Unrequited [ON HOLD]

1.1

// chapter eleven. //

English seemed to drag on and on. I had made it threw the whole week but my last class on Friday was always the worst. We were studying Shakespeare at the moment and I would rather stick pins in my eyes. Glancing around the room it seemed as though everyone else felt the same way. We may be smart, but that doesn't mean we enjoy reading it.

Finally, the bell rung and I gathered all my things to leave. Once I reached my locker I saw Riley standing next to it. She was on her phone with her hair in her face. Even though I had seen her just a couple of hours ago at lunch I found myself getting excited at the chance to talk to her.

"Isn't your locker in the other hall?" I said as I approached her. She looked up from her device and when she saw me her face broke out into a smile. Well, this is weird. Suddenly she threw her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a hug.

"I got a C on my math test!! I may not fail after all! I wouldn't be homeless!!" She shouted, her breath fanning across my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist to make the hug less awkward. I couldn't help but notice how good it felt to hold her.

"That's great! I knew you could do it!" I whispered. She pulled away and I felt a sudden rush of cold due to the absence of her body. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as her cheeks turned just the slightest shade of pink. Wait, was Riley Brooks actually blushing? Because of me?

"Thanks! Well I hate to do this but I really have to go. I just wanted to tell you about my test." She said looking up to meet my eyes.

"Okay. I'm glad to hear you passed, mostly because that means I'm a great teacher." I said giving her a cocky smile.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there buddy, it's only a C." She said turning to leave but before she did she spoke again, "Really though thanks, I couldn't have done it without you." And with that she left.

"Yes you could Riley, I know you could." I said to the now empty hall.

--

Elliott, Ian, Cason and I were sat in my living room throwing a ball back and forth. Ian caught the ball and sighed.

"Please tell me this is not how we are spending our Friday night."

Elliott looked up from his phone, "Got any better ideas?"

"Of course I do." Ian said as he stood. "Adam's party." He stated simply.

Elliott and Cason looked at one another. "Alright I'm game." Elliott said, Cason nodded his head in agreement. Then all three boys turned to face me.

"Sure, whatever. I don't really like Adam though." I said as I stood.

"Rumor has it Riley's gonna be there." Ian teased.

"You still haven't hit that dude?" Cason said breaking from his normal silence.

"Shut the f.uck up Ian. And no I haven't Cason. Wait have you even got Anna, you're awfully quiet about that." I said raising my eyebrows. We all walked into my garage and loaded into my car.

Cason's eyes widen for about a second before he answered "Yeah of course I have. We're all waiting on you buddy."

I rolled my eyes as I started the car. How the hell was I the only one that hadn't slept with their girl yet? Damn Riley. I need to get this over with, maybe if she really is at this party tonight I'll do it. I mean I did help her pass her math test.

--

The music sucked and everyone around me was drunk off their ass. We had been here for two hours with no sight of Riley. I came to the conclusion that Ian had lied just so I would come.

I sat on the couch in the middle of the living room. Everyone around me was talking and in some cases, basically f.ucking. Suddenly a blonde girl was in my lap.

"Hiiiiiii Lucas. Funny seeing you here." She giggled and then I recognized her, Ivey. Oh shit.

"Yeah, hilarious." I said as I tried to get her off my lap.

"I've missed you Lukey. It's almost like you have been avoiding me." Ivey was my girl from last year. She was really easy, I got with her in like two weeks. Unfortunately, she would not let me go. This is way I hated parties, she was always there. I awkwardly shifted again. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this?

Then I noticed her empty cup, "Hey Ivey, you want me to go get you another drink?"

"Oh would you? My feet hurt sooooo bad!!" She said pointing to her feet that were dressed in six inch heels.

I gently pushed her off me as I took her cup to go find Elliott. We needed to get the hell out of here. I walked into the kitchen and put Ivey's cup in the trash, god knows she needed to be cut off.

"She won't appreciate that." I heard a voice say from behind me. Wait, was that? I turned around and saw her, god she was hot. Her black jeans made her legs look extra long and her black shirt made her pale skin stand out. "You aren't even trying to be discreet are you? Try not to drool Owens." Riley said as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"What are you doing here?" I said, it came out more rude than it was intended.

"Adam is my best friend's boyfriend I kinda had to come. Believe me if I had a choice I wouldn't be here." She said as she leaned against the counter.

"Me too. I'm the DD for my idiot friends." I said truthfully.

"Aw did you get nominated tonight? That must suck." She said as she brought her red cup to her lips.

"Actually I'm always the DD, I don't drink." I noticed Riley stopped for a second.

"You don't?" She said, sounded genuinely surprised.

"Don't sound so shocked."

"I don't either." She said simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh really?" I said as I raised my eyebrows and pointed to her red cup.

She tipped her cup down so that I could see it. "Water." She said with a smirk. "You see, I find that if you carry around a cup the idiots don't beg you to get a drink." She smiled. "So I saw you with Ivey, do you take pride in taking advantage of girls that are under the influence?"

"Oh please, if she had it her way we would be married with five children." I said as I turned to look back into the living room. Ivey had already moved onto to talking to the next boy. "So if you don't drink and don't have any creepy boys after you, what do you do at these shit fests?" I said as I joined her leaning on the counter.

"I hangout with my boyfriend of course." She said as she turned to look at me. Wait what? Boyfriend? You've got to be f.ucking kidding me. Then Riley started laughing. "You-you should have seen your face! Oh my gosh that was great! I don't have a boyfriend you dumbass. If I had a boyfriend do you really think I'd be in here? Talking to you?" So that kind of stung. I thought we were on our way to being friends but as always, Riley is still a bitch.

"Fair point. Well I need to find my friends, I'm tired of this place." I said as I pushed myself off the counter.

"Oh come on Owens, don't be such a drama queen." Riley whined rolling her eyes.

"No really I want to leave. You being a bitch has nothing to do with it." I stated to the brunette.

"Alright look. I'm a bitch, you're a dick. We're both shit people. But that doesn't mean that we can't be friends right? I mean if you are gonna be tutoring me we might as well put all this behind us." She said, and damn it, she's right.

"Alright fine." I said and Riley thrusted her hand out. "Do we seriously have to shake on it?" I said raising my eyebrows. Riley just nodded in response. "This is so lame." I said shaking my head.

"Friends?" Riley asked.

"Friends." And with that we shook hands.