River.

Chapter 124: Runaways

"Not used to it are you?" I asked.

He shook his head no.

"Is that why you wanted to come?"

He nodded yes.

"What about you?" Riley asked Benji.

"I had nothing better to do..."

"Fair enough."

We decided to go to a restaurant first.

The streets were packed and the restaurant was just as packed. We grabbed a booth in the back and glanced over the menu.

"Um.... I only have like... 30 bucks." Riley stated.

"I have 25.. " Said Maddy.

"Don't worry, I got it." I said as I pulled out a card. "My dad gave this to me about a month ago in case of an emergency.... Its loaded with $5,000."

Madison and Riley's mouths dropped.

"What kind of emergency costs for $5,000?" Asked Riley.

"I don't know but I didn't question it. There was no way I was gonna make him second guess giving me 5 grand."

Minutes later a waiter approached us.

"Bonjour, are you ready to order?"

After ordering crap that we had no idea what it was, the man asked us a final question which caught us off guard.

"And what to drink for you three? Wine or beer perhaps?"

"Oh no we're only 17 and 16." Riley stated.

"Which one of you is 16?"

I raised my hand.

"Okay so what about you two?" He asked, referring to Riley and Maddy.

"Wait.... We're allowed to have alcohol?" Asked Maddy.

"You all must be American." He chuckled. "Here in France the legal drinking age is 17 for alcohol that isn't distilled like wine and beer."

"Well damn I'll take one of each." Riley stated.

"I'll just have a lemonade." Said Maddy.

"Oh come on... Have a little fun." He insisted.

"No way. I'm not risking the chance of getting drunk." Maddy retorted.

"Why not?"

"Because sneaking out is one thing. But sneaking out AND getting drunk is a whole other level.... Plus, must I remind you that we have TWO 10 year olds with us?"

"I can hold my liquor." Said Benji.

Riley, Maddy, Logan, and I looked at him in shock.

"What?" He asked. "I was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Alcohol was like a close family friend to me."

"We are not giving you alcohol." I stated.

"Well, you tried." Logan said.

Our food and drinks came shortly afterwards and within 45 minutes Riley had already chugged 3 beers and two glasses of wine.

Yep, we were screwed.

"We should probably head home..." Maddy suggested.

"No way the night's just getting started." Riley laughed as he left out of the restaurant.

I paid for everything then we ran out behind him.

This asshole had his crutches lying on the ground as he stood near a mime, horribly attempting to imitate him.

"Riley!" I yelled as I ran up to him and grabbed him.

"What?" He chuckled.

"You're drunk you idiot!"

"Nooooo I'm nooooot. I'm just- not sober."

"Jesus Christ Easton." Madison mumbled as she gave him his crutches. "Like I said, we need to go home. Riley's drunk."

"Agreed." Logan, Benji, and I said simultaneously.

"Lets take a back way though. I'm pretty sure public intoxication is illegal in France too." I retorted.

I pulled up the gps on my phone and typed in the address back to the house.

"Its gonna be a 40 minute walk..."

"40 minutes with this drunkard?" Asked Madison. "Great."

20 minutes into walking behind buildings in dark alleyways, we stopped when heard the sudden shriek of a woman.

Maddy and I looked at eachother with concern.

"Where'd that come from?" I asked.

"From the next alley I think." I replied.

We crept up to the next alley and peeked around the building.

There was a man and woman standing near a side door to what looked like a club.

The man had the woman up against the wall as she kept demanding that he get her go.

"Stop resisting. You're just making this harder on yourself." He stated.

"Get away from me!" She yelled.

He laughed and tried to kiss her but she turned her head away.

"Oh come on baby." He insisted.

Without any warning, Riley called out to the man.

"Leave her alone you fucking douchebag!"

He took off with his crutches and headed towards them.

"Riley!" Maddy shouted.

"Get your hands off of her nimrod!"

"Damn it..." I mumbled as I ran to grab Riley.

"You've got balls kid." The man laughed.

"Bigger balls than you apparently because I'm not forcing myself on a woman." Riley replied, slurring his words.

"Look kid you've got a broken leg and you're obviously drunk. Get outta here."

"Riley lets go." I begged. "We'll just call the cops or something but YOU are not in your right state of mind to do anything."

"Just grab him." Said Maddy as she came up to us.

"Listen to your friends." The man warned.

"You shut the hell up frenchie." Riley shot back.

After much resistance, he FINALLY came with us once the guy let the woman go.

"You are ridiculous." I stated.

We walked back to the alley we were in before this altercation but stopped in our tracks when we noticed something.

"Where's Logan and Benji?" I asked.

"Those little brats ran off." Maddy frustratingly stated.

"What if they were kidnapped?"

"They weren't. I heard them talking about something like leaving but I wasnt sure... But now, they actually left."

Riley laughed. "And you were worried about me."

"Shut up East." We both demanded.

"We've gotta go find them. This is bad enough already." I retorted. "We can't go home without them. Because then they'd be able to kill us for sneaking out, letting Riley get drunk, AND losing two 10 year olds!"

"Well..." Maddy began. "I guess we better start looking.... This is gonna take a while."