"Do you have any coffee?" I yawned as Stefan led me through his front door.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll get a pot going."

"Holy crap," I said shocked. His house was like a mansion, a very creepy mansion. "You actually live here?"

"Yep, me and my brother," he nodded.

"It's awfully big for just the two of you," I noted.

"Well it's been in the family since it was built in 1914," he informed me. "It's actually a boarding house. We used to allow visitors to stay here but since Damon and I moved back to town, we kind of put a stop to that."

"D-did people die here?" I asked hesitantly.

"Well, I suppose," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," I shook my head. "It just has a really weird vibe to it. Like it's marked with death."

"What do you have spidy senses or something?" he laughed.

"No," I laughed back. "Don't you feel it?"

"No," he shook his head. "It's just a house."

"Never mind," I sighed. "I'm just being weird. So where's that coffee?"

"Coming right up," he said and disappeared, into what I assumed was the kitchen. A few minutes later, he brought me a large cup of coffee.

"I wasn't sure how you like your coffee," he said.

"Black, like my soul," I sighed.

"Let's get started," he laughed.

"Alright, I think you're all caught up," Stefan sighed, relaxing back on his couch.

"Good," I replied.

"Now just make you don't fall behind again," he said.

"No promises," I laughed. "Thanks for helping me Stefan. I mean it."

"What are friends for?" he asked. "Are we friends now?"

"I guess," I laughed. "As long as you promise not to bud into my personal life, then we're good."

"I promise," he said raising his hands up.

"I'm home," I heard someone shout. Stefan sighed.

"Hi Damon," I said softly.

"Riley," he smirked. "Need a ride home?"

"Actually I've got it covered," Stefan interjected.

"First of all I'm not an 'it'," I began glaring at him. "Second of all, we literally just discussed this."

"Fine," he nodded. "Just get her home safely Damon."

Honestly, Stefan looked like he wanted to rip Damon apart, and Damon seemed to be enjoying getting under his skin.

"Will do," he smirked, and then turned to me. "Let's go twerp."

"Night Stefan," I said and grabbed my bag.

"Night," Stefan said and walked away. As soon as Stefan was out of sight, Damon grabbed my bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Let's go," he said.

The entire ride back to my house was quiet, and I kind of liked it that way. When we finally got there I could see the lights on in my house a shadow walking around in the living room. That meant my mother was awake, and that wasn't a good thing.

"Everything ok?" he asked.

"Huh?" I asked, breaking out of my own thoughts. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the ride Damon."

Just like the other night, before he could get another word in, I hopped out of the car and walked up to the front door. I could tell he was waiting for me to walk inside but instead I just waved to him and made it seem like I was struggling for my keys. I didn't want my mom to see his car drive away. A few seconds later he waved and left. Then I walked inside.

"It's about time," my mom said flatly.

"I'm sorry I was out late," I said. "I've been getting tutored for History."

"Oh, I'm sure," she said sarcastically.

"I'm just going to go to bed," I sighed, ignoring her comment.

"No, you're not," she snapped. "The kitchen needs to be cleaned. Get started."

"Alright," I nodded and set my bag down on the floor.

The kitchen was a disaster. But it wasn't like it was my fault. I'm hardly ever home. All of the dishes in the sink were hers. All of the stains and caked on food on the stove was her fault. The overfilled trashcan was holding her empty beers bottles. But apparently it was my job to clean everything.

However, the last thing I wanted to do was start a fight with her, so I'd clean everything up just to make her happy.

I started with rinsing off the dishes in hot water. Then while I let them soak in the soapy water, I began to scrub down the counter tops and the stove. I went back to the dishes once I was finished and started scrubbing those. But half way through it my mom decided to come in and stand over me, just staring.

"You know if you're going to do it wrong you might as well not do it," she said nastily.

"How am I doing it wrong?" I asked frustrated.

"Don't use that tone with me!" she shouted.

"I didn't use any tone," I argued. "I don't know how Iit possible to wash dishes wrong."

