Perfectly Ourselves

Chapter 12

"Keely I need your help!!" I hear Riley yell from his apartment.

"Coming!!" I yell back as I quickly put on a hoodie and walk out of my apartment and into Riley's. His apartment is the same as mine, the only difference is you can definitely tell that there's only one guy living here. But it's surprisingly much cleaner then I had thought it would be. Riley was never one for cleaning up his messes.

I see Riley in his kitchen, which is smoking.

"Oh my gosh Riley! What have you done?!"

Riley looks at me with a tired expression.

"I was making myself dinner, as I always do. But the stupid mac'n'cheese had to get burnt."

I shake my head. "How the heck do you even burn boxed macaroni and cheese?"

Riley shrugs. "Can you help?" He shows me the almost black noodles, and I sigh.

"There's no helping that. It's trash. Just come to my apartment and I'll make you something more healthy then that."

Riley sadly dumps his coal- I mean dinner into the trash can.

"You're food better be good."

I roll my eyes and walk out of Riley's apartment and into mine. I leave the door open and go straight to the kitchen.

Riley closes the door behind him, and goes and sits on my couch.

Zoey comes running out of Noah's bedroom. "Mommy! Uncle Noah totally cheated!!"

"Silly Noah. He should've known you'd catch him cheating." I say.

Zoey huffs. "Well of course. But I still want to play. But not with uncle Noah. He's a cheater."

"You could see if Mr. Riley wants to play with you." I say as I grab some spices out of my spice cabinet.

Zoey eyes Riley. "I don't like him, but I guess I'll ask if he wants to play."

Zoey skips over to Riley and crosses her arms. "Look Mr. Riley. My mother doesn't like you, so I don't like you. But for the sake of playing my favorite card game, will you play with me?"

Riley glances at me, like he's asking permission to play cards with Zoey.

I smile and give him a thumbs up.

"Sure Zoey, but you'll have to teach me how to play this card game."

Zoey claps her little hands together and sits on the couch next to Riley and starts explaining how to play.

I busy myself in making dinner for everyone. Ignoring how Riley keeps looking over at me. Ignoring how it makes my stomach tingle, and how my heart melts every time I hear Zoey and Riley laughing together.

I set the table, and call everyone to come eat. Noah grabs his plate, and tries to head off to his bedroom, but I call him back.

"Don't eat in your room Noah."

Noah frowns but sits next to Riley, who's straight across from me. We eat in silence until Zoey's finished eating. "Mother, may I please be excused and go get ready for bed?"

"Yes, thank you for being so polite."

Zoey nods and takes her plate to the counter then goes off to our bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

"How old is Zoey?" Riley asks staring at my bedroom door.

"She's 5 and a half." Noah says.