Riley's hand slipped out from Kain's, their eye contact breaking away as she nervously cleared her throat.
"Umm, I'll just get this cleaned up." Riley pointed to the puddle around her feet that was still seeping into Kain's pants as he remained frozen in his place. The sound of her voice seemed to shock him back into reality and he got up out of the puddle, wiping off his jeans with his hands.
She hoped to god that he sensed nothing about the way she was feeling as she stood up from the booth then sidestepped around the puddle, rushing off in the hunt for a mop. When she returned, she set to work on clearing the floor, her burnt hand long forgotten over the now racing drumbeat of her heart.
No way was this happening. Her feelings were definitely not changing towards Kain. He was still an obnoxious, rude and aggravating individual and she definitely would not entertain the idea of them becoming anything more than mere acquaintances. Not that Kain would want anything more to do with her either.
Kain busied himself of his own accord, clearing the table of the coffee mugs, even though he didn't have to since he was a customer. Once they had finished clearing, they packed their bags and headed out the door to class with the silences still baring down between them.
Unfortunately for Riley, they had the same class together. So even though she was desperate to get away from him, that is how they ended up walking. Side by side to the lecture hall.
Their conversation was minimal between them as they crossed the open grass area. The delights of the old growing trees that adorned the campus grounds and the sounds of birds chirping filled up the awkward silence between them as the cool freshness of the air hit against her skin. A mere remark about the weather or a quick mention of the new coffee shopping opening up close by was all that exchanged between them.
An excruciatingly long five minutes later, they were entering the hall to their lecture theatre.
Riley almost cried out in relief when Kendra came rushing over, grabbing her by the arm and guiding her to a seat that she had already reserved. Kain disappeared in the other direction, up the long stairs to his usual seat in the back with his friends, who were already surrounded by a gaggle of girls in the row below them, flipping their hair and laughing obnoxiously loud.
"Were you just with Kain?" Kendra asked as her curious eyes glanced over at Kain walking up the stairs.
"He was paying up on his bet," said Riley, trying to act as casual as possible.
"Oh man, I didn't think he would actually pay up on that. I mean, you guys hate each other."
"Yeah," mumbled Riley as she took a quick glance back at Kain, who was now seated in the middle of his group.
Kendra sensed nothing off about the remark, which was something that Riley was grateful for.
"So, how did you go after the party? With your brothers, I mean. Which are, by the way..." Kendra paused to let out a low wolf whistle. "You know I would happily come over anytime to help you study, clean the house, wash the dog..." Kendra trailed off wistfully.
"We don't have a dog, Kendra."
"Then maybe I'll get you a puppy dog. Then I could come over and watch your brothers, maybe on a hot day, with their shirts off, cuddling up to a puppy..." Kendra trailed off with a starry expression in her eyes.
"Kendra!" whisper-yelled Riley. "That's disgusting. Those are my brothers you're talking about."
"Speaking about boys," said Kendra, quick to flip from the subject with a smile crossing her face and her eyes brightening at whatever thought was held behind her eyes. "I believe you slept in Kain's bed on Friday night?"
Riley swallowed hard before her own mouth quipped up into a smirk. "And I remember seeing you cuddled up with Zac in his bed."
Kendra blushed, dropping her pencil on the ground in a nervous fumble. She glanced away, subconsciously glancing back at Zac as she picked her pencil up off the floor.
"Spill," Riley chastised as she leaned her hand on her elbow, raising her eyebrows in a mocking gesture.
"There is nothing to spill," said Kendra, fiddling with the silver rings glittering across her fingers.
Riley stared her down without saying a word, eager to let the silence do its own work in making Kendra speak. She was pretty sure she got that trick from her brothers.
"Fine, fine. We made out a bit and fell asleep in his bed."
"You what?" Riley slapped her hands down on the desk. "I did not see that coming. You guys are always at each other's throat. I believe the first time I met you, you were threatening to hit Zac with a chair."
"Yeah, well..." Kendra drifted off as she scratched the back of her head. "He might be growing on me."
"So, are you two dating now or what?" asked Riley.
"Ummm... I'm unsure."
At that particular point, Zac came up behind Kendra, placing his arm around her shoulder. "Hey babe."
"I'll take that as a yes," said Riley, watching as Kendra blushed even harder.
The teacher came into the class, hushing the noise around them as Zac placed a sweet kiss on the top of Kendra's head before disappearing back up the stairs.
"Don't say anything," said Kendra as she took the books out of her bag.
Riley made a motion with her fingers of zipping her lips closed while she tried unsuccessfully to hold back the grin at the corner of her lips.
As the teacher droned on, writing on the whiteboard at the head of the class, Riley's thoughts drifted back to the coffee shop, her gaze falling out of the open window. It was hard to concentrate with the thought of Kain in her mind, but she was at least glad that she deflected the conversation away from Kendra. Although she knew it wouldn't do much to starve off her curiosity forever.
Did she really like Kain? No. It must have just been the pain in her hand from the burn that was making her think foolish thoughts. She couldn't like him. To be honest, could she even really like anyone that way? After what her stepfather did to her, the thought of being romantically involved with anyone kind of made her stomach churn, and not in a good way. She wasn't ready for that. She wasn't too sure she ever would be.
With that thought settled in her mind, she painstakingly drew her attention back to the board to focus on the lesson at hand. But she had an odd burning feeling in the back of her neck, and for some reason, it felt like someone was watching her.
She shrugged it off as she normally did with the paranoid thoughts that had a habit of seeping into her mind.
The next week went by as normally as it ever could. Kendra continued to act like a lovesick puppy, which was definitely a new side to her usual badass type of attitude. Luckily for her, she seemed to have forgotten about the incident with her sleeping in Kain's bed.
Riley continued the study sessions with Kain every day, leading up to the exam. Their arguing didn't get any better either, but at least there were no other instances like the first study session they had. It felt a bit more at ease than it normally did; the conversation turning more into banter than anything else, and they hopped into a routine of studying before heading to class.
On the way out of her class at the end of the day, she was rushing to be the first out so she could run back to the coffee shop to pick up her phone, which she carelessly left behind the counter during her shift. However, she was halted in her tracks by the teacher.
"Ah Riley, would you do me a favour and take these back to Mr Turner's class on the third floor? Room 21. Thanks so much my dear," said Mrs Hall, an older lecturer who looked like she could barely walk across the classroom at times with her cane in one hand and glasses always falling down her nose.
As much as Riley was in a rush to pick up her phone and make sure she was back in time for Jason to pick her up, she couldn't say no to the batty old lady. She knew Jason would surely have a field day when she wasn't there waiting to be picked up. After all, she was still grounded.
"Sure thing," said Riley as she grabbed what appeared to be about 20 books from the table in front of her. Her arms shook a little with the added weight, her backpack draped over her shoulder as she stepped outside of the classroom.
She was definitely going to be late.