.:Chapter 10:.
For an apology you can either go one of two ways. You can either take all of your tears and suffering from the last couple of days, put it in a jar and give it to the other person. Or you can do it like this; take a girl, her family, their band, a small concert, and a song, blend it all together until you get the biggest cliché that's likely to put a smile on your face and put that as the icing on top of your cake. Hey, whatever it takes, right?
Kendall looked over his phone, frowning when he unlocked it and saw he didn't have any new texts, voicemails, or e-mails. But he was trying not to get too worked up over it. The last time his phone rang, he jumped for it, only to be reminded by Gustavo they had some vocal work to do the upcoming week. Like he didn't have other things to worry about.
Kendall rolled onto his stomach, looking at his phone for another moment. Still nothing. He locked his phone and shoved it back into his pocket, pushing himself up and climbing off of his bed. He ran a hand over his face. Well, it was your own fault; you wanted to give her some time to get through everything.
"Hey, where are you guys going?" Kendall asked as he walked out of his room, seeing his mother, Logan, Carlos, James, and Katie all gathered by the front door, pulling on their coats. "Did Gustavo book us for something and I forgot?"
"No," Logan said slowly. "The Jacksons are doing their show at Jay Leno today, remember?"
Kendall barely remembered it.
He couldn't think about anything but the fight he and Riley had. It had been days since they spoke but it was his own fault, he supposed. He was the one who figured she needed to have some space to cool down before they talked about what had happened. Ronan agreed with the idea, saying it would be better for her to get onto the stronger medication so she could get her head clear. Then there was all of the damage control of the rumors they were already dealing with; he was trying his hardest to keep down the constant stories and questions that were going around about him and his daughter. He understood the music industry and knew it would be hard to get it to go away completely, it wasn't the first time there were rumors. As soon as the two bands started working together there were rumors, but these didn't damage reputations as badly.
Kendall had quit the bet, but it didn't seem to help much.
"Right." Kendall nodded.
"Do you still want to come?" Katie asked, turning to her big brother with wide eyes. "It should be really cool. And, hey…" she turned to look at Logan, Carlos, and James. "…maybe you guys could talk your way into getting on his show, too!"
"Uh." Kendall scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know." He started to scratch his arm. "It's probably not a good ide-"
"Kendall," Mrs. Knight interrupted, looking at her son's arm. She lifted a hand and pointed. "What's that?" She asked.
Kendall looked down and noticed his tattoo had been uncovered. He let out a sigh and rolled up his sleeve the rest of the way. Katie and Carlos let out sounds of surprise and crowded closer to get a better look and Logan and James stood right behind them, trying to be able to see. Mrs. Knight looked pointedly at her son, her arms crossed.
"I went and got a tattoo," Kendall said.
"How?" Mrs. Knight asked, her eyes narrowing. "You need to have parental permission to go and get one."
Kendall thought about telling the truth and then hesitated, thinking hard about it. He turned back to his mother, pushing Carlos away from him. "I, uh, forged your signature and got it done." He lightly scratched at his skin. "You see, I always really wanted one, and I didn't want to wait anymore, so I went and got this."
"Because of me?" Katie asked. She lifted her green eyes to her brother, immediately understanding the reference.
"No." Kendall smiled down at her. "It wasn't because of you, don't worry." He reached out and ruffled her hair. He then turned back to his mother. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I know you would have said 'no'-"
"What are you apologizing to her for?" James demanded. Kendall gave him a weird look. "I was supposed to be the one who got the tattoo first. I mean, this whole bad boy thing, everyone knows I could be a much better bad boy. I can make tattoos work better than you can."
"Thanks." Kendall gave him a sarcastic smile.
"Did it hurt?" Carlos asked, still inspecting the skin. Beside him, Logan was peering closely at the art, stretching Kendall's skin a few different ways, checking for lesions in the skin.
"It doesn't look like it was infected at all," he remarked. "That being said, I really like it." He then turned to James. "And sorry to burst your bubble, but I got a tattoo before Kendall did. He held out his left hand to reveal the star tattoo he had gotten with Riley and Rhuben.
Kendall smiled at Logan, as the others now turned their attention to him, and looked at his mother, shrugging and mouthing the words 'I'm sorry' again. He waited for her response. He waited for a disapproving frown, a shake of the head, a sentence of being grounded for a long time, but nothing came.
Mrs. Knight merely hitched her purse up. "I can't do anything about it now; you've already done and gotten it." Kendall was surprised, she didn't seem mad in the slightest. But he wasn't going to let his guard down; she could have just been storing it for later. "Are you going to come to the show with us?"
Kendall was silent.
