.:Chapter 09:.
You know those pieces of frustration you hadn't used yet and had forgotten about? Yeah…you turned it up to high and now it burst into flames, blew off your oven door, and set fire to your kitchen.
Nice going.
But this is the moment where you figure out if all of your hard work paid off. You take all of the emotions that have been building up for the past couple of months and release it. Take that emotion and towards the end, sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
"C'mon, where is it?" Riley dove under her bed, shoving boxes and pairs of shoes out of her way. "Where is it?" She turned to her backpack and upended it onto the floor, allowing pens, books, and sheets of paper to fall to the floor. "Where is it?"
"What are you doing, Ripcurl?" Ronan asked as he walked into the room, holding onto his laptop, his reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He studied his eldest daughter as she turned to him with a 'duh' look.
"I'm looking for my notebook!" She snapped. "I mean, I know that it was falling apart and that I needed to get a new one, but…" she looked up at Ronan. Pushing her hair out of her face, she tilted her head back to look at her father. "What's up, Ronan? Did your publicist call again?" She snapped her fingers. "Did she hear that Kendall and I are now moving in together?"
"No, this time it's actually something that's true." Ronan turned his laptop around and handed it to Riley so she could see the article that he had been scrolling through. "Apparently Kendall has been seeing his dad for a while."
Riley made a 'humph' sound before closing the lid to his laptop and handing it back to Ronan. "Well, I was about to go over there to see if they've seen my notebook, but this gives me an even better incentive to go!" She gave a tight smile. "I can't believe he lied to me."
"Well, maybe he never found the right time to say anything," Ronan said. "Don't be quick to judge; maybe Kacy didn't want him to say anything."
"Did you know about it?" Riley asked pointedly.
Ronan was silent.
"I thought so." Riley got to her feet, now starting to look for her car keys. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to my best friend." Her eyes flashed.
"Just do me a favor." Ronan reached out and placed a hand on Riley's head, forcing her to stop and look at him. "Please don't yell at them unless you have a really good reason to."
"So you mean basically just like every other reason that I have to yell at them?" Riley batted her eyelashes innocently. "When they do something stupid?"
Ronan sighed loudly. He tousled her hair as he gave her a smile. "You know, there was many times where I wondered why you made such a big impression on me when we first met. And it wasn't because you hated me at first. Now I realize it's because you really don't like to be hurt." Riley gazed up at him. "I just hope that whenever it does inevitably happen, you'll let me help you."
"You already have." Riley gave a shadow of a smile, shuffling her feet. "I know I haven't said it a lot since Robert left, but thanks for everything, Dad."
Ronan smiled and gave her a hug.
"So she's really bipolar?" Katie asked, slapping Riley's notebook against her palm. She lifted her head and looked at Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. "It makes a lot of things make sense, but I didn't think it would be anything…mentally related."
"Well, that's the thing," Logan said slowly. "If they've never properly addressed whatever had been going on in their life, it could manifest in different ways. I think this is how it's manifested with Landy."
"Still." James held up his hands and smiled. "I think the hyper sexuality thing could be a pretty good deal out of it." He held his arms up over his face as the others turned and glared at him. "I was just saying!" He lowered his arms and flipped his hair out of his face. "Besides, it's not like we can do anything about it. Technically, we weren't even supposed to know."
"That's not my fault." Kendall held up his hands defensively before covering his mouth. "You guys were the ones that wanted to read it."
There was a double-knock at the apartment door before it slammed open, crashing into the wall behind it, causing the boys and Katie to jump. They turned around and watched as Riley strode into the room, her eyes on Kendall. "I need to talk to you." Her eyes flicked over to the others and flashed a little. "Alone."
"Ok," Kendall replied, looking a little confused as he slowly lowered the remote. He looked at the ceiling for a few seconds as he thought. "Uh, we can go to my room then."
