Three's a crowd

4

"Britt?" His voice dragged me out of my thoughts as I sat on the bed secretly gushing over the thought of sleeping here with him later.
"Yeah? sorry what?" I asked.
"You wanna check out the beach?" He asked with an amused smile on his face.
"Yeah, lets go!" I smiled jumping up off the bed.

We walked down the hallway to the living room and out onto the front deck where our parents were all in the hot tub drinking with Luke, Levi and Grace while Allie sat on the side with only her feet in the water. Summer vacation was the one time of year that our parents would let us have a drink if we wanted, usually because it was only us and them.

"Where are you guys off too?" Averleigh asked.
"I'm just showing Britt the beach, don't worry we will be back in time for dinner." He smiled before giving his mom a peck on the cheek.
"Have fun kids." My mom smiled before tipping back her glass of wine.

I took Rileys hand in mine and he led me down the stairs and onto the beach. We walked to the shoreline letting the waves sweep across our feet. It was a comfortable silence as we moved further and further away from the house around a cove.

"Riles?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." I said as we continued walking, only the feel of water at our feet and our linked hands to distract me from my thoughts.
"For what?" He asked.
"Everything, Us. I know I'm a little bratty sometimes, but it means a lot to me that you stand by me through everything. I know you didn't really want to date me back then, but I just, I'm so glad you did because I love you so much." I said as he stopped to face me.

He moved so that he was standing in front of me and took my face in his free hand while his other squeezed mine.
"Britt, I agreed to date you back then because even though we weren't close, I still cared about you. Your brother had told me about that creeper in your chemistry class making you uncomfortable all the time and I wanted to help. Honestly I thought you would turn me down, or get bored of me before I got the chance to really know you. But don't for one second think I would change any of that."

His eyes scanned mine as I tried to process his words, but he wasn't done.

"So maybe our relationship started as a mutual agreement, but that's not us now. I know you Britt and I love every little thing about you. Even your bratty side. It's me and you forever. One day when we are embarrassing our kids like our parents embarrass us, we will laugh at the way we found each other. But just because we didn't start out with a crush, doesn't mean that we didn't grow into love with each other, because I can promise you that I love you very much." He said.

I could feel my eyes watering as the weight of his words finally sank in. I knew it was silly to even bring it up, creepy Carl from chemistry had moved away after me and Riley started dating. Somehow I knew that our relationship wasn't based on that situation anymore, but it was still nice to be reminded that Riley loved me, and that he saw a future in us, one with kids and us as the awkward parents.

He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me as I held onto him. Somehow feeling his body against mine made me feel better, safe, but it didn't turn off the thoughts in my head.

It was freshmen year of high school. Back then Riley and I weren't really friends, more acquaintances. I mean we knew each other, and had family dinner with our parents once a week, but we didn't ever talk or hang out with each other besides family functions.

It was about half way through freshmen year when I had my first uncomfortable experience with Carl Black. He was one of the kids that usually didn't say much, sat by himself at lunch and wore the typical bad boy leather jacket. He wasn't bad to look at, but something in his eyes always made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

We had just finished chemistry for the day and of course we were paired up by the teacher. I always tried to be nice, even though he never really talked too much. Anyway, she had given us a assignment for the next class to work on together and he suggested we do it at his house.

I probably should have been more guarded but I was young and naïve, so I called my mother and told her I'd be late home and walked with him to his house. It wasn't in a bad part of town, but it wasn't the two story brick neighborhood I was used to either. Still I followed him inside, introduced myself to his mother who was leaving for work, and followed him to his room to work on our project.

So we sat for a while as I ran over ideas for the project, putting different Styrofoam balls together with toothpicks. I was actually relieved to be done, when I started loading our molecules into a box for me to carry home. I was reaching for the door handle of his room when he came up behind me, holding the door closed.

He was so close that I could feel his breath on my neck, his breathing was heavy and it had my whole body on alert.

"Carl, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Don't act innocent Brittney, You're a cheerleader so you can drop the virgin Mary act. I know your kind all likes it rough!" He grunted as his hand snaked around my body to in between the front of my legs.
"Carl Stop, Please!" I begged, trying to close my legs as tears filled my eyes.

He turned me around to face him as one hand held my face, the other squeezing my butt, pinning me against the door. I decided to seize the opportunity and brought my knee up to his crotch, desperate to escape him.

As soon as he let go of me and dropped to the floor I opened the door and ran out as fast as I could. I didn't care to grab our work, or to make sure I had everything, I just ran. I kept running until the neighborhoods started to look a little more familiar, eventually coming up to the park that wasn't too far from home. I was still crying, and I knew I needed to calm down before I went home.

I had sat on the bench with my head between my knees, listening to some coach yelling football plays at some kids. Every now and then I would look around to make sure Carl hadn't followed me, each time grateful that I was alone.

When I thought I was calmed down enough I got up to go home when I dropped my phone. In true ditzy fashion I leaned down to get it and turned around straight into Rileys chest. I wasn't expecting him to say anything to me since he was with his friends in their football stuff, but he frowned at my appearance before waving his friends off.

"Britt, what's wrong?" He asked when we were alone.
"It's nothing." I replied as my voice shook, betraying me.
"Doesn't look like nothing." He said before sighing. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

He reached down and grabbed my hand, frowning again when I flinched at the contact. Still he didn't pry, yet as we walked back to my house I felt like I was finally safe. I found myself telling him every little detail of what had happened with Carl, and while I expected him to react, he just squeezed my hand every now and then.

When we got to my driveway I felt like a weight was lifted off me. Riley gave me the sense of security that I really needed.

"I wish I could just get a boyfriend like you Riles, You're basically the perfect guy and everyone respects you. It's almost like being a cheerleader without a boyfriend makes everyone think that I'm just a plaything." I sighed.

"So why don't you?" He asked.
"What?"
"Get a boyfriend?" He said as we approached the steps leading to my door.
"I don't just want to date just to date. I'd rather wait. I guess I just need a fake boyfriend, keep the creepers away!" I joked as he squeezed my hand.
"Deal!" He smiled as I turned to him confused.
"What?" I asked.
"I'll be your fake boyfriend, I mean we already know each other, I'm not going to force you into anything, it will keep the creepers away from you, and besides it will get my mother off my back. I swear its like she's waiting for me to bring a girl home." He smiled.

I thought about it hesitantly for a few minutes, before letting the truth of his words sink in. He was right and I knew that he would always treat me right, especially since our parents were best friends. Besides he was the perfect guy to fake date given his popularity at school.

"Okay, deal. Lets fake date." I smiled before walking to my door. "Thank you Riley!" I smiled at him.
"Goodnight Britt." He smiled back.

And from there we began the journey of us. A fake relationship that blossomed into loving each other today.