Chapter Thirty-One
Colby, Ellis, and even Josh were left standing on the bridge with their mouths hanging open, watching Amanda keep running. What'd become of Riley was still unknown but then again no one bothered to even check. They were too stunned by the actual act. The guy with the MID was still screaming something about 911 to his wife as Colby and Ellis exchanged a glance. "Should we go after her…or…"
"Good question," Colby answered dryly.
She really didn't want to be punched…but then again she didn't want to leave her friend.
Josh looked impressed, "About time. Smart girl."
He proceeded keep walking as normal so Colby and Ellis just did the same. It seemed that Amanda didn't show any signs of slowing down and no one particularly wanted to catch up to her.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Colby and Ellis could hear slogging from behind them. She didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. Riley didn't say a word as he caught up to them, soaking wet like a Magikarp that had been pulled straight out of the water. He was leaving a trail of wet as he slogged along to the left of Josh, looking straight ahead and not even seeming to be bothered by the bruise that was already forming on his chin. Amanda had cracked him pretty good, that's for sure.
They were nearing the end of the bridge as Colby looked up, seeing that Amanda was stomping past a police officer, thankfully not Parish, who was headed their way with a walkie talkie in hand.
"I'm heading to the scene now and I'm not seeing any red-head off the side of the bridge-"
The officer slowly lowered it from his mouth and attached it back to his belt loop as he spotted them.
"Hey kid why are you soaking?" he asked, turning his brown gaze onto Riley.
Before Riley could even open his mouth the officer seemed to catch sight of Josh, instantly frowning. Josh looked up with a sour look on his face, taking on earphone out of his head dramatically.
"Can I help you?" He growled.
The officer scrutinized him with a hard gaze, before finally speaking.
"How old are you? You look a bit old to be traveling with these kids."
Josh's nostril's flared as he looked up at the officer.
"Why the hell does everyone assume I'm a pedophile? Stellar Spirits, I'm seventeen for God's sake. What about fire crotch over there? He's seventeen, so he must be a pedophile too," Josh spewed, jabbing his finger at Riley.
The officer didn't even glance in Riley's direction and instead frowned deeper.
"Move along then," the officer began to walk again, scrutinizing Josh once more and muttered something, as he apparently forgot about Riley, and walked off.
Josh shoved his headphones back in and stomped forward.
"Let's get the hell out of here before that asshole changes his mind and tries to arrest me for pedophilia," Josh snapped.
Ellis smirked as they caught up to Riley and Josh in a couple of steps. Amanda was now at the end of the bridge, a couple yards ahead, and seemed to be slowing down as they finally caught up. She was walking on the other side of Colby with Riley on the other side of Josh, as far away as they could be from each other. The only sound was their feet crunching on the dirt of the path and Josh's death metal music that just had to be making him deaf.
As they walked in silence Colby couldn't help but wonder how this incident was going to change their group. Was Amanda going to be angry with Riley forever? Sure, the occasional moment of silence between those two's bickering was welcoming…but she'd gotten so used to it that it almost seemed abnormal when they weren't going back and forth. She didn't want to have to choose sides between her two friends because that never seems to work out well.
"Colby! Watch out," Ellis exclaimed.
Colby's gaze immediately rose as she plowed face first into a guy that was trying to take a picture of the scenery to their left. She hadn't been paying attention and knocked the person off balance. Thankfully they didn't fall over, just looked greatly surprised.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry I didn't mean-"
She caught a glimpse of the guy's face and couldn't hide her surprise. The tousled blonde hair, light blue eyes, and the scar under his left eye brought all the memories back like getting hit over the head with a hammer. He seemed to have noticed her too because his eyes widened in surprise. "Oliver?" Colby asked, looking up incredulously.
"Colby?" He asked, looking her over as if to make sure.
"What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, smiling.
Ellis and Riley looked pretty confused, Amanda wasn't entirely sure what was going on, and Josh was scowling like no other at the two.
"Who's this asshat?" He growled, shooting a sharp look at Oliver.
"Um…" Oliver said looking uncomfortable under Josh's glare.
