Chapter 10: I Have This Friend…

She slowly made her way to the kitchen counter and sat down on the barstool directly across from him. She never made eye contact, just stared at the counter. He got up silently and poured her an Irish coffee. She liked alcohol but never got outta hand with it. So he was ok with her drinking some now and then, he trusted her judgment. As he sat the mug in front of her, she just smiled and whispered a "Thank you." He just nodded. She took a long sip; tasting the spike he added and let out a soft laugh, "Guess you knew what I was thinking."

"Not always" was the reply.

She glanced up at him, almost bursting into tears when she saw how tired he looked, he must have stayed up all night…worrying about her, she thought. She looked back down at her mug and then tipped it back and drained it.

He almost choked on his coffee…she must be really hurting to slam it back like that, he had made it strong. She took a deep breath and willed herself to talk.

She looked up at Riddick, fear obviously clouding her eyes.

"There's a guy…" she heard him start to growl, and she quickly added, "he's never hurt me…and he never will."

That seemed to calm him down a bit.

"I've known him for awhile, and we've always been friends…but now…" she took another deep breath, "now I realize, he's more than a friend to me. I…I love him."

She couldn't believe she had just said that, but there was no going back now so she trudged on.

"He would never look at me like that though, and I don't want to tell him because I'm scared he'll push away from me, and things will change. I can't lose him, he means too much to me."

Riddick slowly reached across the table and took her small hands in his completely engulfing them. God, he just had to make this harder didn't he?

"I don't know what to do Riddick." She was staring at the counter again. There was silence for a moment and then his gravely voice broke through.

"Jack, any guy in his right mind would be incredibly lucky and happy to have you, and if he doesn't see that then he's not worth it."

She couldn't believe this, this all just seemed so…cliché.

"It's not that easy Riddick..."

"Listen to me, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and if you really love him then you need to tell him, and if he doesn't drop to his knees and thank god that he's that lucky then…I dunno…I'll just have to knock some sense into him," he said with a smirk.

Or maybe I'll just have to go knock my own head into a wall. Why the fuck do I feel so upset that you love someone? I want you to be happy. I need to get the fuck over it, that's all that matters to me…as long as you're happy Jack. Fuck my own heart.

She looked up, "the most beautiful thing ever" what the fuck! She knew he was trying to make her feel better, making a joke about it, but it wasn't working. She stood from the counter taking her hands from his and walked over to the cabinet grabbing a bottle of vodka and gulping about a third of it down. He stared in shock, good god!, this really was hurting her.

"Riddick, I love him, more than anything..."

That hurt, he loved her more than anything and wished she felt the same…yeah right big boy, that'll never happen.

"...but he'll never look at me like that, I know it, and I cant just tell him, it's way more complicated than that. It would be all awkward between us, I know he wants to be friends with me and it would hurt him to let that go, but if I just confess I think that might happen."

He watched a tear fall down her cheek and felt his heart clench, he hated seeing her cry, hated knowing she was in pain and there was nothing he could do to take it away.

She placed the bottle back on the shelf and just gave him a look. He sighed and said, "Jack you know I'm here for you, anything you need, but I don't know what to tell you, I'm probably the last person you should go to for relationship advice, but if you really love him, I think…I think you should tell him." He almost laughed at himself, yeah right, "tell him you love him no matter what," hell you can't even tell her you love her, you fucking piece of shit.

She sighed. This was all just too hard, she couldn't handle this shit, she wanted to beat the crap out of something. Anger, frustration, rage. He could see it in her eyes, now that was something he could understand.

"Wanna go beat something up?"

He really did know her, she gave a smile and a nod and headed for the gym with him right behind her.