Love Me Now

reason to stay [AU] (part 4)

•James•

I left my phone at West's house yesterday so I just drove out to get it. It ran out of battery so I was waiting for it to charge.

There's nothing to do today, except taking a few phone calls for the studio's maintenance.

My phone pings and I look at my notifications. I have two missed calls from Riley and a voicemail from her yesterday.

I unlock my phone and press it against my ear.

"Hey, James. It's, uh, Riley. It seems our flight has been changed and I'm actually going to Switzerland tomorrow which is crazy! The flight is at twelve in the evening but you never know with planes, they always get delayed for me," Riley chuckles through the phone, "I know that you'll do great with managing the studio, call me soon and tell me how's everything going, okay? Love you, James. Miss you already,"

The voicemail ends and I throw my phone onto the floor in anger. She's going to be gone and who knows if she falls in love with the country and decides to stay there forever with Alfie.

I quickly glance at the clock. The time is only eleven o'clock. This is my time to say goodbye to Riley one last time. I run to the door of my house and get into my car.

She's probably not in the airport already so I drive down to her street which only takes me ten minutes.

I notice a taxi pull up at her house and Riley coming out of her door with a suitcase and passport in hand. I park my car in front of the taxi and the driver honks his horn.

I quickly get out, not bothering to turn off the engine.

"James?" She says confused and wraps her arms tightly around me as I come close to her.

I bury my head in her hair and thats when... I start crying. Riley pulls away in concern.

"James, what's wrong?"

I look into her eyes and shake my head, "I can't tell you but I came here to say goodbye,"

"I'll be back before you know it, don't even worry about it," She gives me a smile.

Right now I feel stupid, I'm crying in front of her and she's comforting me when she's the one actually leaving.

"You-you don't know that, Ri. You could stay there forever. You'll be so far away from me and it's never been like this... It's always been us, we've always been together,"

Riley looks confused, "What are you trying to say, James? I thought you wanted me to go,"

I nod, "Yes I want you to go, I want you to see the world... I just- Riley, I..." Riley places a hand on my arm and looks up at my face.

I just don't know why but I leaned down and kissed her, she kissed me back. It was soft and gentle and slow, just like I imagined our first kiss to be like.

But it feels wrong. I feel like no matter what I do, she'll never be mine. She'll never stay.

We pull away and I take her hand, "Riley... I'm in love with you. Ever since you came to this town, ever since I saw you dance, ever since you smiled at me. I fell in love with you and I never got the chance to say it because I was so scared. I was scared about our friendship and now I'm so late. You'll be so far away from me and I need you, I need you here. I need you to stay," I whisper

Riley continues to look at my face but then pushes me away gently, her smile fading, "Don't James..."

I watch her take her suitcase and walk over to the taxi, opening the door and getting in. Before she closes the door, she looks at me with tears in her eyes.

"Don't play with my feeling, James," Riley whispers and the taxi drives away.

I drop to the ground and watch her disappear.

•Riley•

I'm in the airport right now and all I'm thinking about is James.

"Are you okay?" Alfie asks in concern

I give me a small smile, "Yeah..."

He nods and starts reading a magazine he bought. I honestly don't know if I am okay.

•James•

There's no classes today but I decided to go to the studio and sort out the paperwork that Chloe is going to be doing as well as the schedule for dance classes.

Riley's gone now.

There was nothing I could do to make her stay. I thought maybe I could at least be a reason for her to stay. I'm her best friend. How could she leave me when I need her the most?

Maybe I'm just being selfish.

Suddenly there's a knock on the office door and I don't look up, it's probably one of the staff members of the juice bar since no one else is here right now.

"Yep?" I ask dully

"James," A voice says. It belongs to Riley.

I look up and see her face. What is she doing here? She'll be late for her flight.

"Riley?" I ask and she pulls me into a deep, long kiss.

I open my eyes in shock, "What about Switzerland and Alfie?" I ask

Riley shakes her head, "I'm staying, Alfie understands, he told me to follow my heart and it lead me here, to you, James,"

I smile at her, "So you're staying?"

She nods and wraps her arms around my neck. Kissing me softly again.

***
well I hope you guys enjoyed this one shot series!

I didn't update yesterday because I may have forgot that it was the weekend... 😅 but it's holidays so you can't blame me right? basically everyday is the weekends 😂.

So since I missed Saturday's update. Did you want another one shot now?

thanks for reminding me, Tom ❤️