"Oh don't mind him, he's always a sour puss," Colby shrugged, "anyways, the cranky one is Josh, the green headed one is Ellis, Riley's the flirty red head, and this is Amanda. They're who I've been traveling with since Portsburg." Ellis gave Oliver a friendly nod, "Well actually the ship-"
"Oh Ellis we don't want technical details," Colby laughed.
"Good to meet you all. I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm a one of Colby's old friend's from Hecate. We were schoolmates together only what seems like yesterday," he laughed.
Ellis looked surprised, "We didn't know she had friends!"
Colby responded by lightly punching him in the arm, earning a genuine Ellis smile.
"Oh yes, believe it or not I'm sociable," Colby responded.
"Where are you headed?" Amanda asked, speaking for the first time.
"Well I was grabbing some shots of the wild Pokémon around here and then was going to head back to Tenderstone. I was planning on just hanging out there for a while and then moving on," Oliver explained, shoving his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans and letting the camera hang by its black strap around his neck.
"We're headed to Tenderstone as well! Going to battle ourselves a gym leader," Riley added, also speaking for the first time.
"If you don't have anything to do you could join us!" Ellis suggested.
"Of course, that'd be great! We have some serious catching up to do," Colby added.
Oliver looked a bit hesitant at first but nodded, "Alright, that sounds enjoyable. I didn't want to ask and intrude."
"Intrude smentrude, we're always happy to welcome others to our little travel group," Ellis assured him, grinning and clapping him on the back.
Josh snorted and began to walk ahead, shoving his hands into his pockets and keeping his head down. Oliver was watching this with a worried expression; this guy didn't seem to like him for whatever reason. He'd just have to make extra effort to be friendly.
"Well, some of us do anyway," Ellis laughed as the group began to walk again, heading towards Tenderstone.
For a while there was sort of a silence as Amanda went on ahead, hair blowing lightly in the wind and her hands stuffed deep in her pockets, balled in fists. Riley was sort of in the same position. For once he wasn't saying anything and sort of fell behind the group, looking at the ground and occasionally glancing up. Colby tried to ignore the two as Ellis chatted busily with Oliver, getting to know him in his charming Ellis way.
"What's it like in Hecate? Colby talks about huge factories, Pokémon being enslaved, no hamburgers," Ellis fibbed.
"Oh, well, I don't know about that," Oliver answered with a chuckle. "Surprisingly it's just about like here though there isn't as much space. Space really is a beautiful thing, something so simple yet beautiful. I lived in a sort of apartment with my folks in the city and boy are those things cramped. Not to say I don't miss it back home, because I do, but everything here just seems like it has so much more to offer you know?"
"That's kind of true for me too. I was eager to finish my studies so I could go out on a great adventure like this, just like I've dreamed since I was a tyke. I guess I was just at the right place at the right time when Colby, Amanda, Josh, Riley, and I were selected to go on this journey for Professor Daunte," Ellis agreed, glancing over at Colby.
Oliver looked surprised, "Special mission for a Professor? You five have it good! What kind of special mission?"
"Well what kind of mission do you think, beating ass, logging Pokémon, getting the bitches, that's what we do every day. And what do you do? Take nature photography to send into a calendar shop?" Josh snapped, viciously glaring at Oliver.
Looking taken aback once again Oliver looked away quickly, all of a sudden being very interested in the camera dangling around his neck.
"Josh come on, could you quit being an asshole for a day or so please? He's our guest-" Colby started.
"Guest? More like intruder on our party, our friendship- or partnership or deal, contract…or whatever," Josh muttered, looking surprised that he said a word so nasty as friendship.
Colby rolled her eyes, turning back to Oliver. Josh really needed to get a handle on that anger…maybe they could check him in for counseling at Tenderstone.
"Anyways, as I said don't mind him. We're completing a Log for the Professor. He's given us these cool little gadgets he developed and asked us to take them through our journey in Aurora, logging any Pokémon we see."
"What's really cool about it is that it can sort of just see a Pokémon and gather information from it such as the name of the Pokémon, type, and weaknesses or strengths. Certainly a fine little creation," Ellis agreed, looking down at the curious gadget in his hand.
"Wanna have a look?" Oliver nodded and Ellis handed him the technology. Oliver ran it over in his hands and held it up, examining it curiously.
