The Night We Met

Chapter 58

Riley's POV:

Since there were too many of us here compared to the amount of people we began with, it meant some of us had to take the tour bus back to Toronto and the other half would get a flight back on behalf of Mr. T's money. It was Michelle, Madelyn, Theo, James and I who had the privilege of going on the plane whilst John, Luke, Thalia, Giselle and Mr. T took the coach back instead.

I hadn't heard from Aiden since he spoke to me at the club bar the other night. I don't think anyone's heard from him, he sort of just walked out the moment I pulled away from him after he had tried to kiss me. I don't know if that's for better or worse though.

"Babe," James says from where he was sat beside me on the plane. I was sat by the window with James beside me and a young man beside him. Madelyn, Michelle and Theo were sat on the row behind us, chatting amongst themselves. James places his hand down on my thigh, causing me to turn my head around from gazing out of the window and I look at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Hm?"

"You alright?" he asks me, making me smile and nod my head. It was just the two of us now. Madelyn was out of the picture and so was Aiden. We could finally be happy without the pressures of anyone else. I rotate my body around slightly so that I could wrap my arms around him and bury my head against his chest.

"Everything's great, James," I whisper to him, making him smile down at me. I bite my lip, thinking about something that had been stuck in my head ever since we were on the rooftop last night and he told me the secret history about the gift box. I look up at him, my chin resting on his chest as I do so and then I speak up. "I want to meet your dad. Charles."

"You . . . what?" he asks and I smile up at him, nodding my head and cupping his cheek.

"I want to meet him. And I think you need to reconnect with him. If I meet your dad . . . I'll reconnect with my family and you can meet them when we get back home too," I tell him and he smiles, nodding his head.

"Yeah, I can make a deal with that," he chuckles, making me smile before he lifts my hand off his cheek and brings it to his lips instead so that he doesn't kiss my knuckles, but the 'forever' ring he had given me.

"Awwww," Michelle sings from behind us, causing me to roll my eyes at the deafening sound of her loud chant. "You two are adorableee!" she squeals, making both James and I laugh before connecting our lips, making it visible to our three friends sat behind us.

"She's right," Madelyn speaks up, making me look up at her as she stood up with her arms resting on the head of James's seat. "You two are perfect for each other, and I mean that in a good way. James deserves you, Riley, and you deserve him," she says. I look up at her and smile before cuddling up to James.

Things really were perfect now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

. . .

After a one and a half hour flight back due to a twenty minute delay, James and I got a taxi back to his campus. We loaded his car with our suitcases and then decided to drive towards his dad's tonight so that we could spend one or two nights there, so long as everything goes well and the two don't lose their temper with each other.

I could tell James was nervous about the whole 'girlfriend meeting father' thing but he didn't need to be. Which is why as we started driving along the motorway, I placed my hand on his knee to slow him down. He was driving almost too-fast at the moment and I was scared that if I didn't send him a hint to stop with the speed, we wouldn't even make it to his dad's alive for me to meet him.

"James, stop worrying," I tell him with a light laugh.

"I'm not worrying, Riley," he says but just the fact he hadn't called me by use of one of his usual nicknames confirms that he was, in fact, worrying right now.

"Then would you like to explain to me why you're currently driving at sixty miles an hour?" I ask him, making him roll his eyes. He slows down but his grip tightens on the steering wheel. He was definitely stressing if he wasn't worried. "Everything is going to be fine, okay."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew my dad, Riles," he says, glancing between myself and the road. I breathe in hesitantly, continuing to subtly draw circles on his knee with my fingers which makes him steady his breathing and slowly loosen his grip on the steering wheel. It was silent but I knew it needed to be silent for him to think straight. The more I spoke, the more it would have stressed him out. "I just . . ." he begins to say after some time, "I don't want you to think something highly of him and then be disappointed once you meet him and the slut he calls a wife. I don't want him to say or do something offensive towards you. It's fine if he does it to me but if he does it to you, that's when I draw the line."

"James, nothing is going to happen. I promise. And if something does, we can sort it out. All we're doing is having a polite conversation with him. I'm sure your dad would want to meet the girl his son's fallen in love with. Wouldn't he?" I probe but he shakes his head, looking down at me before placing his hand on top of mine and squeezing mine.

"I love you but can you please not call him my dad? It's Charles, Ri. Just Charles, okay?" he asks and I breathe in before sighing. It's clear I'm not going to be able to change his mind on this, so I have to appreciate his wishes.

"Okay," I whisper before leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Just promise me you won't make a scene though? If he's gonna do something, I don't want you to get involved. If something happens, come straight to me so I can calm you down instead of watching you run a battlefield," I say with a light chuckle, making him smile before nodding in agreement.

"Promise," he says and I smile.