Riley sat quietly at the back of the bus, her head resting against the window and the hood of her jean jacket hoodie hybrid pulled up on her head. It was a very grey and overcast day, and she had woken up that morning to rain and the remnants of tear tracks dried on her face. As the rain fell against the window, the soft lilting voice of Brenda Lee singing "I'm Sorry" floated into her ears through her earbuds.

She let out a sigh of frustration. She had always ridden the bus alone before now, but somehow it felt even more lonely without Tintin next to her. She figured he wouldn't get on this bus, seeing as this one was a slightly later bus than they took the day before, and he would most likely take the same bus as yesterday.

She was thankful, however, that she wouldn't have to see him this early. She was still quite angry with him from the argument they had. 'What a hypocrite. He says he suffered to get back to me, yet he treats me like crap?' She thought to herself. She shook her head again, rolling her eyes and letting out another huff.

The bus pulled up to the stop near the front lawn of the school. Riley slung her bag over her shoulder as she got off, walking in the direction of the front doors as she took out her earbuds and put her hood down. She sighed, 'Maybe I was overreacting.' She thought to herself. 'Or maybe, if anything, I was too harsh-' a shriek of laughter cut her thoughts off.

The owner of the laugh was none other than Yvonne Parker. However, the subject of her laughter was more interesting to Riley. Yvonne was backed up to the lockers with her arms around Tintin's shoulders. His arms were wrapped around her waist, his hands rubbing from her back to her hips. Their foreheads were touching and they were giggling giddily with each other as if they hadn't a care in the world. A sort of golden glow was around them, as if the sun had peaked out of the clouds for only that moment in that exact spot, somehow inside of a building, or maybe that was all in Riley's imagination.

The sight nearly made her sick. She literally felt her stomach do backflips within her, and she felt shaken to her core. She couldn't move. She couldn't even blink. All she could do was stand there like a deer in headlights, her eyes the size of saucers.

All of a sudden, Yvonne and Tintin turned to Riley simultaneously, their hands locked together.

"What's wrong Riley?" Said Tintin with an insincere smirk. "I thought you wanted me to be the 'rich girl's lap dog'."

"Yeah, didn't you know Riley? Life for people like you will always be unfair. You'll never get what you want! Especially him." Sneered Yvonne.

Riley heard everyone's laughter flare up in the hallway as Tintin and Yvonne began walking towards her in unison. The noise was so loud that it felt as if it were squeezing her brain. They continued to come closer to her, Yvonne pushing her to the ground when she got close enough. Before Riley could react, both Yvonne and Tintin began clobbering her head rhythmically: Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Riley tried to scream, but nothing came out. It was as if her voice were blocked by a sound barrier in her throat. The world began to go black around her.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With a breath, Riley fluttered her eyes open. She wiped the tears that had been making tracks down her cheeks to see that she was in her dark room, the rain pouring outside. She put her hand to her chest and sighed in relief; 'It was only a dream.' She thought to herself. She was glad it was, she didn't know what she would have done if that had been real.

She was just about to lye back down when the thud from her dream came again: Thud! Thud! Thud! She sat up and rubbed her head, thinking it was her imagination for a split second until it came once more: Thud! Thud! Thud!

'What the hell is that?' She thought, slinging her legs over the bed. She headed down the hallway towards the source of the noise: the front door. 'Who on God's green Earth is at my house at this hour?' She was a bit wary given the crime that riddled her neighborhood.

She grabbed the handle and pulled hard, budging the door from its stuck position in the frame and swinging it wide open. What she discovered standing outside was none other than a sopping wet Tintin, his arm raised as if he were about to give the door another good 'Thud!'.

Riley maintained her blank expression, not moving by even an inch. She was a bit shocked to see him, but still quite angry (even if that dream wasn't real). His eyebrows were knit together, his mouth parted and panting, as if he'd run all the way there from the motel, which, as far as Riley knew, he did. It seemed to Riley that he had come out of desperation.

After a moment, Riley spoke in a voice so soft, even mice couldn't hear. "I thought you wanted...her."

"You really think I'd choose her over you?" He shoveled his words out, panting.

Riley merely shook her head.

"No." Tintin took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him. "Never." He crashed his lips into hers with as much passion as he possibly could. Riley was taken off-guard at first, but found herself melting into it. She grabbed the sides of his face with both hands and kissed him back with all the love she'd ever had to put away for him.

Their kisses multiplied, and with each one, he seemed to say 'I'm sorry.' , to which she seemed to respond 'Me too.' A few minutes passed before they had to come up for air, both of them breathing heavily.

"Let's get you out of those wet clothes, shall we?" Riley said, biting her lower lip and smirking.

"Oh, have you got something I can borrow?" He replied innocently, not quite understanding her implication.

"Nope." She said, popping the 'p'. Tintin's face morphed for a moment in confusion, and then turned a bright red. Riley chuckled at this, making him chuckle too, their laughter infectious to each other.

XXX

Riley laid her head comfortably on Tintin's chest, the soft cotton of the big hand-me-down tee shirt her cousin had given her rubbing against her cheek. She cuddled up to him, her right arm draped up his chest towards his shoulder, and her leg draped over his torso.

He was still a bit apprehensive of allowing her to see him in just his underwear and a t-shirt, but eventually he got used to it, seeing as she compromised by being in her underwear and a t-shirt as well. She made him even more comfortable by pulling the comforter up over them, so they wouldn't be cold.

His arm was up, with his hand resting behind his head, so as to give Riley a spot to snuggle him. He was actually quite comfortable. They had spent the last hour and a half kissing each other, but nothing came of it. Just stripping of some of Tintin's most soaked clothing so he could dry off and avoid catching a cold. It seemed to him that Riley was having quite a bit of fun pulling things off of him, saying "WET!" as she threw an article of clothing across the room.