"That's pretty amazing. I've seen one of the original PokeDexes that Professor Oak developed a few years ago. Amazing. Professors, boy I don't know how they do it," Oliver exclaimed, giving it back to Ellis.
"Land hoessssss," Josh commented.
Colby glanced ahead and noticed they were coming upon a small town. She remembered seeing this one on the map Ellis had pulled out earlier, a town called Airedale halfway in between the bridge and Tenderstone. For a day's walk they weren't doing to bad on time at all.
"It's Airedale, wow we got here pretty fast! It's amazing how an afternoon can pass so quickly," Ellis commented.
The sun was setting fast as the group came into town, glancing around at the few buildings such as the Pokémon Center, a shopping center, some businessy looking buildings, and a park. The town was relatively small but seemed cozy as they noticed a fair amount of people out and about.
"We can stay here for the night and then head out in the morning," Ellis said, watching the people.
"Alright then, let's find us a spot to camp out!" Oliver agreed, seeming enthusiastic to be with a group for the first time in a while.
The sun was long gone, not like 30 minutes but around five or six hours ago…that was when it sunk below the horizon. Amanda though still couldn't manage to get to sleep. After a fit of tossing and during she finally gave in, suppressing a groan as she crawled out of her sleeping bag and sat up cross-legged on top of it. But that still wasn't comfortable, geez, what did it take to get some quality sleep. All she wanted to do was sleep. Just forget about it all for a moment, just a moment.
She sighed deeply as she glanced over at the sleeping figures of the others a few yards away, peacefully in slumber and without a care in the world. Colby and Oliver went to bed an hour or so later than Josh, Ellis…and Riley, because it seemed they were talking about everything under the moon. Catching up took a while but eventually they both gave into the darkness of sleep. If only she could do the same.
Her eyes couldn't help but glance over in the general direction of his sleeping back, flaming red hair sticking out in all directions. Sighing long and deep for the second time that night she decided to lay back down again, curling up into a tight little ball and letting her eyes wander over the flat landscape of suburban Airedale's beautiful grasslands. Not even beautiful scenery like this couldn't calm her thoughts. Strider…father…she had a father. Well there was issue number one.
That thought in itself was enough to overwhelm an (so called) orphan like herself in a heartbeat. Oh, not to mention the fact that he was a lead boss in the local bat shit crazy organization, Team Lunar. Okay so she had a father, but what about a mother? Was she in Team Lunar too? Did Amanda have any other siblings? But most importantly why leave her in that orphanage…alone. That thought alone caused the breath to catch in her throat, clenching up and bringing a familiar sensation into her throat. I will not cry, I will not cry, she told herself repeatedly, managing to hold it back this time.
The second thing was…well…she almost hated to think it, let alone say it, Riley. Maybe she'd taken it a bit too far on the bridge back there. What if she'd seriously hurt him? Even killed him for that matter… Oh God, for a weird reason it made her stomach clench at the thought. Even if he wasn't physically hurt he could ignore her like he'd been doing most of the day. It's not like she was doing much in the way of apologizing or talking to him…but still, she couldn't deny the fact that he was being an asshole. Surprisingly an asshole that she was beginning to grow a fondness for- wait, a fondness? Where the hell did that come from-
"A-Amanda…psht…um…Twix…you awake?" A voice whispered shakily from somewhere close by.
Immediately Amanda's eyes snapped open to find herself staring up at a pair of green eyes. At first she thought it might have been Ellis, but then it registered…she'd been called Twix. Coming immediately out of the fetal position and up to sitting on her side she noticed that it in fact was Riley, looking at bit scared. Amanda narrowed her eyes and turned over, lying on her side to look the other direction. What the hell was he doing, and since when did he think it was okay to wake her up in the middle of the night for some bullshit.
"Twi- Amanda…please, I just want to talk. I promise, no harassment, no flirting, no nothing," Riley pleaded.
Amanda considered but didn't move from her position, looking straight ahead and trying not to crack. Wow, she was surprised he remembered her actual name, not just Twix.
"Please…I just want to talk," Riley whispered softly, sounding…sad.
Riley has an emotion other than happiness or flirting? Riley can be…can be, sad? Amanda slowly turned over, coming back to her usual position of crossed legs, facing him with a couple feet between them.
