Back To You (gxg)

Part 33

"I wish I had a fucking xanax or something."

Riley said this as we were seated on our flight back to Philadelphia. It was the middle of the night, and not many people were on the plane- including no one next to Riley and I.

"I wish I had some on me," I said, "Stephanie keeps an emergency stash of it when her anxiety gets bad, I should have asked her for a few."

Riley put her hand on mine and said, "We had no idea this was going to happen. Don't worry about it."

"Do you think you'll be able to fall asleep?" I asked Riley, "I'll put on a movie or TV show for us, maybe you'll be able to drift off."

"My mind is racing too much," Riley said back, "But I'd love to put on a show and watch it with you."

The flight seemed to go by quickly as I put on Game of Thrones, one of Riley's favorite shows. We watched it together, and all I cared about was distracting Riley's mind as much as possible from the reality that was happening, and that she would have to face when we landed.

I was relieved to see that during the last hour of the flight, Riley had fallen asleep. She deserved to rest, even if just for an hour.

After we landed and got to the Philadelphia airport, Riley looked at the message Hailey had sent her with a description of the Uber that was going to take us back to Riley's house. We found it easily, and I was relieved that we were home in Pennsylvania, however, I knew what was coming next.

I didn't even care that I was pulling an all-nighter, and by the time we got back to Riley's, it was creeping up on 6 AM.

"Jenny...I feel awful that you've been up all night," Riley said to me as the Uber got closer to her house.

"Don't worry about me," I said to Riley, "Sleep can wait. I know you'd do the same for me."

"Of course I would," Riley nodded, "I love you, Jenny."

"I love you too," I said back quietly to Riley.

Riley and I thanked the Uber driver when she dropped us off at Riley's apartment, and Riley said, "Looks like Brooklyn's car is here. I just want to go inside and see if she's awake so she can see I'm home."

"Do you think she will be awake at this hour?" I asked Riley.

"I'd say the chances are good. She has a fucked up sleeping schedule from bartending so late."

Riley and I went up to her apartment- and a moment after she opened the door, Brooklyn came walking out to the living room to greet us. She wore a t-shirt and a pair of black pajama shorts, and her hair was in a ponytail. This was the first time I hadn't seen her with heavy, dark makeup on.

"Riley...Jenny...why are you back?" Brooklyn asked us, "Weren't you supposed to come home tomorrow?"

"Mom isn't doing well," Riley said to Brooklyn, "Have you even been at the hospital to visit her while I've been gone, like I asked of you?"

"No...I was going to go today," Brooklyn said, "But what's going on with her?"

"Her Doctor called me. Her organs are failing," Riley said to Brooklyn, "It's serious. Jenny and I are going to the hospital, if you want to come with we can wait for you to change out of your pajamas."

Brooklyn's eyes widened and she asked, "Her organs are...failing?"

"Due to the cancer spreading and the treatments not working," Riley said, "Brook, are you coming with us?"

I noticed a twinge of impatience in Riley's tone.

Brooklyn was silent for a moment and she shook her head, "No...not now. Maybe later."