Chapter 10

Riley POV

When I woke up, I almost screamed. I had forgotten that I had fallen asleep on Riker. That's pretty embarrassing… And Riker looked really uncomfortable too. But he was still sleeping. After a few seconds, I realized I had totally been staring right at him. That's really creepy. But he looked so… I don't know… Different, I guess… I wasn't sure what I was thinking. But I had just woken up. My brain wasn't even working right yet…

I sat up and moved a little further from Riker. Why hadn't he woken me up last night? He didn't have to sleep on the couch again. Ugh! Now I feel bad.

Riker moved a little in his sleep. I heard movement in the kitchen, so I decided to see what was going on, and leave Riker to continue his sleeping.

Rocky and Ellington were in the kitchen cooking something for breakfast. I sat down at the counter.

"Hey Riley," said Rocky.

"Hi. What are you guys making?"

"It's supposed to be some fancy pancake recipe Ellington found, but I don't know if we're making them right."

"Oh…"

"So what happened with you and Riker?" Rocky asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Last night when we got home, you guys were fast asleep on the couch together."

"Oh. Yeah, we were watching a movie, and I fell asleep. I don't know why he didn't just wake me up. He doesn't look very comfortable sleeping like that."

"So how are things with you guys?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Like… I don't know… Are you guys…?"

Ellington elbowed Rocky in the ribs.

"Are we what?"

"Ugh, just ignore him. He can't think straight, he just woke up. He doesn't know what he's talking about," said Ellington.

"Uh… Ok."

A few seconds later, Riker came stumbling into the kitchen. His hair was sticking up in all crazy directions. He came and sat down next to me.

"Good morning," I said.

"Good morning…"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just really tired still."

"Here, come with me. I know how to wake you up," I said, pulling Riker out the front door.

I brought Riker down to the docks. We walked down the end of one of them. Riker was totally oblivious to what I was about to do.

Once he was standing at the edge, I pushed him forward, and he fell into the lake.

"RILEY!"

"Are you awake now?"

"Yeah, and wet!"

"That was kind of the plan."

Riker pulled himself back up. He was dripping water everywhere.

"Hey Riley?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you awake enough?"

"What? Wait! YES I AM! RIKER NO!"

I turned to run, but Riker grabbed me from behind. He put me over his shoulder, and jumped off the dock. When I came back up to the surface, I was laughing. I hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

"Ok, we're both awake now. How about we go get some breakfast?" I asked.

"Sounds good!"

Riker helped me up on the dock before pulling himself back up. We walked back to his house.

"What on earth did you guys do!?" Rocky asked.

"We decided to take a dip in the lake," said Riker.

"Now!? Wearing pajamas!?"

"Yeah, why not? Now what's for breakfast?" Riker asked.

"Whatever this is," said Ellington.

Later…

Riker POV

Riley went back to her house to shower. She had specific items she wanted to use, so she just went back to her house. While she was there, I went down to the docks to think. Riley had said it was her thinking spot, so I decided to make it mine too. I always needed to think about things.

I thought about how Riley was acting different. Actually, she was probably acting normal. She was different when the whole Dylan thing was going on. I was just afraid that when she went back to her house, there would be drama again. But for now, I was just going to enjoy it.

This morning was awesome, even though I ended up in the lake. But Riley was different than I thought she was, in a good way. She was crazier than I thought, like her idea of pushing me in the lake. But I liked how her mind worked. And when I jumped in the lake with her, it was cool that she didn't get mad at me for doing that. So far, today was amazing.

I could feel someone walking down the dock. I turned around and saw that it was Riley. She came and sat down next to me.

"Finished showering?" I asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, my hair's really wet. I usually let it air dry, but it takes a long time. And until it dries, it's usually really messy and weird."

"I think it looks good."

"Thanks. So what have you been doing?"

"Uh… Not much. I've been sitting here, just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"I don't know. Just random stuff."

"Ok. Well it's getting late. I mean, not really, but the sun's going down. The bugs are coming out. Do you want to go back to your house?"

"Yeah."

Riley and I walked back to my house, and sat down on the couch.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked.

"Uh… We could finish that movie from yesterday. I promise I'll try not to fall asleep on you again tonight. And by the way I'm really sorry about that. You looked really uncomfortable."

