I came in through Riley's window the next morning to find her already sitting there patiently, waiting for me.
"It's Saturday morning, why are you up so early? You love sleeping in." I asked her as I took a seat on the warm cushions in the bay window.
Riley reached over to wrap an arm around my neck and pull me in for a side hug. "Well now there's something else I love even more that's worth waking up early for."
I cocked an eyebrow at her. "And what's that?"
She stared at me with glossy sleep deprived/ lovesick eyes (I couldn't tell the difference). "You, dummy."
"Oh." I giggled, feeling the heat rise to my face, which prompted Riley to kiss my cheek sweetly.
The taller girl intertwined our fingers and stood up, pulling me along with her. Her messy bed head was still prevalent and it took every ounce for self control for me not to reach my hand out and run my fingers through them. "Come on, I want you to meet my family." She tugged.
"I've already met them." I interrupted nervously, remembering back to my short conversation with her mom at the police station.
Riley nodded understandingly when she noticed my nervousness. "Hey." She whispered, placing two fingers underneath my chin so that I would look up at her. "I want you to meet them properly this time, they're going to love you. I promise." She cooed, never breaking eye contact.
A twinge of guilt spread throughout my bones when I remembered that I would never be able to utter those same words to her and comfort her in the way she did for me. That we could never be a normal couple that got nervous about introducing each other to our parents because mine hated her with a passion. What hurt even more was that I knew there was nothing more Riley wanted than to be normal, but she never pushed me to introduce her to my mom and Shawn because she knew how they felt about her.
"Okay, I'm ready." I smiled, pushing aside all of my feelings.
~
For a family with an accused murderer as their daughter, I've never met a nicer group of people. Riley's parents and her brother welcomed me with open arms; literally. I was embraced in such a tight hug from each of them that I was convinced my circulation was going to be cut off.
I stared at Riley fondly every time she bragged about how amazing I was and showed me off to her family members.
After breakfast, the other three Matthews had gone out to run some errands and left Riley and I to lounge in the couch in the living room of the apartment.
"That went well, don't you think?" My girl asked, tucking a strand of dirty blonde hair behind my ear.
"Yeah." I agreed, "I don't even know why I was nervous in the first place."
The TV was on playing a French soap opera in the background although neither of us understood it, it was one of the few stations that wasn't covering the news at the moment. The voices from the tv show filled the silence while we stared at each lovingly.
Riley scooted closer to me on the couch. "So," she started. "I noticed the 'Riley exposé' account has been taken down."
I stroked my chin in curiosity and hummed. "Hm, that's a nice surprise!"
She laughed and moved closer, until our noses were barely brushing. "Thanks for doing that for me, peaches."
I inhaled sharply, not being able to think straight when Riley was this close to me- let alone form coherent sentences. "I would do anything for you." I replied with a whisper.
Slowly, I moved my hand from my thigh and inched it towards hers. I've never been this intimate with somebody before; not even with my ex girlfriend.
Riley happily intertwined our fingers and closed the gap between us by resting our foreheads together. "Am I dreaming?" She asked.
I chuckled and squeezed her hand in assurance. "It's all real, Riles."
"You feel it too, right?"
The brunette didn't need to specify what the feeling was but I understood. The way I felt when we were this close to each other was irreplaceable. "Of course I do honey."
She leaned forward at a painfully slow pace and and took my bottom lip between hers for a gentle kiss. "I love you so much Maya."
In lieu of responding, I pushed for back on the couch and continued kissing her- hoping that her parents weren't coming back any time soon.
~
When Riley arrived at her locker, all the colour drained from her skin at once.
"Hey." I said lowly, trying to calm her down. "What's wrong?"
She ignored me and brought a hand up to her mouth in shock. "Oh my god."
I directed my attention away from her pretty face for the first time all morning and turned to look at the locker.
Red paint was splattered all over the cold, blue metal doors to Riley's locker and hers only. The paint dripped down threateningly; it was still wet. The red substance spelled out a word that we had both been ignoring for the better part of a month now. The word murderer was spelt out clearly straight down her locker, completed with a mock bloody handprint.
"I don't feel so good." Riley whimpered, turning and walking as far from the scene as possible.
I reached out to grab her wrist and tugged her back before she could get too far. "Where are you going?"
