whisper | rilaya

twenty three

"He's fine." I shrugged. "It's just that I haven't had a father figure in my life since I was 5 and then all of a sudden I do. It's new, but that doesn't mean that I don't like it. I don't know, I'm probably just rambling at this point-"

"No, I get it. I'll tell Shawn that you don't actually hate him, maybe that will get him off your back for a bit." She offered.

I shook my head in disagreement, drinking the last bit of my coffee before I placed the cup into the dishwasher. "Don't bother. Besides, I like feeling like I'm wanted for once." I admitted and slung my backpack over my shoulder before heading out the door.

"See you tonight mom!" I waved and shut the door, heading off for school.

~

"Hey." Riley greeted me softly, leaning over to peck my cheek. We've been "together" for months and I still feel butterflies in my stomach whenever she does so much as look at me affectionately. It killed me that I still haven't been able to call her mine yet. Sometimes I hate the fact that I promised her we would wait until her name was cleared and we were in a safe place before we made things official.

I shut the metal door of my locker and turned to face the pretty girl in front of me. "Hi sunshine." I smiled, with a dopey expression.

Riley frowned for a split second before reaching over to grab my hand. "That skirt looks cute on you." She noted, eyes scanning hungrily over my outfit.

"What's wrong?" I questioned, ignoring her complement completely.

"Nothing?" She said, feigning innocence. "You just looked hot today and I wanted to let you know."

My cheeks tinted red momentarily before I got myself back together again. "I know that look on your face Riley, something's wrong. Now tell me what it is so I can fix it."

Her hands released mine and quickly reached for her phone, frowning at the black screen once again before tucking it in her back pocket.

"Give me that!" I tickled her sides and she m giggled, reminding me that her laugh was enough to brighten my entire word.

"Maya!" She laughed uncontrollably in between tickles. "Stop it!"

In the midst of all the tickling, I slyly reached my hand into Riley's back pocket and grabbed her phone. "Aha." I grinned and went to unlock it.

Riley didn't bother trying to get it back, she just stood still with her arms cross as the frown came back onto her face. This was a new phone that her parents had gotten her recently seeing as Riley still couldn't remember the password to her old one.

By now, Riley seemed to have just about her entire memory back except for minor discrepancies here and there. The only major event she can't seem to recall no matter how hard we try at therapy is the night of the murder. The doctor said it made the most sense that Riley can't remember that because our brain will block out traumatic events completely. He says that hopefully her entire memory will be recovered with a few more months of therapy.

When I unlocked he phone to see what Riley had saw, I was shocked.

It was an Instagram post from an anonymous account that featured a blurry picture of Riley and Mason. In the picture, Riley's face was bright red and her hands were clearly gesturing out of frustration while she yelled. Mason was backed up against a wall, biting his tongue in silence. I recognized that hallway. That's the hallway that Riley and I made up in the other day.