Falling Up

20. Astray

"What's the problem?" said Jason as he watched Tyrus get into his car and drive back down the gravel path and out of sight.

"Riley isn't home yet."

"What?" said Jason, looking at his watch. "But it's almost 2 am. She should have been back at midnight. Have you tried calling her?"

"She isn't picking up."

Jason put his hand in his pocket, fishing out his phone and hit call on Riley's number, which was at the top of his contacts list. It rang four times before hitting her voice. "Hey, this is Riley. Leave a message and I'll call you back."

"Riley, you better pick," said Jason as the frustration sounded out in his tone. He hung up and tried again.

"Hey, this is Riley..." Jason hung up and went straight to sending a text message.

J: Call me. Now!

"Noah, you stay here in case she shows up. Do you know the address of this party she was going to?"

"Sorry Jason, I didn't ask."

Jason turned around, pulling his keys from his pocket and hopped into his car that was parked in the driveway. Just as he was getting in, he called Riley again. He would spend all night searching for her if he had to.

***

Riley's head rolled to the side, feeling the clean sheets beneath her, with her head sinking into the soft pillow. Her eyes were still closed, but she knew the sun was up as she felt the light beaming across her face. A groan escaped her lips as she hoped to have just a few more minutes of sleep before getting up for the day.

A cough from across the room caught her off guard and she bolted upright in bed. The regret was immediate as her head pounded against her skull. She brought her hand to her head in an attempt to relieve the searing headache that overwhelmed her vision.

"There is some water and aspirin next to you. I suggest you take them." Kain's voice filtered through the room.

Riley's eyes slowly opened to see Kain sitting on a black leather couch, his eyes focused on scrolling through his phone. The sight before her was almost like watching a photoshoot for a model. Kain's dark grey pyjama pants hung loosely around his lower body, which was only accentuated by the fact he was shirtless. Riley gulped, her eyes trailing across his well-defined abs and up to his wavy brown hair that swept across his forehead.

She came back to her senses quickly, realising who she was just ogling over and almost wanted to smack herself in the face before she looked around the room and realised something. She didn't know where she was.

"Where am I?" asked Riley, confused as she looked around the room.

"You're in my room," said Kain as he put his phone away, giving his complete attention to Riley. This action caused her to pull the blanket closer to her body. She noticed she was still wearing clothes, which was a relief, but she had no recollection of how she ended up in Kain's bed.

"Relax already," continued Kain as he got up off the couch and grabbed the glass of water on the bedside table. "Here, drink and take these." He handed her the glass of water and the aspirin, which she took with a slight hesitation, popping the pills and taking a long gulp before setting down the water back on the side table.

"You came into my room last night, freaking out because of the pot brownies. You passed out so I let you sleep here."

"And you didn't... I mean we didn't..." asked Riley, afraid that she did something she would have regretted. Not that she was a virgin at all, but she wasn't even ready to consider that just yet.

"Don't worry," said Kain. "I prefer my women conscious in the bedroom."

The memories were slowly coming back to her as she remembered the party, the game of beer pong, which she won, eating the pot brownies and heading outside before... Vincent. Her mind flashed with the image of him. It seemed so real, but at the same time, it was hazy. It must have been her mind playing tricks on her. Vincent was in prison. There was no way he was here. And there was no way he even knew where she was last night. She didn't even tell her brothers the exact address of where she was.

Her brothers.

"Shit!" cursed Riley, jumping out of the bed and grabbing her boots, which were lucky right next to her.

"Shit, shit, shit. Where's my phone?" Riley panicked as she searched on the bedside table and under the bed.

"Here," said Kain, holding out her phone.

She quickly snatched it from Kain's hand before looking at the screen. It was 7:52am. Unlocking the phone, she noticed 22 missed called from Noah and 36 missed called from Jason. The last missed call was less than an hour ago.

"Where's Kendra?" Riley asked, heading towards the bedroom door.

"The next room on your left. She stayed with Zac."

With that information, she rushed out of the room and down the hallway, knocking on the door to Zac's room.

"Kendra?" Riley opened the door slowly to a dark room with the blinds shut closed. "Kendra?" she repeated louder until she walked in and found Kendra, fast asleep in bed, with Zac's arms wrapped around her. A pull-out sofa was made up to the side, but it didn't look like anyone had slept there.

Luckily for her, Kendra and Zac appeared to still be completely clothed, and Riley gently nudged Kendra's arm.

"Kendra," she whispered. "Kendra, come on. I've gotta go."

"Give me five more minutes, mom," Kendra said sleepily.

Riley shaked Kendra again, desperate to get on the move. "Please Kendra. I've got to go. Like now!"

"Fine, fine, fine," said Kendra who she rolled out from underneath Zac's arm, leaving him to snuggle back into a pillow she put in her place. Kendra slowly and drearily stumbled out of bed, hunting around for her things lying all over the floor and putting on her shoes.

Eventually, Riley was pulling Kendra out of the room and down the stairs of the house. The fraternity house looked like an absolute mess as they bypassed discarded red cups and beer bottles all over the floor. A few people were still sleeping on the couches, with one guy passed out on the front lawn. In a small way, she kind of pitied the person who had to deal with this mess today.

Kendra and Riley headed to the car, which was still parked down the street. Riley looked over at the empty parking spot from last night. It wasn't real. She had to remind herself again as a chill went down her spine at the mere thought of her stepfather being anywhere near her.

Hurrying towards the car, they quickly climbed in and she was thankful that Kendra wasted no time in turning on the car and setting off back home, where her brothers were waiting for her.