The Night We Met

Chapter 13

creds to sleepdeprived1997 for giving me the inspiration to finally update this😔

Riley's POV:

I held my phone in my hand, smiling to myself as I texted James whilst sat in the cafeteria studying with the girls. Our textbooks were laid out in front of us, pencil cases to the side and coffee cups beside them. I twiddled my ring around my finger whilst I waited for a response from James, letting me know how far away he was. 

Michelle, Thalia, Giselle and I had a two-hour study period today and James had some time in his schedule for us to meet up. We haven't spoken about our kiss ever since it happened last weekend but we are still fake-dating, I just think there's something more between us. 

Taking a sip from my coffee cup, I folded one leg over the other as my phone vibrated in my hand - he had sent two emojis, a wink face and yellow heart emoji. Smiling softly, I set my drink back down and then grabbed my pencil, clicking off of James's contact to go back onto the NHS website I was reading through until I felt a nudge in my arm, making me jog and scribble over my page. "Hey!" I exclaim, raising my head. Then I was met with Michelle rolling her eyes at me.

"You're not listening to me," she whines with a pout. "I was talking to you about John."

At the mention of her 'secret' crush, I raise my eyebrows in question and glance over at Thalia. "She still hasn't asked him out yet," she tells me and I nod. That was all I needed to know in order to realise having a conversation with my best friend about John was just a lost cause. She's been going on about him for months. If she was that into him, she would have swallowed her pride and asked him out already. So I looked back down at my notes and grabbed the Tippex from out of Giselle's case.

"Hey, I have my reasons," Michelle argues for herself. Giselle smirks, scratching one side of her head as she concentrates herself on the 'Johnchelle-focused' debate. I, on the other hand, block out whatever it was they were talking about and look down at my work, placing an air-pod into my left ear to be granted with the joy of listening to Olivia Rodrigo's new album. 

Grabbing a yellow highlighter, I examined the textbook page for the basic rules on helping a child with any kind of heart condition. I highlight all the variations and best ways to handle them before rewriting a few of the facts in my own words. The girls continued to talk among themselves, not taking the fact that I refused to get involved to heart. They know how I am under pressure. Just the fact that we haven't received our exam grades yet is enough to throw me in the deep end and waddle around like a lost fish.

Everything was calm and silent until I felt two arms slither its way around my neck and past my chest, his hands overlapping each other as the owner pressed a kiss to my cheek. My heart stopped at first as I instinctively panicked at the thought of it being Aiden but when he lowers his head down for his lips to meet my ear, I relaxed. 

"Hey, beautiful," he whispered softly and I smiled as he unravelled his arms from around my neck for me to turn around and face him. Olivia's music still playing in my ear, I placed my hands on James's chest and pulled him close to me.

"Hey," I replied, then he smiled and pressed his lips against mine. I kissed him back for a couple of seconds, my body lifting as his weight picked me up slightly but by the time we pulled away, he let me sit back down and I shuffled up along the green sofa, making room for him to sit down beside me. Once he did, I lay my head in the pit of his chest and he wrapped his arm around me protectively. Looking up at the girls, I took in their wildly smirking faces. "Girls, you remember James."

"That, we do," Giselle answers, wriggling her eyebrows. "He's your new man, right, honey?" I blushed in return and cuddled up to James all the more as he rubbed my back comfortingly.