"Uh Landy," Logan spoke up quietly and tentatively. He noticed she looked more than pissed and it wouldn't help anything if she didn't calm down first. That way they'd be sure that no one would say anything that they would regret later. "Maybe you should calm down a little bi-"
"Shut up, Logie!" Riley snapped back at him.
"Ok," he replied obediently and turned away from her. Kendall got up from the couch, shrugging towards his friends and sister, who looked back at him with wide eyes, as he followed Riley into his and Logan's room. James waited until they were out of sight before speaking.
"What's that all about?" James questioned after a second of silence.
"I don't know," Carlos replied, his eyes wide. "But she scared me."
"Shh!" Katie got up from the couch and ran over to the door, pressing her ear against it. It was only a matter of seconds before Logan, James, and Carlos was at her side, listening just as intently as she was.
"So it's obvious you're mad at me about something," Kendall stated as soon as he closed the door behind Riley. He placed his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. "I'm not sure about what though." Riley was silent as she glared back at him. Kendall pulled his hands from his pockets and held his arms out and shrugged. "So if you could explain it to me, I'd be grateful."
"Please don't make a joke of this," Riley finally spoke, brushing her hair out of her face. Her eyes flashed dangerously, her face was a dark red, and her hands were clenched into fists; this was the most angry Kendall had ever seen her.
"What am I making a joke about?" Kendall ran his hands over his face, leaned back against the door, and stared back at her.
Riley took a couple of deep breaths before responding. "How come you had to let me find out about you seeing your dad from a gossip site?" She spat. "When were you going to tell me about it?"
Kendall paused for a long moment, trying to figure out what to say to defend himself. It wasn't that he didn't try to tell her what was going on, it was just that there was never a good time for it. "Why didn't you say anything until now?" Kendall asked. He winced, knowing it wasn't what he should have asked at the moment. "How long have you known?"
"Not long," Riley said slowly. "You want to guess how long?" She didn't let him answer. "Just today." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Imagine my surprise when we found out about it."
Kendall grimaced. "Sorry," he apologized. "I was going to tell you," he shrugged and spread his hands. "I just didn't know how." He was silent for a moment, when he spoke again, his voice was shaking. "The day at the park, when you lost your necklace, I tried to tell you then."
"Well it's a good thing you didn't or I would have said it was a bad idea." Riley remarked and continued at Kendall's confused look. "I can't say this for sure, since I don't know what's been going on with your guys' meetings, but in the long run it's not going to end well if you see your dad. You can trust me on that. It's never a good thing if he leaves for a long time and then all of a sudden shows up again." She shook her head. "There's always some sort of hidden motive…I've seen it happen enough."
"What?" Kendall questioned, lifting his head and looking at her sharply.
"Don't go see your dad," Riley reiterated. "It's not going to end well." She tilted her head. "What part of that didn't you get the first time?"
Kendall blinked once. "What the hell?" he questioned. Riley shot him a confused look and he continued. "Why would you want to ruin something for me that could possibly bring our family back together?"
"Ruin it for you?" Riley repeated, her eyes flying open.
"Yeah," Kendall wiped sweat off of his forehead. He hadn't been so worked up without the idea of a hockey game coming up. "Things have been good for us so far."
"If anyone is ruining anything, it's you!" Riley spat, looking like she wanted to kill him. "I had asked you about twenty times what has been bothering you, and you kept saying," she rolled her shoulders back, trying to imitate Kendall's stance. She lowered her voice a little. "'It's nothing.' 'I'm fine.' 'Don't worry about me.'" She snorted and went back to her normal pitch. "You know I can't help but worry about other people. But the worst part was that you lied to me, to my face, every time I asked you!"
"Ok, I admit that was a bad idea," Kendall shot back quickly. "But…" he licked his lips and looked away."…I mean, this is the first time my mom, dad, sister, and I can all be a family again. Something I've wanted so badly for a long time and now you're trying to talk me out of it?"
"I'm not trying to ruin anything, Kendall!" Riley raised her voice. "I'm not having this whole conversation to tell you how much I'm trying to break apart your family. Get over yourself!" She set her jaw and looked away from him. "If that's what you think I'm doing then you obviously don't know me very well."
