Fighting For Her - A 'Warrior' Fanfiction

Van Gogh

"The sun is up, the sky is blue, its beautiful and so are you... dear Prudence... won't you come out to play..." Riley sung along happily to her iPod while she painted. She was twenty five today and had a lot to be happy about. She loved what she did for a living, had her own place, amazing friends and... a boyfriend. Her smile dropped as she thought of Ryan and how he would be missing her birthday.

She picked up her iPod and scrolled down the list until she found something a little more potent than the Beatles. The heavy guitar and slow drum beat made her head rock up and down. She painted with harder strokes now, eyebrows wrinkling together in concentration.

She started mouthing the words, until the chorus kicked in and she began to yell, "LETS START A RIOT! A RIOT! LETS START A RIOT!" Jumping up to her feet, she hopped around in a circle, turning around to see Tommy leaning against the shop's doorway.

"Shit!" Riley screamed, startled. "You scared me!" She pulled the ear buds out of her ears.

"Good," he laughed. "You looked like you were about to hurt yourself."

"I'm about to hurt you if you don't shush." She slapped his shoulder. He jumped back a little, letting out a high pitch laugh.

"I mean, I think we all get the point." He smiled mischievously as she glared at him. "You clearly want to start a riot."

She ran up to him and put her hand over his mouth. "SHUSH!" Their laughing was getting a little out of control. So much so that Max came in from the store front and cleared his throat.

"Hey kids, wanna simmer down a bit?" He pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry." They both said in unison. Riley held her hands together in front of her and when Max left in satisfaction with the silence, she swatted Tommy in the chest.

"Jerk." He smiled at her.

"Did you just call me a jerk?" Riley looked at Tommy with surprise and her eyes grew wide when he nodded his head. "You can't call me a jerk on my birthday!"

"Is that a rule? Because I've never heard of that one before." He laughed and readied himself for a swat. Instead she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"So if its your birthday, why are you working?" He played with a dry paint brush, rubbing the bristles against his palm.

"Because I like working. Would you not go to the gym if it were your birthday?" She sat on the floor in front of her almost finished piece. Dipping the brush in primer, she began to paint the final leg of the coffee table.

He stood there and thought about it for a second. "No. I don't think I would."

She laughed, finding that highly unlikely. "What would you do then?"

"Have a cheat day." He sat on the floor next to her. The primer was suffocating but he sat there and stared at her. Her precision, making sure every single grove was laden and smooth with paint, was astounding.

"A cheat day? Like eat whatever you want?" Her eyes were affixed to the brush, slowly dragging it across the small surface.

"Yup."

She took in a breath as the last stroke swiped off the furniture. "Well I already do that. That's no fun." Moving her eyes up and down the recently painted section, Riley studied her paint lines, making sure everything was even.

"So then do something you have never done before. Something... I don't know... Crazy." He flipped his black baseball cap backward on his head. He wondered if she still had his old one.