"Ugh, this is the most clichéd thing I've ever done," Riley muttered, twisting her ring around her finger. If she wasn't doing that, she was constantly looking at her watch, running her hands over her face, or bouncing her leg up and down. Not much longer until I make the biggest ass of myself. She put her face in her hands and brushed her hair back before going back to twisting her ring.
"Really?" Sydney brushed his overgrown hair back from his face. "I thought you said falling for Kendall in the first place was clichéd." He moved over to his sister and gave her a hug around the waist. "Don't worry about it, Riles. What happens happens and we're glad to help you."
"Still, if he doesn't forgive you, then he's the one who's completely crazy," Patrick added, giving her a small smile.
"Besides, it's only a few moments of your life," Noah agreed. "We're only the musical guest, and we told the coordinator we're doing a different song. So it's not going to kill you." He shrugged. "We'll probably get a lot of feedback from it, maybe more fans of you two in general, but still." When Riley didn't smile, he shuffled his feet. "I was trying to make you laugh."
"It's all right." Riley started to rub her arm, pacing back and forth. "I'm just nervous."
"Well, we have to go on," Rhuben said as there was a knock on the door. "So you don't really have a choice but to do it now. Come on, you can do this, it's just like we tell the guys whenever they're nervous. Pick out a face in the crowd and sing to them." She put her arm around her twin's shoulders. "And we're going to be right there with ya."
Patrick, Noah, and Sydney nodded in agreement.
"All right," Riley let out a huge breath. "Let's get this over with."
She led her siblings out of the dressing room and onto Jay Leno's stage, where their instruments had been set up. As the audience cheered, they smiled and waved at their cheering fans. Her heart hammered in her throat as she picked up her guitar and slung it over her head, moving in front of the microphone which had been set up in front of her. She turned and waited for Rhuben to count them off before they started the song.
Riley sighed quietly before stepping up to the microphone.
"A strangled smile fell from your face. It kills me that I hurt you this way. The worst part is that I didn't even know; now there are a million reasons for you to go. But if you can find a reason to stay, I'll do whatever it takes to turn this around. I know what's at stake; I know that I've let you down. And if you give me a chance, believe that I can change; I'll keep us together whatever it takes."
She looked around the audience, though it was quite dark, while she sang the song. She could see the emotion on their faces; she could see the pride on Ronan's and Julius' faces, she could see hands waving in the air…
But she didn't see him.
That didn't deter her, though. Not until the song ended and she walked back to the dressing room, listening as Jay closed the show. It'd probably be another two weeks or so until it aired. She flopped into her chair and started to take off the stage make-up, trying hard not to look at her reflection. If she did, she would just see bitter disappointment.
"Hey,"
Riley looked up in the mirror and saw Kendall standing the doorway to the room. She rested her chin in her hand when she spotted him. I didn't think that he'd come. She wasn't sure how to react or what to do, for the first time in her life. She sat up straight and turned around in her chair, her face etched in uncertainty. "Hey," she responded. She looked at her watch and then shook her head, confused. "How'd you get down here?"
"I said I'd come…even before we did fight. Great show," Kendall continued to stand in the doorway, his hands in his jeans pockets. "Good song."
"Thanks." Riley nodded. She twisted her hands in her lap for a moment, before standing up. "You can come in," she said, giving him a funny look. "I don't bite." She added with a half smile, reminding them of the conversation they had before their fight.
Kendall smiled and nodded, walking further into the room. "We can talk about anything, right?" He asked, lifting his head and looked at her. Riley nodded. "So how come it's so hard to talk about this? Us?" He gave a smirk, painfully reminding her about what caused the whole thing. "Then again, we have so much ammunition to use against each other, so much baggage, so it's easy to get into a fight and say what we don't mean."
"It's not hard…really," Riley said after a second. "It's just…unusual, not like the other conversations we usually have." She gave a sarcastic laugh as she shrugged. "I'm usually not the one apologizing." She lowered her gaze to the floor, her hair falling over her face.
Before he could stop himself, Kendall reached out and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Riley looked up and smiled her thanks before speaking. "I…wanted to…apologize for what I said…when we fought."
Kendall stared back at her and waited for her to continue.
"Geez, this is hard." She bit her bottom lip, causing Kendall to smile a little. "I didn't mean any of it at all. You're not a Big Time Loser and you aren't a bad friend." She brushed her hair behind her ear. "I was just…I don't know, scared something bad was going to happen. That I was going to lose control of things and hurt you. The way you were acting from the bet we had…I felt I was losing my best friend." She sighed. "Then everything with my bipolar disorder came up and…I'm sorry."
"That bet." Kendall shook his head. "You know the only reason I decided to make the stupid bet was just so I could spend more time with you." He admitted. If he was expecting her to be surprised, he was mistaken.
