This Disaster
By: Riley
Summary – "It's amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy" –Rupert Everett. What happens when Kendall gets introduced to Riley's ex? How will he react to his impending jealousy? For kileysuperfan inspired by This Disaster by New Found Glory.
Kendall Knight frowned, pursing his lips a little bit as he looked over the beach. He looked at his watch before shielding his face with his hand as the wind blew, sending sand in his direction. He brushed off his clothes, making extra sure that his shoes were clear of the white, grainy stuff before looking around again. He smiled when he spotted the person that he was looking for and walked across the beach towards them. As he got closer, he quickly took off his shoes and took large steps, being sure that he didn't make any noise.
He had to hold his hand over his mouth for a second, to keep the laughter that was rising up his throat from escaping and giving him away. He waited for a second, taking in a deep breath, and then jumped forward, letting out a Carlos-esque scream.
Riley Jackson-McGuire let out a loud yelp, slapping her hands onto her chest, visibly flinching as Kendall laughed and dropped to the sand next to her. She shifted her dark blue eyes over to his green ones giving him a small glare as she waited for her heart to slow down.
"Don't do that." She growled, letting out a sigh as she leaned forward against her raised knees, resting her forehead against her legs. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Not exactly," Kendall replied as she brushed some sand out of her hair. He must have hit her with it as he jumped towards her. He couldn't help but grin, the high-pitched shriek along with the wide-eyed look on her face was something that he was sure that he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. (He wouldn't forget to bring it up to annoy her from time to time either). "But it was a good side effect."
"Ha," Riley rolled her eyes as she lifted her head from her lap.
Kendall leaned forward to give her a kiss on the cheek, but then stopped when he noticed a sketch pad resting on her lap. He wondered if it would be worth it, trying to grab it, knowing that she was very secretive about people seeing what was inside her sketch book. Unless she was done, she didn't really let anyone outside of her family look at her drawings, and she hardly let anyone apart from them (and Dak Zevon) paint with her. When she wasn't working on her own music, at work, or at the beach, you could probably find her drawing something.
"Watcha drawing?" Kendall asked, leaning towards it.
"Nothing!" Riley once against bent forward, covering her sketch book. Kendall raised his eyebrows as he continued to smile at her. "Nothing!" she insisted.
"Oh come on," Kendall goaded with a light nudge on her shoulder. "I want to see," he adopted a wounded puppy expression. "Why won't you show me?"
"Because I don't want to." Riley said as calmly as possible, although he could tell that she was starting to feel something else. But he wasn't sure if it was amusement or annoyance, so he decided to press further, to see what would happen. He snapped a hand out, hoping to catch her off-guard, to grab it, but she leaned out of the way. "Knock it off, Eyebrows!"
"Let me see!" Kendall insisted before reaching out and starting to tickle her.
Riley shrieked with laughter as she twisted and turned to get out of his grasp. Kendall grinned as he leaned forward and continued to dig his fingers into her sides, causing her shrieks to turn even more high-pitched and frantic.
"Hey, Riles."
Kendall turned around to see who had just spoken, not recognizing the voice. He glanced at him before looking over at Riley as she let out a short scream of surprise and scrambled to her feet. Kendall got up, brushing off his clothes as Riley sprang forward and gave the boy a tight hug. He smiled as he gave her a hug back, lifting her off of her feet as he did so.
"I can't believe you're here!" Riley said as she was put back onto the ground. "When did you get in? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I just got here last night," the boy replied as he moved his straight brown hair out of his green eyes. "We had some time off so we figured that we'd see what LA was like, after you guys were bragging about it so much." He reached out and lightly shoved her on the arm.
Kendall scratched the back of his neck, waiting for a chance to say something, slightly affronted. If he had lightly shoved her on the arm, he would have either been insulted faster than he could blink, or be knocked right to the ground in retaliation. Seeing that Riley just a laughed a little bit and didn't retaliate bugged him a little bit and he couldn't even begin to explain why.
"So we thought that we'd surprise you." The boy pointed over his shoulder. "Tristan and Natasha are back at the hotel, still sleeping. Jet lag and everything."
"I know the feeling," Riley said, moving her hands into the back pockets of her jean shorts. She took a step back and accidentally hit Kendall, causing her to turn. "Oh, right," she removed her right hand from her pocket and lightly touched Kendall's stomach. "Kendall; this is my friend Nic Strong," she turned to Nic as he raised a hand in greeting. "Nic, this is my boyfriend, Kendall."
"Nice to meet you," Kendall said as he leaned forward, holding out a hand.
"Same to you," Nic replied with a smile. Kendall's upper lip curled for a second, realizing that Nic had an Australian accent as well. Nic grabbed onto Kendall's hand and gave it a firm shake. He used his free hand to motion over to Riley. "What she forgot to mention is that she's also my ex-girlfriend." He let go of Kendall's hand, giving Riley a quick look. "Just to get that out of the way before some weird tension comes around." He wiggled his fingers in a strange way, causing Riley to laugh.
