more deep breath of air as he turned to face me, running his hands down my bear arms, eyes scanning my thin nightgown. Shockingly, I never feel the need to squirm under his gaze, I never feel like I'm a piece of meat. I actually feel... What's the word? Anticipation? Secretly wondering when he'll finally touch me 

        "As long as I have you...I'm happy."

"Well then,"   I giggled, holding his hand as we walked back into the bedroom, the cushioned carpet below our bare feet, "Just know-You're never losing me."

         "I hope to Hell I don't."  Riven chuckled, putting his arms on either side of me as he leaned in for an open kiss.

     My body heated up intensely as I pulled him closer to me, my tongue slipping into his mouth and his in mine. Nothing has ever felt so right, so correct, in my entire life.