"I kind of figured," Riley said slowly. "Only after the whole thing at the mall happened. I was trying to scare you into losing; I wanted you to realize being a bad boy isn't what everyone thinks it is." She suddenly looked very bitter, looking through him rather than at him. "It looks glamorous on the outside, but…it's not real. My siblings and I…we're not bad people, we've just had bad things happen to us and we've made mistakes and bad decisions in our lives." She turned her gaze to her feet and started to lightly kick her foot back and forth. "I knew when I asked you, you would never shoplift. After that happened, I wondered why you would continue with the whole thing and I figured it out then." She cracked her knuckles."It's sweet in a weird, creepy, macho kind of way."
"For the record you're not a bad friend either." Kendall looked at his hands and then looked back at her. "I don't think you're heartless, you can have a really bad temper at times, but I don't think you're heartless. I don't think you're a bitch either." A smile tugged at his lips. "I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met and one of the best friends I've ever had. But we both said a lot of things, and I know you're probably never going to forget I ever said you deserved to be abused."
"You're right, mate," Riley agreed, raising and lowering a shoulder. She tilted her head to the side. "But it doesn't mean I don't forgive you for saying it." She twirled her red and silver ring around her finger. "I'll forgive you, but I won't forget it."
"Yeah, but I shouldn't have said it." Kendall replied.
He then turned and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. Riley moved and sat down next to him, resting her arms on her upraised knees. She started to pick at his leather bracelet, which she just noticed was still on her wrist.
"Can I ask you something?" Kendall rubbed his nose. Riley nodded. "How come you didn't tell me everything was going on before we ended up fighting?" He raised his arms and then slapped them down again. "I thought we told each other everything."
"I was freaked out I guess," Riley muttered. "I mean, apart from my brothers and sister, I've always been an independent person, and having you get so close to me, so close that you knew what I was thinking before I even knew I was thinking it..." She trailed off, lightly pulling at her bottom lip. Finally she dropped her hands once more, her leg bouncing up and down rapidly, rubbing her arm with her hand. "I've lost so many people in my life and had been hurt so much, I didn't want it to happen again. So I decided to hurt you before I got hurt, instead." She twisted her mouth to the side. "Unfortunately I handled it in the worst way possible and blurted out everything I was feeling without thinking about it first. And you know the rest."
"It's not like you could help it," Kendall replied. He leaned his head back. "So how's the treatment going? I haven't asked…because I wanted to give you some space so things could go back to normal."
"As normal as things between us can be you mean?" Riley chuckled lightly.
"Do you always have to answer a question with a question?" Kendall shook his head.
"What do you think?" Riley replied. She chuckled. "Things are good, actually. I got a stronger dosage on my medication and it's helping a lot."
The two smiled at each other.
Then there was silence.
"So what happened with your dad?" Riley cracked her knuckles. "How was meeting up with him again?"
Kendall winced.
Shortly after Riley had her meltdown, he went to meet with his father to talk about what was going on. Things were going well at first, but his father was fidgeting nervously and he wasn't answering Kendall's questions. He didn't seem to notice whenever Kendall was talking to him. He wanted to ask, but he was afraid of what would happen if he did. Turns out, he didn't have to ask what was going on; his father laid everything out on the table for him.
"Ok," Kevin finally spoke up, only seconds after finishing half of his plate. "I know how you're in a band and that you're doing really well," he explained looking from Kendall to Katie. "I know that both of you are doing such great things out here in LA and I'm so proud of you."
"And?" Kendall prompted.
"And," Kevin raised his hand to his mouth and started to bite on his nails, the same bad habit that Kendall had when he was nervous. "Well, I'm in a bit of a bind. Our firms is being is being downsized and I don't know if I have the funds left to-"
"Unbelievable," Kendall interrupted, his eyes widening with shock.
"If you'll just listen…"
"I tried to wait for you…I waited everyday for the past eight years…but you never came, never bothered to come back. I tried to wait for you for as long as I could…until I realized it was time for me to move on. You were never coming back." Kendall gritted his teeth together. "I waited for you to come back to us, to realize that you made a mistake…" Kendall said quietly, trying to hold in the tears that were threatening to come. "But you never bothered to contact us and when you finally did, you just led me on. All you wanted was money." He took another deep breath and finally looked up at his dad. "Just, go and leave dad," Kendall stated as he stood by his chair, holding onto it with the back of his hands. "Just, this time, don't come back." He shook his head. "I don't ever want to see you again."
"You might as well say 'I told you so'" Kendall replied, sounding bitter. "You were right, all Dad wanted out of me was the money I was making from the band." He chuckled. "I just wish I knew it was all he wanted, so I wouldn't have bothered going."
