Hey all! Hope you've been enjoying this so far, I know I am! Here's what's going to happen in this chapter:
- We're going to learn about Riley's accident, and the who/what/when/where/why/how's of it all
- And Miss Penelope is going to hop aboard a plane after shipping her gallery across the US a couple of days prior
And then, you'll have to wait for the next chapter. That's when the girls come face to face for the first time in ten years. But...this is a very important chapter too! So please read on!
Chapter outfits: www dot polyvore dot com slash cgi slash set?id=184154373
Lauren.
Fate. The first thing Riley thought when she was lying in that hospital bed two weeks after her accident. It wasn't an accident. It was fate. It was bound to happen. And it did.
Chance. That was the first thing Dr. Froese told her when he met her in that hospital bed that very same day. It wasn't fate. It was chance. It wasn't fated to happen, there was a chance. And it did.
Riley wasn't sure why she was reliving the worst moments of her life that night, lying awake in her bed. Perhaps it was the prospect of Maya coming to California. Perhaps her arrival, or the anticipation, rather, that was bringing this back to light.
Riley closed her eyes in hopes of ceasing her dwelling of the past. But unfortunately, her past found her in a dream.
Riley's first day of her fourth year at CalArts saw her walking down the street towards campus with Aspen. Both girls were extremely excited for what their last year of school had in store for them. They crossed the street when Aspen screamed. Riley's head snapped towards the direction she was looking at, seeing a black sedan racing towards them and not stopping for the red light. Making a split-second decision, Riley shoved Aspen out of the car's way. But before she had a chance to follow her out of the way, the car smashed into her. Hard.
What happened next was a blur. Riley felt herself go flying, Aspen's screams echoing the air as she scrambled off the ground to follow her. "RILEY!"
That was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.
Then she was lying in the hospital bed, feeling as though she'd been run over by the car and not just hit by it. She felt the panic rush through her when she discovered she couldn't move her legs. Her mother gasped when she saw her awake, rushing over to her side and smoothing her hair. She'd never seen her father cry until that moment.
Lucas, Charlie, and Aspen all visited her at various hours that day, Aspen scolding her for shoving her out of the way before wrapping her in a gentle hug and thanking her for probably saving her life.
Riley didn't regret doing what she did until the doctor revealed her diagnosis: temporary leg paralysis. There were three shattered discs in her back that were cutting off circulation to her legs. She would have to undergo surgery to fix them. But she would never be able to dance again.
The stories hit the tabloids faster than word spread: 'Dancer Riley Matthews involved in hit-and-run, may never dance again', and 'Riley Matthews sacrifices her career to save another's in hit-and-run'
She underwent surgery two days after received the diagnosis. She was in recovery for almost six months, having to take a gap year and finish her last year of school the following year. The hardest part wasn't knowing she would never dance again, at least not at first. The hardest part was re-learning how to walk. She refused to see any therapist but Dr. Froese, who agreed to move out to Los Angeles for four months to see her.
She spent many hours with him crying, wondering what she would do with her life now that she couldn't dance. It was Dr. Froese who recommended she go into choreographing, or opening a studio. She could channel her passion for dance in another way. So she talked to Aspen, who mentioned Jolie was planning to open a studio at the end of the year. When choreographing became an option, she stopped feeling sorry for herself. But every time she thought of her best friend, 3000 miles away, not even bothering to call her once throughout the process, she became angry.
She vividly remembered the 'fate or chance' talk with Dr. Froese. "Riley, I will agree that things happen for a reason. But it isn't fate. It wasn't fated to happen. It was chance. Do you know what I mean when I say chance?"
"That it wasn't supposed to happen?" Riley said dully. This was one week post-operation. She was healing at a miraculous rate, according to her surgeon and physical therapist. Unfortunately, the accident had done too much damage to the nerves. Any sudden impact (jumping, rolling, etc.) could disturb the healing nerves and cause permanent paralysis if the nerve endings died.
"Not exactly. It's the occurrence and development of events in the absence of any obvious design. Neither you nor Aspen could have seen that car coming until it was too late. Had you not pushed Aspen out of the way, both of you could have been suffering right now. And judging by the position she was standing in, doctors confirmed that being hit by the car at that angle would have killed her. You were lucky because you were standing at a different vantage point."
"Life is trying to throw me on the ground again," Riley sighed.
"And what did your mother tell you when you first told her that?" Dr. Froese asked encouragingly.
Riley smiled for the first time all session. "She told me to hang on."
"That's right," he confirmed. "Look at you. You're hanging on every day."
"Why didn't Maya call?" she asked abruptly. "Unless she did."
"I would gather she has her own reasons for not doing so," Dr. Froese replied. "Reasons for which I couldn't tell you, because I haven't the faintest idea of what they might be."
"I know she's busy," Riley admitted. "I just...I wish she would've taken the time to call, you know?"
"You'll have to ask her why," Dr. Froese said instead.
But she didn't call. When she was discharged from the hospital, and given a clean bill of mental health from her rehabilitation facility, she pushed Maya out of her head and focused on herself. She couldn't dwell on the past if she wanted to move towards the future.
