Riley's first night in a proper bed went marginally undisturbed. Although it had taken her a while to get comfortable, having become so accustomed to sleeping every night the past eight months on a hard floor but she had eventually found the perfect position and subsequently drifted easily off to sleep. Once asleep, the blonde was plagued with the same nightmare she'd endured every night since running away from her family and her home. The dream was vivid, and with every passing night it became more and more real. In it she would watch the murder of her mother over and over again, except now, instead of a Davea attacking her mother, it was herself. In her dream Riley's eyes blazed saffron yellow and her face was contorted, her eyebrows protruding much more so than usual and sharp fangs replacing her teeth making the, now, seventeen year old look far more menacing than she ever did in her human form. Every night she dreamt of sinking her teeth deep into her mother's skin, tearing the flesh from her body in an animalistic frenzy until the woman on the floor was unrecognisable, nothing more than a mass of ragged flesh and crimson blood. For the first few months Riley would wake from the nightmare in a cold sweat, claws ripping through the skin of her fingertips and replacing her fingernails, but by now she had grown so used to the dream that she no longer woke with a start.
What woke her the next morning was a gentle knock against the door of her small motel room. She sat up in the bed, frowning at her reflection in the mirror that hung opposite, before clambering out and heading towards the door. Standing up on her tiptoes she peeked one green eye through the glass peephole, and was met with the grinning face of the girl who had shown her to the room no more than eight hours ago. A frown flourished upon Riley's features as she unbolted the door, pulling it open towards herself and staring blankly at Freya who blinked her large brown eyes at her.
"Sleep well?" The brunette asked breezily, flashing Riley a smile and offering up a tray of takeaway cups, each one steaming hot and smelling absolutely delicious. "I didn't know what you drank so I've got tea, an americano, cappuccino and some sweet cinnamon thing that smells like one of Santa's elves threw up in it."
Riley blinked slowly at the girl, unsure as to why she was even here, let alone bringing her coffee but as the smell of the caffeine wafted towards her, her stomach growled loudly and despite her scepticism her lips curved upwards in a hint of a smile. "Cappuccino, thanks." Freya nodded, picking out the correct drink and handing it to Riley and taking the tea for herself.
"Great, cause if you'd said the Christmas cup of crap I'd probably have evicted you on the spot."
Riley had been taught from a very young age to always be cautious, to not trust someone until they gave you a solid reason to trust them and to always assume the worst. It was a, frankly, primitive way to bring up a child, to deny her the innocence of instantaneous friendships and the ability to return the smile of a stranger without questioning their motives. Somehow, despite her upbringing and going against everything she'd been taught as a child Riley laughed softly, a sound she hadn't heard herself make in longer than she could remember, it sounded awkward to her and she inwardly cringed at the sound of it. There was something about Freya Ripley, an unjudging kindness that made Riley less sceptical, this girl didn't have an agenda she was simply a good person – something Riley Fletcher didn't come across too often.
"So…" Freya whistled, tilting her head ever so slightly as she spoke. "Are you going to invite me inside or what? Because I've got breakfast food in my backpack and I really don't want to have to share it with my brother."
The blonde wolf faltered for a mere second before stepping aside, holding out an arm and gesturing for Freya to come inside.
"Awesome." She chirped, stepping over the threshold, discarding the two untouched hot drinks on the desk on the far side of the room before throwing her backpack onto the bed and flopping herself down not long after. She rolled over onto her stomach, unbuckling the top of her bag and pulling out a couple of croissants. Holding one out towards Riley she took a large bite out of her own. Riley stood in the doorway, an eyebrow kinked as she watched the girl make herself comfortable – she was acting as if they'd known each other for years, not hours, and for some reason Riley found it kind of endearing.
Closing the door and taking the croissant that was offered to her, Riley inspected it half-heartedly for any signs of tampering before tucking into it ravenously – life on the road hadn't seen her eating all that much and it was gone in seconds. Freya watched in amusement as the girl practically inhaled what she'd given her, but rather than say anything she merely pulled a whole load of pastries from her backpack, allowing Riley to take her pick.
"Not to sound rude or anything…" Riley said through mouthfuls of cinnamon roll.
"Which means you're about to say something pretty rude." Freya mused, sitting herself upright and taking a gulp of her tea – English breakfast, her favourite.
Riley smirked, not bothering to comment before continuing with her question. "Why are you here?"
"Well…" The brunette began. "You turned up alone in the middle of a rainstorm, completely drenched, no belongings, looking like you'd just been dragged through a hedge backwards." Riley arched an eyebrow and Freya gave a small shrug before continuing. "Which is actually not that unusual for Ripley's, you'd be surprised at the people we get through here. Take the guy in Room 52 for example, he has no mouth."
"No mouth?"
"No mouth." Freya repeated, taking another sip of tea before continuing. "I know what you're thinking, how the hell does he eat? That was my question exactly though he wasn't up for answering when I asked. He's bald as well, some sort of Voldemort cosplayer I think, got the whole nose and mouth thing badly mixed up but he seems nice enough."
