Riley was never the hot one.
Sure, she wasn't ugly and was sort of pretty, in a certain girl-next-door way that made her the perfect girl to bring home to meet your parents but to never make out with. She was the attainable one, the decent looking one, the one that paled in comparison standing next to her blonde best friend who received all the attention for how drop dead gorgeous she was.
Most days, Riley was fine with it. She was nice, bubbly, optimistic, and she prided herself on knowing that people hung out with her not for her looks but for her personality. However, some days, it wasn't fun to be constantly led on by others. When she thought someone was genuinely interested in her and actually thought she was more than decent looking, her hopes would immediately be squashed the moment they asked if Maya or Lucas or some other good-looking person in her group was free.
But because she was Riley Matthews and she was supposed to be the happy, giggly, supportive friend, she would simply reply with yes, Maya was free or no, he's currently seeing someone, before quickly flouncing off in a manner that everyone expected from her when all she wanted to do was trudge back home with her head hung low.
Hence, it was quite a shock when her cheerleading coach, Coach Carter, assigned Riley and some other cheerleaders with the role of manning the kissing booth for the fundraising fair for clubs. Standing amidst a group of beautiful girls that were thin, yet shapely, was a daunting task for the insecure girl and she had spent the entire day before the fair fretting over her looks, listening to the voice in her head feed her more insecurities.
On the day of the fundraising, Riley sat at one end of the kissing booth, pushing her seat further away from the others to make it seem like she was just a spectator so that she had an excuse if anyone came up to her to tease her for her nonexistent line. However, the fact that her name was listed on the posters around school advertising the kissing booth threw away any chances of her making it seem like she was a passer-by.
For the first thirty minutes or so, Riley watched from the side as the lines to kiss her fellow cheerleaders snaked all the way to the back of the auditorium whilst hers stayed empty. The others' jars started to fill with money over each passing minute and their lipstick had been left lingering on the lips' or cheeks' of many students. However, Riley's jar only contained air and the candy red lipstick the kissers had been forced to wear remained unsmudged on her lips.
Just as she let out a drawn-out sigh, a hand slammed onto the table she currently laid her head on, a crisp five dollar note crumpled underneath the weight of the calloused coffee-coloured fingers. Eyeing the five dollar note, the usually optimistic girl deadpanned, "I'm not a cashier, you're supposed to pay when you reach the front of the line of whoever you're queuing up for to kiss,"
Turning her head in the other direction, she buried it into the safety of her arms, praying that whoever was pranking her by giving her false hope would just go away. However, a familiar voice sang in front of her, the slight twang of the accent and pinch of cheekiness immediately giving away the identity of whoever the voice belonged to.
"Now, that isn't any way to be talking to your fake boyfriend, ain't it Cotton Candy Face?"
Peering up with astonishment, Riley was met with the beaming face of Zay Babineaux, mischief shining brightly in his eyes. His fingers stayed sprawled out across the note on the table before raising it, the five dollars now pinched between two fingers and shoved into Riley's face. "I believed you said to pay once I reach the front of the line?"
Riley flickered her widened eyes between the money in Zay's hands and the boy itself, the genuine disbelief at what the Texan was offering shining clearly in her eyes. Hesitantly, she gingerly plucked the cash out of the boy's hands, stuffing it into her now no longer empty jar and feeling a pathetic sense of achievement for her first five dollars.
Sweeping her eyes over everyone else in the auditorium, she was relieved to see that no one was paying her any attention before that same horrible voice in her head whispered terrible things. ("No one's looking here because you're not important enough." "Everyone's looking over here because they can't wait for a good laugh.") She was so invested in the thoughts swarming in her head that it took Zay a few tries before she finally realised he was calling her.
"Sugar? It's fine if you don't want to kiss me, I can see how that would be weird since you and Lucas had a thing," The Texan drawled out, his sympathetic dark eyes drawing Riley in and making her feel safe and forcing all the evil whisperings in her head out. Seeing how patient and overly understanding Zay was made the brunette feel an immense amount of guilt.
This was Zay, someone she could trust and here he was, trying to help her from the shame of collecting no money and yet she couldn't give him the one thing she was supposed to give.
Spurred on from the guilt throbbing in her chest, Riley shook her head stiffly, determination now flaring in her chest and pushing aside the feeling of shame. "You paid and I'm supposed to kiss you, and that's what I am going to do," Trying to detect if the girl was lying, Zay must have been satisfied with the look in her eyes as his signature smirk crept back onto his face, the lopsided smile making an appearance once again.
"Well then, Sugar, I guess it's time to pucker up," The class comedian hooted, leaning forward and allowing Riley enough time to change her mind to pull away but closing the distance once she didn't offer any form of protest. The brunette's first thought was how nice the kiss was. She spent more than enough time staring at the boy's lips and sometimes thinking of how they would feel on hers.
Now that they were, she was not disappointed. The boy's large lips were pressed softly against hers, the right amount of his mouth rough at the sides and smooth in the middle. At first, the kiss was slow and sweet, allowing Riley to savour the saltiness of the popcorn the boy no doubt had eaten beforehand and Zay the courtesy of feeling the naturally plump lips that belonged to the girl.
Soon, Riley grew bold, her months of practising with a boy from her summer-long charity camp coming into good use as she shifted her arms that awkwardly hung at her sides to Zay's neck, lightly touching the nape of the Texan's hair in such a way that sent shivers down his spine. All too soon, the tingling feeling was gone and Zay found himself staring at bashful brown doe eyes, his heart hammering in his chest and yearning for more.
Giving a low cough, Zay tilted an imaginary hat, mustering up a weak grin when all he could think about was the kiss he had just shared with Riley. Muttering what he hoped was a thanks, the boy walked off, not before giving Riley a quick wink that sent her blushing to the roots of her hair, making Zay feel accomplished.
Peeling her eyes away from the back of Zay, Riley was startled to notice a few students had joined her line, the boy standing in front of her holding his five dollars out eagerly, a huge enthusiastic grin on his face with equally happy and curious head poking out from the queue.
Grateful for Zay, the girl embarrassingly took the money gently from the boy at the front, stuffing it into her jar before proceeding to work, the image of her lipstick smudges across Zay's big lips replaying in her head over and over again.
So, this was just a small idea that popped into my head. It's going to be a Riley x everyone story, where you can read your favourite pairing with Riley. There's no set pairing, so feel free to leave a review of who you'd like to see Riley kiss next. Sorry this is kind of short but it is a sort of one-shot/drabble thing. Some future chapters will consist of Riley x Farkle, Riley x Maya, Riley x Smackle (maybe), Riley x Charlie, etc. and will have Riley x Lucas (a pairing I'm defintely more bias to) wrap it all up. Thank y'all for reading and see you in the next chapter!
Peace Out,
HeroesOfOlympus