"Nah, it was fine, Riley."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. Tomorrow night's my last night here, and then I go back to my house."

"Are you worried or anything?"

"Well I'm a little worried about Dylan and stuff, and I'm worried that my uncle and I could have another fight. But I know I have you to talk to, so that almost makes it ok. Only a few weeks until my parents come back though. And then my life will be somewhat normal again."

"Well I'm sure you're happy about that."

"I am, definitely. Once my parents come back, it'll be so much better."

"Is your uncle really that bad?"

"Well, it's just that we're really different. We don't have a lot in common, and we usually don't agree on stuff. I don't know. He's my uncle, so I love him, but… He's just annoying sometimes."

"Yeah, I get it."

Later…

Riker POV

Riley went to sleep in Rydel's room tonight. I was happy I didn't have to sleep all weird since it messed my back up a little, but I was sad that I wasn't with Riley.

Rocky sat down on his bed across the room from mine, and he looked at me weird.

"What?" I asked.

"What's up with you and Riley?"

"Well I heard you almost said something earlier, but Ellington stopped you. He said you were totally going to ask a dating question."

"I was…"

"Rocky, you have to be more careful. I don't want you to mess this up for me. I really like Riley."

"I know, that's why you need to ask her out before someone else does."

"I can't! Not yet, at least."

"Why not?"

"Because her parents aren't back yet, she's still dealing with her uncle, and she doesn't have stuff under control with her ex yet."

"Ooh! Tell me about that!"

"What?"

"Her ex. What's going on with him? Is that why she won't go out with you?"

"Rocky, I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"It's Riley's business."

"You know about it."

"Because she told me."

"She did? Ooh…"

"Ooh, what?"

"I don't know if that's a good sign."

"What are you talking about?"

"If she's telling you about her ex, I don't know if she would want to go out with you. It just seems weird."

"But it's not like that. She doesn't just talk about her ex or anything. It was actually kind of a mistake that she told me."

"How?"

"Rocky, I'm done talking about this. Even if I was going to ask her out, it wouldn't be until her parents got back, so just stop."

"I don't know what's so hard about asking a girl out."

"Rocky, that's because you date our fans. So of course they love you. Riley's different. She's just a girl. She doesn't know us as the band R5. She knows us as the Lynchs. We're just her neighbors. I don't know what she thinks about me… Ugh, I just don't know, Rocky!"

"Well if you don't want her to know, I would stop shouting if I were you. Rydel's room is literally just down the hall."

"I know, I know. I'm just… conflicted… I don't know what I should do. Do I ask her out and risk making things weird between us if she says no? Or do I not ask her out so we can still have our friendship? I… I just don't know…"

"Well you'll have some time to think about that."

"Yeah… I will…"

The Next Day…

Riker POV

I woke up, and saw Rydel and Riley standing over me. They're holding… Cans of whipped cream…? Wait a minute… My face is covered in whipped cream. And so is my pillow.

"Guys! Come on! What did I ever do to you!?" I said, sitting up.

Riley and Rydel left, laughing. I got up and went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror, and my face was literally all covered in whipped cream. It was all over, even in my hair. And now it was starting to drip all down my shirt. I was a mess. But more importantly, I looked stupid… In front of Riley!

"AAH!"

"Riker, are you ok?" Rocky shouted from outside the bathroom.

"Yeah."

A big blob of whipped cream had just fallen down inside my shirt, and it was cold! I quickly pulled my shirt off, took a towel, and washed it off. Once I had gotten all the whipped cream off, I headed downstairs to find Rydel and Riley.

Riley and Rydel were sitting at the counter in the kitchen, talking to Ross about what they had done to me.

I walked up behind Riley and put my hands on her shoulders, startling her. She turned around immediately.

"Hi," said Riley.

"Hi. Why did you guys do that this morning?"

"Because we thought it would be funny."

"Funny?"

"Just be glad I talked Rydel out of using honey."

"You were going to use honey!?"

"But we didn't!"

"That would've been so bad!"

"Well that's why we didn't!"

"I'm worried about you two sleeping together now."

Riley laughed.

"Hey, it's your own fault for sleeping in so late," said Rydel.