"You know what?" she snapped. "Just move I'll do them!"

"It's fine mom," I tried. "I've got them."

"I said move!" she shouted pushing me roughly to the side and yanking my hands out of the water. Being that our kitchen was a U shaped, I slammed into the side of a counter and fell to the floor. As I was rubbing my bruised him I felt something sticky on my hand. Just my luck, when my mother had yanked my hands out of the water, I had been washing a knife, and so it had cut open the palm my hand. And well there was blood everywhere.

"What the hell is your problem?" she shouted, disgusted. "You're getting blood all over my floor!"

"I'm sorry," I hissed from the pain.

"Just get up!" she shouted, and grabbed my arm. "Get up! Go to the bathroom."

While she had a vice grip on my wrist, she dragged me into the bathroom so fast I almost tripped. Then she just slammed the door with me in there and left me to clean up my hand, which was still gushing out blood. For few seconds I just sat there, not really knowing what to do. The cut was really deep and it wasn't going to stop bleeding anytime soon. I knew I most likely needed stitches, but there was no way I could go to the hospital. That would just raise unnecessary red flags.

All I could really do was wrap up in gauze and hope it would stop bleeding. So, that's what I did. Then I collapsed in bed and fell asleep.

The next morning up I woke up and went to change the bandage around my hand. However, the dried blood made the bandage stick to the cut. The process was incredibly painful, even more then when I actually cut it, but I finally was able to peel the bandage off. Not without making, it bleed again though. After I attempted to clean it, I wrapped it back up with gauze and then got in the shower.

Luckily, I was able to wash my hair and body without getting my wounded hand wet. Don't get me wrong, though, it was a struggle. I let my hair air dry into my natural waves and used some hair care products. Then I did my make-up and got dressed.

Once I was done, I walked to school.

"Hey Jeremy," I greeted him, as I walked into first period.

"Hey Riley!" he smiled. "Woah! What happened to your hand?"

"Oh," I said. "It's nothing. Just cut my palm open when I was doing the dishes."

"Well, it's bleeding through the bandage," he said. "Maybe you should have it looked at."

"It's fine," I shook my head. "Don't worry about it."

"Alright but if they have to amputate your hand because of an infection don't come crying to me," he laughed.

"Thanks for the support," I said sarcastically.

"Do you have work today?" he asked.

"Not until five, why?" I asked.

"Let's hang out after school," he said. "Come to my house and we'll order pizza and play video games."

"You had me at pizza," I smiled.

"Riley!" I heard someone shout in the cafeteria.

"Hi Elena," I smiled, waving at her.

"Why don't you sit with us?" she offered. By 'us' she meant her, Caroline, and Bonnie.

"Ok," I said sitting down at the table.

"What happened to your hand?" Bonnie asked.

"I cut it open doing the dishes," I shrugged. "Nothing serious."

"Well did you go the doctor?" Elena asked.

"No," I shook my head.

"Then how do you know it's nothing serious?" she asked raising her eyebrows. "You should get it checked out before it gets infected."

"You know you and your brother are a lot alike," I said.

"Oh by the way, Riley, keep your Friday night open," Caroline smiled.

"Why?" I laughed.

"Because you have a date," she said simply.

"With who?" I groaned. Now I remember that I promised her she could set me up with someone.

"I can't tell you yet," she shook her head, smiling.

"Fine," I sighed. "But what am I supposed to wear? I don't own any date worthy clothes."

"You can borrow something from me," she offered. "We're practically the same size."

"Thanks Caroline," I smiled.

"No problem," she said. "Come by house around six. I'll also do your hair and make-up."

"So how's things going with your mom?" Jeremy asked me as we were walking home.

"I haven't really been home much," I shrugged. "But when I am home then she's yelling at me for something, anything, she can think of. Like last night she told me to do the dishes and so I did, but apparently I was doing them wrong."

"How do you wash dishes wrong?" he raised his eyebrows.

"You tell me," I said.

"So that's when you cut your hand?" he asked after a few seconds. "Did she do it?"