"I do know you," Kendall insisted. "I know you so well it's not even funny." He lowered his voice. "I'm sorry I lied to you, but I didn't really have a choice." He whispered.
"You didn't have a choice?" Riley repeated, raising an eyebrow. She actually started laughing, which just caused Kendall to become even angrier.
"No!" Kendall snapped. "I didn't have a choice. I knew how you guys were going to react. I knew you were going to act like you knew everything that was going to happen with my dad." He clenched his hands into fists. "You don't know everything."
Riley held her breath as she counted backwards from ten, to calm herself down. She let out a huff of air; her shoulders holding so much tension they were practically at her ears. When she finished letting out her breath, her shoulders fell, but her hands were still clenched into fists.
"Listen, just because I know what it's like to have a dad that's a jerk-"
"Would you stop turning everything back to you?" Kendall cried emotionally. "Every time we talk seriously it's always 'my dad hit me' or 'my dad's a jerk' or 'I can't trust people because of my dad'. I get it ok? I get it! Your dad was a jerk! But he's not here anymore. He's not fucking around anymore! Do you not get that? Newsflash, the world doesn't revolve around you, stop acting like it!" He grinded his teeth back and forth. "So why don't we talk about what's really bothering you."
"What do you mean?" Riley suddenly felt tired, rubbing the back of her neck.
"I know lying to you was probably the dumbest thing I could have ever done," he said slowly. "So why don't you explain to me why you've been acting so weird lately." He looked her in the eye. "Because you keeping secrets from me hurts more than you screaming at me." He hoped that she would tell him everything right then and there, everything he already knew from reading her song lyric notebook/journal.
But all he got was silence.
"You know what your problem is?" Riley finally managed to find her voice. "You can't stand not having things being about you. You always have to go and get into everyone else's business to fix things. You couldn't even stand not having girls all over you-"
"Oh my god." Kendall slapped his hands to his face. "Please don't tell me you're bringing Lucy up again!" He glared, jabbing a finger towards her. "Why can't you get over it?"
"Why can't you get over the fact I'm friends with WayneWayne?" Riley shot back.
"That's not the same thing!" Kendall insisted. "You don't understand-"
"Oh, I understand everything," Riley shot back. "In fact, frankly, I'm fucking tired of understanding. ALL I EVER DO IS UNDERSTAND!" She hollered.
Kendall laughed. "You know, I actually thought I could change you, that I could help you realize not everybody in the world is out to make you miserable, but I guess I was wrong." He was seething. "I never said this out loud but I often wondered what caused you to get abused so badly, but now I realize sometimes you deserved it!"
There was a stunned silence between the two of them. Neither of them could believe Kendall had just said that, let alone yelled it at her. But there was something else the two of them had in common, they were too proud to admit when they were wrong about something, and they were both wrong when it came to this argument. He didn't mean it at all, it just popped out, and he knew he couldn't take it back.
Riley saw red and said the first thing that popped into her head.
And like Kendall she didn't mean it what so ever.
"You know what," she raised her hands to her hair and then slapped them down to her side. "You're the worst friend ever." She took a breath. "You're such a hoon...such a..." She smirked when she found what she wanted to say. "Big Time Loser!"
Kendall glared back at her. "And you're a Big Time Bitch!" Riley glared fiercely and turned on her heel to leave. "You're a heartless bitch who doesn't care about anyone but yourself!" he hurled after her. He watched as she stopped abruptly, listening. "Go ahead and run! Run away like you always do when you're scared!" As he watched, Riley slowly shook her head and continued walking.
Riley threw open the door to his room and glared when she noticed Katie, Logan, Carlos, and James jump backwards, all trying to pretend that they hadn't been listening. She shoved by them and started for the front door but then stopped and turned back around, placing her hands on her hips. She ignored Kendall, who was hovering in the doorway to his room, watching them.
