whisper | rilaya

fourteen

I stared straight up at the peeling glow in the dark stars I had stuck onto my ceiling.

Midnight was approaching soon, and I was facing yet another sleepless night. My mother was getting suspicious about me sleeping alone (which was completely wrong because I was with Riley) in the basement recently. To avoid more suspicion, I slept in my bedroom for a change today, which meant that Riley couldn't be with me.

I realized that it there was a pattern behind my sleeplessness. Whenever the warmness that the brunette emitted wasn't beside me, neither was my ability to sleep.

The door flew open rapidly, somehow without making a single noise. My body jolted upwards, pulling my sheets over my head as protection.

"Sorry." Riley whispered. "I read in a book once that doors don't creak if you open them faster."

As I started to calm down from my scare, I gestured for the pretty girl to come sit beside me on my bed. I figured we could cuddle for a bit before she was forced back down to the basement. My mom and Shawn were prone to entering my room at random times in the morning.

However, she refused my offer. Riley pulled the blankets off of my body, causing a rush of cold wind to overcome me. "Get dressed, I remembered something."

"Riley.." I groaned, keeping my voice low. "It's almost midnight." Truthfully, I didn't mind the fact that it was late since I couldn't sleep anyways. I was just too lazy to leave the comfort of my bed.

I glanced to my right to see the brunette rummaging through my closet. "That's why it's perfect! Nobody will recognize me since it's dark out." It still amazed me how someone didn't recognize her when she was out with Danielle that one day. I guess that the newspapers looking for her arrest hadn't been published yet. Eventually, she settled on a large hoodie and sweatpants, throwing them over her shoulder and hitting me.

"Get dressed." She said, keeping her voice quiet. I blinked at Riley with a blank expression on my face, trying to evaluate what was happening.

The girl rolled her eyes playfully before covering them with both of her hands. "Come on... hurry, I won't look." Riley promised with a smirk on her face.

I turned over so that my legs were hanging off the side of my bed as I shrugged the hoodie overtop of the faded t-shirt I wore to bed. As I was shimmying my shorts off, I saw one of Riley's fingers raise slightly, allowing her to peek at me.

"Hey!" I laughed as quietly as I could and tossed my shorts at her, causing her to look away.

Once I was dressed, I led Riley out through the front door. I never bothered to sneak out any other way, my parents were absolutely oblivious when it came to me. Sometimes I wished that it was just me and my mom, and that Shawn never came into the picture. It was better that way, when she cared about me more.

~

I sat across from Riley on the subway, trying to hide my giggles when I saw the ridiculous baseball cap she was wearing. We figured it was needed for extra precautionary measures.

After we got off the subway, Riley grabbed my hands and tugged me down the streets of New York. She twisted and turned at each corner with ease as she navigated the neighbourhood, as if she had been doing this her whole life.