Charlie's POV
My morning started earlier than I would've liked.
Around 5AM a loud thud interrupted my sleep and I shot out of my bed on high alert. I was confused and had no clue where the sound came from. The thud sounded again and I realized it was coming from my door.
Who the hell was at my door this early in the morning?
I walked closer to the door and I heard a small giggle from the other side.
Was someone messing with me?
I swung the door open quickly and 2 bodies fell into my room. I jumped out of the way and tried to take in what was happening.
Riley was laying on top of that same girl from last night on my floor. Clearly they were having some sort of make out session against my door and that's what woke me up.
Riley looked up into my eyes with an amused expression. I glared down at her. What a bitch!
Riley got up and the other girl scrambled to her feet. She looked embarrassed......... Riley on the other hand looked like she could care less that she interrupted my sleep.
"I'm so sorry!" The girl directed at me then she looked at Riley blushing. "I....I'm gonna go! Call me." Then she basically ran out of the room leaving Riley and I alone.
Riley walked over to my desk and was looking at something.
I took a second to steady my emotions while glaring at my arch nemesis. Riley had on a black sports bra and a pair of running shorts leaving most of her body exposed. She is beautiful.......straight girls can acknowledge when a woman is hot too...... or is it because I li.......
The thought reignited my anger at her. "How about you throw girls against your own door." I said angrily to her.
She spun around and grinned and it made me even angrier.
"Won't happen again." She raised her hands in mock surrender but her amused expression was still on her face. This cocky bitch.
"It's not funny. How would you feel if I woke you up at 5 AM?." I pouted crossing my arms.
"Depends....... What are you waking me up for?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.
I scoffed then walked towards her "get out!" I shoved her backwards a little until she was standing in the doorway.
"Charlie chill. I'm sorry!"
"Whatever Riley." I started closing the door but her hand stopped it. "What?"
"I just wanted to tell you that your Cookie Monster pajamas are adorable." Her golden eyes looked down at my overlarge shirt, that had a massive Cookie Monster on it with google eyes that moved..........
I felt my face flush. "Oh god." I groaned then closed the door in a laughing Riley's face.
She's the worst.
I walked across the room to my bed and sat down. My sore muscles aching at every movement.
How does Riley even have the energy? I want to roll over and sleep for 10 more hours. I couldn't imagine trying to participate in sex right now.......
6 uninterrupted hours later I was ready for the team lunch. Riley was supposed to come get me seeing as I had no clue where the lunch was being held. Hopefully she's not late.
I chose a pair of high waisted jeans and a form fitting black top that tucked into my pants. I straightened my hair which took forever without Casey's help and I put on mascara and eyeliner seeing as that's all I know how to do.
I sat at my desk waiting for my escort when a knock came at my door. Must be Riley.
I sighed and walked over to the door already grumpy I'd have to hang out with her. At least she was on time. I opened the door expecting gold eyes but was greeted by blue ones.
"Oh. Hi....... Rachel right?" I said to the blonde standing outside my door.
"Yeah. I'm here to take you to Luanne's." She said with a smile on her face.
"Oh. Okay." I closed my door and followed after her. "so uh....I was expecting Riley."
Rachel held the door open for me and I walked through it. "Yeah........ Haze asked me to bring you to the lunch. She wouldn't say why. But I owed her a favor." Rachel shrugged.
That's weird. I literally saw her this morning.
Rachel drove me to a cozy looking restaurant in the middle of town. She seems nice. I know that she's a senior and last years center striker....... So I'm kinda competing with her for her spot. That made things a little awkward.
"This is it! Some of the team should already be inside." She smiled then climbed out of the car. I followed her lead and we walked inside where there were already 12 players inside.
"Rach!" A voice called and walked over to us. "Thanks so much." Riley said as she approached she pulled Rachel into a hug then kissed her cheek. Riley whispered something into the other girls ear then Rachel blushed and walked away from us.
Has she gotten into everyone's pants?
"Hi Charlie long time no see." She smirked at me.
"Yeah......... a little bit more time would've been fine with me." I rolled my eyes at her.
She giggled. "Don't lie. You missed me."
"In your dreams Riley."
"Oh we do much more than miss each other in my dreams." She grinned.
I slapped her arm. "Stop it!"
She laughed then said "Let's go sit."
I nodded my head and followed her. "By the way......Why didn't you come get me yourself?" I asked taking a seat next to her.
"I was in this part of town already and didn't want to come back to the dorms." She shrugged.
What she said made me a little upset. I wasn't important enough for her to come back for........
Oh chill Charlie. I don't care about the opinions of bitches.
I nodded my head at her then looked anywhere else. Pretending like she didn't hurt my feelings.
"Charlie?" She asked. I looked back at her.
Her golden eyes studied my face and she looked concerned.