"Have you guys seen my notebook?" She placed a hand to her forehead. "I think I left it here the last time that I was doing homework with Logie. That's why I came over in the first place, but I got distracted." She glanced over at Kendall before turning back to the others.
James and Carlos started to whistle loudly and Katie bit her bottom lip, twirling some of her hair around her finger. Logan was the only one that moved to get it. He went over to the kitchen and grabbed the worn, red and black notebook off of the counter. He turned back and handed it to her. He looked up when he moved to let go of the notebook and noticed that Riley was staring intently at him, holding tightly onto the other end of the notebook.
"Did you read it?" she asked.
Carlos made a whimpering sound and ducked behind James, who now looked even more panicked than before.
"Uh." Logan tried to stall for time.
"Please don't forget that I can tell when you lie," Riley said in a warning tone. Logan let out a sigh and he quietly nodded. Riley's eyes narrowed as Logan let go of the notebook, allowing her to drop her arms. "You know what?" She let go of her notebook with her right hand and pointed at him. "Fuck you, asshole!"
"Asshole?" Logan repeated, his eyes widening.
"Yeah, asshole!" Riley started to point around the room, starting with Logan. "Fuck you! And fuck you! And fuck you! And fuck you!" She turned to point at Katie, but then faltered when she noticed the scared and shocked look on the younger girl's face. Riley lowered her arm. "And…I can't say anything about you or Mama Knight or I'd be killed, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut." She turned back to the boys. "But fuck all of you! I'm sick and tired of each and every one of you always butting into my private business every time I don't come right out and say something that you want to know. Do me a favor and jump off a cliff or drop dead or something so that you're out of my life! God!"
She turned on her heel and stormed out of the apartment, leaving stunned silence behind her.
Kendall slammed his fist against the wall. He hadn't succeeded in opening her up; he'd only succeeded in pushing her away.
And as he heard her footsteps fade away, he knew he'd scared her away for good.
Riley leaned forward and grabbed her phone off of her bed, going to her MyFace page. She quickly typed in and posted a status: It really sucks when you need help and you're all by yourself because you continuously push people away thinking they're going to hurt you first. She thought about posting it to ScuttleButter, but then decided against it, knowing her single MyFace page was private; she didn't have to worry about fans analyzing her ScuttButt to death. She didn't need that sort of attention at the moment. It would just cause more rumors to fly around and it was something she would rather not think about.
"It's possible you guys are experiences complicated grief, which is usually seen after the loss of a loved one. Well, you're exhibiting it in different ways. Rhuben you said you just went to quietly cool down after your fight with your parents, right? And Riley, you said you got really angry and yelled a bit. I think the reason that you two exhibit those two extremes when you're mad, quietness and anger, is because every time you get mad, you subconsciously think back to when your parents died and immediately switch to that emotion. But take it to a further extent. The same thing when you're driving; Riley you drive pretty fast and Rhuben is very cautious. It doesn't help that you had the added trauma of what you went through with Robert, the fact you kept that quiet for so long has also added to it, which is seen in your nightmares and when you think that you see Robert around you."
"I never said this out loud but I often wondered what caused you to get abused so badly, but now I realize sometimes you deserved it!"
"And you're a Big Time Bitch! You're a heartless bitch who doesn't care about anyone but yourself! Go ahead and run! Run away like you always do when you're scared!"
Riley got off of her bed and looked around her room, her fingers twitching at her sides, her hands clenching into fists and unclenching rapidly. She started to suck in a few breaths through her nose as her breathing quickened. She could feel her whole body flush as she looked around the room. Her eyes settled on the pictures she had put up; of her and her family and friends. She scanned each of them, her breathing quickening with each pass over a photo. It was when she got to a picture of her and Kendall, her favorite picture she fell apart. She studied the picture, the two of them frozen in time. She was on his back as he was giving her a piggy-back ride, in the middle of pulling his gray beanie off of his head. The two of them were caught in mid laughter when Rhuben had taken the photo, at their 'welcome home' party after they got back from their tour. Looking at it before used to make her smile, not it just made her angry.
