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Riker was released from the hospital the next day, with the words 'you need to rest' placed heavily as direction. That meant no school. It allowed me to think about what had happened in the hospital, and the idea that I was in love with him. I spent many hours over the next forty eight on him, wondering if it was honestly possible, or was my teenaged mind just in a serious bout of lust. I had never been in love before, I didn't know what to expect or how I should feel. How was I supposed to know the difference? What if I didn't love him? What if it was all in my head? I didn't want to tell him I did and it be something that wasn't true.

My own mind was often a prison for me, as instead of trying to solve my problems rationally, by talking about them with people, I let it get so bad it almost lead to a panic attack. But this was different… the only person I wanted to talk to about how I felt about him was Riker, and that would make things worse. Besides, what if I did love him and he didn't feel the same way? Talk about embarrassing.

I groaned on my bed two days later, having enough of my own mind, looking for a book to escape from reality. I grabbed the first book that was around, finding The Fault in our Stars and almost threw it across the room. That was definitely the book that I didn't want to see.

"Hey."

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Riker stood in the doorway, his smile wide and his skin no longer pale. He looked healthy for the first time in a while. I sat up, trying to smooth the wrinkles out of my shirt, wanting to shoot myself for wearing an old sweater that did nothing for me, while my hair looked like I hadn't washed it in weeks. It didn't take much for my hair to look tortured and it was clear I hadn't done much over the last couple days.

He didn't seem to care though. I still hadn't said a word as he crossed the room and flopped onto my bed, grinning at me ear to ear. I didn't know why he was so happy, but it was enough to clear my mind and I slid the difference between us and crawled onto him, leaning my face into his. He pressed a gentle kiss onto my lips and I giggled involuntarily.

"I've missed you," he said breathlessly. I was good at that, apparently.

"Rydel said to give you a few days space," I said, which had been true. She explained her father would be on high alert, complete Nazi about how he wanted things done until Riker was, in his mind, well again. And to be completely honest, his father scared me, so I wasn't about to interfere.

"I know," he said back, kissing me again. I leaned in further, loving the way my hands felt on his body and while his hands did the same. They slid down my side, like they were greased, moving so quickly and softly that I felt shivers involuntarily take over my body. "I snuck out. Don't worry. My parents aren't due home for a few hours. But Rydel is home. And I didn't want her sneaking in on us."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I want to be alone with you for a few hours, no interruptions." He grinned widely, and I wasn't sure what that meant. He didn't give me a chance to answer, as he pulled me up and into the hallway of my own house and down the stairs. I wasn't sure how, as we never spent too much time at my house anyway, but he had built a blanket fort and had a movie night all set up, covering both our food needs and our other needs, which meant even more blankets.

I laughed at his expression and then slid into the fort. "Well. I'm not sure how you know my house so well, but this is awesome. Do you sneak in when no one is home and raid the cabinets?"

"Maybe," he smoothly murmured. "Maybe the cystic fibrosis is all a scam and I'm really just a great criminal."

"You're really lame," I disagreed, shoving him.

"Why do you think I'm attracted to you? Those who are similar stick together."

"I thought the saying was opposites attract," I grinned back. "Maybe I'm so awesome that I attracted your lameness."

"Maybe, I could just kiss you right now, and we'll agree that we're both awesome."

"Maybe you just said that because you couldn't think of a comeback."

He snorted. "Maybe you're right."

And then he kissed me.

Riker while sick, had a way of making me completely forget he was. Lying underneath the mountain of blankets he'd found for us, I felt completely whole. We'd watched two movies already and were about to start our third when we both got texts, sending us aware of our surroundings once again. It was from Rydel and all it read was 'He's coming to her house!' and it took me a second to understand what that meant.

The knocking on the door nearly made my heart stop. I glanced at Riker, whose expression probably matched mine and swallowed hard. He bit down on his lip, kissed my cheek, and then pulled us both up. We couldn't hide inside forever.

Riker's father terrified me. I had told him more than once how intimidating he was when we were together, but seeing his expression after what I knew had not been in Riker's plans for him that night, truly sent chills down my spine. I took Riker's hand, out of mostly fear, and he squeezed it.

"Riker," Mark said carefully. "I don't remember telling you that you could go out tonight."

He even stammered, "It's right next door…"

"Riker," he scolded again. "You were expected to stay in tonight."

"I've been in every day!"

Wrong answer, apparently. "That's because you're not well. It's terribly disappointing to see that you or Remy can't understand that."

"I feel fine," he said weakly. I had a feeling that Riker knew even if he did feel fine, there was no arguing with his father. But he was trying to lessen the blow, which wouldn't happen as it seemed.

"Riker, you have five minutes to get your things and get back to our house and that's final. I'm sorry to ruin your night, but you should have thought about this before you decided to sneak out and go against rules." He glanced at me and then back at him. "Terrible of you to make Rydel cover. You should be ashamed."

His father left and Riker immediately turned to me. "I'm so sorry. I'm glad he didn't say anything to you though. Hopefully he'll allow me to keep the blame. It's not your fault."

"Are you in trouble?" I asked quietly.

"Not exactly." He grinned for a second. "Sick kid. They never yell at me long. They'll tell me that it shouldn't happen again and ask me what I want for dinner."

I nodded. "Alright. Well. Thank you. I'm sorry that you can't stay. Maybe we can talk to each other later."

He nodded and kissed me. "I'm sorry. Thank you."