"Yes Riley." I said trying not to seem upset.
She leaned in closer to me and my breath hitched in my throat. What is she doing? She unexpectedly tucked some hair behind my ear never breaking eye contact.
"It's not that I didn't want to come get you........ I planned to. I just got caught up while running some errands." She said so only I could hear. She sounded completely sincere.
My body was still frozen from when she touched my hair and I couldn't get my voice to work.
"I'm still giving you a tour of campus." She gave me a light smile and leaned back into her chair. The distance she created between us seemed to snap me out of my stupor and I looked around the restaurant. No one seemed to notice the moment between Riley and I.
"Okay Riley." I finally responded. She nodded her head at me then turned to talk to the person beside her.
"Don't think that I didn't see that." Someone said next to me.
I whipped around and saw Karly grinning at me.
"Saw what?" I played dumb.
"Oh come on Charlie." She leaned in closer so Riley couldn't hear. "You two just had the cutest moment and you are gonna ignore it?"
I couldn't come up with a response. I don't know what just happened between Riley and I.
"She was just being nice because she hurt my feelings." I shrugged.
"From what I hear Haze doesn't care about anyone's feelings........" she grinned at me.
"Don't read into it Karly. It meant nothing."
Karly leaned back into her seat. I don't think she was convinced. She had a dumb little smirk on her face.
The rest of the lunch was pleasant. Hailey let us know our first game is on Friday and we had a weight training session Monday morning before classes. After that everyone was free to go.
Girls started filing out of the restaurant. Riley stood up and offered her hand to help me up. I pretended I didn't see it and got out of my chair by myself. I don't want this woman to think I want to be her friend. We are teammates. Nothing more.
I saw her smile to herself out of the corner of my eye when I ignored her. Then to my surprise she placed her hand onto the small of my back without warning. Butterflies erupted in my chest.
My first instinct was to push her hand off of me and yell at her but I didn't want to cause a scene. I tensed up and allowed her to guide me out of the crowded restaurant ignoring the heat radiating from where her hand was on my back.
Once we were outside I spun around and came face to face with her. We were close....... Too close. So close that I could see flecks of green in her golden eyes. I could see a small scare on her left eyebrow I hadn't noticed before. I wonder how she.......
Riley cleared her throat.
I took a step back and recovered from my staring contest with her face by glaring at her.
"Why are you mad now?" Riley asked.
Why was I mad?
"Because you're annoying."
"Annoyingly cute." She smiled "I get that a lot."
I glared at her again. "Can we just get this over with?" I sighed.
"Yep! Come on!" She pointed to a black car that looked like it belonged on a racetrack.
"What kind of car is this?" I asked walking around to the passenger side.
"It's a nissan 370Z. My pride and joy." She grinned "her name is Raven." She climbed into the car and I followed.
"Who names their cars?" I laughed clicking my seatbelt in.
Riley turned to me quickly. "You haven't named your car?" She said exasperated. "Tsk tsk, we will have to change that." She started the car and we backed out of the parking spot.
She peaked out of the parking lot and drove us quickly towards the university. Just when I thought she was going to turn into the a parking lot for our dorm she passed it. Then she drove us away from the university all together.
"Where are you taking me?"
"You'll see." She grinned at me.
She drove us to the edge of town then took a turn on a dirt road into a forest.
"Are you going to murder me?" I asked starting to feel panicked. I don't like not knowing where I'm going. Im kinda a control freak that way.
"I'm not gonna murder you Lee." She laughed.
I froze. Her calling me Lee sent my head into a spiral. I felt my face drop and tears threaten my eyes. I haven't been called Lee in years. Suddenly memories were swirling around in my head and I couldn't stop the tears anymore.
"Woah. What happened are you okay?" Riley said panicking. She stopped the car and put it in park.
"Sorry, I just....... You called me Lee." I said tears falling from my eyes.
"Oh yeah sorry. Uh........I wasn't really thinking about it..........Charlie...... Lee...... I didn't know it would bother you." She said with a concerned look in her eyes.
I smiled at her. She looked at me like I was crazy.
"No it didn't bother me. I just....... I haven't been called that since...... my dad.......died."
"Oh shit. Charlie. I am so sorry." She took my hand in hers and squeezed it. I felt my tears stop almost immediately at her comforting gesture.
"Honestly, it was nice hearing that nick name again........ I was just so shocked by it. I didn't mean to cry in your car." I laughed wiping away my tears.
"It's fine Charlie." She laughed. "I made you cry and you're apologizing? You are something else." She giggled.
I looked down at our still joined hands them up into her eyes. She is so beautiful. I know I say that a lot but I am painfully aware of it every time I look at her. I gave her a small smile.
"I don't mind if you call me Lee." I said looking at her through my eyelashes.
