Fears

Chapter 21 |Lakota|

| Chapter 21 |

| Lakota |

"Riley!" Darren cried, running after Riley as he disappeared into a crowd of tourists.

We all exchanged a look , before running after him.

I dashed through they the crowd of tourists, suddenly a feathery voice was in my ear.

"Why ees e so scared of zee birds? E is to funny!" I turned to see Lisette, our watres for the cafe, running beside me, looking much different now that her waitress outfit had been replaced with normal clothes, her grocery bags still in hand.

"He has a phobia of them," Ruby yelled back, from where she ran ahead of us.

"Like a serious one."

"Oh mon!" She exclaimed. " Now Iee feel zo bad!" Suddenly she shoved the grocery bags at me. "Eere, take ese."

"But--" I protested, the bags overwhelming me and weighing me down. No way could I hold all of them, but then she was gone, running ahead, her honey blond hair dancing. I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, then I let the bags drop and ran ahead.

When I had finally made my way through the bustle of the crowd I found the gang surrounding a red faced Riley as he was choked into a hug by Lisette.

"I am zo sorree," Lisette was saying, a mournful look on her face as she squeezed Riley tighter. "I deed not know you were zo scared of little birds."

"They weren't exactly little," Riley gasped out, his eyes wide, as he looked into Lisette's face.

"Miee apologies! Monsieur . . . "

"Riley," Riley gasped out. "Monsieur Riley!" Lisette exclaimed "You can eat at ze cafe for free from now on, I weel pay." And with that she grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him promptly on both cheeks. Riley's cheeks turned beet red.

"Zee me sometime," She whispered, then disappeared into the crowd.

"It it just me or did that French girl just hook up with you?" Levi asked.

Riley blinked, touching where Lisete had kissed him. "Uhm," He said dazedly. "I'm . . . I'm not sure."

Darren shook his head and laughed. "Riley, you really do know how to get yourself into odd situations." Riley blinked, some of the dazed look leaving his eyes.

"It's taken you fifteen years to figure that out?"

"Okay, guys," Ruby said, rolling her eyes. "Enough twin talk, I want to explore the city!"

"So do I"! Kathleen exclaimed Jumping up and down, her pink hair still messed up from sleeping the roof. I felt my cheeks heat up at the memory of what had happened last night. And the thought of Darren's hand in mine.

"I agree," Riley said enthusiastically. "But you know what? I feel pumped, I want to face one of my fears. Now or never."

We all looked at him. His eyes danced with something I hadn't seen before.

"Well, okay then!" Exclaimed Kathleen. "What fear do you want to face?"

"Dogs." Riley said, his face serious. "I want to find the snuggliest dogs out there and let them know that King Riley is not afraid of them!"

"Yay!" Kathleen said. "I love dogs!"

"We could go to a dog groomer or something," Ruby said. "You may live your poodle dream after all Riley."

"Wait a minute." Levi said, and I turned, his face was serious. "I want to work on my fears, too. I just can't stop thinking about how I still have so many to conquer. I need to get the weight of them off my shoulders."

"We can kill two birds with one stone!" Ruby said, taking Levi's hand. "I'll go with Levi and the rest of you can all go with Riley!"

"No," The voice was so dark and stony. I turned, startled, to find Darren standing there, his face solemn and his arms crossed. "We can't separate. Don't forget, we have murderers and police on our tails. We may have left them back in America, but they could still be after us." His eyes met mine, and I felt the knot of fear in my stomach that had began to unravel tighten again. Darren was right, it was so easy to relax here, to get comfortable. I had wanted to be safe here, but I realized that we could never really be safe. We would always live looking over our shoulder for danger.

"It will be fine, Darren," Ruby protested, smiling. "We arrived in Paris yesterday! There's no way anyone could have figured out where we are already."

"Yeah, Darrenster," Riley said, looping an arm around his twin. "Just chillax."

"Don't call me that," Darren said, pushing Riley away. "I really don't think we should separate! We have all of our lives to conquer our fears! We can work on Riley's fear today and Levi's tomorrow."

"Darren," I said, moving closer to him, studying the curves of his face, the agitation he was feeling showing in every line of his body.

"Whats wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, not meeting my gaze. "I just don't think we should separate."

"It will be fine!" Ruby said again. Pulling Levi away. "We'll meet back at the cafe were Riley's French girl works at." Riley blushed.

"But-" Darren started, but Ruby cut him off.

"No buts, we'll be fine! See you all later."

And with that they were gone, vanishing behind a cotton candy vendor.

"Okay!" Riley declared. "Lets go pet some dogs!"