Real Love Hurts // Billie Eilish

Chapter 3

R I L E Y R E Y N O L D S

"Look, bro, just give me the money and I'll be out of your hair," I said, starting to get frustrated. I was standing behind a coffee shop in a small alley with two guys who refused to pay for their weed.

"We were told that it was 40 a gram, but now you're saying 50. We're not paying that much." the taller one said. I didn't bother learning their names.

"I don't know what to tell you, prices change. I'm simply a messenger."

"We're not leaving here without our weed." the shorter one said.

"It's my weed until you pay for it. Do you want me to get Xavier involved?" I threatened. At the mention of his name, they looked at each other uneasily. "That's what I thought, now give me my money, and I'll leave you alone."

"How about this. We'll give you the money we have on us now and pay the rest later."

"You know I can't do that. It's all or nothing." I said.

"No, you know what, give it to us for free." the taller one said, reaching for my backpack, which was in my hand.

"What the fuck, are you even listening to me? No way in hell I'm just gonna give this to you." I said, moving the backpack out of his reach.

"Give it," he said, reaching again.

"No!" I yelled, then kicked him in the nuts. As soon as he went down, his friend punched me square in the nose. I heard something crack and I fell to the ground. Once I was down, he started kicking me in the ribs. The taller one eventually got off the ground and motioned for the shorter one to stop kicking me. I still lay on the ground, blood pouring out of my nose and soaking my shirt.

"Give it to us, now." I looked up as the taller guy said this, and saw him reach into the waistband of his pants and pull out a gun. Immediately, I scrambled to my feet and took off running. I was not about to be shot today. I heard them curse and start running behind me. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, dodging people on the sidewalk. I looked around, trying to identify my surroundings. I had ridden my motorcycle to the drop spot, and now I had no idea where I was. I just kept running.

As I kept running, my surroundings seemed familiar. This was Billie's neighborhood. Everything hurt and my lungs were burning, but I kept running, not even sure if they were following me anymore. I grabbed my phone and scrolled through Billie and I's texts trying to find her address. Luckily I was close and starting running in that direction, seriously hoping I had lost the two guys.

B I L L I E E I L I S H

I hadn't heard from Riley all morning. I wasn't worried or anything, it was just weird. We had been texting pretty much 24/7 ever since she came over. But today, nothing. I kinda missed her. I missed her smile, her little dimples, her eyes, her lips...

My thoughts were interrupted by frantic knocking on the door. I rushed to the door and swung it open. It was Riley. But her face was bloody and she was hunched over and out of breath.

"Are your parents home?" she breathed out.

"Uh, no. Do you wanna come in? You look like shit."

"Thanks, Billie, you look good today, too," Riley said sarcastically as she came in, looking behind her as she did.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"A deal went bad, don't worry about it. Where's your bathroom? And your towels?"

"Come on, I'll clean you up." I led her to the bathroom and she sat on the lid of the toilet as I got a washcloth and put water on it. Even from where I was standing, her nose was visibly crooked and was gushing blood.

"Hold still," I said, gently pressing the wet rag to face to try and get some of the blood off. She flinched as I touched her nose. "Ry, I think it's broken. You need to go to a hospital."

She shook her head. "I don't do hospitals."

I sighed. "It won't stop bleeding. Let me get some tissues." I grabbed two tissues and twisted the ends. "Here." I gave them to her and she put them in her nostrils. "Keep your head down so the blood won't go to your brain."

I continued wiping the rest of the blood off her face. "What happened?"

"I told you, a deal went bad."

"No, Riley, what happened?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I was supposed to make an easy drop with two guys behind a coffee shop, in and out. But once I got there, they refused to pay in full and demanded that I give it to them for free. I obviously said no, but one of them reached for my backpack, so I kicked him in the nuts. Then his friend punched me in the nose and started kicking me in the ribs once I was on the ground. After a while, the other guy got up and pulled a gun on me, so I ran and ended up here."

"Shit."

"Yeah, I know."

"Are your ribs okay?"

"You tell me." She slightly lifted up her bloodied shirt to reveal dark bruises on her rib cage and stomach. I lightly touched one and she winced, clearly in pain.

"I seriously think you need to see a doctor. It's bad."

"I'll be fine, I heal fast," she said, putting her shirt back down.

"Ok. All cleaned up. Imma go get you one of my shirts. Yours is covered in blood." I stood up and walked across the hall to my room. I searched around for a shirt small enough for her to wear. I ended up finding a plain white blohsh t-shirt and walked back into the bathroom. Riley had taken the tissues out and her nose looked... straighter. Not so broken.

"What happened to your nose?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"It's straighter. It doesn't look broken." She just shrugged and took the shirt from me. She started taking off her shirt. I turned around, not wanting to seem like a creep. But in the mirror, I saw something. Yes, Riley in just a bra was incredibly hot, but I was looking at something else. All the bruises on her were gone, no marks at all. Was I seeing shit? No. I am positive there were bruises there before.

Riley met my gaze in the mirror and I immediately looked away and walked out of the bathroom. I swear to god her nose was crooked and she had bruises before I walked out of that bathroom.

She walked out right after I did. She put her backpack back on and went to the door.

"I'll give your shirt back later."

"No, it's fine, keep it."

She looked me like she was contemplating something. "Billie, I- uh..."

"What?"

"Nothing, I just- Thanks." she started to walk out the door, but I stopped her.

"Do you need a ride home? Are you gonna be safe?"

"I'll be fine, my motorcycle's back at the drop spot."

"Hold up, hold up, you drive a motorcycle?"

"Yeah, is something wrong with that, Eilish?"

"No, it's just... very you." When I said this, she genuinely smiled. It was really beautiful. She should do that more.

"Thanks, Billie. Bye."

"Bye Riley," I said as she walked out of the door.

Goddamn. I think I like Riley Reynolds.

A/N
What's crackin' my dudes. Thanks for reading this dumb fanfic.
Oh also, probably smut next chapter, so stick around, ya nasty.
I already feel the cringe.