"Alright, you have my attention. What do you want Riley?" Amanda asked, showing little emotion.
Searching his face he immediately broke eye contact, trying to form words but hesitating for some reason. What was so important that it required hesitation to say? Instantly her expression softened.
"Okay. Well, I. I just know I was an asshole today. And I'm sorry, really, honestly… I'm sorry," he stuttered, glancing up at her and then back down at the ground.
"You don't mean that. You're just going to do it again like you always do-" "No, no, really, I promise!" He exclaimed, looking exasperated.
"I- yeah, I'm a douche sometimes, believe me, I know. It doesn't seem like I try but I do, it's just…just a weird way of trying. Just a way of trying to do something right that makes it wrong in the end and I really don't mean to do it but I just do…I don't know how to explain it but… but, really I'm sorry. I deserved that punch off the bridge, I've had it coming for a while," Riley admitted.
It turned out that he was actually really challenged at forming coherent sentences when he was nervous. But what was there to be nervous over? Letting his jumbled up words wash over her, Amanda looked down, letting her hair fall over her face as she thought. He seemed sincere which was nice for once…and she was meaning to confront him about this eventually. Maybe they could put it behind them and start again. That would be really nice. What if she was being too shallow? What if he wasn't serious and just did it all over again?
"Amanda…?" Riley said, wondering if she was still listening.
Girls looked so confusing while they are silent…you couldn't tell if they were mad, thinking, or just plain ignoring you.
"Yeah…I suppose I have some apologizes to make as well. No, you didn't deserve to be punched off that bridge, I got a bit too out of control. Lately things are just really stressful and I took it out on you, so I'm sorry too. No hard feelings?" Amanda said, looking up at him.
He smiled, "Nope. No hard feelings."
They sat in silence for a couple of moments, not awkward, but sort of a peaceful silence.
"Though you've got to admit…that was pretty funny," Riley added, smirk back on his face.
Amanda cracked a half smile, looking back out over the land before briefly looking back over at Riley who was already staring at her, moonlight sort of illuminating his hair to make it even redder, if that was possible. Amanda quickly looked away before she could notice any more details about him. Not to mention what was going on in her stomach, felt like a few of those butterflies were desperately trying to escape their cage. Whoa, whoa, she mentally slapped herself. What was she doing? Butterflies, not wanting to make eye contact…this was Riley of all people. The most annoying, despicable, flirtatious person she'd ever met in her entire life. Now just like all of the other girls that were under his spell- Under his spell? So now she was under his spell? Since when did he have a spell? Does he even know how to spell spell-
"That's a good look for you…" Riley murmured, briefly meeting her eyes once again.
Nervously pushing her glasses up Amanda looked back at the ground again.
"Um…what," she stuttered.
He chuckled, "The smile, it looks good on you. Wear it more often."
Amanda couldn't help but smiling at this comment and could feel her cheeks turning pink, hoping he didn't notice.
"Well, anyway…better get some sleep for the big day tomorrow. Sweet dreams for Twix, Riley over and out!" He whispered, winking before getting up and diving back into his sleeping bag from whence he came.
Amanda glanced at him one last time before crawling back into her own sleeping bag, just now noticing the chill the night air had brought to her skin, causing goose bumps to appear on her arms. Turning over she ran over what had just happened at least 15 times in her mind.
Was he seriously trying to be nice? For once he was sincere? It came as a shocker to her. But that was dangerous. What she thought of him was dangerous. What she'd been thinking about him all along was very dangerous… Taking a deep breath she reran the scene over in her mind one last time before admitting it to herself. I have a crush on…Riley Giaden. Of all people. Riley Giaden. The chick magnet, stark white, crazy haired, charmer… A crush. But it was only a crush right? Those could be got ridden of easily…maybe I just need to meet some more guys to broaden my horizons or something. No, no, that wouldn't work. Through several series of arguments with herself later Amanda could feel herself drifting off to sleep, a small smile on her face as sleep finally claimed her.
A/N: Wow. It's really been a while XD I'm sorry guys, I'm so terrible with stay with things. Hope you enjoyed this new chapter. And do you have a new OTP for shipping? Oh I believe do ;D Review and let me know what you think! Hope you're all having a great day!
