Saving Riley

28

Riley's POV 

It's been a good month,  A month without the worry of running into Lucas, a month where I've just been able to focus on the positive. I have a great job, James and I are good, Piper is excelling. Literally nothing could go wrong at this point
"Hey!" I hear someone call after me, I turn to see Marie, James' friend running up to me
"Hey" I replied
"Mr T sent me over to speak to Kate but I can't find her?" Marie asked
"well Miss Kate is on her lunch break at the moment but she should be back in about 20 minutes, anything I can help you with?" I asked unlocking Riley's corner
"Yeah maybe, James and I are meant to be working on the Playlist for A-Troupes Nationals competition and I need the list of the music" Marie said making me furrow my eyebrows
"James already has it?" I said, I know full well he does because he was talking to me about Piper's Solo song
"Does he?" Marie asked and I nodded
"He's had it for about a month" I chuckled lightly
"Men" She said rolling her eyes, I laughed a little not because of it was funny. More because I'm slowly not understanding what she is actually doing here
"Yeah well he should be in the greenroom now? He would have finished with his drum classes for the day" I said looking at the clock in the room
"You certainly know his schedule don't you" She asked and I nodded
"It's how we work. He knows mine and I know his that way we can find time to see each other in between. And so when someone is looking for the other we can give them a timeframe" I chuckled. I like mine and James' new dynamic
"Interesting" She said before excusing herself out of the room
Well.. that was a weird encounter

"What was she doing her?" Piper asked walking in, I looked at her with a smile
"Oh you don't even want to know" I chuckled heading over to the speaker
"Ready to start your routine?" I asked her to which she frantically nodded
We worked on the routine for a lot longer than I think either of us anticipated because it ended with Finn and James joining us 
"Wow Pipes I didn't realise how good you got" James said high fiving his little sister before joining me by my side
"How was band practice?" I asked as he hugged me
"It was alright, John is still being a little off with me though" He said instantly shrugging it off
"What do you kids have planned tonight?" I asked turning to Finn and Piper who were off giggling about something
"We have A-Troupe Rehearsals" Finn groaned making me laugh
"hey, don't complain. Those are your best days" James said pointing at him
The duo rolled their eyes before excusing themselves
"Oh I forgot to mention, Marie came around today" I said grabbing my dance back. James took his hand into mine as we walked out, he tensed up at her name causing me to look at him confused
"Everything okay?" I asked to which he nodded
"What did she want?" He asked
"She was looking for A-Troupe's playlist but I explained you already had it. She then started asking about how I knew your schedule" I laughed
"It was so weird" I said making James nervously laugh
"Hey guys!" I called seeing Theo, Luke and John in front of us
The three of them looked at us and smiled
"Hey lovebirds" Theo said hugging me 
"Where are you guys off to?" John asked
"I believe we're heading to mine? For take out?" I said looking at James who nodded
"Did you guys want to join us?" I offered
"no no, we need to head home ourselves" Luke said with a smile. I glanced over at John who was sending James a glare. I don't know what James has done but it takes a lot to piss John off 

--

James' POV

"Okay but come on, you have to admit you looked cuteeee!" Riley teased showing me a picture of us rehearsing for Nationals
"Look at my hair Ri!" I said taking the photo out of her hands in the hope she would drop it. Boy was i wrong
Riley giggled before trying to take the photo back, I put it up in the air knowing she was too little to grab it
"Give itttt!" She whined practically climbing me in the hope she could get the photo
"Never" i replied standing my ground
Riley's eyes went wide before a smirk appeared on her face, She stood up and started to tickle my side causing me to instantly fall onto the floor with her on top of me
With in seconds she was millimeters away from me, leaning in I could feel her breath on tracing me lips
Just as I was about to pluck up the courage to kiss her, Riley smiles and snatches the photo out of my hand
"Thankyou" She said bopping my nose, I rolled my eyes before grabbing her waist and flipping us over
"Thankyou" I replied before finally pressing our lips together 

--

Walking into the studio the next morning, I smiled after saying my goodbyes to Riley I headed straight to the green room
"Hey Man" I smiled at John seeing him sat there on his phone
"Don't do that" He said now looking at me, I stopped making a coffee and looked at him
"Dude, it's been a month since you started this whole cold shoulder shit. Either tell me what I've done or drop it" I said, he looked at me and scoffed
"I saw you" He replied, I furrowed my brows at him not too sure what he was on about
"what?" I asked
"With Marie" He said. Fuck..
"Listen man I can-" I started 
"This whole Album was a way for you to tell Riley how you feel! What the fuck happened" He yelled
"I didn't kiss Marie, she kissed me right after I rejected her might I add" I replied
"And have you told Riley about it?" He asked and I bowed my head causing John to slam his hands on the table
"Don't start repeating the same damn mistakes James" He groaned looking at me
"Man it's not that easy, she's gone through a lot and the last thing i want is to hurt her" I explained and John shook his head
"Don't you realise, keeping this a secret is going to hurt her more in the long run" He said
"Look at what happened with Alfie? Beth? You need to tell her before someone else does" he replied, I looked at him a little worried
"you wouldn't.." I muttered
"Leave it too long James and I will" He said grabbing his jacket and walking out
Now what the hell am I meant to do. I was hoping this would just be something Riley and I would just be able to forget about
Something that would have never needed to be mentioned but now John will be on this hell bent mission to make sure she finds out.. Fuck..