Riley sat upright in bed, cold sweat dripping down her back and breathing rapidly. "Suggesting Maya was a big mistake," she whispered. "I'm dredging up the past."
"Maya, you're forgetting something," Kaelyn yelled.
"What could I possibly be forgetting?" Maya demanded, her arms crossed as she stood by the door with her two suitcases.
"Me!" she said excitedly, coming out of her room with a suitcase in tow.
"Seriously?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you couldn't get out of work."
"Surprise?" Kaelyn giggled.
Maya smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're coming."
Kaelyn shook her head. "Someone's not dressing well."
Maya glanced down at her top and jeans. "What's wrong with this?"
"It's just that it's not very...age-appropriate."
Maya shook her head. "We're going to California, Kae. You look like you're going to Canada."
"It's cold," Kaelyn reminded her.
"It's like 90 degrees in Cali," was all Maya said in response.
Kaelyn pointed to Maya's room. "Go change and put something on that'll make you look a little more professional."
So Maya obeyed and pulled on a sleeveless wool turtleneck and some teal dress pants. "Much better," Kaelyn said approvingly when Maya came out of her room five minutes later.
Josh gave her a kiss. "Good luck, babe."
"Thanks," Maya whispered.
"Say hi to Riley for me," he added.
"I'll try," she sighed.
"You have to." Josh's gaze was serious and she nodded.
"Let's go!" Kaelyn squealed, and they were en route to LaGuardia within ten minutes. Maya double checked their flight time: 10:39am. The girls chatted about what they would do once they arrived in California.
"Well, I have to meet up with Hannah and start setting up my exhibit," Maya replied. "Would you like to come with me?"
"I'd love to, but I'm not sure they'll allow me," Hannah said uncertainly.
"Well I'll say I need you to help me," Maya said. "I did bring along a couple of your designs to be apart of my exhibit."
Kaelyn's eyes grew enormous. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, I felt that they added something to my exhibit," Maya said with a grin.
Kaelyn gave her a hug. "Thanks, Maya. That means a lot to me."
"Anytime," Maya replied, hugging her back.
"Do you think Riley will be there?" Kaelyn asked. "I really want to meet her."
"I have no idea, but I'm not really looking forward to seeing her," Maya grumbled.
"Why not?" Kaelyn asked.
"I don't know." Maya looked out the window to see the large building that was LaGuardia Airport coming up ahead. "I just have a really bad feeling about this."
"It'll be okay," Kaelyn said encouragingly.
"I hope so." Maya sighed.
The girls didn't mention Riley again, focusing instead on every last detail of Maya's exhibit, which she'd decided to call '3000 Miles of Fashion & Design', taking different design techniques from California and New York and comparing them. There were a lot of fashion pieces from Kaelyn's projects from RISD, because she'd had to design clothing for Californians and compare and contrast the west coast style to the east coast style. That was originally where she'd gotten her inspiration from for her exhibit.
"Maya it sounds wonderful," Kaelyn sighed. "Just dreamy."
"All right, enough," Maya said, laughing.
"I can't wait to see it," Kaelyn said, smiling at her.
"I'm worried that the delivery truck won't make it," Maya sighed. "If it doesn't, no one will get to see it."
"What about the tracker app?" Kaelyn asked as they passed through security. "Where is the truck now?"
Maya pulled out her phone and opened the app in question. The company that Kaelyn had recommended her use to deliver her exhibit gave her a tracking code so that she could track her exhibit's journey across the US. "Ummmm," Maya paused as the app loaded. "Right now it's passing through Nevada," she announced.
"Great, then it'll get there by the time we land, hopefully," Kaelyn said. "It's supposed to be delivered right to the convention center, right?"
"Yeah, so that I can start unloading things after my meeting with Hannah," Maya replied.
"All right, so it's all working out fine." Kaelyn gave Maya a friendly squeeze. "Let's go find our gate."
Five and a half exhausting hours later, Maya and Kaelyn stumbled off the plane with their suitcases in tow, hailing a cab that would take them to the hotel and then the convention center. Maya wasn't due to meet Hannah for a couple of hours, so they planned to check in first and then head to the meeting. They arrived, checked in, and collapsed onto their beds thirty minutes later.
"It's not like we even drove," Kaelyn managed to say.
"Jet lag will do that to you," Maya said. "It's only one-thirty right now. It's like six-thirty in New York."
"What time do we have to meet Hannah?" Kaelyn asked.
"At two-thirty," Maya said, pulling up her travel app. "It takes fifteen minutes to walk there."
"We're walking?" Kaelyn moaned.
"I don't know about you, but I can't afford to take another cab," Maya replied. "And it's not like we're walking for an hour."
"I'm so tired," Kaelyn moaned.
"You're the one who wanted to come," Maya scoffed.
Kaelyn said nothing and mashed her face into a pillow.
Maya just laughed. She looked at the app again, and saw that it was just on the outskirts of Los Angeles. In an hour, maybe. Then she looked at her phone. There was just one hour before she had to meet Hannah.
Little did she know that there was only one hour until her life would change completely.