I don't think she's ever laughed that much at anything I've said before. Kendall couldn't help but think as Riley moved her black hair from her face as the salty wind blew their way once more.
"Emphasis on the ex and friend part," Riley added with a nod. "I think we're the only people that have gone from dating to friends without many problems." She turned to Kendall, suddenly giving him a look of curiosity as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Were you saying something before, Hockey-Head?" she asked.
Kendall felt a sense of relief wash over him as he smiled, shaking his head. "No, it' wasn't important."
"Great, now that we have that settled," Nic clasped his hands together before looking at his watch. "I have some time to kill before I meet up with the guys, why don't we go do some sightseeing?" He looked back and forth between Kendall and Riley. "Unless I was interrupting something." He added selflessly.
"Not much," Riley shrugged and bent down to grab her shoes and her sketchbook. "Just thinking of something to do; so sightseeing is a good excuse." She turned to Kendall and gave him a smile. "You coming?"
Kendall turned back to Nic and smiled as well. "Yeah, why not?" He asked before lighting pressing his hand to Riley's lower back and the two moved around Nic to walk back up the beach. Nic quickly fell into step on Riley's other side. Quick as a flash, he shot out his hand and grabbed onto her sketchbook.
"You're still drawing in this thing?" He asked as he held it up over his head, keeping it out of Riley's grasp. "I'm surprised you haven't completely filled it up yet." He said and laughed as Riley started to jump up and down, trying in vain to get it back. "I see you're still attached to it as always. I'm glad that I got it for you for your birthday."
Kendall kept his mouth shut as he felt his anger spike in that quick comment. He felt his stomach muscles clench, his hands moved into fists, and he gritted his teeth together so hard that his jaw started to throb. Usually he was fine when it came to meeting some of her old friends, but this was different. Being Riley's boyfriend, he knew that things were different with her guy friends; he even found himself at times getting jealous of how close she and Logan were, knowing that the two of them were best friends as she lived in Texas for a year when they were 8. He could get over that jealousy without a second thought, knowing that they were only friends. But knowing that she had many exes that had either used her or hurt her, he vowed to himself that if they ever came around, he would be sure to protect her.
That was what he thought.
Now that he was faced with the reality of an ex being there, and her being so comfortable around him that she was acting the same way she did with Kendall (which took almost two years for her to get there) it was driving him crazy.
"It's funny," he spoke up before he could stop himself. "She never mentioned that she got it from you before."
Nic handed Riley her sketchbook back, his smile falling from his face. "Yeah, well, she doesn't mention a lot of things to a lot of people."
"I've noticed." Kendall replied with a quick nod.
"I didn't think it was important to mention." Riley said as she looked at Kendall. Either she was completely ignoring the tension that was in the air or she just didn't notice it. He wasn't sure. Riley was never the most open person about what she was thinking while in contrast, she was very open with what she was feeling, especially when it was annoyance or anger. She waved an arm. "So, sightseeing or no?"
"Yes." Nic said with a nod.
"Yeah." Kendall agreed quietly.
"Good." Riley gave the two of them a hard look, taking the time to look at each of them, before they arrived at the parking lot and got into her car. Kendall quickly moved into the passenger seat, shooting Nic a look out of the window as he got into the back.
"I'm somewhat surprised that you still have this car," Nic commented as he leaned forward, resting his arms on the driver's and passenger seat as Riley started the car and backed out of the parking space. He stayed silent for a moment. "Hey," he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Remember that time that we; you, me, Tristan, and Rhu, accidentally stripped the paint off of your grandfather's car."
"If memory serves correctly, and it does," Riley said with a slight lift to her tone. "That was your fault."
"Yeah, I was never one to come up with any good ideas," Nic agreed with a laugh. He met her gaze in the rearview mirror. "I make a lot of mistakes."
"Yeah, that happens sometimes." Kendall said under his breath. Don't look at him, Kendall. If you do, you know that you'll regret it. He's basically falling all over your girlfriend, his ex. Don't jump to conclusions they're just friends, nothing's going on with them. Just relax and don't jump to conclusions.
Telling Kendall Knight that he was a jealous person is like telling a brick wall that it's red, strong, and hurts when you hit it. He would never admit it, but he knew that it was true. He was jealous. There was no denying that. If it wasn't the case, he wouldn't have secretly followed Riley and Nic all over LA with a stupid tree hat on his head, darting behind bushes every time one of them looked like they were going to turn around.
But he couldn't help it.
If something was his, he was going to be sure that nothing else got in the way of that. It didn't just pertain to girlfriends, but to his friends and family as well. Sometimes he felt like James was closer to Katie than he was, so he would have to go the extra mile to make sure that she knew that she was his little sister and that no one could replace him. When he became the hockey captain in his freshmen year and he had a bad day and heard that he could be replaced, he grew jealous of the attention that was being given to the runner up, and started to practice harder and harder to make sure that he kept his spot and that he didn't have a bad day again.