"Oh, is that why you guys did it?"

"Yeah, and you missed breakfast," said Riley.

"It's ok, I'm not that hungry anyway."

Riley got up, and pulled me into the living room. We sat down on the couch.

"What?" I asked.

"One more night, and then I have to go back."

"You don't have to go back."

"No, I do. I could tell my uncle didn't really like that I would be gone for 4 nights. If I stayed even longer, it just feels like that would be kind of rude.

"Yeah…"

"But we still have one more night. I want to enjoy it."

"Yeah. We should do something fun tonight."

"Like what?"

"Like… We could go into Lake George and do something there."

"Ok."

Later…

Riley POV

Riker and I walked down to the beach. We had decided that we would go into Lake George for dinner later. But for right now, we wanted to go swimming.

I took my shoes off and stepped into the water. It wasn't warm, and it wasn't cold. It was in between. But I was used to swimming in somewhat cold water, so it didn't really bother me. Riker on the other hand…

"Riley, how are you in to your waist already? It's freezing!"

"Riker, you're not even in to your knees yet. Come on!"

"It's too cold!"

I walked back onto the beach, got a bucket, and filled it with water.

"Oh, no. Don't even think about it," said Riker, back away.

"Then get in the water," I said, moving closer.

My plan wasn't even to throw the water on him. It was only to threaten him into going deeper in the water. And it was working perfectly. I had Riker backing further and further into the lake.

"Come on, Riley. It's freezing. Let's go swimming another day."

"No, it's a fine day to go swimming. Just go underwater already!"

Riker was in up to his waist now. He had his arms wrapped around himself, and he was shivering.

"Oh give me a break. It's not that cold!" I said, walking closer.

"Wait! Come on, can't we settle this without the bucket?"

"Fine," I said, walking back to the beach, and leaving the bucket there.

Once I had gotten back to where Riker was standing, I had a plan.

"Now, you want to go swimming, and I don't. How should we settle this?" Riker asked.

Riker POV

Riley got this strange look on her face like she knew something I didn't. And within a matter of seconds, she had gone underwater, right in front of me. What was she going to do!?

I felt her grab my ankles. Before I knew it, my feet were in the air, and my head was underwater. I flipped around, and got back to the surface, coughing. Riley was standing there, laughing at me.

"Ok, there. I settled it. We're going swimming."

That girl is very sneaky. But I like that!

"Ugh, fine."

"Let's go to the raft."

"Ok."

"Race you there!"

Riley took off toward the raft. She would disappear under the water and come up like 20 feet from where she went under. She was so fast! She ended up beating me.

"Riker, you need to practice your swimming! You have longer arms and legs. That should've been a closer race."

"I just can't hold my breath that long, so it doesn't make sense for me to swim underwater. I don't know how you're that fast though!"

"I swim almost every day. Obviously not the past few days because I've been with you. But most other days, I'm out here swimming."

I pulled myself up on the dock, and sat there, shivering from the wind.

"So what do you want to do?" Riley asked.

"Get back in the water. It's freezing."

"Ok."

"Actually, do you want to swim in, and get dressed and stuff?"

"No! I love it out here."

"Come on, Riley. It's freezing!"

"So get back in the water."

"But I want to go back in to the shore."

"Riker-"

"Please?"

"Fine."

I picked Riley up just like this morning, and jumped in. We swam in to the shore, went back up to my house, and got changed. After that, we got in my car, and went to Lake George. We had dinner, and then sat on a bench overlooking the lake. The moon was out, and it was reflecting on the lake nicely.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked.

"I don't know. It's really cold tonight though. I don't know how long we should stay."

"Here," I said, taking off my sweatshirt.

"Are you sure? You'll be freezing."

"Yeah, take it."

"Thanks."

Riley put my sweatshirt on, and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"Riker, you're such an awesome guy."

An awesome guy who's winning your heart though?

"What do you mean?"

"You gave me your sweatshirt, you let me stay at your house, and you came to my house to talk to me when you knew I was upset. You're just so nice. I'm glad I met you."

"I'm glad I met you too, Riley."

I put my arm around Riley as we walked back to my car. We were definitely getting closer. But closer to dating? I don't know…