The Night We Met

Chapter 36

Riley's POV:

This is it. The moment I've been dreading for the past three weeks now. James will be leaving with the band today and part of me wishes he would stay. As much as I want him to go and I know it's only two weeks, there's a burning ache in my bones telling me that this isn't right. The only times I've ever felt like this in the past would have been after getting myself into an argument with my friends or family about Aiden. It's a feeling of guilt, regret, trepidation. And I just don't know how to let go of this fear deep inside of me.

"So . . . just two weeks, right?" I say to James as we stood outside of the music studios by the tour bus. I had my arms wrapped around his neck, my hands linked together, whilst his rested on my waist, pulling me in close.

"Two weeks and then you'll be in my arms again," he replies, smirking before placing a gentle kiss on my lips. I smile and then allows us to pull away but we keep our hands where they were on each other's bodies. The bruise on my side was slowly healing so he wasn't putting as much pressure onto it as he would have done if he was to hold me like this a month ago. It was now a faint purple, round mark, more than a large blue spillage. "What's up?" he asks, rubbing my sides up and down. "There's something on your mind, I can tell."

"I'm stressing," I sigh, leaning my head against his own. "I really don't want you to go, James. As much as you need to, I just wish you didn't have to go now. I've been having so many panic attacks lately and you won't be there to comfort me if I get one now," I say. He looks around him, biting his lip before leaning his head against mine again.

"Do you really not want me to go? It's not too late. It'll be last minute but-" he begins to say, only to be interrupted by Luke heading over with his guitar case in hand.

"Today's the day, James! We'll be in Montreal in only a couple of hours, Riley," he says. He walks over to where James and I were stood to tap both mine and James's shoulders, instantly making me look down. It's becoming real now. As soon as James boards the coach, I'll be on my own for the next fourteen days and I just don't know if I'll be able to cope. Luke smiles at either one of us before leaving to help John and Theo load the instruments onto the vehicle, leaving James and I in our own little bubble again.

"You have to go, James. It's too late now to decide not to," I whisper to him, biting my lip slightly. 

"I love you, okay," he says, pulling me closer so that my chin rested on top of his shoulder. I close my eyes, breathing in the scent I won't be able to smell for the next few days to come. "If anything happens, and I mean anything, you call me, yeah?" he whispers into my ear, kissing the top of my ear. and then my temple.

"Okay," I reply. "I love you." He smiles at me as we pull away from each other before sealing our lips together again in a deep, long kiss. 

"I don't mean to break something beautiful, but . . . we really have to get going, James," John says, checking the time on his wrist-watch and causing James and I to pull apart. He wraps his arm over my two shoulders as I rest my head on his shoulder and we turn around to face his bandmate. "It's twelve o'clock. The convention starts at seven tonight," he says and I nod my head. John makes eye-contact with me and smiles softly before stepping forward to pull me into a quick hug, James allowing me to step out of his grip. "I'll make sure James stays in touch with you all throughout, okay?" he says, making me chuckle.

"Okay."

He steps away from me and then heads inside the coach with the boys as Luke ruffles John's hair and squeals. He and Theo were definitely a lot more hyper compared to John and Theo. As they head inside, James turns me around to face him again and he takes a hold of both of my hands.

"I have something to give you before I go," he says.

"What? James, you didn't have to get me anything."

"You haven't even seen what it is yet, Ri," he says, laughing a little which makes me roll my eyes. He legs go of my hands and then rushes over to the coach where the driver was stood by the compartment where the luggage was kept, about to close it shut. James stops him right before and then takes a box out from somewhere before quickly rushing back over to me. I raise an eyebrow at him, struggling to suppress another eyeroll as I watch him faff about before he hands me the purple and white painted shoebox, placing it in my hands.

"What is this?" I ask him, laughing slightly.

He smiles at me and then opens the lid, revealing a set of other tiny boxes within. Each one had a number on it, almost like an advent calendar, and each was a different colour, the first box being dark crimson red and then it goes down the rainbow for the last number (which was 14) to be violet. He places his hands over the top of mine as I held it, trying to understand what it was, and then I feel his forehead touching mine again.

"Each day, I want you to open the box and inside will be a lyric to a song I wrote about you. On the very last day, the day I come back, there's not only the final lyric but also a special gift." I look up at him, about to say something but I stop myself as he continues. "You were asking to hear me sing the other day? So I thought what would be better than for me to write a song about you and maybe one day you just might be able to hear it," he says. I look at him, stunned and shaking my head, before he puts the lid back on the box and I reach onto my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. 

"Thank you," I whisper to him. "This is amazing."

"Anything to show you how much you mean to me, Ri," he says, kissing my cheek too. we pull apart and the two of us smile at each other for a moment before hearing a knock on a window. Turning around, we look in the direction of the coach to see Luke sat there, staring at us and banging on the glass, gesturing for James to hurry up by pointing at his wrist which ironically held no watch. Rolling our eyes, James and I chuckle before smiling at each other once again. "I need to go, babe."

"Yeah, of course."

"I'll text you as soon as we get to Montreal, okay," he says and I nod my head.

"Okay. Now stop wasting time and get on that coach before they drive off without you," I say, laughing. He kisses me one more time and squeezes my hand before running off onto the coach.

I stand there, watching him with a soft smile on my face until I realise that he was sat beside Madelyn. Just that fact makes me shudder alone but I try to hide it. I shouldn't be jealous. He loves me, I love him, that's that. As the coach starts up, James smiles at me from where he was sat by the window seat. He blows me a kiss so I chuckle and blow one to him in response.

Only a few seconds later, they start driving off and I watch them as they leave the car park and head onto the main road. But as they do, my phone beeps in the pocket of my hoody,, which at some point in time belonged to James. I move over to the nearest wall and place the box down above it before taking my phone out to find a text from him.

J: Missing you already😘

I smile to myself and chuckle, shaking my head. 

This was it. I was on my own now for two weeks. Two weeks is all it is. I'll be fine. He'll be fine. My only question is . . . will we be fine?