When his friends would be doing their own activities back in Minnesota; Logan with his math and science clubs, James playing football with some people leftover after school, and Carlos with the people that would goad him into whatever stupid idea he had at the time, Kendall would immediately become jealous and make sure that his friends had fun whenever they were all hanging out, just so they would know that he was the one that made sure they all had a good time. He was the one that made sure that they were still best friends.
It wasn't until Kendall was following Riley around that he realized that it wasn't just that he was jealous; he was possessive. Whenever there was something of his that was threatened to be taken or changed, he needed to be sure that things would stay the same way they always had been before. He hated change that he couldn't directly control.
So that's how he found himself sitting in the bushes at the PalmWoods Pool, watching as Riley showed Nic around. Kendall held his pair of binoculars up to his green eyes as she stopped by the water's edge and said something to him, causing him to smile and say something back. He watched as she laughed at what he said, giving him a bright smile. Kendall's teeth gritted as Nic then reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder before tilting his head to the side and smiling sweetly as he said something.
Riley rolled her eyes and said something back as she pushed his hand off of her shoulder. Then she looked at her watch, stepped forward and gave him a tight hug that lasted longer than Kendall's stomach could take. Nic hugged her back just as tightly before giving her a light kiss on the cheek. He took a step back, a somewhat sad smile on his face, and then waved before leaving the PalmWoods. Riley waved back at him before turning back to the water, looking at her reflection.
What is she doing? Kendall thought to himself, his mind racing, wondering what he had just seen. Were they just saying goodbye? Did they decide to start going out again? Is she going to dump me? Kendall held his breath as Riley turned on her heel and walked across the PalmWoods pool to the bushes where he was crouching. He held his breath, hoping that she didn't see him, but she leaned over and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him into a standing position.
"You can stop staring at me now." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"It's not staring," Kendall defended himself. "I was just watching from afar."
"Yeah, you've been 'watching me from afar' all day," Riley said, using air quotes around the words. She looked towards the ceiling as she pretended to think about it. "To the bookstore, to the café, to The Grove, to Here and Abroad, to the Go Kart center…" her eyes narrowed a little bit as she continued to think about it. "And I'm pretty sure I saw you dart into a clothing rack when we were at PacSun."
Kendall sighed, knowing that he was caught. "How'd you know it was me?"
"Hm," Riley gave a sarcastic smile. "It's kind of hard to miss tree branches moving around when they're not connected to a tree." She reached out and grabbed onto a branch on Kendall's tree hat and used it to remove it from his head. "That and I've seen enough of these to know that you only use them when you're jealous of someone or something." She paused. "At least nine times out of ten."
Kendall crossed his hands over his chest in nonchalance. "Whoever said that I was jealous?"
"You're probably the most jealous person I've ever met," Riley said. "You jump to conclusions, hardly let anyone explain, and then revert to this." She waved the tree hat around.
Kendall eyed it as it moved back and forth in front of his face. "I don't do that." He denied.
"Mhm," Riley smirked as she shoved the hat into his chest, allowing him to take it.
Kendall held the tree hat firmly in his hand, using his free hand to wipe the black smudges off of his cheeks. He let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped. "So why aren't you as mad as I thought you would be?" He asked quietly as he studied her. "What's going on?" He motioned towards where the two of them had just been standing. "You're not going to dump me are you?"
"Am I supposed to be surprised that you're jealous of the time I'm spending with my ex?" Riley raised an eyebrow. "I'm kind of used to it at this point, comes with the territory of having an ex." She let out a sigh as she looked away from him. "I was just saying goodbye."
"You want to talk about it?" Kendall asked gently. He knew at that point that she was thinking about her life back in Australia and how things had been good and bad for her while she was there, especially with friends and dating. Getting into the music business, or into fame in general, you quickly learned who is and isn't your real friend.
"Not really," Riley shook her head. "But since you want me to be mad…"she calmly trailed off before reaching out and smacking him on the arm, her face growing red. "Are you insane?" She demanded. "What makes you think that I'm just going to drop you because he's back home? What makes you think that I'm even interested in him as more than a friend anymore?" She then started to raise her voice. "I'm not the kind of person that would do that and you're an incredible fucking imbecile if you think that I would!"
"Yeah, I deserved that," Kendall rubbed the back of his neck and paused. "So why'd you break up with him?"
"Because I came out here," Riley blushed a little as she tilted her head to the side, scratching the side of her neck. "And I found you." A broad smile stretched across Kendall's face as he looked back at her, causing Riley to smile as she rolled her eyes. "You must be rubbing off on me, since what I just said was completely clichéd." She held out her hand to him. "Let's just get something to eat or hang out with the others or something." Kendall smiled and took her small hand in his, tightly squeezing it in his own.
"That's fine with me."
"And while I'm not getting back at you for stalking me right now, don't think I won't forget."
"I didn't think you would."
THE END
A/N: Kileysuperfan has asked about doing a one-shot about Kendall being jealous over Riley's ex and I had the idea for a while, but never got around to writing it. I felt so bad that it took so long. It's not my best, but I hope that you guys liked it.
Cheers,
-Riles