He looked up at her ceiling and absentmindedly stroked her head, occasionally taking a strand of her hair between his fingers. "Ok, my turn." He said, continuing their game of Two Truths and a Lie. "Ehem. I was born in Brussels, Belgium, my mother had me when she was 14, annnnnd...Snowy was a birthday present." He finished, quite proud of his obscure statements.

"Hmmm..." thought Riley. "I think I'll go with...your mom."

"Why?"

"Well it's just like, that's really young to have a kid." She said.

"Oh. Is it?" He asked genuinely.

Riley remembered that things were different when he grew up. "Well, I guess for me it is."

"Ok, well no. That's not the lie. The lie is that I got Snowy as a birthday present."

"Oh then when did you get him?" Riley asked.

"I just found him one day, the little rascal. He was among some wastebins when I-"

"Your mom was 14?!" She said with a small gasp.

"Um...yeah. My dad was 23 and-"

"WHAT?!" Riley said sitting up to look down at him, shock plastered to her face.

Tintin began laughing at her, his smile growing wider by the second. "Yes," he said between chuckles, "but don't worry, that's not a time thing. That's pretty strange even for me."

"Oh my God." She said, laying back down in the crook of his arm and chest.

"Yeah, well, everything about my father was terrible, so don't be too surprised." He said quietly.

"Right." Riley was silent for a moment, not quite knowing what to say. It turned out she didn't have to, seeing as Tintin became quite curious with some of the objects in her room.

"What's that thing, there?" He said pointing to the black rectangle sitting on her nightstand.

"Oh this," she reached over him, nearly straddling him, which made them both giggle, "this is a tablet. It's like a cell phone, except big." She resumed her position in the crook of his arm and set it down on his chest.

"Oh. Interesting." He said, examining the exterior. "And is it supposed to turn on like a phone?" He said, clicking the button on the side to try turning the screen on.

"Oh yeah, except it's dead because my charger's broken." She said, grabbing the top of the tablet and slinging it to the floor.

"Oh, yeah that would help huh?" Said Tintin with a chuckle. He kept looking around the room, his eyes jumping from object to object, until his attention stopped on a large pile of books along the wall of her room. "That's quite a lot of books." He said absentmindedly.

"Yeah, it is isn't it." Riley said, focusing her attention on drawing small circles on his chest with her pointer finger.

He chose his next words very carefully. "Y'know Riley," she looked up at him through her eyelashes, which nearly made him melt, "it's peculiar you have all of those books."

Riley cocked an eyebrow at him, not quite sure where this was going. "...why?" She asked, a smirk ghosting her lips.

"Well..you see Riley, you have to read in order to have books and-"

"You!" She yelled playfully, straddling him and grabbing one of her pillows to hit him with.

"Ow! I'm just saying-Ah! That I've never actua-Oh! I've never actually-hey!" He grabbed the pillow from her before she could lay down another blow. She was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out, allowing him to rip the pillow away from her. He started laughing too, his whole body shaking. "I've never actually seen you read a book." He finally finished, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Riley caught her breath and returned to normal a moment later. "Yeah, I don't read often." She got up and walked over to the stack which made Tintin blush. It was still awkward to see her in her underwear, no matter how much he loved her.

She picked one up and faced the cover in his direction. The title read 'The Life and Legacy of the Boy Reporter of Brussels'.

"Noooo, don't tell me." He said, a smile springing to his face. "Are all of these about-"

"Yup." Said Riley, knowing what he meant. "How else was I supposed to be close to you?"

"I don't know, visit me?" He said with a chuckle. Riley fell silent. She knew she couldn't say anything because who knew how it would affect things. "I'm...I'm still around...right?" She didn't respond, only looked at him with blank eyes. "Oh. Strange thought." He said, suddenly getting quite silent himself.

"Well, you're here now, and that's what matters." Riley said, coming over to him and kissing his forehead.

"Ok, so what I'm hearing is you're gonna read this to me?" He said, his goofy jubilant demeanor returning once again.

"No! No, you know I can't do that!" She said, shaking her head.

"And why not?!"

"Because! The...butterfly...affect?" She said, grasping at any reason she could to explain why it was a bad idea.

Tintin stared at her blankly before scrunching his face, "The what?!" He chuckled.

Riley couldn't help but laugh. "Ok, ok how about this, I'll show you a picture of yourself in the future. Nothing too giving, just you and someone you already know anyway." Tintin pondered this for a moment before nodding curtly in agreement.

Riley began flipping through the pages, looking for her favorite photo of him (the one when he is in his early 30's and has slightly longer hair). She got to the beat up dog eared page and looked at the picture, only to see an empty room. She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, flipping a couple of pages back, then forward to see if maybe she had mistaken this page for the one she was looking for, but found that this was the only page within a dozen pages that contained a picture. "What?" She hissed.

"What's the matter?" He asked, peeking over her shoulder to get a glance at the picture in question.

"I...I swear you were in this picture." She said, running her fingers through her hair in anxiety.

Tintin cocked his head in confusion. "Then...why is it blank?"

"I...I don't know." Said Riley. She went to the stack and grabbed another book and flipped to one of the many dogeared pages, only to find yet another blank picture. Then another. Then another. All the while Tintin watched her, confusion plastered on his face.

She finally turned to a picture of him at his current age. This one was particularly strange, because his top half was missing, but his bottom half was there. His body was grainy in quality, and getting grainier by the minute, or so it seemed. She then flipped to a picture of him when he was 14, standing in the newspaper office where he got his first assignment. It was perfectly in tact, unchanged in the slightest.

She began to understand.

"What is it?" He asked, confusion laced in his words.

"I think you're...you're erasing yourself from history."