Falling Up

3. Late

Riley sat on the bench, overlooking the carpark and looked at her phone. 4:10pm. Jason called early to let her know him and Noah were running a bit late, so she wasn't worried. She put the phone away, pulling out a book from her bag and reading over the homework chapters they were assigned.

The sun was nice today and as it beat down on her porcelain skin, she hoped she could at least get a bit of colour into her. She never had much luck though when it came to tanning, instead choosing to spend more time than was healthy curled up somewhere with a good book.

Pushing up the sleeves of her top to her elbows, she flipped the page on her book and cast her eyes down. After reading for a while, she pulled out her phone again and checked the time. 4:30pm.

She wasn't irritated, she knew how hard her brothers worked to provide for her but she was getting a bit bored of reading her book, which was not as interesting as the usual fantasy or romance novels she delved into. Her eyes glanced across the carpark, waiting for any signs of Jason or Noah and when she didn't see them she started people watching and just staring out over the campus.

It was a beautiful campus and she was lucky to be here. Hell, she just felt lucky to be alive most of the time. In peaceful moments like these she just marveled at the beauty of life. The small white clouds drifting across the sky, the squirrels climbing in the nearby tree and the slight breeze caressing through her hair. She smiled softly just enjoying the moment.

That was until her eyes locked on to Kain. He was laughing with his friends before he noticed a student drop a piece of paper on the floor. Casually excusing himself from the group he ran over, picked up the paper and jogged after the woman who dropped it. The woman was startled slightly by the light tap on her shoulder as Kain passed over the piece of paper, politely chatting with the woman.

As she watched him from afar she couldn't believe how nice he seemed to others, especially not after the encounter she had with him this morning. A group of people came up to them, gathering around and casually chatting away. The girls seemed to fawn over him and she could kind of tell why as she observed him from afar.

From the looks of it he had one of those infectious laughs as he noticed everyone around him laughing whenever he did. He was tall with wavy dark brown hair that he casually brushed back every so often as he let off a charming smile. His fashion sense was also on point with a button down dark grey shirt over a plain white t-shirt with black jeans and a pair of casual sneakers. From the looks of it she wouldn't be surprised if he did some male modelling on the side.

As she saw Kain wave goodbye to his friends he leaned back against his car and his eyes glanced over the car park in front of him. They briefly passed by Riley until they snapped back when he noticed her looking at him. She turned her head away from his gaze immediately, slightly embarrassed at being caught staring, then waited for a few minutes before chancing a glance back at him.

He stood there, arms folded in front of his chest as he leaned against his car. His friendly and happy demeanor that he had not moments ago with his friends was gone. In place of it was his harsh glare and it was directed straight at her.

She stared back for a moment before her courage gave out and she looked away, feeling slightly apprehensive. The glare he was directing towards her wasn't pleasant and she looked at her phone again, more eager than before for her brothers to pick her up. 4:45pm.

"Where are they?" she mumbled under her breath, taking yet another sideways glance at Kain who still hadn't taken his eyes off her.

Why was he even glaring at her? She couldn't quite understand him. Maybe it was something she did. She tried to be nice and polite to everyone today that she passed and the only encounter they really had was this morning when he knocked the books out of her hand. Maybe he was still mad at her for calling him a jerk even though he didn't even apologise for bumping into her.

As she was sitting there contemplating what she did to rub him up the wrong way he noticed Kain push himself off his car and start to walk over to her. She gulped, starting to fidget nervously on the bench. The way he walked towards her with such determination reminded her slightly of her step-father, Vincent and she naturally recoiled in her seat.

Luckily, before Kain could get very far, Jason's car pulled up alongside her. She eagerly shoved her book in her backpack and bounced off the bench. Riley quickly opened up the door to the car and clambered into the front seat.

"I'm sorry I'm late," said Jason as Riley placed her bag in the backseat.

"Where's Noah," she responded, noticing him missing as she put on her seat belt.

"He's closing up shop then heading to the gym. I wanted to get out as soon as possible to pick you up," he said, placing his car into gear and pulling out of the car park.

As they drove out of the car park they passed Kain who was talking on his phone as she managed a quick glance in his direction. Their eyes locked for a moment before the car drove them out of each other's vision, leaving Riley to let out a small breath of relief.

"So how was your first day?" asked Jason as they hit the open road.

"It was good. Classes seem interesting and most people are nice," she said, without Jason hearing the emphasis on the word 'most'. Of course she was referring to her encounter with Kain but she would never tell her brothers. They would probably have a heart attack at her even making eye contact with a boy.

"How was your day?" she asked, eager to steer the conversation away from her. "How was Mr. 3 o'clock?" Riley continued, smirking.

"I wish you guys would stop calling him that," said Jason with a slight smile on his face.

"Come on, you and Tyrus have been flirting back and forth for months. When are you going to ask him out already?" she continued. Noah and Riley had been nudging him for the last month to make a move but Jason seemed pretty stubborn to not progress it any further.

"I'm fine with the way things are. Besides, I don't even know if he swings that way," said Jason as he tapped his fingers along the steering wheel.

"Oh trust me," said Riley. "He swings that way alright."

Jason said no more on the matter though, obviously not keen to get into a discussion about his love life, or lack thereof. They continued driving in silence for the rest of the journey before they reached home.

Riley grabbed her backpack and hopped out of the car. "I'll start on dinner," she said.

They walked through the door to their little house. She still loved their little log house which sat on a small hill, surrounded by an open field and forest. Even though it was a bit out of town it was peaceful and quiet and she loved just sitting on the porch, listening to the bird in the trees as she drank her coffee or delved into a good book.

"I'm heading for a shower then," said Jason as he disappeared down the hallway with Riley heading into the kitchen to start on dinner.

She pulled some ingredients out of the fridge and set to work cutting the mushrooms. Tonight she was preparing a chicken and mushroom risotto. Her and her brothers took turns in cooking and cleaning so everything between them was equal and tonight was her turn to cook.

Fifteen minutes later, the risotto was on the brink of burning, the chicken hadn't finished cooking, half of the mushrooms were unchopped and somehow she had managed to spill chicken stock over the floor. With a knife carelessly in her hand, she rushed back to the stovetop in an attempt to save the rice. Just as the rice was off the burner she slipped on the mess all over the floor, somehow managing not to fall on the floor but the knife in her hand twisted and sliced down her arm in one swift motion.

"Shit" she cursed as she noticed a large gash, the blood beginning to run down her arm. She reached for the nearby tea towel just at the same moment Jason walked into the kitchen.

She gulped.

Jason's eyes turned dark as he saw Riley with a knife in one hand, a tea towel in the other and blood running down her arm. She could see his fists clench beside him and she knew what this looked like to Jason. It looked like she was cutting herself again.