The Bet

Chapter 27

James's POV

Me and Riley lie on the bed, similar to how we were before. Riley's leg wrapped over mine, and our arms around each other.

I felt cautious over the ways I held her. I didn't know what made her uncomfortable and what never, and the last thing I wanted was to make her uncomfortable with me.

She buried her face in my chest, snuggling in as I wrapped both arms tight around her.

I have my chin resting on her head, and look over to her nightstand where a picture frame was sitting.

"Who's that?" I ask. Riley sits up and looks at the picture.

"Oh, that's me and my mom." She says shyly.

"Oh." Is all I can say.

She picks it up and looks at it for awhile before putting it back.

"You look a lot like her." I say softly. I see her smile the tiniest bit.

"Yeah, a lot of people say that." She says. She stares longingly at the picture.

"You miss her, don't you?" I ask. She nods a little.

"Yeah, I do." She says. I see her breathing in shaky breaths, and tears begin to slip down her face. My doings, obviously.

"Riley, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" I try, but I'm cut off.

"No, no...It's...Fine. Can you just...Can you give me a minute?" She ask, trying to sound calm and collected as tears race down her face.

"Yeah, of course." I reply. She took off down the stairs, leaving me alone in her room.

Than I get a phone call from West.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Hey, it's me Eldon too! It's on speaker!" Eldon stupidly pipes up.

"Okay?" I say awkwardly.

"What's up?" West asks again.

"Ah, nothing much. At Riley's house." I say plainly.

"Oh, what are you doing at Riley's house?" West asks. I can see the smirk on his face right now.

"Right now, I am lying on her bed, waiting for her to come back." I say.

"Oh, I see." West laughs.

"Shut up!" I snap into the phone.

"Sorry man. So, what are you doing at Riley's?" He asks.

"Well, I came over for supper, and now wer're just cuddling or whatever." I tell them.

"And where's Riley gone?"

"Well, I may have made her sad and upset, so she left for a minute, and now I'm waiting for her to come back." I explain.

"Made her upset? Looks like we got a pretty good chance of winning this bet still." West says. I scoff.

"Yeah right." I mutter.

"Well, we better let you go now to tend to your lady." West says.

"Yeah, whatever." I groan, rolling my eyes. I hang up the phone and wait for Riley to come back.

~~~~~

Riley comes back in, her face red and eyes puffy. I smile weakly at her as she makes her way back to the bed and into my arms again.

"You alright?" I ask. She nods a little.

"I'm fine." She says quietly.

"If you want to talk about it..."

"No thanks. I'm fine." She says.

"Alright." I sigh, staring down at her.

It was quiet, but there was something I wanted to ask her.

"Riley?" I speak.

"Yeah?"
"Why is it that you didn't want anyone to call you Riles?" I ask slowly.

"Because that's what my mother used to call me." She says. Oh great, I did it again!

"Oh, I'm sorry." I say. She shakes her head.

"No, it's not that big a deal." She says. Than it was silent again.

"You can call me it if you want." She says finally.

"Can I?" I inquire.

"If you want." She shrugs. I smile down at her.

"I'd like that. Riles." I say, smiling down at my girlfriend.