Riley reached up and ripped the photo off of the wall before she grabbed all of the others and tore them off as well. She then moved over to her desk and swiped everything to the floor before knocking her desk over. In her blind rage, she just wanted to be able to get her hands on anything and rip it apart. By the time she managed to cool down a little bit, to take in her surroundings, her room was trashed. Riley clenched her fists and brought them up to her forehead before lightly hitting herself on the forehead. She then fell to her knees and started to slam her fists on the ground repeatedly.
…
..
.
Riley paced through the den, a little confused. She didn't remember leaving her room and going downstairs. Looking at her watch she could see that an hour had passed and with that hour, part of her life went with it. It was like a black veil covered her at that moment, she didn't know what happened. She didn't know if she had broken anything else. She didn't even remember why the house was so quiet. Her family went…somewhere, but she wasn't sure where. All she remembered was smacking her palms against the ground, and now she was in the den.
She turned as there was the sound of rapid knocking on the front door and went to answer it. When she pulled open the door and saw Kendall on the front porch, she gave him the coldest glare she could muster and tried to shut the door in his face.
"I know you don't want to see me, but I saw your MyFace status and needed to be sure you're ok." He pushed the door open and entered the house behind her, closing it gently. "I just got a bad feeling." He watched as she walked around in a circle, as if stalking her prey. "What's going on?" Kendall asked, taking a few cautious steps towards her. "Are you ok?"
"Nothing!" Riley cried. "It's none of your business!" She started to walk towards the living room, taking long strides. She threw her arm out, motioning for him to leave. "So just leave me alone!"
"No, I'm not leaving!" Kendall said, following her.
"I mean it this time, Kendall," Riley growled.
"Riley, ever since that trip to the mall…your moods have been all over the place." Kendall moved to her side and grabbed her arm, turning her so she faced him. The two were in the living room at this point, their voices echoing off of the high-ceiling. She moved to pull from his grasp. "Look at me! Ok! One minute, we're best friends, then you're all over me at the pool-"
"Hang on a tick!" Riley held her hand up in front of Kendall's face. She only spoke when she lowered it, sure that he had he had stopped talking. "I was never 'all over you' as you so eloquently put it."
"Really?" Kendall raised an eyebrow. "You were going to kiss me back, right?"
Riley started to stammer out an answer. "I...you...but...we..." she threw her hands down to her hips. "That's not the point!" She snapped.
"The point is," Kendall said sharply. "All of that had been going on, and then we're fighting, and next you don't even want to see me! And then you put up a cryptic message on MyFace."
"We had a pretty big fight, Kendork that usually makes sense as to why people don't want to see each other." Riley sneered.
Kendall ignored her, continuing. "And with all of what's happened, I can't help but think if it doesn't have anything to do with someone else, then I can't help but think…" he trailed off, not wanting to say what he was thinking.
But Riley had noticed the look in his eye and egged him on. "What?" She demanded. "Go ahead! Say it!"
Kendall sighed, looking over her head. "I'm just wondering if it's maybe some kind of medical situation."
"Medical-"Riley paused and then thought about it for a minute. Her eyes then widened. "You read that part of my notebook!" Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, I can't believe you fucking read that part! Did you read the whole thing?" She put her hands up to her hair before she started to pace back and forth. "If you think I'm such a wacko, then why don't you do us both a favor and just stop talking to me? Just act like I'm not even there. Like I don't even exist."
"I just want to help you, Riles." Kendall said in a low voice.
"Get out!" Riley pointed towards the door.
"Why are you acting like this?" Kendall asked. "I'm trying to help you. Please. Even though we're fighting, you're my best friend," Kendall pleaded. "I just want to help."
Riley stormed over to the glass table in the middle of the room and picked up a glass bird that was sitting on the end. She turned around and threw it at Kendall. He quickly ducked out of the way and it shattered against the wall behind him, causing the two to fall silent, looking at each other.