"But you couldn't have known," Riley reminded him. "I could have been wrong."
"But you weren't." Kendall shook out his hair.
"I know I just didn't want to say it. So who gets the father of the year award?" Riley asked, rolling her eyes. "The one who beat his kids almost to death or the one who walked out on his family and caused them grief when he came back?" She shrugged. "Either way it sounds bad."
"Really." Kendall's eyes narrowed for a moment. "Is that what you really think of me?" Riley gave him a confused look as he quickly changed the subject. "That I'm just your best friend."
Riley snorted.
"You and I, fuck it, the whole world knows we're not just best friends." She started to count off on her fingers. "You figured out that all we wanted was friends, you helped send our Dad away, you wouldn't stop bugging me until I admitted we were friends, you always have a story to tell me when I first see you in the day, you always let me watch you practice hockey after you went on a tangent about needing concentration, you're quick to jump to help me with homework when Logan can't, even though we both know you're not great at it either, you never complained when it came to getting fittings done, you helped me admit to someone other than my family that I have bipolar disorder, and you helped me when my medication stopped working and my PTSD went out of control. Even when we were fighting. No, you're not just my best friend." She ran her hand through her hair, releasing the scent of her strawberry scented shampoo. "I think the song I just sang shows you we're not just best friends."
"And the reason you're called the DarkElements?" Kendall pressed. "I think I might know why, but I want to be sure."
Riley rested her chin on her knees. "Why don't you tell me?"
Kendall smiled. "You said not everyone is afraid of the dark and more are afraid of what's in it. Then you said your band was named the DarkElements for a reason. Is it because you're all afraid of what's going on inside you, due to what you've all gone through?"
"Bingo." Riley gave the peace sign.
"So how'd you get the stage name Rage then?" Kendall asked. "It wasn't from being bipolar was it?"
"No." Riley laughed. She pulled her hair from her face. "Actually, on one of our first shows in our first ever concert; we had a competition where each of us got a guitar we were allowed to break. We were going to see who could break theirs the fastest. Mine was the only one that wouldn't break and I basically went ape-shit on it. So you can think of what a twelve year old girl who's mad at a stupid guitar would look like on stage, trying to beat the crap out of it."
Kendall laughed loudly. "I can imagine." He reached up and hand and laced his fingers in-between Riley's, gently playing with her fingers. He could feel her trying to pull her hand back, but he continued to hold on until she relaxed. "I don't want to lose you, Riles."
"Where am I going?" Riley asked incredulously.
"What we have is the only thing that makes sense to me." Kendall tugged at his shoelaces with his free hand, ignoring her question. "I felt this way for a long time. I just…didn't think you felt the same way."
"How could you not?" Riley flushed lightly. "Basically, when you got back from the tour I knew our relationship was different. I felt it almost immediately. In fact, I knew when you first developed feelings for me before then. I ignored it then, but after the tour I couldn't. It's hard…being best friends and then starting to date, and I wanted to figure things out…but then things changed and things happened."
"You mean with the whole Lucy thing?"
"Yeah."
"When did you figure it out?" Kendall scratched his neck. "When I had feelings for you, I mean. I didn't know it for a bit."
Riley was silent for a long moment. "At the beach party at Griffin's house," she finally said. "I knew then."
"Well…when did you first realize you liked me?"
Riley made a strange sound in the back of her throat, scratching the back of her head. "Over the summer," she said slowly. She shrugged. "I don't know, I just realized how much I missed having you around, as pathetic as that was."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." She smirked. "You know for the fact that you're such a dork that it's a wonder you don't repel girls like the plague." Her smirk widened, running a hand through her hair. Then her face fell into an expression of anxiety. "There is something else you need to know though. When you were going after Lucy…I dated WayneWayne for a bit."
Kendall stayed silent. Riley looked at him curiously, waiting to see what he had to say. But he just looked around the room and then shrugged. Riley laughed lightly.
"You're not mad?" She asked.
"No, I'm mad." Kendall nodded. "It's just now isn't the time to dwell on it," He said honestly.
Riley sighed, scratching her forehead to hide the pout on her face. "You know the only reason I didn't say anything…the same reason I kept helping you with Lucy, even though I was annoyed with it was because I didn't want things to end up like it did with my exes. Hough it really sucked when I saw you kissing Lucy, that's why I left the PalmWoods so fast. I didn't want to be reminded about my past. A lot of them used me…" she trailed off. "A lot were jerks and while I've been saying that for two years, you deserve to know what happened. I never told you guys how many exes Rhu and I've had because we didn't want you to think that we were…"
"Easy?" Kendall guessed. "Sorry," he apologized, noticing her look. "That's the best way I could say it."
