Tough Love

Chapter 52

James's POV

I, along with the rest of a troupe, stand in the airport and wait to board onto the plane.

"Who else is in row thirty with me?" I ask. Everyone shrugs and checks their tickets. I notice Riley's face drop a little.

"Me." She says, sounding sad.

"Me too." Charlie pipes up.

"I got window." I say.

"Aisle." Charlie says.

"Well, than I guess I'm between you two." Riley says.

"Flight two thirty ready for boarding." A voice says over the intercome.

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It was about a two hour and a half hour flight. Everyone was either asleep, reading, or watching a movie.

Riley and Charlie we're beside me, watching a movie, sharing a set if headphones.

After about an hour, the movie they were watching was over, and Charlie was asleep. I notice Riley trying to go to sleep too.

"You can lean on me if you want." I say.

"No, I'm fine." She replies.

"Why don't you just lean on your boyfriend?" I mutter under my breath.

"Huh?" She inquires.

"I seen you and Charlie in the airport Riley. You two were like inseparatable."

"We're just friends James." She protests.

"Really? I'm surprised." I huff.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I mean you can't stand to be alone! You always need someone to whine to Riley." I snap at her.

"That's not true!"

"Let me see. You broke up with me, than got with Josh, than back with me, so I would assume that you would be with Charlie now."

"You know, I can have a guy friend." She mutters.

"Yeah, and than you'll date him because like I said, you can't stand to be alone!" I snap. She pauses before speaking up again.

"James, you don't realize how alone I felt when I was with Josh. I wasn't aloud to see anyone else, or talk to any other guys or anything. It seemed like the only times he would touch me was when he was hitting me." She says, her voice beginning to crack. I let out a pathetic laugh.

"That's always your excuse, isn't it? It's always blamed on Josh!" I growl. She sniffles and looks away.

"You have no idea what I went though in that apartment." She says, her voice barely a whisper.

"Oh, I can imagine." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Oh really? Beaten, starved, raped..." She begins to trail off. She closes her eyes and cries. I begin to soften a bit.

"Riley, I didn't know that he did that to you. You only told me that he hit you." I say calmly. She shrugs.

"You did to the cops that though, right?" I ask.

"Yeah." She says in a 'duh' tone.

"Riley..." I say. She just shakes her head, and leans on Charlie's shoulder. He wakes up and see's Riley leaning on him and smiles. He wraps and arm around her. I scowl at him.

"Why do you care?" He mouths to me.

"Just watch what your doing." I mouth back. He looks back down at Riley and moves her closer to him. Soon, ther both asleep, while I'm still wide awake, watching the two of them, regretting everything from breaking up with Riley, to what I just said to her.