All of a sudden Riley let out an anguished sound, squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh my god, I'm cracking up!" She started to cry. "I'm going completely crazy!"
"No one said that," Kendall said in a soothing voice. "No one thinks that." Riley looked at him before darting out of the room. He followed her as she ducked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. "Riley. Riles!"
Riley leaned against the bathroom door, feeling it shake behind, knowing Kendall was trying to open it. She continued to cry for a minute before she grabbed a soap dispenser for a bar of soap and threw it at the door. "Go away! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"I'm not going anywhere," Kendall said.
"I SAID GO AWAY!" Riley grabbed the soap this time and then threw it at the mirror, shattering it. "God!" She grabbed onto the doorknob and sank to her knees, resting her head against the door. "Please, don't come in here."
"Ok, I won't come in, but I'm not going anywhere," Kendall said and the shaking of the door stopped. "I'm still here for you."
"I want my daddy," Riley whimpered. She pressed her forehead against her knees.
"Uh, well. I don't know how to do that for you," Kendall replied hesitantly.
"No." Riley kept her face against her legs, her breath slowing. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks. "I want Ronan! I want my sister! I want my brothers!"
"They'll be here soon," Kendall's voice sounded a little muffled. Probably because he was changing sitting positions so he would be more comfortable. "You know the LA traffic; it's hard to get anywhere when you're in a hurry. But they'll be home soon."
There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. The silence stretched on for a while. Riley managed to calm herself down so she wasn't crying anymore. But she was still hurting. There was a spot in the middle of her chest ached with a sharp pain she wasn't sure would ever go away. She wasn't even sure when it had gotten there, but it had been there for a long time. It didn't hurt as much as it used to, but it still did. She wasn't even sure how to get it to go away; she just continued to push the pain aside, hoping it would go away all by itself. Now she knew not everything could do that, not everything could be pushed away and act like nothing was going on. It was always going to push back in some way, shape, or form.
Riley tilted her head back, leaning it against the door. She looked at her watch. An hour and a half had gone by. She turned her head to the side and pressed her ear against the door. She didn't hear anything, but she couldn't be so sure.
"You're still out there aren't you?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah." came Kendall's quick reply. "I'm still here." She could hear him take a deep breath. "You're not going crazy, Ri. You're not crazy at all. You know why? Because you are so special and you give so much to everyone around you and you help those that need you. But you don't allow anyone to help you when you really need it. And you know what? I need you."
Riley closed her eyes as she listened to him. Her hands loosened around the doorknob. She could hear everything he was saying, but there was still a big part of her that was messed up. There was still a big part of her that refused to believe him. "That's not true." She said quietly.
"Is this what you always do?" Kendal asked. "You turn everyone around until you're convinced people don't want to be around you?"
"You don't have any idea what you're talking about," Riley whispered.
"I know how numbing the pain of hating yourself is. It makes you want to push everyone away, especially the ones that care about you the most. But you can't. Not unless you plan on never being happy." He took a few deep breaths. He wasn't sure what to say anymore, he didn't know it if it was helping. "Everything I've said is true." Kendall insisted. "My life began when I met you, Ri. And throughout everything you never gave up on me so I'm not going to give up on you." Riley turned her head away, though she was still listening to him. "I'll never give up on you."
Riley let out a breath, her fringe flying off of her forehead. She then turned and slowly got to her feet. She pressed her forehead against the door.
"It's probably the wrong time to tell you this. But, maybe it's the perfect time. I realize how incredibly confusing things are between us right now. I can't even begin to explain our relationship. You probably can't either. But, I just want you to know if you ever need me, I'll always be here for you. All you ever had to do was ask, though I hoped you knew that you didn't have to ask."
Riley swallowed thickly; her throat was raw from all of the screaming that night.
But she was tired of screaming and crying.
She was tired of trying to keep things a secret, it just continued to blow up in her face.
She was tired of running.
