The suddenness of the sprint, Riley navigated through the sea of yellow cab bumpers, and buses. All the cars were creeping slowly, and yet she hardly noticed. It was fight or flight, and she was fleeing. Their car was 3 cars behind the crosswalk, with all five lines of forward traffic slowly moving forward. Riley, upon bursting out of the car, ran up the space between lanes, and managed to force through between a few bumpers. She could hear screaming from behind, presumably her family, but this was her stand, a refusal. She imagined Maya's picture, and so desperately ran back to the only place she has really ever understood; and a place that understood her. Her mind settled to one single thought after that-
Run.
Each of the cars she ran out in front of laid on their horns, and she could hear
"Riley! Stop! STOP!"
Hearing this pushed her harder, and she bolted to the sidewalk, looking back for a moment, seeing Corey standing out the driver door and Topanga almost ready to give chase as the sea of the remaining traffic demanded they continue driving. Corey got back in and they began merging lanes to get over to the sidewalk. Upon hitting the sidewalk, Riley stumbled her way through the people on the street, slowing her a bit. She realized her parents had managed to get beside her, yelling again out the window, and hearing Auggie for a moment. She leaped from the sidewalk to the next closest crosswalk, and sprinted across, narrowly missing getting hit a few times, and ran down the opposite direction her family was driving.
Run.
"Watch it!" A stranger shouted, as she bumped into people. Adrenaline kicked into high gear, and she could not stop. She changed streets, and directions, went east, went west, gripping her bag for dear life. Never had she made a bolder choice. After a solid several minutes of running, Riley found a hideaway and stopped to think for a second. Her phone was blowing up with calls and text messages, unsurprisingly. Where could she go? Riley knew if she went anywhere obvious, she would be reprimanded and dragged back in the car.
"Think Riley, think." She said to herself. Like that, she knew right away. Looking for street signs to see where she was, she began to find her way, hurriedly, to NYU's campus. She dialed Jasmine, whom she and Maya had met when they snuck out to see Josh.
"Pickup pickup pickup…" Riley hoped. A few rings in, the phone was answered. Before Jasmine could speak, Riley's words came rushing out.
"Please I need to come over, can you help me?" Riley could hear the desperation and exhaustion in her own voice.
"Riley, are you okay?" Jasmine's tone of voice had changed.
"I just, uh, please can I stop by?"
"Charlotte and I aren't there right now, but Gretchen is a few doors down, and she can. Are you safe?"
"Safe enough. Thanks."
Riley breathed for the first moment since escaping the car. Then the dread set in, of what she did, of what the consequences of that would be. This was bigger than just Maya, she had put herself in a state to be excited for her Mom, but when the time came, Riley found she could not face it. She turned off her phone, and quickly made her way to the campus.
***Authors Note- The song I wrote this to is Not in Love by Crystal Castles. The energy in this chapter mirrors the song, and the scene from Euphoria where Rue jumps out and bolts. Thanks, please leave feedback if you liked it.