Until The End ✔

28 | Riley

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Riley Danforth

Mum's car sped down the streets she was now completely familiar with. The windows were rolled down and a warm breeze whipped around us. The sweet, apple scent of her perfume was strangely comforting. She fiddled with the radio until she found a station she liked, and I watched from the corner of my eye as she tapped her manicured nails against the steering wheel cover.

I was nervous. There was no denying that. When my phone had buzzed earlier that morning I had expected it to be Ethan, or Will, suggesting another day of baking in the summer sun and shooting hoops. But I picked up my phone and read Emmi's name on the screen. Her parents were out and she wanted to see me.

I had sweated through the first two t-shirts I had chosen, my nerves getting the better of me. As Mum had been rummaging through the kitchen drawers for her car keys I had quickly changed into a white t-shirt and hurried down the stairs on my backside, shuffling like a toddler who was yet to master walking.

Now, as we inched closer to Emmi's house, my hands were damp and my mouth was dry. I wiped my palms against my shorts and leant towards the open window.

"What's wrong?" Mum asked, as she rolled to a stop at a junction and waited for the lights to turn green.

She looked at me quickly before turning her attention back to the road.

"I don't know what I'm going to say," I said quietly.

"I have absolutely every faith that you'll be okay. Hell, these last two weeks have shown that anything's possible, right? You and Will have been getting along, and your father and Will have been talking." She reached across and grabbed my hand. Her hands were soft, and as she squeezed my fingers she looked at me again. "Everything will be fine," she promised. "I'm a mother. I know things."

"You're ridiculous," I laughed.

"I can turn this car around," she teased. "Don't tempt me!"

"You wouldn't!"

Minutes later the car stopped. I hadn't been to Emmi's house before, so the building to my left was unfamiliar territory. But the driveway was empty and Emmi's beat up car was parked on the street in front of us, so this had to be the place.

"Stop. Biting. Your. Nails." Mum pulled my hand away from my mouth and pushed my towards the door. "Now get a move on, or the neighbours are gonna think we're weird."

I climbed out of the car and hopped onto the pavement as Mum sped away before I could change my mind. I shook my head as the car disappeared at the end of the road and turned towards the two story building before me.

It reminded me of my grandparents house. The garden was bursting with flowers. Different colours and different smells. Insects and bees buzzing climbing and flying about the neatly trimmed bushes and potted plants. Thankfully there were no gnomes. Just a welcome mat beneath the door and a brass knocker shaped like a lion.

I knocked twice and waited, my right leg feeling as though it was about to buckle.

The door opened into a bright foyer. Emmi stood in front of me in an oversized t-shirt that drowned her small frame, and a pair of cotton shorts that were barely visible beneath the hem of the t-shirt.

"God I've missed you," I sighed as she stepped towards me. She almost knocked me over as her arms wrapped around my neck but she held on tight enough for the both of us.