"What?" I asked shocked. "No! Of course not! It was an accident. I just went to grab a dish in the soapy water and I grabbed the knife by the blade on accident."

"Ok," he nodded.

"Anyways," I said. "I walked away before I started yelling back."

"Well that's a good then," he said. "No need to make the situation worse."

I nodded my head.

"You know you could go easy on me!" I shouted at Jeremy.

We were playing some video game. It was like Black Operations or something like that. And well…I sucked. I couldn't figure out which buttons to press, and when to actually press them.

"No way!" he shouted, shooting at me.

"But I'm on your team!" I argued.

"Too bad!" he laughed. "I showed you how to play. Get with the program."

"No! Wait! Stop it!" I shouted, pressing random buttons. "Hey! I just regenerated! Stop shooting me!"

"And you're dead," he said. "Again."

"Can we play something easier?" I begged.

"Fine," he laughed. "Well play the Lego game. Think you can handle that?"

"Yes," I said stubbornly.

"What are you doing?" he shouted. "Don't go in the water! You'll drown!"

"Now you tell me?" I shouted back. "What do I do? I'm drowning!"

"Press X! Press X!" he said.

"I am! Nothing's happening!" I said. Again I resorted to just pressing random buttons. But then I drowned.

"Don't worry you have silver hearts," he explained. "Don't jump back in the water! Did you learn nothing?"

"I didn't jump! I fell!" I shouted. Then I drowned again.

"How do I use the damn silver hearts?!" I asked.

"They're not weapons!" he laughed. "It just means you have infinite lives."

"Oh," I realized. "Well I give up."

"Alright this is the easiest game I own," Jeremy said holding disc up in front of my face.

"Ibb and Obb," I nodded, reading the cd.

"If you can't figure this out," he warned. "Then I give up on you."

"I can do it!" I promised.

"It's simple," he explained. "All you have to do is stay next to me."

"Ok," I nodded.

"Grab onto me!" he shouted.

"I'm trying!" I said. "The button isn't working!"

"Just press X!" he said. "It works I promise."

"There I'm on!" I exclaimed. "God damn it! You stupid fucking whale!"

The whale ate me.

"Take 12," he sighed. "Just stay close to me."

"I'm trying!" I said. "How are you swimming so fast?"

"Press O," he said.

"Ohhh!" I said. "The whale is coming! Shit!"

Somehow, I managed to grab the engine thingy before Jeremy and I just decided to abandon him and try to save myself.

"Hey!" he shouted. "You can't just leave me!"

"Oh yes I can," I said, determined to swim away from the whale.

"No!" he said. "You can't make it to the next level without me! We have to go together."

"Oh," I realized. "I'm dead anyways."

"That's what you get for abandoning me!" he said.

"Shut up!" I laughed.

Using the controller so much was starting to have its effect on my wounded hand. Damn, it hurt. It was aching a lot and it felt like it was on fire.

"Do you have any ice?" I asked hesitantly. I really didn't want him to freak out.

"Your hand bothering you?" he asked.

"It's just a little sore," I said. Ok, that was a lie. But like I said, I don't want him freaking out.

"I'll put some in a bag," he said getting up.

"Thanks," I said. A few seconds later he brought a small bag of ice and a small towel.

"Perfect," I said grabbing it.

"Do you mind if I look at it?" he asked.

"I really don't want to take the bandage off," I said.

"Alright," he said. "But if it starts hurting more let me know."

"I promise," I smiled. "So when am I getting this pizza you promised me?"

"Ric and Jenna are on their way with it now," he laughed.

"Who and Jenna?" I asked.

"Ric and –" he said. "Mr. Saltzman and Jenna."

"Oh!" I said. "Him! I forgot they're dating."

"Jeremy! Riley!" I heard Elena call as she walked in the front door. "I'm home!"

"We're in here!" Jeremy shouted.

"Great! You're still here!" Elena said to me. "Can I talk to you in my room for a second?"

"Yeah, sure," I nodded and followed her up. "What's up?"

"It's about your date this Friday," she said.

