Left Behind (Completed) *editing*

Chapter Four

Riley never called that night. He didn't come to school the next day either. Or the next day. The closest contact I had with him was stalking his Facebook where he updated his status to say 'sick to my stomach'. I responded to tell him to get well soon but never heard back. It was now Friday and the anticipation of hearing from him was growing unbearable. I felt like if he didn't call soon, I could scream. I avoided Colin as possible because I blamed him for Riley's absence.

A day without Riley was like a day without air. Not hearing from him was making me extremely anxious. I usually spent most of my weekends with him and Colin. I finally decided that I couldn't take the silence anymore.

I picked up the phone and called him. His cell phone rang and went to voicemail. I felt my heart drop in the pit of my stomach. Riley was always glued to that phone - he didn't want to talk to me. I decided to go to his house and grabbed my shoes from under the bed. My phone rang and I grabbed it and picked up on the first ring. "Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Hey." Of course, it wasn't Riley. Colin. "I feel like you've been avoiding me."

"I feel like you're right." I answered with a touch of sarcasm. "I was about to walk over Riley's."

"Don't do that," Colin laughed, "Don't call him either. You're going to look crazy."

"I feel crazy. This is the longest he hasn't spoken to me ever."

"Yeah... Well I'm outside your house. Let me in."

I hung right up and ran to the door. I rolled my eyes when I saw him. Liam didn't like when I had friends over but he had work until 9 so we were safe until now. In that aspect of my life, it had been a good week. Liam had barely been around and when he was in rare form. He almost seemed happy.

"Way to invite yourself over... It's crazy if I go to Riley's but fine if you come here?" I glared a hole into him.

"I know you're still mad at me and now that I'm here we can walk to Riley's house together like we usually do on Friday." Colin said cooly. He shrugged and stepped in.

"I can't go over there." My courage was diminishing rapidly as the phone rang again. I answered it quickly. "Hello?"

"Hi Valerie." Riley. I felt like a boulder was lifted off of my shoulders.

I must of smiled because Colin nudged me and immediately blurted out, "Who is it?" with a huge, stupid smile on his face. Colin did care and I began to forgive him as I knew deep down that he meant well by the stunt he had pulled. I turned and mouthed Riley to Colin. He gave me the thumbs up and I shoved him.

"What's up?" I asked him nonchalantly.

"You're busy. I mean, ugh. You have company. I should... I should just let you go," Riley stammered.

"It's just Colin," I quickly stated, desperate to keep him on the phone. "Where have you been?"

"Just Colin," he repeated, his tone somewhat nervous. "I see. Um. I think I just had a stomach bug." His voice returning somewhat normal. "Well, I was going to see if you want to hang out... maybe finish painting that wall tonight. Truth is though, I don't really feel like hanging out with Colin." He chuckled.

That wasn't unusual for him to say. I held back from reading into his words. Usually I'd just bring Colin anyway. Maybe I was reading into it too much but I knew Colin would understand this once.

"Me neither, actually. That sounds great if you're up to it," I said quietly, looking at Colin.

"Really?" Riley's voice squeaked with surprise. "Oh... Well, grab my spray paint and meet me in half an hour?"