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Rileys POV
I WAIT BY the cubbies, playing with the loose ends of my hair and sighing to myself, muttering in annoyance. Where is he? I literally texted him this morning and told him to be at the studio to rehearse at 3 exactly, and now it's half past and there's no sign of him anywhere. Not even a text explaining why.
I'm worried about him, at this stage. All month he's been missing rehearsals, coming in late and there isn't one day he hasn't got bags under his eyes and a tired, strained voice. Even his dancing is slacking, for the first time ever. I make a mental note to investigate him when he gets here. If he gets here.
After 15 minutes, the door finally swings open and james rushes in. I raise my eyebrows and cross my arms across my chest. "Well," I say. "Look who showed up."
He looks at his shoes awkwardly and his cheeks glow with colour. "Yeah, uh, I got caught up."
I roll my eyes. I hate it when he does this.
"Caught up? James, you've been 'caught up' for the past month. What could you have possibly—"
"Riley, it isn't important!" He suddenly explodes, but then sighs. "Can we just practice?"
I furrow my eyebrows. This isn't like James — my calm, easy-going boyfriend who literally does not care about anything. There's something going on.
"No. No, we can't." I state. "Not until I know what's up with you."
He rolls his eyes. "Riley, I'm fine."
"No you're not."
"I am—"
"Then why do you keep missing rehearsals? And cancelling dates?" I ask impatiently.
He sighs and looks desperate. "Look, it's really not your problem!" He says. "I get that you care, but... lay off me, okay?"
"Lay off you?" I echo. "James, I'm your girlfriend and I deserve to know what's going on!"
"No, you don't!" He yells. For a second I'm taken aback by his sudden anger, but I play it off.
He turns to start walking away, but I grab his arm. "James!"
To my surprise, he stops dead in his tracks and turns around again, his eyes glistening.
"Tell me what's happening." I insist.
He sighs, biting down on his lower lip and staring at me for a long period of time. "Fine. I... um. I have a... daughter."
His words come out as if he's choking on every one. I drop his arm, and take a step backwards, in shock. He has a... what? A daughter? One that I don't even know about?
Who's the Mum? Is he cheating on me? All these questions buzz around in my head.
"You what?" I choke out.
"I have a daughter." He repeats. "Her names Hazel. She's... she's four."
"FOUR?" I exclaim. "James, you're 19!" He had a kid at 15? I started dating him when he was 17, so he isn't cheating on me... well, he probably isn't.
"I know." He says. "But her social worker said that, if I have a job, some cash, and an apartment, I might be able to get her back. And, Riley, you might hate me for it, but that is all I want."
I take a second to process all this information. All the secrets. Is that where he's been? Working to get his daughter back?
"I can't believe you didn't tell me." I whisper, tears welling up in my eyes.
"Riles—" he reaches out an arm to me, but I reject it. "No, James." I say, pushing his arm away. "No."
I storm past him and leave the studio in a rage. I can't believe he never told me, he has a daughter and she's been completely secret for FOUR YEARS.
I thought he trusted me more than that. I thought he loved me more than that...
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Hey guys!
Hope you liked this. Next few chapters will probably be longer than this, don't worry!
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Thanks for reading,
- emma xx