INFINITE (Eminem Fan Fiction)

Chapter 32: Won't Back Down

Chapter 32: Won’t Back Down

The last three weeks had flown by, right before Riley’s eyes. Her day to day life was finally starting to settle in. Mark had set up a small catwalk for her at an art show in Michigan last week, which had gone really well and covered a lot of the moving costs. Her new flat started to feel like her own and she’d even done some work in her section of the garden outside.

She’d also been very busy with rehearsals for the tour. She and Marshall had practiced the scene a lot of times, as they’d changed the blocking for it. Paul had run her through the general structure of the show. As well as the skit, she was going to be doing a lot of crowd entertaining between intermissions and set changes. But that job was easy, as she was mainly handing out free things for the crowd.

As Riley opened her white, wooden front door, she spotted the morning paper awaiting her, tied up with a rubber band. Cradling her mug of coffee in one palm, she reached down and picked up the paper, taking it back inside to her dining table. Sitting down, she unrolled it, making note of the date. It was October 16 already. Amazed, she couldn’t believe time had gone so fast. Then it hit her like a ton of red bricks. It was Marshall’s 29th birthday tomorrow and she hadn’t even gotten him a gift!

Making a mental note to find something that afternoon, she scanned the headlines and wasn’t surprised to see news about Marshall’s tour everywhere. Fortunately, they only had good things to say for once. Sipping at her coffee, she made quick work of breakfast and was almost done when her mobile rang. As she picked it up, she gave a smile as she saw Marshall’s contact photo. She’d been sneaky and taken the picture when he was walking around shirtless.

“Hello?” She answered, shoving the phone between her ear and shoulder so she could continue eating breakfast.

“Jesus your voice is husky in the morning,” Marshall said.

Riley wasn’t sure how to react, “What?”

“It’s a compliment,” He clarified. “It’s so hot.”

 She giggled and transferred the phone into her hand, resting her elbow on the table. “What’s up?”

He cleared his throat, sounding so businesslike he reminded her of Mark, “Paul wants to have a meeting with you about the tour. He just wants to make sure you know what you’re doing and you have everything signed before we head off.”

Riley drew in a deep breath, “Okay. Where?”

“The studio,” Marshall insisted. “I’ve got to drop Alaina and Hailie at school so I could pick you up and we can go together.”

“Sounds good.”

“I also thought-” Marshall’s voice was cut off for a moment before she heard him yell out, “It’s by the front door.” There was another pause. “Yeah, I already put your lunch in there.” The phone cracked before he spoke again. “Hey, sorry. Hailie couldn’t find her bag.”

Riley laughed, knowing it wasn’t the first time she’d lost something. Just the other day, she’d been upset for hours because she couldn’t find her coloring book. “It’s fine. What were you saying?”

Marshall struggled to remember, having lost his train of thought. “Ahhhhhh… oh that’s right- Proof wanted me to have some kind of birthday dinner. It’s nothing special but the family and some friends are going to be there. I figured it would be a good chance for you to meet some of them.”

Riley felt a pang of nervousness flow through her. While she’d really only met Proof and Kim, the idea of meeting more of Marshall’s loved ones was daunting. She got along really well with Proof but Kim was a whole other story. What if none of them liked her? Shakily, she agreed, “Alright then.”