whisper | rilaya

twenty five

I came in through Riley's window the next morning to find her already sitting there patiently, waiting for me.

"It's Saturday morning, why are you up so early? You love sleeping in." I asked her as I took a seat on the warm cushions in the bay window.

Riley reached over to wrap an arm around my neck and pull me in for a side hug. "Well now there's something else I love even more that's worth waking up early for."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "And what's that?"

She stared at me with glossy sleep deprived/ lovesick eyes (I couldn't tell the difference). "You, dummy."

"Oh." I giggled, feeling the heat rise to my face, which prompted Riley to kiss my cheek sweetly.

The taller girl intertwined our fingers and stood up, pulling me along with her. Her messy bed head was still prevalent and it took every ounce for self control for me not to reach my hand out and run my fingers through them. "Come on, I want you to meet my family." She tugged.

"I've already met them." I interrupted nervously, remembering back to my short conversation with her mom at the police station.

Riley nodded understandingly when she noticed my nervousness. "Hey." She whispered, placing two fingers underneath my chin so that I would look up at her. "I want you to meet them properly this time, they're going to love you. I promise." She cooed, never breaking eye contact.

A twinge of guilt spread throughout my bones when I remembered that I would never be able to utter those same words to her and comfort her in the way she did for me. That we could never be a normal couple that got nervous about introducing each other to our parents because mine hated her with a passion. What hurt even more was that I knew there was nothing more Riley wanted than to be normal, but she never pushed me to introduce her to my mom and Shawn because she knew how they felt about her.

"Okay, I'm ready." I smiled, pushing aside all of my feelings.

~

For a family with an accused murderer as their daughter, I've never met a nicer group of people. Riley's parents and her brother welcomed me with open arms; literally. I was embraced in such a tight hug from each of them that I was convinced my circulation was going to be cut off.

I stared at Riley fondly every time she bragged about how amazing I was and showed me off to her family members.

After breakfast, the other three Matthews had gone out to run some errands and left Riley and I to lounge in the couch in the living room of the apartment.

"That went well, don't you think?" My girl asked, tucking a strand of dirty blonde hair behind my ear.

"Yeah." I agreed, "I don't even know why I was nervous in the first place."

The TV was on playing a French soap opera in the background although neither of us understood it, it was one of the few stations that wasn't covering the news at the moment. The voices from the tv show filled the silence while we stared at each lovingly.

Riley scooted closer to me on the couch. "So," she started. "I noticed the 'Riley exposé' account has been taken down."

I stroked my chin in curiosity and hummed. "Hm, that's a nice surprise!"