"Pretty much," Riley agreed. "When people started to find out we were dating whomever, that's when all the rumors started. And it's worse if you're a girl. Every guy we would be friends with afterwards would be rumored that we were dating. We pretended it didn't bother us and for the most part it doesn't." She smiled. "Like with you guys, we can just laugh at it since we're such great friends."
"And that's probably why our bands get along so well," Kendall said. "Because we're all such good friends and we can help each other through a lot of stuff and laugh it off."
"Right." Riley scratched her neck. "Anyway, it just made things worse, because it made me look desperate for attention, in a way I was, but I only went out with those that I thought were actually good. And most did treat me well at first." She sighed. "I'm digressing. Ok, I have about seven exes."
Kendall's eyes widened.
"Yeah, I know." Riley noticed the look on his face. "I started dating when I was twelve or thirteen or so with my next door neighbor, Nic, who I had known for forever. That didn't last long, because he was really immature. Then I moved onto a guy named Cody. He was a fan first, and we were good friends. We broke up on good terms. Then when I was fourteen I started to go out with Julius's best friend Mike, who was two years older than me. That didn't last long, we usually only made out and we broke up because he didn't see anything wrong with his friend, who was also Rhu's boyfriend at the time, cheating on her. Plus he smoked pot and I didn't like that.
"Then I fell into the wrong crowd and started to date a guy named Braden. Things were pretty physical with him, not sex, but a lot of wandering hands. We got into a lot of trouble, shoplifting, getting into fights, skipping class, stuff like that. All of us, the group I hung out with, were kind of a gang, not an official one, really, but no one wanted to mess with us. Rhu dated the leader, Austen, so the two of us were getting in trouble a lot, and when we were getting in trouble, we were trying to shield our brothers from it. Braden used me for my fame for a while, and then got tired of being in the spotlight. We broke up because he dumped me, saying I had too much baggage. Then when I was fifteen I dated this guy named Ryan and he clearly only wanted to use me for my fame.
"Here's where I feel epically pathetic." Riley started to rub her arm again, her eyes growing hard with anger. "I spent the worst part of about two years on this guy named Ian. He was dating a classmate of ours, but I liked him anyway, even though I knew it wasn't a good idea. He convinced me he was going to dump his girlfriend for me, so, essentially, I was the 'other woman' in this scenario."
"And that's why you were annoyed when you found out Jo and I broke up partly because of you," Kendall said. "That makes sense now."
"Yeah." Riley nodded. "So for about two years I continually went to him in secret, my brothers and sisters knew and constantly told me to stop, but I couldn't. He had too much of an emotional and mental hold on me, even though I grew to hate his guts. Whenever he wasn't with her, he was with me and we made out a lot. I felt terrible and humiliated and finally broke up with him. I was sixteen at this point. Then I dated Nic again and we were really happy, but when we came out here…we knew it wouldn't work so we had to break up again." She explained. "That's everyone, I swear."
She crossed her arms and rested her chin on it. "So that's why I don't talk about my exes or how much trouble I got in. That's why while I love my home; I hate it at the same time. There's just too much for us to go back to, the same with LA. But Aus is my home and it's a way for me to escape, which is why I'm always so happy to go back there.
"Oh there's one more thing." She gave a sheepish smile. "My screen name, RileyBaby…it came from Ian, and he used it as a taunt for me each and every time he saw me or talked to me. Then Nic picked it up as an endearing nickname. I didn't mind it from Nic, since I cared about him a lot. But then I would always remember who it came from and then I'd get pissed." She scratched her neck. "I was thinking of changing it anyway."
Kendall smiled and nodded. The two were quiet for a long time after her confession. Riley felt a lot better; it was the best she had felt in a long time.
Kendall lightly pulled at his bottom lip before suddenly turning towards her, immediately grabbing her attention. "Uh." Kendall's gaze alternately moved from his feet to Riley. "So, I've been meaning to uh, uh, ask you this…for a while." He took a breath and risked a glance at Riley's face. She continued to look back at him, her face blank as she waited for him to continue. "Uh…" he laughed lightly, shaking his head. "It…it took a lot of courage for me to ask this, but…"
Riley lightly tilted her head, urging him to continue. Her face was still blank of any emotion. "Yes?"
Kendall looked at his feet and then up at her once more. "Will you…go on a date with me…Sunday…at 7-ish?"
Riley looked at him for a long moment before her lips started to twitch. "I told you I wouldn't laugh." she said. She gave a shy smile, gently biting her bottom lip as she blushed; she then leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his. "Took you long enough."
"Well excuse me, but you're the one who told me I needed time to myself," Kendall shrugged.
