Jason walked into the kitchen and he almost had a heart attack at the sight in front of him. Riley was standing there, knife in her hand and a large gash running down her arm. His eyes darkened and his fist clenched at the sight. If she was cutting herself again she would be in serious trouble.
"It's not what it looks like. I swear," she panicked, lifting her hands in front of her as she tried to diffuse the situation.
Jason took a deep breath, trying to control his racing mind and anger. He made a swift movement towards her and grabbed the knife from her hand.
"Then what exactly is this?" he asked with a hint of anger seeping into his words.
"I.. I was just cooking, and my... hand slipped", she responded shakily while wrapping the tea towel around her arm.
Jason's hand clenched over the knife while taking a deep breath. He placed the knife on the kitchen counter, slightly out of Riley's reach. Grabbing her arm gently he removed the tea towel to assess the damage and let out the deep breath he was holding.
"Just be more careful next time," he said, wrapping her arm back up as softly as he could. "I'll grab the first aid kit, just continue putting pressure on it," he said as he moved her other hand to place pressure on the wound.
Jason walked out into the bathroom, his heart still beating fast in his chest. He let out a shaky breath, trying to still calm down his racing mind as he ran his hand through his hair. His hairs still stood up on end and his only thought was not again. She couldn't go through that again. He couldn't go through that again.
The thoughts of what Vincent did to her flooded over his mind and he couldn't help but revisit the old emotions of the anger he felt towards himself and his step father. He would never forgive himself for what happened to Riley. Never.
His thoughts came back to the present as he realised he left Riley alone with the knife in the kitchen. Shit, he thought. He hurried himself, reaching down under the bathroom sink to pull out the first aid kit and rushed as fast as he could without being too noticeable back into the kitchen.
Relief flooded through him when we saw Riley exactly where he left her, still holding the tea towel to her arm. It was an irrational thought. She hadn't cut herself in years and he did trust her but sometimes he would rather she was mad at him for overreacting than for her to hurt herself or be in any kind of pain again.
As Riley sat down on one of the kitchen stools, Jason came up beside her and began tending to her wound.
"It's not too deep," said Jason as he wiped out the blood and opened up the antiseptic cream.
"Don't think I didn't notice what you did," said Riley.
Jason looked at him confused.
"You put the knife out of my reach," continued Riley. "I'm not going to cut myself again. That part of my life is over."
Jason sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. It's just... when I saw you like that I..."
"It's okay Jason." Riley said, placing her uninjured arm over Jason's hand which he didn't realise was shaking until Riley stopped it from trembling with her soothing touch. "I'm okay."
At that moment Noah walked through the door. "Hey guys," he said, walking into the kitchen.
"I thought you were at the gym?" asked Jason, surprised he was home so early.
"Just a short session today. I'll head back later tonight," said Noah before laying his sight on Riley. "Oh my god, what happened?" he asked concerned as he placed his bag down and headed over to them.
"Another one of Riley's cooking disasters," commented Jason.
"Hey!" shouted Riley.
"You're such a clutz," said Noah as he walked past, ruffling up Riley's hair. "But are you okay?" he continued more seriously.
"I'm fine Noah. I accidentally cut myself with the knife is all," she said.
"There, all done," said Jason as he finished applying the bandage to her arm.
She hopped off the chair and attempted to head back to the stovetop to continue dinner.
"I don't think so," said Jason as he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up in the air which elicited a slight squeal from Riley. He positioned her back down on the other side of the kitchen bench, prompting her to sit back down.
"I'll finish up," he said, trying to salvage the meal that was clearly already ruined.
***
Ten minutes later they were all sitting at the dining room table, poking the suspect meal with their forks.
"You really shouldn't be in charge of cooking," said Noah as he sat playing around with his burnt bowl of risotto.
"We had a deal," said Riley, not really caring about the flavour and putting a spoonful in her mouth. "I cook Monday and Tuesday. You take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and Jason does Saturday and Sunday," continued Riley.
"And I'm starting to regret that decision," Jason said as he grabbed the water and took a big gulp, trying to get the awful taste out of his mouth.
"Come on, it's not that bad. Besides, if I don't practice I can't get better at it."
"You've been practicing..." Noah said, pulling air quotes around the word practicing, "for the last year."
"Yeah, I don't think this is something you're ever going to get Riley," chimed in Jason as a piece of burnt risotto fell off his fork.
"Well suck it up because I've already got an idea of what I'm doing next week."
Both Noah and Jason grunted, digging back into their food which they still ate despite the unpleasant taste it left lingering in their mouths. Once they had finished eating they grabbed their plates and headed into the kitchen to clean up. Noah took the plates to the sink and Jason began cleaning the stove while Riley sat down on one of the stools.
Riley got lost in her thoughts once again and started running her hand up and down her arms, trailing over the faded lines of her cuts which were still quite raised and bumpy. Even though it had been a couple of years since she last harmed herself the cuts were still very prominent and she knew they would never truly fade. Therapy had helped her to some extent come to terms with what happened and stop her self harming but at the end of the day she always had the reminder of the cuts littered down her arms.
"I want to talk to you guys about something," said Riley.
She had been thinking about this for a while now but getting the courage to ask her brothers was tough. But she knew what she wanted and if she didn't ask then she would be able to move forward with her life.
"I want to get a tattoo," Riley blurted out. Jason let off a short laugh.
"Very funny," he said, clearly not thinking Riley was being serious when she asked. But she was being serious. Since she had been free from Vincent she had been wanting more and more for herself and this was one of things she knew she wanted to get.
"It's not a joke," she continued, seriously. "I want to get a tattoo."
"You are not getting a tattoo Riley. End of story," said Jason as he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back on the kitchen counter to give her his full attention.
Riley let out a huff of annoyance as she ran her hand through her hair, dangling her legs from the stool. "I don't see what the problem is. A lot of people get tattoos."
"The problem is that you're stuck with it for life. You want to just scar up your body like that?"
Riley placed her chin in her hand, leaning on the counter and raised her eyebrows as she waited for it to sink in with Jason, what he just said to her. He could be so dense sometimes. And three...two...one...
"Holy shit, I didn't mean it like that," he panicked.
"It's okay," replied Riley as she hopped off her bar stool. "I'm not going to break down or anything. But that's the whole point."
She waved at her arms that were covered in fading scars. Though they weren't as prominent as they used to be, you could still see them clearly enough.
"I don't want this reminder every time I get changed or look at myself in the mirror. I want to like who I am. On the inside and on the out."
"She has a point," said Noah as he continued washing the dishes in the sink.
"You can't seriously be on her side," said Jason.
"What's the issue, she's not a kid anymore," retorted Noah.
"Thank you Noah," beamed Riley, glad that at least someone was on her side.
She stood there waiting as Jason pondered over the conversation. After a moment of silence he finally spoke. "I'll think about it."
Riley beamed, rushing over to give him a giant bear hug as she grinned into her shirt.
"I said I'd think about it Riley," said Jason, a slight smile crossing his lips as he placed a hand around her hugging her back.