"What about it?" I asked sitting on her bed.

"It's just I know Caroline can be a little pushy," she started. "But she means well. Anyways if you want out of it, I can talk to her."

"No, it's fine!" I laughed. "I actually don't mind. I haven't been on a date in over a year. So this is a good thing. I just hope he's hot."

"If Caroline is doing this, then I can guarantee he'll be hot," she laughed.

"Good," I said. "I was afraid she might set me up with some loser."

"No way!" she laughed. "If there's one thing Caroline succeeds in, it's boys. And clothes."

"Well, thanks for the heads up," I said. "I appreciate it."

"Any time," she nodded.

"Hey before I go," I said. "Do you have any Advil?"

"Why? Is your hand bothering you?" she asked concerned.

"No!" I laughed. "I just have head ache, is all."

"Ok, just one sec," she said and disappeared into her bathroom. She came back out with two pills and handed them to me.

"They're 200 milligrams each," she informed.

"Great, thanks," I said.

"You better get back down stairs before Jeremy calls out a search team for you," she joked.

"Later," I laughed and walked out of her room.

Just as I was walking down the stairs Mr. Saltz- I mean Ric and Jenna walked through the door.

"Hi Riley!" Jenna smiled. "Pizza's here!"

"Yay!" I said. "I'm starving. Hi, Mr. Saltzman."

"Hey!" he smiled. "Umm, you can call me Ric outside of school."

"Ok," I laughed. That's weird.

"About time," Jeremy told me. "I thought I wasn't going to get you back tonight."

"Would that be such a horrible thing?" I laughed. "Then I wouldn't have to sit there let you kill me over and over again."

"Riley? Cheese or Pepperoni?" Jenna asked me.

"Pepperoni please," I smiled.

"Here you go," she said handing me paper plate with a slice of pizza on it.

"Thank you," I said.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked keeping a grip on the plate.

"It's nothing," I tried. "I just cut it open washing some dishes."

"No, she cut it open, grabbing the blade of a knife," Jeremy said swallowing his food.

"Shut up! You're not helping!" I said lightly smacking his shoulder. But I'm dumb and I smacked him with my injured hand. And it hurt. But I just bit my lip and kept quiet.

"It's fine," I choked out.

"Yeah," Jeremy nodded. "That's why you've had ice on it for the past half hour."

"Seriously Jeremy! Not. Helping," I glared.

"Why don't I take a look at it," Ric offered.

"No! It's fine really!" I argued.

"Riley! Please just let him look at it!" Jenna begged.

"Either you can let me look at it," Ric smiled. "Or you can let a doctor look at it, your choice."

"Fine," I groaned. "Let's go to the bathroom. I don't want anyone's food coming back up."

Sighing, I walked into the hallway bathroom and sat on the toilet seat.

"So how exactly did you do this?" he asked as he began to unwrap the bandage. After he got the first layer of it off, you could see that blood had seeped through.

"I was washing dishes," I explained. "And I went to grab one in the soapy water, but grabbed the blade of a knife by accident."

"Holy shit," he said shocked. "This is really bad."

"It is not," I argued.

"Yes it is! And it's getting infected," he said. "You need stitches. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"What? No! No hospitals!" I shouted, shaking my head.

"Riley! That cut is too deep," he said. "It's not going to heal on its own."

"But-" I tried.

"No buts," he cut me off. "I'm taking you right now. Get your coat."

"Fine," I groaned and stomped away. If he was taking me, he was taking me grumpy.

"How'd it go?" Jenna asked.

"Your boyfriend is mean," I declared.

"What? Why?" she laughed.

"I'm taking her to the hospital," Ric explained.

"Is it that bad?" she asked. He nodded.

"Just let me use the bathroom first," I said after I had put my sweater on.

Quietly I walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

I needed to get out. Now. I hate hospitals. I can't really risk another red flag, too.

The window, I thought. I could squeeze through it. Yep, that's my plan. But I didn't want to be heard so I turned on the faucet. As quietly as I possibly could, I opened the window and climbed through it.