"Cause last I checked, it's kind of hard to breathe when you're whipped on one side and mush on the other," Riley deadpanned. "Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"I was scared," Kendall admitted.
"Of what?" Riley's eyebrows lowered.
"Of you," Kendall said simply.
"Of me?" Riley looked shocked. "You're scared of an eighteen year old, five-foot-three, teenage girl?"
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds even more pathetic than it did when I was thinking it." Kendall rolled his eyes. He bit his bottom lip. "I'm sorry I waited so long."
"It's all right," Riley moved closer to his side and he let go of her hand long enough to put his arm around her shoulders. She tensed for a moment before relaxing into his side, taking his hand in hers again.
Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.
Kendall held up his right fist and Riley gave a half smile before they did their 'secret' handshake.
"Hey!"
Riley looked up as she got out of her car and smiled as Kendall waved and walked over to her, giving her a gentle hug in greeting. She had offered to drive him on their date; instead, he said he wanted to meet her there. She was sure it had to do with the fact he still didn't have his license. But he said he had a surprise for her, so she just went along with it.
"Hey." Riley responded, quickly checking her phone before sliding it into the pocket on her jean skirt. "You look nice, Hockey-Head." She added motioning to the t-shirt, sports jacket, and jeans he was wearing. "Better than the flannel you always wear." She added teasingly.
"Thank you, Ruby, you look great too," Kendall said with a smile, leaning towards her a little.
Riley blinked, looking up at him. "Ruby?" she repeated. He laughed at the confused look on her face.
"Yeah." Kendall nodded. "Remember when I got really annoyed of you calling me Hockey-Head and Eyebrows all the time?" Riley slowly nodded. "I said I was going to come up with an annoying nickname for you…but I couldn't think of one," He admitted after a minute. Riley laughed. "So, instead, I thought I'd give you a nice one." He explained. "And since you're so pretty and you like the color red, I thought the nickname Ruby was fitting."
"Much better than other people have given me," Riley replied as she nervously brushed her hair behind her ear.
"Oh, this is for you." Kendall moved his arm out from behind his back and handed her a small daisy.
Riley's eyes widened and she blushed a little bit. "Thanks." Riley smiled and took the flower from him. She turned towards the Santa Monica pier, the bright lights spilling out over the ocean water that crashed against the sand in the distance. The song Two Is Better than One could be heard over the loudspeakers in the park. "Ready to go?"
"Yep." Kendall replied and held out his arm, signaling her to go first. Riley rolled her eyes and started walking, allowing Kendall to fall in step beside her.
"You're such a dork." She said.
"But I'm your best friend anyway," Kendall pointed out.
The two slowly walked across the boardwalk, talking to each other about music, movies, books, hockey, and baseball. Kendall lightly grabbed onto her arm, noticing she didn't flinch for once, and turned a bright booth that had caught his eye and headed over to it. Riley slowly followed behind him, eyebrows raised in interest.
"I'd like five balls to throw, please." He said to the man behind the counter as he put down a five dollar bill. The man took the money and grabbed five baseballs and motioned to a small tower of milk bottles.
"Knock em' down and win a prize." He said, sounding bored.
"You do know these things are rigged, right?" Riley stated as she moved to stand beside him, arms crossed over her chest.
"Just watch," Kendall replied with a warm smile and a wink before rearing back and throwing the ball forwards. Riley watched, slightly impressed, as he knocked down the bottles. She looked over at him and he smiled back. "I improved from throwing like a five-year-old, don't ya think?" He looked over at Riley, who nodded, and watched as he threw the balls four more times and knocked them milk bottles down each time.
"Pick your prize." The guy sounded like he hated Kendall at that moment as when people didn't get the milk jugs knocked down they kept going, spending more money.
"Um," Kendall scanned the collection and then looked at a large stuffy puppy, similar to the one he had used in the first photo shoot Griffin had creative license over. Back when they were sixteen and she basically hated his guts. "I'll take the dog, please." The man handed it over and he smiled as he handed it to Riley.
"Thank you," she looked overwhelmed with how big the stuffed animal was. The two started walking again. "When Sydney finds out you were able to knock down the bottles he's going to be mad." She laughed a little. "It took him forever, and 60 dollars worth of Noah's debit card, to finally win something."
"Well, I won't tell him if you won't." Kendall agreed. "What do you want to do now?" he asked and pointed to the Ferris wheel. "How about that?"
"No," Riley shook her head. "I don't like Ferris Wheels."
"Afraid of heights?" Kendall guessed.
"Please." Riley snorted. "It just wouldn't surprise me if you bribed the worker to make it stops at the top to make it all 'romantic' or whatever." She rolled her eyes and tried to do air quotes, but it was hard as she was holding onto a giant stuffy puppy.
