Chapter 9

Alex POV

"Riker! Hide!"

"What?"

"I just thought of a plan! Hide!"

I ripped the backpack from Riker's shoulders and watched as my parents pulled up in their minivan.

After my dad grumbled about having to pick me up, I told him I needed to put my backpack in the back, so he unlocked it. I motioned for Riker to sneak over.

"Alex, I'm not riding in the back for an hour," Riker whispered.

"I know. You're getting in this way though. As quietly as you possibly can, squeeze between the ceiling and the top of the seats. You'll sit in the backseat and hide," I whispered back.

"Alex, that's a great idea!"

"Shhh! Ok, I'm going to open this, so you'll only have a few seconds, and remember to be quiet!"

"Ok I will."

"Go."

Amazingly, our plan worked! I got in diagonally from Riker. I faked a cough for a few seconds, long enough for Riker to put his seat belt on, and then my dad drove off. My dad didn't even question me about my night. I had told him on the phone that my friends had dropped me off here, and I needed a way to get home. He thought I had been with my friends, therefore, he didn't care about the details.

I looked back at Riker. He had shrunk down against the wall of the car, hiding. Even though it was dark, you could never be too careful. My dad could be unpredictable sometimes.

Riker and I held hands the whole way home. When we finally got home, I practically jumped out of the car. I opened the back and took out Riker's backpack. Riker frantically tried squeezing out between the seats and ceiling. He got stuck somehow, and all of a sudden, came flying out, landing on his back.

"Alex, what was that?" My dad called.

"Nothing. I just banged my backpack against the car."

"Don't go around denting my car!"

"I won't dad. It's fine!"

Riker was obviously in a lot of pain. I knew he had wanted to scream when he landed, but he couldn't give himself away. We were so close!

My dad finally got out of the car and closed his door. He seemed like he was going to walk over to me, so I made Riker crawl under the car to hide.

But my dad didn't end up coming over to me. He went to our house, and yelled at my mom because she had the keys, and she wasn't fast enough at getting them out.

"Alex are you coming?"

"I'll be there in a second."

"Ok, I'll wait right here."

Great. Just great. My dad probably suspected something was up. I pretended to be doing something with the backpack while I was secretly talking softly to Riker.

"Riker, my dad's waiting for me to go in. Let's just talk about everything tomorrow, ok?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you ok?"

"My back really hurts from when I fell. It took everything in me not to scream. It hurts pretty bad."

"Are you going to be ok? I could call Rocky or Ross to come help you get home if you want. I would help you, but my dad's kind of… observing my actions right now…"

"Yeah. Call someone for me would you? My back is just killing me. Did you know you have a rock in your driveway? That's what I fell on."

"Well considering my driveway is just a section of my front yard, I'd kind of expect there to be rocks in it. Ok, I should go. My dad's probably getting suspicious. I'll call someone. Just stay there. I don't want you hurting yourself even more."

"Ok. Bye Alex."

"Bye Riker. I love you."

"Love you too."

I walked up to my house where my dad was angrily waiting.

"What were you doing out there?"

"I was just making sure I had something in my backpack. I thought I'd lost it."

"Well why didn't you do that inside?"

"Well in case I had left it in the car. You didn't have to wait for me if you didn't want to."

"Well I wanted to make sure you weren't going to run across the street to that boy's house."

"Why? We broke up, remember?"

"Yes. I was just making sure you weren't lying to me."

His eyes felt like they were cutting through to my brain, and he could see everything. Luckily he couldn't, but it felt like he was trying to find some answers. I wasn't giving anything away anytime soon though.

"Well let's go inside!" I said, pushing past my dad, and heading to my room.

Once I was in my bedroom, I locked my door, and grabbed my cell phone from my nightstand. I decided to call Ross since Rocky and I weren't exactly best friends.

"Hello?"

"Ross, this is Alex."

"Hey Alex."

"Riker needs help. Like right now."

"What!?"

