pull me back | a drag me down spin off

【eighteen】

thursday night
one hour after the science fair

"Grace!" Riker's deep voice fills the noisy area as he pushes past cops and reporters standing on my lawn.

Heavy tears continue to stream down my face as I let out another sob. My wet eyes latch onto his as he walks over to me.

"Are you okay? I rushed over here as soon as I heard your voicemail." He wraps his arms around me and looks down at my crying face.

"I'm just shaken up, that's all." I can barely say the words. My head motions toward my garage door, that is still covered with the scary threat.

"We're coming for you." He reads the words loud and clear. "Who the fuck would do that?"

"None of my neighbors saw anybody do this, but the cops are concerned. It's a threat." I cling onto his body as he embraces me into a hug.

"Why would a random person write that on your garage door? What does it even mean?"

"I don't think it was random." I can't help but mutter.

He instantly furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, what?"

"Nothing, just forget it." I try to dry some of my tears.

Looking back at the intense crime scene that my house turned into, I glance around at my cluttered front lawn. Reporters are taking pictures of the threat, while the cops are questioning my parents and uncle.

"Hey, you're okay. You're safe, that's all that matters." He surprises me by cupping my cheeks and forcing my crying eyes to look into his.

"Wow, Riker Sinclair is sweet. Who would have thought?" I try to lighten the mood by joking.

"You're growing on me, Dolan. That's the wild part." He pushes a piece of hair behind my ear and stares down at me.

I bury my face into his chest and embrace him into a comforting hug. He returns the gesture by squeezing onto my body.

"I'm glad you're here." I say with a low whisper.

"I'll always be here." He gives me a reassuring nod.

Dad's eyes roam over to where Riker and I are standing, cuddled up against each other. I notice an angry look is on his face as he begins marching over to us.

"Hey, you. Sinclair." He points to him.

"Uh, hello sir." Riker slowly untangles his arms from my back.

"Dad, what are you doing?" I furrow my eyebrows as he gets closer to his face.

"You don't happen to know anything about this, do you?" Dad accuses.

"Are you insane?" My eyes widen.

"No, of course not." Riker defends himself.

"I just find it ironic that a few days after you get invited to my house, it randomly gets vandalized."

"Dad, stop." I say through my teeth, growing embarrassed.

"I know it seems sketchy, but I would have no reason to vandalize your home." Riker makes himself perfectly clear.

"No reason? I think that's a little bit of bullshit." Dad shocks me by saying.

"Oh my god, Dad! What the hell is your problem!" I yell, my anger is boiling inside of me.

"My problem is him, Grace. I don't trust the guy." Dad clenches his jaw.

"Mr. Dolan, I'm sorry if you got a bad first impression of me, but I didn't do this."