Chapter 7: A Rude Awakening
Riley
returned home knowing that Matt and Jeff would barrage her with
questions. Walking to her door she heard Matt's voice in a low, harsh
whisper.
"Jeff, I just saw her car pull up, stop drinking
that coffee. Are you drinking it black? Yuck. "
She just
laughed to herself and turned the key into the lock. Low and behold,
Matt and Jeff were staring out the window and didn't even hear her
come in.
"Looking for someone boys?" Both Matt and
Jeff jumped 10 feet out of their skin when they heard Riley.
"Um,
hey Ry how was your date?" Jeff asked sheepishly jumping off the
couch.
"Yeah," Matt said following his brother's
lead.
Riley thought she'd have a little fun. It's never too
late to have a little fun. "Well, he rented out the restaurant,
had it decorated with candles, we had a really nice dinner, and he
proposed to me," she said walking to her bedroom.
Jeff
was too wired on coffee and didn't let it register at first and
uttered, "that's great!"
Riley proceeded to walk
into her room and shut the door. Matt just stared at his brother for
the longest time and was finally able to speak, "you're an
idiot. Do you know what she just said?"
Jeff thought for
a moment. "She said that they went to a restaurant, had dinner
and he proposed to her."
Seconds passed before Matt and
Jeff realized what had been said and looked to one another with a
shock look on their faces.
"She's ENGAGED!" Both
Hardy's ran to Riley's door and proceeds to attempt to knock it down.
"RyLynn..."
They didn't have to finish the sentence when Riley opened her door
and started to laugh at them.
"What took ya'll so long?"
she said her southern drawl becoming thicker.
"You're
ENGAGED?" Jeff looked like he was going to explode and hunt down
Chris."
Riley couldn't help but secretly laugh to
herself. "Who told ya'll I'm engaged?" she asked
innocently.
"You came in here saying that the boyfriend
from planet loser proposed to you."
Riley just nodded.
"But where in the heavens did you possibly think that I'm
engaged?"
Matt and Jeff just stared at her.
'They're
real gentlemen but they sure are a slow bunch.'
"Yes, he proposed to me but that doesn't mean I accepted. She held out her hands to show she had no rings on her fingers.
"See. Now,
goodnight I have class tomorrow." Riley slammed the door in
their face and they couldn't get their jaws off the ground.
"You
do realize she just did that to get us worked up don't you?"
Matt asked staring at the door still in his same position.
"Yep,
but imagine if it was for real." Jeff shuddered at the thought
as he said it.
"You know she was never this evil until
she met you," Matt said heading to his room.
"Well
you've traumatized her," Jeff retorted.
"Man, if you
want to talk about traumatized, try being your friend. Hey, I'm
related to you, though I'm still waiting on a blood test. Night
little bro."
The
suns rays were barely peering through the windows when a pair of
white Adidas tip-toed across the plush white carpet and stepped into
the "fortress." Foreign territory filled posters and
pictures. Mostly pictures of the moments of life you want to forget
but are good to remember. Two lava lamps graced separate wooden
pedestals at the head of the bed. The hunter had spotted its pray
hidden underneath the pink blankets and an evil smile passed his
lips. He tied the corners of the bed sheets and wrapped his pray
inside of it. The fun was just beginning.
Riley squirmed
in her sleep as she felt it get warmer around her. She let out a yawn
and slowly opened her eyes to complete darkness.
"What in the world..." She sat up and found that she was trapped and couldn't get out of her cocoon.
"What's going on?" Suddenly she felt the cocoon of blankets being lifted.
"Okay something weird is going on. MATT! JEFF!" She heard two very well known laughs.
"This isn't funny! I can't see and I need to get to class. You two are in so much trouble when I get out of here!"
She
felt herself fall on the ground – hard. She wiggled and squirmed
trying to get out of the tangled mess of blankets and finally managed
to stick her head through a hole.
She
looked around her and realized she was in her bathroom. Better yet -
she was in her shower. The shower door opened and she saw Matt poke
his head in.
"Um, hi. It's not my fault, and it wasn't my idea. Have a nice shower!"
He turned the water on
and a barrage of cold water rained down on her. Riley let out a
high-pitched squeal. To make it worse, the sheets were wet and clung
to her as she desperately tried to escape her
confinement.
When
she got out of the shower, Riley's hair was wet and stuck to the
sides of her face and her t-shirt was completely soaked. It was so
much like Matt to try and absolve himself of any guilt. She stalked
into the living room where she found Matt sitting on the couch
laughing at some stupid show on TV. She grabbed the back of his shirt
and dragged him to the floor with his arms and legs pinned to the
ground.
"What is your problem?" he asked surprised
that Riley had enough strength to pin him in the first place.
"You
freak. You throw me into a shower, which is cold as usual and you ask
me what my problem is. Ha, you have to be so stupid."
"Well
at least I'm not as dumb as you look." Matt retorted still
trying to escape the younger girls grasp in vain.
"Where's
rainbow bright? I know he was the BRAINS behind this," she asked
looking around the room. At that moment the phone rang. Riley hoped
off the decoy and stalked to the kitchen to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Riley,
I know you're looking for me. I'm in your car and I'm going to drive
you to class. I need to borrow your car to get to a signing and I'll
pick you up on my way back."
"Why should I let you
borrow my car?"
"Because I have the keys and your
class starts in 20 minutes. You have five minutes to get dressed and
in this car."
Riley didn't need to be told twice, so she
hung up the phone and was dressed making sure to grab two muffins on
her way out.
"Matt, as punishment for your actions I
sentence you to walk Pippin. Tootles."
As
the door slammed Matt looked at Pippin. Pippin was Riley's Australian
Shepard. "Um...so do you like basketball?"
