𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝐉𝐉 [edited]

012

"Hey, Riley!"

The teenage girl was walking in town, about to head into the market to pick up a few things her mother had made a list of when she heard someone call her name.

"Oh, hey," she turned around to see Rafe and Topper walking towards her.

"I wanted to talk about yesterday," Rafe said.

"Listen if you're gonna apologize it shouldn't be to me," the girl began. "It should be to Pope."

"You refer to those Pogues by their names now?" Rafe asked with a disgusted look on his face. "See, this is what I'm talking about man," he turned to look at Topper.

"What?" Riley questioned the boy.

"I didn't come to apologize, Riles," Rafe said bitterly, talking down to her.

"Then why-"

"What is up with you defending that Pogue yesterday?" Rafe questioned.

"Defending him?" Riley looked between her friends, bewildered. "Rafe, you were literally beating him with a golf club."

"Yeah, 'cause he deserved it," the boy scoffed.

"He didn't even do anyth-"

"Riley, that's bad for our rep," he said while motioning between himself and Topper.

"Your rep?" Riley scoffed, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, you heard me," Rafe continued. "And Top even says he thought he saw that stupid van come to pick you up from the party the other night. That true?"

"So what if it's true?" the girl retorted.

"You can't be associating with them," Rafe stated as if an order, shaking his head.

"Are you serious?" Riley furrowed her brows. "T, are you gonna let him talk to me like th-"

The girl was cut off suddenly by Rafe grabbing onto her wrist and stepping closer, their faces now only inches apart. Riley's breath immediately hitched at his harsh touch.

"What the hell," Riley muttered trying to shake off the boy's grip on her. "Are you high right now?!"

"Listen if you want to go off and be a dirty little Pogue like your sister then by all means go ahead. But you can't hang out with us if-"

"Hey! Get off her man," a voice suddenly shouted behind the three and they all turned their heads to see where it was coming from.

Lo and behold, JJ was running up to the group, concern spread over his face.

"Dude, what are you-" JJ began.

"Back off Pogue," Rafe seethed. "This ain't your business."

"Sure as hell is," JJ retorted. "You can't be holding a girl like that."

"You know what, man-" Rafe said, stepping towards JJ and shoving at his shoulders.

"Stop," Riley said, standing between the two and facing Rafe, similar to the situation she had been in yesterday.

"Here she goes again," Rafe scoffed, giving her one of his signature smug looks, wide eyes, and an open-mouthed smirk. It was the kind of look that only came from someone who was high, or someone who was actually psychotic. Riley thought he was both.

"Topper," Riley looked at her best friend in hopes that he would help her out.

"Come on man. Let's just go," Topper put a hand on Rafe's shoulder, trying to turn him around. Rafe let out a bitter laugh before giving in and turning his back to the girl and the blonde boy who remained standing behind her.

"I meant what I said, Riles," Rafe warned the girl before beginning to walk away.

Topper walked beside him but turned around to the girl to mouth I'm sorry, to which Riley just rolled her eyes and shook her head. She watched the two walk off until she was startled by someone awkwardly coughing behind her.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked once Riley had turned around to face him. She had almost forgotten he was there.

"Oh, um yeah," she stammered. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The two stared at each other, an obvious awkward tension settling in. JJ's eyes flickered to the two boys walking away that were still in view. "Do you uh... do you want me to walk you home? You know, in case they follow you."

Riley let her gaze fall to the ground, a small smile beginning to form on her lips. She let out a quiet laugh, thinking he couldn't be serious. "Right, uh, you don't-"

"Listen, it doesn't have to be awkward between us if we don't make it awkward," JJ sighed. "So I really don't mind walking with you home. Unless of course, you still hate me."

"I don't hate you," Riley said, biting at the inside of her cheek.

"Alright then it's settled," the blonde said. "You're not too far anyway."

The pair began walking in silence through town and the nice neighborhoods in Figure Eight. Riley couldn't help but glance over to see JJ's wide eyes as he stared at the houses. She found amusement in his facial expressions but didn't want to linger her stare in fear of getting caught.

"So uh," Riley coughed, breaking the silence. "How are you?"

"See, now that's what I call awkward," JJ laughed.

"Actually that's what I call being polite," Riley said, rolling her eyes. "That's just how I was raised."

"Raised?" JJ questioned the girl. "You know, sometimes I really do wonder how you and Kiara come from the same house." The brunette's smile dropped from her face the instant those words came out of his mouth. JJ noticed it immediately and regretted bringing her sister up, knowing any mention of her would be a sore subject.

Riley scoffed. "Yeah, well I guess you could say we were raised differently." JJ just nodded without questioning what she had meant by that.

"You two don't seem to get along..." JJ muttered, unsure of what else to say.

"Oh really, what makes you say that?" Riley rolled her eyes. "Now you're the one being all awkward, by the way." JJ just laughed at her comment before silence joined the two again as they continued to walk.

"Hey, I forgot to mention, thanks for helping Pope out yesterday," JJ said.

"Oh, he told you about that?"

"Yeah. Told me Rafe had a golf club," JJ whistled. "Could've done a lot more damage so it was uh, cool of you to help him out there."

Riley just nodded her head, a small smile on her lips. She didn't know what had gotten into Rafe recently but she didn't regret stepping in to help the Pogue.

"Here ya are," JJ said as they approached the end of the driveway that led up to the Carrera household. "I suppose we'll just go back to never speaking to each other again and you'll pretend to hate me even though you just admitted that you don't."

Riley scoffed and shook her head, sheepishly grinning as she looked down at the ground. "I suppose so," she said, not wholeheartedly meaning it. She was unsure of how she felt about the boy suddenly acting so friendly with her. She didn't know why JJ had offered to walk her home or why she accepted the offer. And she especially didn't know why she had been smiling so much during that short duration.