Riley studied me for a moment. "Okay..... Lee." She smiled and I felt a warmth spread through my body. Hearing her call me Lee was my little guilty pleasure now. It reminded me of happy times....... Memories I forgot.
"Okay now take me to wherever you're going to murder me."
She giggled then dropped my hand. I felt a little disappointed but had to remind myself I'm going on a date with her brother tomorrow.
She turned the car off.
"I'm not going to murder you and we are here." She unbuckled her belt and climbed out of the car.
I looked out of the windows and all I saw was trees.
"Aren't you supposed to give me a tour of campus? I didn't hear anything about the forest." I said climbing out of the car after her.
"Just follow me." She laughed and grabbed a backpack from her car then started walking towards a trail.
We walked for about 5 minutes until we came up on a small river.
"Here we are!" Riley exclaimed excitedly and a bird flew out of a tree overhead.
I look across the landscape and all I saw was trees and water.
"Why are we here?" I said confused.
Riley placed the backpack on the ground then unzipped it and revealed a picture frame. She flipped it around so I could see the front. It was MY picture frame. It had a picture of me Casey and Rick in it.
"Hey! Where'd you get that?" I yelled snatching the picture from her.
"From your desk this morning." She grinned.
"Why do you have it?" I said angrily.
"It's the only thing I could find on your desk from high school."
Why the fuck?
"Explain." I demanded.
"Woah woah! It's a tradition! To throw something from high school into the river, letting go of your past........ to start your adult life!"
"I like this picture" I said defensively.
"Yeah, by the way, who's the hunk?" She pointed at the picture.
"Uh that's Rick..... my Ex."
She looked at me amused again. "And why do you have a picture of your Ex when you are "kinda" dating my brother." She smirked and took a step towards me.
"I like how Casey and I looked in the picture. I've been meaning to change the picture out but I haven't had time."
"Are you sure it's not because you still want him?" She asked taking another step closer to me.
"Ew. No. He's the worst." I groaned.
Her golden eyes stared into mine as if making sure I wasn't lying then she smiled. "Okay let me see it." She held out her hand for the picture.
I reluctantly handed it to her. She took the picture out and handed the frame back to me. She folded the picture and ripped off the part that had Rick in it then handed the other part to me.
"Now you can throw this" she held up the picture of Rick "into the river. You don't need him anymore." She smiled.
The way she was smiling at me sent goosebumps down my spine. She was being so sincere today and it was throwing my whole perception of her off. Maybe she was more than the hot and cocky soccer girl.
I smiled back at her then took the picture. I walked to the edge of the water and threw it in without looking at it. I felt like a weight I didn't know was there had been lifted off my chest. I sighed and watched it float down the river.
I felt Riley put her arm over my shoulder and I turned to look at her. "Feels good huh? Letting go."
"Surprisingly, yeah."
Her eyes lit up. "Okay now part 2!" She ran back to her back pack and pulled out a sharpie. "Pick a rock!"
"A rock?"
"Yeah just grab a rock!" She said excitedly.
"Okay." I said confused then bent down and grabbed a small flat one.
"Perfect." She turned her back to me. "Now write the emotion you are feeling onto the rock."
I did as she asked still confused.
"Okay write the first name that pops into your head........." I wrote down the first name I could think of.
"Finished?" She asked with her back still to me.
"Mmmmhmmmm"
"okay, this is your good luck rock. Don't show this to anyone. Not even me. If anyone sees it the person on the rock will get all of your luck." She turned around and grinned at me. "I know. It's silly. But I still haven't shown anyone my rock. It's been 3 years." She blushed.
Why was she being so adorable right now.
I put the rock in my pocket. "Thanks for showing me this." I smiled back.
"No problem. Let's head back." She said and started walking back to the trail.
The ride back to the university was short and when we got there she parked in front of our dorms.
"So who took you out to the river?" I asked climbing out of the car.
She froze for a second then looked at me. "Oh uh.... She was a senior. The team captain at the time actually."
"Oh that's cool."
She had a hurt expression on her face for a moment then covered it up quickly. "Yeah. Anyways. Do you have your class schedule. I'll show you what buildings they are in."
I pulled my schedule up on my phone and showed her.
She then escorted me around campus in a rush it seemed.
When we made it back to the dorms she walked me to my room.
"Oh, One last thing!" She pulled out her phone then put her arm around my shoulder for the second time today. "Smile." I smiled awkwardly. She held her phone up and took a selfie of us together.
"Thanks! I'll see you later Lee." She smiled and walked across the hall and out of sight into her room.
I stared at her closed door for another moment then walked into my room and threw myself on my bed. What a weird day. I never thought I could get along with Riley let alone spend hours with her.
I sighed and pulled the rock out of my pocket and looked at it. The words:
Hopeful.
Riley.
Looked back at me.