HIS SIDEKICK

12.) Always & Forever

Riley Pov:

In the moment I didn't care about the cars that might trample me, or Ryder calling my name. All I saw was a distorted looking Jasmine, and I needed her to be okay.

I ignored the honks of the incoming traffic, as I rushed across the street to meet Jasmine. "Jas! Jas!" I yelled, waving my arms for her to see. She looked like a deer in headlights after hearing her name called. 

I didn't realize it, but Ryder wasn't in the car anymore. His hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me off of the street. "Let me go!" I screamed, elbowing him in the stomach. 

"Riley! I am trying to help you!" I wasn't listening to his words, I couldn't when my mind was whirling around Jasmine. She looked like she had been dragged through the mud over and over and over again. 

"Jasmine!" I yelled, again trying my hardest to get out of Ryders grasp.

"Get the fuck off of me you asshole!" And with that he released me. I staggered for a second, turning to look at my 'hero.' His mouth was pulled into a frown, and his eyes crystallized like I had committed the most horrendous act. In that moment I didn't care.

I ran as fast as I could to Jasmine, pulling her off of the bench and into a bear hug. "Oh my God! We were looking everywhere for you!" I sighed, nudging my head into her neck.

My mouth hung at her shoving me away. I don't understand. Why is she being so cold to me? I thought we were best friends.

"Let go of me!" She pushed me one last time. Staggering back a few feet, I was finally able to see her face under the street light. Her eyes were swollen and puffy. She had been crying. 

"Jas-

"Why are you here?" Her voice cut off, blocked by tears. 

"What do you mean? You ran away like some kind of crazy person and we drove around all afternoon looking for you!" My chest pumped up and down with adrenaline, but I kept speaking. 

"Jasmine... why did you leave like that?" I asked her. My own voice threatened to break off and burst into tears at the thought of my best friend, no my sister going through this silent battle with herself. I never could understand why she could never just talk to me.

"Why?" She laughed uneasily. "Come on Riley! You- she stopped to stare behind me. I turned to see Ryder and Jaxon at my side. 

"See! That is exactly my point!" She laughed again, turning on her heel in the opposite direction. I stared dumbfounded, I have never seen her like this before. She almost looked psychotic... But that wasn't going to stop me from bringing her home.

"Jasmine stop!" I yelled at her back, but she kept walking without a single care in the world. 

"You are going to get hurt out here! Come home!" With that she stopped dead in her tracks, slowly turning on her heel to face me. The florescent light from the street pole simmered over the top of her face, to where only her mouth and nose were visible. 

Her voice quivered. "C-come h-home? I don't have a home Riley!" Her scream almost made my heart stop. "I don't have anything- she continued. "I don't have a car, parents who care about me, a stable life... I don't even have you anymore Riles." My heart stung from her calling me by my nickname. 

"Look around Jasmine! None of us have that either!" I yelled back at her. 

Ryders dad was an ex-marine with Schizophrenia which pretty much made him a looney case, while his mom was never home being the bread getter in the family. I don't know much about Jaxon, but I know he didn't get that scratch on his face in a street fight, and as for me she knows I don't have any of that anymore so why is she any different from us? 

 I shook my head, refusing to believe what she was saying. She had me.

"You have him now." The pitch of her voice raised an octive like she was holding back tears. I couldn't speak, I couldn't rebuttal or even think. My thoughts spiraled with the idea that Jasmine really thought this way, and believed it...

"Riley's your best friend Jasmine, and I'm not going to get in the way of that."

Jasmine scoffed, rubbing her arms from the cold. 

"Whatever you say Ryder." She turned away walking in the direction of wherever the hell she planned on going. I can't hold back tears anymore, I can't let someone I care about walk away from me like this. I already lost my parents to alcohol, but I refuse to lose Jasmine too. 

"I get it okay?"I released a sigh. 

 She stopped again, this time not turning to look back at me. "Your parents hurt you too. They had you thinking the only thing that was important about you was a grade on a sheet of paper. They locked you in the house all day, and they belittled you. But you walked away Jasmine! You got the hell out of there. You- You don't have to walk away from me to- I choked on another tear.

"I know it's scary. Trust me I know. Do you know how hard it was to trust Ryder after something like that? Or even you? But I fought through the feeling of distrust and pain and I still learned to keep you close, and meet somebody that I- that I love." I stuttered. I've never actually told Ryder I loved him before, but that is a talk for another day...

"You can do it Jas! Don't walk away from me!" I mustered all of the hope, pain, and despair I had to get her to walk back to me, to hug me. But she just stood there. Her back to me, shaking. I knew she was cold, and I knew she was crying. I know how she feels. I know that she knows how I feel. And I also know how hard it is to push through and continue to hope and trust when you've been repeatedly knocked down by the people you loved and trusted.

I didn't utter another word. I couldn't. My voice was hoarse from the screaming and yelling, and my throat was sore from all of the crying. I just wanted to hug her, to hold her and tell her it was going to be okay. That we were going to get through it together. But I couldn't. I didn't want to risk her running away again. 

"She's right Jasmine." I heard a voice behind me that didn't belong to Ryder. 

"You are strong, and you can fight whatever battle you're fighting with us!" He shouted. 

"We-we haven't known each other for that long, I know that. But in the short time I have known you you've been hilarious as shit!" He chuckled a little to himself. "You've been a positive person to be around. You listened to me when I cried to you about Violet." He stopped, coughing into his fist. And you even nurtured me in a time of need.. so let us do the same for you." He finished. Though Jasmine still stood still, saying nothing. 

I shivered at Ryder placing a cold hand on my shoulder. He leaned down to whisper something in my ear.

"Go get her." 

I didn't need any more clarification than that. I ran as fast as I could to her before she could get away again. When I was only inches away I swung my arms out, placing her in a gigantic bear hug. 

"You are my best friend, Jasmine. And you always will be."

When the deepest, darkest parts of your past live inside of you, how do you keep the fragments from fracturing the surface? How do you keep the ones you love, without cutting them with the broken glass that surrounds your heart? How do I escape from the darkness, with shards in my bloodstream? How do I escape my own mind?