Back To You (gxg)

Part 17

Riley and I immediately turned to see Marie and Nathan staring at us.

"Fuck." Riley muttered.

"Were you two...kissing?" Marie asked.

I couldn't tell by how she asked what her reaction was to all of this, or how she felt about it.

Riley glanced at me and she then said to Marie, "Well, there's no denying it. You saw what you saw."

"I think that's great!" Marie said, wide eyed.

"You...do?" I asked, heart pounding.

"Totally!" Marie said, and Nathan nodded as well, "You two look great together!"

Riley looked at me for a split second and then she said, "Marie. You need to listen to me. I appreciate you saying that, but you cannot tell anyone about this. That would be outing Jenny. And I don't want anyone else to know about this. Promise me you won't say anything?"

Riley sounded more firm in this than I had ever heard her sound before.

And I really appreciated it.

"My lips are sealed!" Marie said.

"Mine too." Nathan said- which made Riley chuckle.

"Thank you." Riley said, "Just try to forget you saw anything."

"Forget I saw what?" Marie said, with a smile.

"Atta girl." Riley said.

"Thank you, Marie." I said, "I appreciate it as well."

Riley and I then went back inside, and she leaned in and said to me as we stood by the bar, "Would you still want to spend some time together after this?"

"I would." I said, "You know, my roommate, Stephanie will likely be sleeping out. And even if she's not, she will leave us alone. Want to come to my place?"

Riley's eyes filled with excitement, "Sure! That actually works out well, I believe my sister is home tonight. I'd love to. I can order an Uber back to your place."

"You'll get to meet my cat!" I said, "Her name is Sunshine. She will love you."

Riley gave me a warm smile, "I look forward to meeting her."

Realization dawned on me as I asked, "How are we going to pull this off, us leaving together?"

"I'll tell the group you don't feel that great- if you don't mind- and that I don't want you ubering back home yourself. That sounds quite believable. Don't worry. I can make it sound believable." Riley said, with confidence.

"Okay." I nodded, "That sounds like a plan."

"As long as Marie doesn't react, we are golden." Riley said, "Want to wait up here? I'll let the group know."

I smiled at Riley and asked, "Can't wait to get me alone, can you?"

She grinned back at me and said, "You guessed it."

I waited toward the front of the bar for a few minutes while Riley went down to tell the group that we were leaving. A few minutes later she came up to me and said, "All good. They totally believed it. Marie even added that she saw you looking a bit pale."

"I feel a bit bad." I said, "But not bad enough to stay here and not leave with you."

"Ordering that Uber right now for us." Riley said.

I texted Stephanie that I was going to be coming back to the apartment with Riley- and she texted me back saying that she was staying the night at Johnny's- and to have fun.