"I wasn't thinking that at all," Kendall replied and then looked thoughtful. "But now I am."
"Keep dreaming." Riley replied simply. She looked around for a bit and then a challenging look slid onto her face as she turned to Kendall, pointing with a free hand. "How about the batting cages?" She asked, walking over to it. "If you could throw that well, you should be able to swing." The two went over to the cages and paid for their turn to go.
Kendall went first and managed to get a couple of hits, but missed almost every other ball for the twenty tries he paid for. He pulled off the helmet and slapped it onto Riley's head, purposefully moving it over her eyes. "Why don't you show me how it's done?"
"All right, but don't come crying to me when I show you up." Riley looked over the selection of bats before picking up one was in the center.
She moved into the cage and stood above the plate, knees slightly bent her eyes on the ball dispensing machine. As the first ball shot out, Riley swung and the ball barreled off her bat like a rocket. The ball hit the wall with a hard thud. Riley gave her shoulders a quick roll back and turned to hit the next ball with just as much force. A few line drives later, she walked out of the cage, took off the helmet and shook out her hair. Kendall just stood there, jaw open.
Riley reached over and tapped his jaw closed. "I hear flies don't taste particularly good, Hockey-Head." She picked up her stuffy puppy and turned from the batting cages when a sweet smell hit the air. She sniffed lightly before turning towards a booth that was selling cotton candy. Kendall noticed her stop and laughed when he saw what she was looking at.
"You can go sit on the bench over there," he nodded in the direction as he took out his wallet. "And I'll get some cotton candy."
"The purple one, please." Riley replied before walking over to the bench and sitting down, gently placing her flower and stuffed dog on the ground by her feet. Kendall came back a few seconds later carrying two sticks of cotton candy. "Thanks." She took the stick from his hand and plucked off a bit of the fluffy junk food before sticking it in her mouth, smiling at the taste.
"Yum." Kendall agreed as he took a large bite.
Riley looked over at him and twisted her mouth to the side, thoughtful. She didn't feel nervous at all up until that moment. In fact, up until then, she felt like she always did whenever they hung out when it was just the two of them. Calm and completely comfortable, now things were a bit different. They weren't just best friends; they were best friends on a date.
"So, I have a question for you," Kendall said after a minute of silence. Riley looked at him wordlessly and he continued. "How come you never played us anything on the guitar?"
Riley grimaced, thinking about the show they had done on Jay Leno the five days before. It was probably one of her most embarrassing moments she could think of. Something she usually wouldn't do. But it ended up getting her and Kendall to be friends again and there was a lot of positive feedback from it. Of course her ScuttleButter was completely filled with messages when she had gotten back online, from the people who had been there. Now she was waiting for it to air so she could get even more.
"How come you've never played us anything on the guitar?" Riley shot back.
"Answering a question with a question?" Kendall raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think?" Riley smirked back.
"Logan told me you play the guitar all the time when you're in a block." Kendall looked towards the sky as he finished his cotton candy and wiped his hands off on his jeans. "Anyway, you asked if why I didn't play anything for you guys, so I'll do you one better." He replied and smiled as he took a deep breath and started to sing. Riley's mouth twitched when she recognized it as one of her favorite songs, You and I Both by Jason Mraz. She listened as he continued to sing, hitting every note perfectly and putting a lot of emotion into the song. Finally he finished the song, trying to catch his breath.
He blushed and waved a hand to the people who stopped to listen to him sing.
Riley shook her head slowly. "You're a trip Kendall Knight." She eyed him warily. "Did Logie tell you that's one of my favorite songs?"
"No," Kendall replied and then laughed a little bit when Riley didn't look convinced. "I'm telling you the truth, Logan didn't tell me." He held his hands up defensively.
"Then how'd you know?" she questioned.
"I swiped your iPhone once and saw it was your most played song." Kendall replied with a half smile. Riley shook her head again. Kendall's smile slowly faded as he slowly moved towards her. Riley's smirk faded and her eyes closed a little bit as she also moved towards him. "Stop me if you don't want me to do this," Kendall whispered, his lips above hers.
"I would have already if I didn't want to," Riley whispered back a second before his lips landed on hers.
Kendall couldn't help but notice how this kiss was different than any of the other ones he'd had. With Jo, their kisses were always sweet and somewhat brief. They were innocent and reflected the sort of nice personally Jo had. But with Riley, the kiss was more passionate, it wasn't as stiff, and it matched the personality Riley had. Kendall's hands were lightly on her neck, his thumbs on her cheeks, and Riley's hands were in Kendall's hair and on his neck. The one in his hair gently formed a fist, pulling at the strands, giving him chills.
