Back To Basics

Chapter 4 - "Stay away from him"

Riley expected a lot of things to happen when she walked through her front door. She expected her mom to be upset that she didn't call or come home right away and she expected her dad to be completely oblivious to what was going on. What she didn't expect was to see Josh sitting there on the sofa waiting for her to come home. It wasn't the first time she caught her brother doing something with a girl but it was the first time she caught him doing something with her best friend. She threw her keys on the table by the door and walked directly in the direction of her bedroom.

"Riley, wait... can we walk?" He had a serious look on his face.

"Talk about what?" She asked trying to ignore the situation.

"Come on, be serious." Josh walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out two water bottles, tossing one to Riley.

"Okay. Let's be serious...Were you seriously making out with my friend?" The anger she left out on the field with Lucas was back now.

"You know.. its not even the fact that you guys were kissing! I couldn't care less about who you kiss. It's the fact that you didn't tell me about it. You were doing it behind my back, hiding it from me. Maya and I don't hide things from each other, Josh. And you...you're supposed to be my brother."

He stared at her with a stern look on his face, "It's none of your business who I date Riley. You're my little sister, I don't have to tell you anything."

That anger from earlier was now full on rage. He was completely missing the point. This wasn't just some random chick that he could toss aside when he got bored this was Maya they were talking about.

"It became my business when you stuck your tongue down my best friends throat." She shot back, holding her ground.

Josh was visibly angry now. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. He sat back down on the sofa and opened his water bottle. "We've only been seeing each other for about a week. We didn't tell you because we didn't know if it was worth talking about." Riley sat down on the sofa next to him. "I understand," She mumbled under her breath. The two sat there quietly for a minute.

"So where were you?" He asked like he already knew the answer. "Who were you with?"

Riley shifted her feet, "Nowhere...no one."

Josh raised his eyebrows at her blatant lie. "Next time don't bring the evidence home with you." He reached up and plucked the dandelion from Riley's disheveled hair.

She knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to turn the blame on her so she'd forget he's been sneaking around with her best friend behind her back.

"He's not a good guy, Riley." He spoke again taking another swig from his water.

"What are you talking about?" She could feel her ears getting hot.

"Lucas...He's not a good guy.Trust me, I've known him since we were kids. He's not the kind of guy you wanna be around, Riley. He's trouble." He took another sip from his bottle. "Stay away from him."

Riley couldn't believe what she was hearing. He had some nerve to preach to her about Lucas when both he and Maya had been lying to her for over a week.

She grabbed her bag and stood up, "So let me get this straight...you can see Maya but I can't see Lucas? That's ridiculous." She didn't have the energy to fight with him so she started to walk away.

"I mean it Riley...I forbid you." Josh's voice was shaky but she could tell he meant what he said.

"You cant forbid me. You're not my father!" Her face was stern.

Josh laughed to himself, picking the dandelion off the coffee table. "Let me guess...a field upstate." His laugh was harsher now. "You think you're special to him? Do you have any idea how many girls he's taken to that exact same spot? He wasn't being thoughtful Riles. It's a line. He's playing you and you're falling for it."

Her whole face was hot now. She could feel her bottom lip quiver.
"I don't believe you."

Josh came over to where she was standing and handed her the wilted flower. "Then ask him." He walked right past her and straight to his room, closing the door behind him.

*This is kind of a short one. I wanted to set the tone for the relationships that I'm building. Please let me know what you think. Not sure how many more chapters I'll write but so far I'm really liking this one.*