Riley hesitantly grabbed onto the doorknob before slowly opening the door. She looked down at her feet as she walked forward into Kendall's arms. She threaded her arms through his and placed her hands on his shoulders as he lowered his head and wrapped his arms around her back, in their special hug as she sobbed.
"It's ok," Kendall said quietly, gently rocking her. "Everything's going to be ok. I promise."
Riley woke up to find herself in her bed and her siblings sitting around her. Sydney was sitting directly next to her and when he saw she was waking up; he rocked forward onto his knees and looked down at her with his big, blue eyes.
"Ri-Ri, are you awake?" He asked.
"Of course she is, stupid," Patrick said quietly, knocking him on the arm.
"I was just making sure," Sydney pouted.
"How are you feeling, Riles?" Noah asked gently. His eyes scanned around the room and he gave a half smile. "From the state of your room, I wouldn't say too great." He admitted. He then frowned. "How come you didn't tell us your medicine wasn't helping you?"
"How come you didn't notice?" Riley replied, her voice laden with fatigue.
"It's not that we didn't notice," Rhuben said slowly, running a hand through her hair. "It's…I don't know, I guess some of the things we've seen, we just get too used to, so we didn't really know if it was because it was you…or because of the medication. It didn't help that you and Kendall had the bet going, so some of what you were doing, we could equate to how badly you were trying to scare him to get him to lose." Riley shrugged, pushing herself to sit up. "Ronan called in a stronger prescription by the way; he's downstairs talking to Mrs. Knight on the phone. The guys were really worried about you after you yelled at them today. Camille, Stephanie, and Lizzie told me to say hi." She sat up straight. "Jo called, too."
"Great, now I've made her worry from thousands of miles away." Riley managed a half smile. "And Jo isn't good when she worries in general."
"You got that right," Rhuben agreed.
Riley's eyes moved around the room. "Where's Kendall?" she asked.
"He went home," Noah replied. "He said he wanted to give you some space for a few days." He felt silent, digging his finger in the blanket. "So I don't think he's going to be around much."
"Oh." Riley looked sad. "Does he hate me? Do the guys hate me? Katie?"
"No, they don't hate you," Patrick reassured her. "Now that they know what's going on, they can't really hold it against you."
Riley looked like she wasn't sure. She suddenly looked stricken. "I don't have to go back to the hospital do I?" She asked, her eyes widening a little. "I don't want to have to go back there. I'd rather listen to Dr. Angelo ask me over and over if I can do a back flip." She gave a wry smile.
"No." Patrick shook his head. "Ronan explained you just needed more strength on your dosage and the doctor suggested you just get some rest and start taking more of your medication a day before you get the stronger pills."
He moved forward and kissed his sister on the forehead before pulling back to look at her. He gazed at his eldest sister, the one who always put him and his brothers and Rhuben before herself, the one who refused any help of any kind, the one who had a short-temper but was the only one who could turn it around and make it endearing. He hated to see her this way, especially since he and his family were probably the only people in the world who knew Riley's confidence levels were just as high as her insecurity levels. She is an extremely sensitive person, but you wouldn't know because she always puts on a tough façade. Sometimes he wished she would show the side he knew; a teenage girl acted crazy and random at times to everyone else. That way she wouldn't always be hiding everything.
"Do you want us to stay with you tonight?" Patrick asked.
"Yes, please." Riley replied in a small voice. She pulled her covers up to her chin.
"Yay!" Sydney pulled back the covers on Riley's bed and moved in next to her. "Sleepover!" He made space for Patrick and Noah to climb onto her bed, moving towards the foot of the bed so they had more room.
Rhuben stayed standing, shaking her head. "I don't think all of us are going to fit in one bed." She said, and then placed her hands on her hips. "Not with Patrick's big head in the way." She lightly shoved him before climbing onto the bed as well. She stretched out and rested her head on Noah's lower back. "And if any of you guys fart, I'll brain you."
Her threat was met with quiet laughter.
A/N: So what did you all think? This time next week, the story will be over.
I'll update again soon.
Cheers,
-Riles