I tried calling Laura after that, but she must have been out with Wes. I sat up in my room for the remainder of the night, watching his window. It didn't come on until late, and even then, his father entered the room with him. He might have not been in trouble according to him, but the way the blinds slid down the moment he glanced my way, it made me think otherwise. We both were.

The next day, there was a knock on the door. My mom had answered it and told me it was Rydel. She was standing in the entrance when I ran down the stairs, and until she smiled, I thought something had happened to Riker. I was still confused, wondering why she would come over instead of him. Maybe she thought I was lonely without him and felt bad. Maybe she figured if he couldn't hang out, she would hang with me. And maybe she thought, like I had, that we had been both ditched by Laura for a pretty lame excuse for what Laura called 'a male model'.

It was none of those things.

Her smile faded the moment I smiled back. "I'm inviting you over for lunch today," she said quickly. I went to smile, glad that last night wasn't being held against us. That was until she shook her head. "No, you don't get it. You're not being invited by just me. My father sent me over here to invite you. We're… all having lunch."

"Oh." I tried to think of what he might want. "Is this a bad sign?"

She was a bad liar. "Yeah."

Rydel was a good friend though. She stayed over after delivering the news and helped me plan and figure out what was going to happen. Either they were going to kill me (she had said this as a joke but a part of me wondered how well I knew his family), or they were going to do something even worse. I worried what would come from this. With that on the mind, we picked out an outfit for me and she helped me do my hair. By the time lunch rolled around, while I was well made up, I was an utter mess.

My hands were shaking and my heart felt like it was going to explode. I kept trying to look into Riker's window, which had been opened again, but he wasn't inside. It felt horrible.

"Do you want to go and get it over with?"

I thought about this. Whatever was about to happen would probably change something. Maybe something minor, maybe something major. If I just stayed here right now, maybe it would stay the same. I'd still feel like Mark and Stormie didn't want to eat me, and Rydel could help me make cupcakes.

Maybe I read too many books.

"No, let's just get it over with."

And it was the longest walk next door that I'd ever done.

The table was set and everyone was already waiting when we got there. Mark and Stormie were seated at separate ends, and Rydel's seat was next to Riker's. Mine was the only one on the other side of the table. I never felt more alone.

"Hi," I said timidly. I got a vibe from Stormie that she didn't want a part of this as she smiled back at me and told me I looked lovely. I couldn't answer though, smiling slightly and glancing at my boyfriend for the first time since I got there. He looked pale and for once, it wasn't from his disease, I was sure. He attempted a smile at me too. Somehow, it made me feel worse. "Thank you for inviting me to lunch today."

It was lame and I knew it was. Trying to gain last minute brownie points probably just put me into the negatives.

"Take a seat, Remy." Mark loved his kids. I knew that much. But the man looked like he could murder someone, too. It wasn't exactly a good trait to have, if you asked me. Instead, I did as I was told and looked at what was on my plate. It was a simple sandwich, and what looked like homemade potato salad. Being that Stormie probably made it, it wasn't poisoned, but I wished it was in the very second I looked back up. Mark's eyes were on me.

"You're probably wondering why I invited you today, right?"

Riker groaned.

"Riker, quiet," Mark said softly. He glanced back at me. I nodded. Show no fear, right? "Well as I'm sure you know, Riker is a very sick boy."

"Dad, really?" he groaned. Before he could continue, he took his plate, stood up and threw it into the sink. "Forget this. I'm not doing this. I won't allow you to take my girlfriend and scare the shit out of her."

"Riker, this isn't about you."

"What?" he laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

"You know what I mean," he said back. "Riker, sit down."

He stood defiantly. "Okay, we'll do this either way. Remy, you seem like a really nice girl. You seem to have a decent head on your shoulders. And you seem like you're smart. You can understand my fears for my son, being that he's got cystic fibrosis. I don't know how much you know about the disease, or what it can entail. I'm sure you understand how it makes it hard for him to be normal."

I swallowed hard as Riker tried to hide the embarrassment all over his face.

"He tries very hard to be, but he's not. He's a great boy, but he's got special needs. You may think you can handle it, but from what I can tell, you probably can't. Whatever happened in that room the other night led to Riker getting hospitalized. It's not really you, Remy. It's more so that something like this isn't good for him." I glanced at Rydel. She looked mortified. Stormie too. "Most teenagers go through what you go through. And normally, fights wouldn't be a problem. But you see, back in the Spring, Riker got very sick and he's still recovering. Fights mean that sets him back, and that means that he can't have them. I would say that you can't have fights, but that would be ridiculous. Every relationship has fights, you know? So, what I think is best right now is that you take a break. I need my son to be well, and you need to focus on school anyway. It's not exactly easy to focus on much else, when you worry about something like Riker, is it?"

I didn't think I was supposed to answer.

But he started pointedly at me until I did. "Well…"

Riker glanced at me.

I looked at my hands. "It can be overwhelming," I admitted, but quickly added before he could continue, "But I can handle it. Please, don't do this. I really… like your son and I want to be with him. We can handle it, we are just kids. You can't expect Riker to go through his life without making friends."

"Friends are a different story," he answered.

I just stared at him. "I don't know what to say."

Riker looked ready to either throw something, or hit something. "That's the problem. I was hoping you'd have an answer that would change my mind, Remy. It's not that I want to keep my son from a relationship. I want him to be with a girl who understands what it means to be with him. As of right now, I don't think that girl is you."

Riker stormed out of the room then, and Rydel soon followed after.

Stormie stood, starting to clear off the plates of those who left. I looked at her. "Thank you for lunch," I said softly. "But I'm not hungry."