Then I took a deep breath and jumped to the ground.

Almost home free, I thought.

Just as I rounded the corner around the house and was going to go in the opposite direction, someone stepped in front of me.

"Nice try!" Ric said. "Get in the car."

"But I have work!" I tried.

"Then you can call in sick," he said and led me to his car.

"But-" I said.

"No more buts," he said and opened the door.

"Meany," I pouted.

By the time we made it to the ER, I was biting my nails and shaking my leg. I was so freaking nervous. My main problem was the needles. I have a huge fear of needles. Not like a little tiny fear. Like a huge phobia. One time my mother tried to take for a flu shot when I was younger, I barricaded myself in my room. She had to call the fire department to get me out. Even after that I didn't go quietly. I attempted to destroy everything in my path.

She never took me to get another flu shot ever again.

"Stop biting your nails," he scolded.

"How much longer?" I sighed. We'd been in this stupid waiting room for almost an hour.

"Not long," he said. "Just relax. Here use my phone and call work."

"Fine," I said and stood up. I only walked a few feet away because I knew he was watching me like a hawk. After I dialed the number, one of my co-workers answered the phone. All I told them was that I was sick so I wouldn't be there tonight.

"Here," I said handing him back the phone.

"Riley McPherson," a doctor called.

"Let's go," Ric said and led me into the doctor's office.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Petrelli," he said shaking Ric's hand. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I cut my hand open," I said holding out my palm and pulling back the bandage.

"Oh, wow, that's deep," he noted. "Good thing you came in. What I'll do is give you and injection near it, to numb it. Then I'll stitch up."

"Ok," I sighed. I was really not excited about the shot. Seriously, I was nervous as hell. All I could was stare at the floor and dig my nails into leg as I sat there.

That was one of my many nervous habits. Biting my nails was obviously another. I also would bite my lip and tear the skin off until my lips were bloody and red. I'm not even kidding.

"Alright," Dr. Petrelli said. "You ready?"

"No," I muttered.

Silently, Ric came to sit next to me and held my left hand, the one that wasn't injured.

"Just try to relax," he said.

"Here we go," Dr. Petrelli said.

"Mother f-" I bit back.

God damn it that fucking hurt. Oh my god I want to kill him.

"Riley! Breathe!" Ric snapped. Oh, right, breathing, it's required. I hadn't even realized I had stopped.

"Hey calm down," Ric tried to comfort me. "It's over now."

My entire body was literally shaking and tears were streaming down my face.

"It's ok," he said hugged me. "It's over. No more."

I nodded and wiped away my tears.

"I'll give you a few minutes to relax," the doctor said. "And then I'll stitch it up. But don't worry you won't feel a thing."

"Can you make sure she gets some pain killers for after?" Ric asked.

"Of course," he nodded.

"You doing ok now?" Ric asked me.

"Yeah," I nodded. My body was still shaking, but I couldn't help it, even if the pain was gone. My anxiety was just through the roof.

"Elena told me to tell you," Ric said. "If you wanted you can spend the night at her house. Or I can take you home."

"Umm," I sighed, rubbing my head. "Just take me home."

I was extremely tired.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"No," I shook my head.

"Promise?" he said.

"I promise," I laughed. "Thank you… for caring."

"You're welcome," he said softly.

"But you owe me pizza," I said.

Author's Note

Oh my god. Crazy, right? So what do y'all think?

I have to say, the video game scene is probably my favorite, because that's an actual excerpt from my life. Sadly, I am that horrible at video games. Basically, everyone has given up on teaching me.

Anyways, how'd y'all like the whole Ric and Riley scene? Pretty cute, huh? Well there's a lot more where that came from. But just a BTW, there will be no romantic relationship between them. It's going to be basic a more of an older brother/younger sister type of relationship, or even like a step in type of father thing. He's just going to get very protective of her.

Anything specific you'd like to see? Or maybe like a fight scene between Riley and someone or a cute and fluffy scene? Let me know.

Night lovelies!