Riley couldn't quite believe how animated the girl sitting on the end of her bed was, and she wondered for a moment whether all teenagers were like this, or whether Freya Ripley was special. Something about the brunette made Riley think that she was probably one of a kind, the type of person that was completely unforgettable, who left an imprint on the life of everyone they met.
"You didn't answer my question."
"Hmm?" Freya looked up from the selection of pastries she was currently riffling through before nodding slowly. "Oh shit yeah sorry…I guess I just thought you could use a friend. That, and a change of clothes, which reminds me." Dipping into what seemed to be a bottomless backpack she pulled out a pair of black jeans with tears at the knee and a grey t-shirt, with a smile she shoved the small pile of clothing towards Riley who blinked back at her in disbelief.
"I-I can't pay you…" She mumbled ashamedly, Freya scoffed and shook her head.
"You and I have clearly got very different concepts of friendship, buy me some chilli fries some time and we'll call it even. Now then, my turn to ask a question." Riley groaned in response but nodded nonetheless, relaxing a little now that she knew the girl was of no threat she leaned back against the headboard.
"Shoot."
"Where are your folks?"
"My dad's in Virginia."
"And your mom?" Riley's silence was enough to tell Freya not to press the subject of her mother any further and so the brunette swiftly moved on. "What brings you to my humble establishment?"
"I needed to be in Beacon Hills." Freya rolled her eyes and Riley laughed a little at the girls over exaggerated response to her answer. "Hey! What?"
"Don't tell me, you were simply drawn here, you couldn't help yourself, Beacon Hills just felt right?" Freya raised a dark, shaped eyebrow as though silently questioning the petite blonde to tell her she was wrong, when Riley merely stared blankly back at her she continued. "I'd say about seventy five percent of the tenants we get here say those exact words, well that and-"
"Do you have any idea where I could find Scott McCall?" Riley piped up and Freya's jaw dropped, she stared at the wolf open mouthed for a good few seconds before she laughed.
"Yes! Except it's usually a little more like this." Coughing quietly she cleared her through before putting on her best menacing voice, a lot deeper than her own, sounding vaguely like Christian Bales Batman. "Where is Scott McCall?!" She laughed at her own impersonation. "I mean, what's so great about Scott freaking McCall am I right?"
"So you know him then?"
"Who doesn't know him, he's the most popular guy at school…I don't think he actually knows that though…" Freya words trailed off in thought and she peered off into the distance. She'd known Scott McCall her entire life, having gone through the Beacon Hills schooling system alongside him and his best friend Stiles. They had never been particularly close, but they nodded at one another in the hallways and she'd been happy enough with that. It was only in recent years that she'd noticed a change in Scott McCall, he'd dated Allison Argent and started hanging around with the queen bee herself, Lydia Martin – who had also changed a great deal in such a short period of time – this drastic change in his social standing had happened around the same time guests had started asking after him at the motel reception, though she hadn't put those two pieces of information together until just now.
Both girls were silent for a long while, deep in thought, sipping from their respective takeaway cups, the only sound was that of their breathing, and Freya's rhythmic tapping of her fingertips against the cardboard cup she held between her hands.
"Riley?"
"Mmm?"
"Why are you here?" Freya repeated the same question Riley had asked her only minutes ago, and looked at the blonde through her large, dark eyes as she awaited an answer. The wolf sank her teeth gently into her bottom lip, she didn't know the girl before her, but she liked her and the prospect of pushing the only person who had shown any hint of kindness towards her in almost a year away by telling her the truth honestly didn't sound too appealing to Riley right now.
"My dad sent me." A half truth.
"When are you going back to Virginia?"
"I'm never going back to Virginia."
That stumped Freya, who opened and closed her mouth multiple times before finally settling on what it was she wanted to say. "I'll take you to meet him if you want, Scott I mean. You have to do something for me first though."
"Anything."
"Please, for the love of god will you take a shower." With that, the serious tone of the conversation dissipated and Freya grinned, ducking when Riley hurled a pillow in her direction. She grabbed her backpack, making sure first to empty it of the toiletries and extra bits of clothing she'd brought along for Riley, and slung it over her shoulder. "I've got to go do the paper work for Room 16's check out, I'll come back in say half an hour?"
Riley nodded, stretching as she stood up from the bed. "Where are we gonna meet him?"
"School, obviously. Where do seventeen year olds in Virginia spend their Wednesdays?" She wiggled her eyebrows comically before floating out of the room, shouting a quick 'see ya in thirty' from a few rooms away.
A/N: Oh my gosh! I cannot believe the support this story has earned in less than 24 hours! Thank you so much for the reviews/follows/favourites after only one chapter! Here's chapter 2, much more light hearted than the first, Freya is a breath of fresh air in the doom and gloom world of Teen Wolf. Hope you guys love the girls as much as I do!
