"She still isn't here James" Thalia sighed letting me and the boys in. Michelle was already here, in fact she'd been here all weekend
We had all been coming over to the dorm in the hope that Riley would come home and I could talk to her, the boys could explain themselves too but she hasn't been back at all
It's obvious she is probably with her sister or her parents but I don't think it would have been wise to go looking there
By now Riley's probably told them everything so something tells me I wouldn't be in their good books at all
"You guys really didn't tell her?" Michelle asked and we all shook her head
"In my defence, I tried talking them out of it multiple times but my word is never listened to" West said leaning back against the sofa
"We know West" Thalia said before turning to me
"I just don't understand how on earth any of you thought that was a good idea? I get it, he fucked with Michelle, he made you lose your job but what did Riley do to you?" Thalia asked and I shook my head
"nothing" I mumbled
"Then why bring her into this? You could have done something else to get to him instead of bringing in someone completely innocent into the mix" She concluded
"In the nicest way possible, if she never spoke to you guys again I would completely condone it and I wouldn't be helping you case" She muttered heading into the kitchen to grab herself another cup of coffee
"It wasn't ever supposed to get this far and-" Hunter started
"How wasn't it? You dared him to make her fall in love with him Hunter, how wasn't that too far?" Thalia asked
"James picture this as if Riley was Piper" Michelle said making my heart sink
"Imagine her boyfriend pissed off some random guy so said guy decided to use her to get back at him? What would you do" Thalia asked
"I would murder him" I said sinking deeper into the sofa
"Exactly, I think you need to come to the terms with the fact that you might not be able to fix this" Michelle whispered but I shook my head
"I have to Michelle" I reminded her
"That might not be on the table" She added
It had to be
I know I messed up, I know she'll hate me right now but this is in no way how our story was supposed to end
This isn't the end at all
A few hours later we were all still sat in Thalia's dorm, the only thing we could do was watch TV to distract ourselves but the moment we heard some keys fumbling around before the dorm room door opened, we all turned to look over
Riley stepped into the dorm and her eyes instantly found ours before she shook her head putting her stuff down heading to the kitchen
"Hey Riles" Thalia said making Riley look over offering her a soft smile
"Hey Thal, hey Michelle" She said ignoring the rest of us
"And West, he wasn't involved" Thalia said making Riley look over to West
"and hey West" She concluded earning a small smile from West too
"What did you get up to this weekend?" Michelle asked
"nothing really, Emily had a melt down, had a family dinner. Just the usual" She said taking a bite of her apple grabbing her back to head to her room
"Ri can we talk?" I asked standing up, she looked directly at me with a raised brow
"I think we've said it all James" She said taking a step towards her room again
"Please, at least let me explain" I said watching as she turned back around
"What is there explain? Was this or was it not a dare?" Riley asked
"Yes but then" I started
"After you accomplished part of the dare did you then ask the boys to not tell me, to lie straight to my face about it?" She asked making me nod
"But I-" I started again
"and when Spencer came over to us in the corridor and you told me you didn't remember him, was that another lie?" She asked making me sigh this time
"Then I think it's safe to say, it's all crystal clear" She muttered turning around closing the door before I could try and say anything else
--
Over this weekend, I had managed to avoid both Piper and Brody's questions about Riley. It was a blessing in disguise and will ultimately be the worst situation. I know what Riley no longer being around will hurt Piper and I hate myself for that
I want to say, she's only been around last night and today, that it.. But I know that Piper and Riley had known each other long before that
Whether I wanted to admit it or now.. Piper is attached
"I fucking warned you" A voice said turning a light on the moment I walked into the house. When I had seen all of the lights off I thought I was in the clear, I thought everyone was in bed
"B please not right now" I warned him pushing my hair out of my face passing him
"no James, right now. Do you understand how upset Piper alone has been over the last 2 days? Because she thinks she's done something which is why Riley isn't around only for our brother to come home late and leave at the crack of dawn! She's blaming herself James" He warned me
"I told you to tell Riley, I told you to lay it all on the table to avoid this but instead you invited her into the house. You let Piper's attachment deepen for what? This to blow up in all of our faces" He yelled
"you fucked up. Again" He scoffed walking up the stairs while I sighed taking a seat in the living room
Brody was right, I had fucked up but this time I didn't know how to fix it. Riley wouldn't speak to me, she would barely look at me. Then when she does talk to me it's never anything good
"James?" Another voice said timidly making me look up to see Piper at the bottom of the stairs rubbing her eyes showing she had just woken up
"Hey P" I said offering her a smile, but for the first time in a long time she didn't match it
"I'm sorry for whatever I did. Can you tell Riley I'm sorry" She said, her bottom lip now pouting but I shook my head opening my arms to let her come over sitting with me allowing my pull her into a tight hug
"Riley isn't mad at you and neither am I Pipes, what is going on is not your fault at all I promise" I whispered placing a kiss on the top of her head
"Then what happened? I thought everyone was happy and then we went to the pier, the pier was my idea" She whispered
"I messed up Piper, I messed up big time and I hurt Riley a lot okay? I'm trying to fix it I swear but it's harder then I thought" I mumbled
"Did you break her heart?" She asked looking up at me with her big innocent brown eyes which only made this harder
"Yeah Pipes, I did" I sighed sinking deeper into the sofa
"And I think you broke yours along the way too J" She whispered hugging me a little tighter
Piper couldn't be anymore accurate if she tried
YOU ARE READING
Eyes On The Prize
FanfictionIt's a small town full of two types of people. You have the people who grew up, who know this town inside out Then you have the College kids - They have money to burn and walk around like they own this place James has lived here his entire life, h...
