It's A Matter of Trust
Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.
Chapter Two: Not exactly in line to be knighted
Riley Poole was still not impressed. As he sat in the shot-gun seat in Ben's conservative little hybrid car, he let his mind wander about all the recent developments. So the beautiful lady from the plane would be spending, undoubtedly, the summer with them. That he could deal with; hell, he even welcomed the idea of spending an entire summer with someone as pretty as she was. What he couldn't deal with, however, was the fact that she was directly related to man who had pointed a gun at him on so many occasions that he had lost count. It made everything a little more problematic.
The short, 30 minute car ride to Ben's mansion seemed to take forever. Between the traffic and the grid-lock, time just seemed to crawl by. The unbearable silence that seemed deafening over the gentle hum of the air conditioning in Ben's car was driving him crazy. As they inched ahead in traffic, Riley decided to speak.
"So…you're Ian's sister" he said bluntly in his signature awkwardly hesitant yet sarcastic tone. He didn't know what else he could have said; it was all he knew about her. That, and the fact that she was very pretty, and he wasn't about to start a conversation with that.
"That's correct" she replied in her charming, faint British accent. He glanced over his shoulder to get a good look at her before speaking again. She was looking out the window, the sun shining brightly in the reflection of her sunglasses.
"Are you his full sister?" he pressed.
She nodded in reply, a few tendrils of wavy hair falling down out of the messy bun she had thrown her hair into. She reached up to reconfigure her hair before replying.
"Yes…we share the same mother and father" she replied again, giving him a faint smile.
He nodded again, unsure of what to do. Giving a look to Ben, who was shooting him a cautious look in return, he gave a shrug.
"Oh…that's a shame"
"Riley!" Ben barked, braking violently. Riley flew forward and then retracted as soon as the seatbelt locked under the pressure. He was thrown back into his seat, and his neck snapped violently into the head rest. His neck immediately began to throb.
"What!?" he shouted back, massaging the back of his head as he glared at Ben for almost causing him a broken neck
"No, Ben, it's fine. He's already made his mind up about me" he heard her say.
As soon as he heard her words, he stopped all movements. He processed her sentence before wheeling around slowly, ready to face her. Who was she to tell Ben how he felt about her? Where did she get off assuming that he was judging her based on the past actions of her brother? Sure, what she had said was totally correct but that was beside the point. The early plane ride, the smoggy air of Boston and Alexandra's new found attitude was just enough to put Riley on edge.
"Excuse me?" he asked, giving her cut eye with an evil glare. He surveyed her again, and found her posture even more angering. She was sitting there, looking out the window, being totally condescending by not even acknowledging Riley's presence. There she was, being all beautiful and perfectly British while he was obviously disgruntled by everything.
She turned from looking outside the window towards him and pushed her sunglasses out from infront of her eyes and onto the top of her head. He turned to her, and for the first time he really looked at her eyes. They were chocolate brown, but at the same time, there were flecks of green around the pupil of her eyes.
That was the thing about Riley that set him apart from Ben and Abigail. He was a keen observer. He picked up on things that the other two may have missed. Whether it was little things, like street names or flight numbers at the airport, or bigger things, such as day light savings and the Liberty Bell tower on the back of the 100$ bill, he always picked up on it. And as she prepared herself to respond to his words, he watched her carefully, detailing her movements and characteristics.
"Clearly, Mr. Poole, you've already decided how you're going to treat me. You're basing everything you think you know about me on my brother, who, just so you know, is nothing like me" she retorted in a direct, harsh tone. She glared at him for a few seconds before looking back out the window, signaling that she was done with the conversation.
"You've yet to prove me otherwise, Ms. Howe" he snapped back, angered that she'd just dismissed him. Ever since he found out who she was, he'd put her on the 'I don't like you' list, but with her attitude, she would have ended up there anyways, regardless of her last name.
"You've yet to give me time too! My word, what has it been, 20 minutes since I first met you? You're not setting the best example either by judging me" she shouted back at him, her face screwed up in a cross between courage and frustration.
He could tell that she wasn't one for direct confrontation. It was clear by her face and mannerisms that she was obviously distressed by everything that had just happened, because he watched her cross her arms over her chest, slip her sunglasses back over her eyes and turn back to the window. Her movements were sharp and deliberate, unlike the fluid ones they were before. He felt a little bad for causing her such agitation, but all feelings of remorse were quickly erased. He'd always lived by the philosophy that if you messed with the bull, you're going to get the horns. And she had definitely picked the wrong bull to mess with today.
"Well, excuse me if I'm not running off to do charity work, but you're not exactly in line to be knighted now, are you?" he cried in reply, before turning around and raising the volume on the radio. He heard her grumble something back to him, but he didn't make much of it. As far as he was concerned, she'd just proven that she was a lot more like Ian then she believed.
"She's inconsiderate, she's rude, she's blunt, she's stubborn, she's a –"
"A lot like you?"
Riley's mouth paused mid sentence.
"What? No she's…she's nothing like me. And I take offence to that…I'm not blunt. I'm sarcastic. There is a difference" he said sarcastically, evoking eye rolls from both Ben and Abigail.
The car ride to the mansion had been an uneventful one after Riley and Alexandra's little spat. The two said nothing else to each other and the only acknowledgement of the other's presence when was Riley asked her if she wanted him to carry her bag. She replied by picking it up and carrying it into the mansion on her own.
"Riley, all we're saying is that you should give her a chance. She's very nice once you get to know her. We've consulted her on our find—" Abigail started.
"What!? You mean she knows what's going on and I don't? Way to give me the shaft" Riley said, letting his voice silence out at the end of the sentence. He'd had just about enough of Alexandra Howe for one day and wasn't really in the mood to hear that he was already on the outside of everything on his first day in Boston. He was so used to being on the inside after everything that happened that being back on the outside kind of…sucked.
"We wanted to make sure we had something before we came to you. We know that you don't have any time to waste" Abigail said as she patted his arm. The trio were sitting out on the mansion's back patio, all three of them seated in wicker lawn chairs around a glass garden coffee table. From his seat, Riley could see miles of lush forest in every direction. But the nature and the fresh air did little to cure his foul mood.
"Please…I have so much time on my hands that…sorting jelly beans has turned into a hobby" he said rather pathetically, bringing his hand up to his brow and resting his elbow on the arm rest. Ben and Abigail laughed in reply and he felt them giving him sympathetic looks.
They were both well aware of Riley's past struggles with everything. He wasn't one to usually take sympathy, but he was in such a bad mood about everything right now that he took it anyways. The three of them sat in silence for a while, enjoying the weather and view from the patio.
"But…she's Ian's sister. Genetically and logically speaking, there are going to be a lot of similarities between the two" Riley said finally, breaking the silence. Ben and Abigail nodded warily, and then got up, the pair of them holding hands.
"We know…just give her a chance. She may actually surprise you in the end" Ben said, as he looked at Abigail with a sense of endearment. Riley rolled his eyes at this. He'd never been a fan of the sappiness of their story. It was clear to him that Ben wasn't talking about Alex anymore. So, in clutch Riley style, he got up and followed them inside, waiting for the perfect moment to let his sarcastic comment go.
"Sure…but the minute she starts talking about borrowing anything, I'm going to get suspicious"
((Author's Note: Hey you all! Thanks so much for review my last chapter--it really helped! I set my goal at at least 10 reviews and although I'm one short, I'm going to continue anyways. This chapter was sort of the ground works for Riley and Alex's relationship for the coming chapters. It's going to be a very sarcastic few chapters but eventually, things will settle down between the two of them. EEK! I've revealed too much! Anyways, click that little purple GO button and review away please! ))