whisper | rilaya

eight

It was 8am in the morning, and somehow, the world seemed to spin slower when I was with her.

Riley was sitting cross legged on the hardwood floor, her eyebrows furrowed together adorably as she tried to work a flip phone.

"Need help?" I chuckled and grabbed the phone from her hand. My eyes glanced down at the tiny screen to see what she was having so much trouble with.

She was looking at my pictures.

The screen was frozen on a picture of me sitting in the passenger seat of my ex-girlfriend's car. My legs were lazily kicked up on the dashboard and my arms were behind my head. The shine in my eyes that I'm sure was there was covered by the sunglasses I was wearing. I didn't have a single care in the world.

I remember that night vividly. Almost too clearly for my liking. It was the night she told me she loved me and the night before I caught her cheating on me with another girl. We haven't talked since.

A feeling of sadness washed over me when I realized how happy she made me. It hurt my heart when I knew that I would still take her back if she asked, despite what she's done to me. Without thinking, I pressed the trash can button in the bottom right corner and deleted it for good.

"I didn't meant to intrude." Riley said when she saw my frown.

"It's whatever." I shrugged. "I did give it to you in the first place."

"That's a nice picture." Riley complimented. "You looked happy." She said it as if she's never seen me happy before, and she was right.

"Thanks." I replied and handed her back the flip phone. "It's gone though. Can't dwell on the past for too long."

"Do you want to talk? I'm always here you know. Like literally, I can't go anywhere else." She chuckled.

I smiled kindly at her offer and shook my head no. "Maybe another day. When you're not as much of a mystery as you are right now."

Every inch of me wanted to trust Riley Matthews. This beautiful doe-eyed girl that must have appeared in my life for some reason. But it was hard to open up to someone when they didn't even have the ability to tell you minimal details about themselves.

"I'm working on it." Riley admitted. "It's a process, but I'm finally starting to piece things together, I promise."

"Well I have a busy day today, so I'll leave you to it." I nodded and climbed up the basement stairs, only to bump into my mother the second I stepped into the main floor.

"What was that for?" I asked, knowing that the collision was definitely not an accident.

"I thought you said you hated the basement? You've been down there everyday this week for hours at a time. Shawn and I considered going down to check on you but jeez, that place is creepy." She shivered and sat down at the coffee table, gesturing me to do the same.

I frantically searched for an excuse while she sipped her cup of coffee. "I set up an art studio down there last week. It's a lot more spacious." I lied.

My mom raised her eyebrows and nodded thoughtfully. "Oh! You've finally found some inspiration? I bet those art classes downtown played a role." She winked.

"Yeah sure." I agreed mindlessly, knowing that my newfound inspiration came from a lanky brunette that lived in our basement. Definitely not from some grumpy old lady who thinks she can teach me art.

"Well, I'm glad you like it." She smiled. "Have you made any new friends there?"

I shook my head no. "Unless a girl who tried to talk about my daddy issues counts."

A thin line formed on my mother's lips when she pressed them together. She reached out to place a hand over mine. "Honey, I'm sure she was just trying to be nice." She tried to comfort me and I could hear her Arkansas accent that she's tried so hard to repress slip out.

"I'll be downstairs." I deadpanned, ignoring her comment. "Working on... art." I made sure to add in, before getting up and running back downstairs.

"Riley, you'll never believe what my mom just tried to tell me." I laughed. "Remember that asshole I told you about from my art class? Mom said she was just trying to be nice, can you bel-"

I stopped dead in my tracks when Riley was not in her usual spot. Now that she was gone world seemed to spin to quickly for me to stand up straight. My heart clenched in my chest when I saw the slide door wide open, the cold autumn air was blowing in.

She was alone for 3 minutes. 3 minutes and she left?

Panic took over when I knew that she wouldn't be okay alone on the streets of New York. I exited through the slide door that Riley left open, following the path that she would've taken to out of the backyard.

Where would an amnesia stricken girl go first?

Knowing that I would rather fail the English summative I should be studying for than lose Riley, I searched desperately. I ran down the crowded streets, not hesitating to shove anyone that got in my way.

At each corner store and boutique, I would peek my head in to search for a brunette whose head was sticking out higher than anybody else's.

To save time, I would tell a quick "Riles!" and wait 5 seconds for a response before leaving. The storeowners gave me strange looks. Some of them even stopped me to ask if they could help me find what they assumed was my lost dog.

The process continued for hours, my feet became sore as the sun set in New York City. Eventually, I gave up, believing that I've basically turned the city upside down looking for some girl I had a crush on.

I settled at Topanga's, the same place I first talked to Lucas and Farkle. Memories flooded to the week I first moved here when I ordered their signature coffee cake. I slumped in the seat of the booth, exhausted. If anything happened to Riley, it would be my fault.

"Maya!" Her voice was unmistakable. No one in this city could match the gentle, angelic tone that rang when she spoke.

I whipped my head around, expecting to see a dazed, scared Riley. Instead, she was standing with a faintly recognizable girl, smiling and waving like we had planned to meet here.

The world was strangely intricate. It was far too large for two strangers to ever cross paths again, accidentally. That's what I liked to believe. Until the universe decided to place these two girls in front of me. One, who had been exploring the streets of one of the most populated cities in the worlds. And the other, who only ever came up in my thoughts when I questioned Shawn's legitimacy as a father figure.

What were the odds that Danielle and Riley befriended each other, and happened to run into me in the span of 4 hours? According to some higher power, it is 100%.