"No, calm down. I'm pretty sure he's fine. I just want you to help him get home and make sure he's alright. He'll tell you the details, but right now, he's hiding under my dad's minivan. He fell on his back pretty hard, and I just didn't want him to hurt himself even more. I just thought maybe you could help him."

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me know. I'll be right over to get him. Thanks Alex."

"You're welcome. Tell him I love him, ok?"

"I will. Bye Alex."

"Bye."

The Next Morning…

Alex POV

As soon as I woke up, I got up and walked down the hall. Today my parents had to travel to the city for something business related. They had left really early this morning, and wouldn't be back until late. What a great opportunity for me to go check on the guy that just risked a ton for us to be together.

I went across the street, forgetting to change out of my pajamas.

"Alex? What are you doing here?" Rydel asked.

"Is Riker here?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs. I think he's still sleeping. But you can wake him up."

"Ok. Thanks."

I ran up the stairs to Riker's room. I hoped he wouldn't be in too much pain from last night.

"Hey Alex," Ross said from his bed.

"Hey. Your sister said I could wake Riker up. Is that ok?"

"Yeah. Go for it."

"You guys got home alright last night, right?"

"Yeah. He was in a lot of pain, but as soon as he got in bed, he was out."

"Ok."

I sat down on the edge of Riker's bed as I shook his shoulder gently.

"Mmm… mmm… Alex?"

"Yeah. Are you ok?"

"Wha-what time is it?"

"Almost 9:00. Are you ok?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your back."

"Oh. Yeah. It still hurts. What are you doing here? What about your dad?"

"He's in the city. I came over to make sure you were ok."

"Oh. Well did you have breakfast yet?"

"No. When I woke up, I came straight over here."

"Do you want to have breakfast with me?"

"Yeah."

Sleepy Riker was really funny to talk to. I could tell his brain was trying really hard to think straight, but it wasn't doing that good of a job. I walked down the stairs with Riker to the kitchen. Riker didn't really walk though. He more stumbled along. He couldn't stop yawning either.

"Riker?"

"What?"

"Did you look at your back last night?"

"No."

"Well, I think you should."

"Now?"

"Well, we can after breakfast. But there's a spot of blood on the back of your shirt."

"How big is it!?"

"Not too big, but big enough to show that your fall must've really hurt!"

Riker sat down across from me at his kitchen table, yelping slightly when he leaned back in the chair, forgetting about his back. Rydel made us both scrambled eggs, and then left us to eat alone. Riker was more awake now.

"So was your dad suspicious last night?"

"Oh…"

"He was, wasn't he?"

"Well, not exactly. Well… Kind of… He didn't like me going through my backpack for 5 minutes. But he didn't suspect that I was talking to a random boy under his car. The thing he was actually suspicious about, was that I was going to try to sneak over to your house. I guess he thinks we're still dating."

"But just to be clear, we are still dating right?"

"Yes Riker. We're still dating."

"Ok. Good."

We talked a little more about my father's suspicions, and then finished our breakfasts.

"Come on. Let's go take a look at your back," I said, leading Riker back to his bedroom.

Once we were in his room, Riker took his shirt off, and laid face down on his bed. Ross came and stood next to me, examining Riker's back too.

"What does it look like?" Riker asked, mumbling into his pillow.

"Uh… How much does it hurt again?" I asked.

"Pretty bad. If anything touches it, even slightly, it hurts. It feels achy and bruised, and it just plain hurts."

"Well I can see why. In the upper right corner of your back, there's this giant bruise and some blood. I'm assuming that's where you hit the rock."

"Yeah."

"And then underneath that, there's just some other smaller bruises and scratches."

"Do you think I need to go to the hospital and get it looked at?"

"No I don't think so. As much as you're in pain, it doesn't actually look too bad."

"Ok, good. I just need to give it some time to heal then."

Riker got up and put his shirt back on.

"So what are you doing today?" Riker asked me.

"Whatever you're doing."

"Well good, because I'm spending the day at your house, and if you weren't there, that'd be weird," Riker said, laughing.