He smiled when he gently pulled back, and then reached around her, trying to get to the cotton candy she had left over. Riley reacted quickly and leaned back out of the way, holding her cotton candy out of his reach.
"Do you want to lose that hand?" She asked.
"No." Kendall chuckled.
"Then back off my cotton candy."
The two laughed.
"So-"Kendall started.
"So-"Riley said at the same time. Kendall fell quiet, so she could continue. "Um, what are we now?" She leaned back against the bench twisting to the side so she could face him.
Kendall spoke slowly. "I mean, we've established we're best friends…but we're more than that." He gave a hopeful smile.
"It's weird, with Nic, things were awkward for a while after we started to go out. But with you…I feel as comfortable as I do when we're best friends. Just…" Riley hesitated for a moment. "I don't usually like the idea of becoming someone's girlfriend right after one date. I like to be asked and I like to get to know the other person for a while." She noticed the look on Kendall's face. "Don't give me that look!" She flicked him on the nose. "I know we've known each other for two years, but still. You're my best friends, all of you guys are, and I don't want them to be put out."
"Is it possible that we can add in there, if there's something going on with a friend, or a family member, or something really important with our bands gets in the way, we can postpone the bet for that reason?" Kendall asked, resting his chin in his hands. "I mean, say, Mom needs my help with something or something is wrong with Katie." He suggested. "Or something is up with our friends. I'd like to be able to help them with that."
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Riley said quickly. Kendall noticed the change in her demeanor, but didn't call her out on it.
Kendall smiled to himself before responding. "No, I totally agree. Our family and friends come first." He paused. "And our jobs of course."
"PDA is not my thing," Riley said sharply.
"Trust me," Kendall said with a laugh. "I get enough of that with Logan and Camille."
"Exactly," Riley agreed. "Um." She thought for a moment. "I don't want our friendship to change. I mean that. I don't want to be the couple that acts all weird around each other and not natural. I want our friendship to stay exactly the same."
"Except we go on dates and kiss?" Kendall asked. He said it that way, purposefully to make her uncomfortable. He laughed when Riley scowled at him, though she also had a look of amusement in her eyes. "I'm just teasing, Ruby. I don't want our friendship to change either. You're my best friend for a reason and I don't want that to be jeopardized."
"We take things slow and…" Riley's face then got serious. "Just…don't hurt me."
"Trust me." Kendall adopted a serious look as well. "That'll never happen. I'll never let anything hurt you. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I haven't yet." Kendall's phone buzzed and he looked at the time. He grimaced, knowing he wasn't going to hear the end of it after he said what he had to say. "Ah, well, it's getting late, we should be heading back."
"Right, we have to get you back for your wittle curfew," Riley said in a baby-ish voice, sticking out her lower lip as the two stood up and started to walk away from the bench. Kendall reached out and shoved her shoulder. "Hey!"
"My Mom just wants to be sure we get enough sleep," Kendall defended himself. "We can't all be like you and not have a curfew." He twisted his right foot back and kicked her in the butt. He laughed when Riley twisted her left foot and tried to kick him as well, only managing to hit him on the back of the knee. "Nice try."
"Shut up, Hockey-Head." Riley rolled her eyes. She stopped walking and turned to Kendall. "Hey," she said slowly, her eyes flashing with challenge. "We never really figured out who won the bet."
"Isn't it obvious?" Kendall asked. He gave a smug smile. "I won."
"Oh please!" Riley crossed her arms over her chest, the best she could, holding onto a stuffy puppy. "You and I both know I won! You're not a bad boy." She tilted her head to the side. "Not even a little bit."
"But I did everything you told me," Kendall said. "I took all of your lessons to heart and applied it to everything. I won by a landslide."
"If it's a landslide of crap, I don't doubt it," Riley shot back. "I won."
"Did not," Kendall returned.
"Did too." Riley took a step towards him.
"Did not." Kendall placed a hand on her neck and kissed her again. "You know, I really like to fight with you," he said when he pulled back. Riley smirked back at him. He held up a finger. "But I think I have an idea how to figure out who really won."
"Oh yeah." Riley gave him a challenging look. "What's that?"
"You'll see." Kendall replied with a mischievous smirk.
A/N: If you want to hear the song, listen to 'whatever it takes' by Lifehouse, but switch the 'she' parts to 'he'. You guys probably wanted to see Kendall meeting up with his dad again…but that wasn't the point of the story, I just needed a small side-plot for Kendall, but it wasn't that important so that's why it wasn't shown.
I also wanted to show (like I stated in an earlier chapter) that while Kendall and Riley can have serious conversations, they can also have fun with each other and have a good balance of silly and serious in their friendship/relationship, so I hope I showed that here.
I hope you guys liked this chapter, only one left.
Cheers,
-Riles