She twisted in my grip, trying to get out. "Away from this." Eventually my hand loosened and she jogged off, pushing against the crowd of people that were beginning to form around her locker, causing me to lose sight of her in the mess.
The students whispered and pointed to each other as they gossiped about the scene. Some were even laughing. "What? Is this funny to you guys?" I asked. The hallway became dead silent as all pairs of eyes focused on me.
"Who did this?" I demanded, only to be met with silence. My vision became red and suddenly I couldn't keep my temper anymore. The girl I loved was being forced to deal with this every single day and it killed me that I couldn't do anything about.
"I said." I growled, clenching my fists together so tightly that my fingernails were starting to draw blood in my palms. "WHO. DID. THIS."
A few kids stepped back in fear at my outburst but again, nobody answered.
"YOU GUYS ARE DISGUSTING. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU. SHE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS AND YOU ALL KNOW THAT. I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE A FEW MONTHS BUT GOD, RILEY IS THE ONLY PERSON WITH A FUCKING HEART."
The entire crowd stared back soullessly, and blinked, like they were robots that were programmed to stand still. "DID YOU HEAR ME? LEAVE HER ALONE." I swallowed, raising my voice even louder and turning to face all of the dull faces in the crowd surrounding me. "LEAVE HER ALONE! LEAVE HER ALONE! LEAVE HER-"
Suddenly, Lucas emerged from the crowd and pulled me away from the centre of the circle. My shouting continued despite my voice beginning to crack with each syllable that I spoke. "LET GO OF ME!" I punched Lucas' shoulder repeatedly, trying to get the anger out. "IM NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL THEY GET IT ENGRAVED IN THEIR MINDS." I turned around in Lucas' arms that were holding me back and shouted at the crowd again. "FUCK YOU FOR HAVING THE NERVE TO TREAT A PERSON LIKE THIS. FUCK ALL OF YOU."
Hot tears were streaming down my face and my shouting quickly turned to sobbing. "Just leave her alone. Please..." I cried through tears, begging the emotionless crowd once more.
"Maya." He soothed, rubbing an arm up and down my shoulder. Before pulling me into a hug. "Stop it. They're not worth it."
By now, the bell had rang and classes were starting so the people in the crowd gradually left one by one until the hallway was completely empty again.
"I'll take care of the mess on her locker." Lucas told me while we hugged. "Go find your girl."
~
I skipped first period to go look for Riley because it was art and I was already passing that class with flying colours. It never dawned on me how large this school was compared to the one from my hometown until it had been nearly an hour and I still had no success in finding Riley.
Sighing, I turned a corner, gliding my fingers across the cold window panes that separated the courthouse from the school. It wasn't until I looked closer that I saw Riley sitting under the tree outside; looking deep in thought.
I pushed the door open and walked outside, shivering from the breeze that immediately hit me. "It's freezing out here, you're going to catch a cold." I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
"It is? I didn't notice." Riley replied seriously without looking up from her lap.
I chuckled before taking a seat beside her underneath the tree, enjoying the warmth that her body emitted when our thighs touched. "I'm not surprised, you've always been a lot more warm blooded than me."
"Why do you still have hope for me Maya?" She asked, completely changing the topic. "The entire city hates me and it would be so much easier for you if you just did the same."
I looked into the same big brown eyes that I met that night on the beach and saw the familiar sparkle, only it had almost been completely dimmed out now. "I used to never hope for anything, you know that? My signature catch phrase was hope is for suckers. Until I moved here and I met you, Riley. You taught me how to love and how to hope. I can never thank you enough for that."
Riley smiled briefly before turning away from me once again. "I wouldn't blame you if you did, you know." She muttered underneath her breath.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. "If I did what baby?"
"If you left me. And became one of them. I wouldn't blame you."
She tilted her head and leaned into the crook of my neck, nuzzling it like a sleepy kitten. I ran a hand through her wavy brown hair and smiled fondly. "I would never do that to you."
"I know." She said, pressing a chaste kiss to my jaw before returning back to her position. "That's why I feel so guilty."
"About what?"
"That I'm the reason the whole city shunned you. I am the person that made you an outcast. I'm sorry." She apologized.
"It was my choice. I insisted on being around you all the time." I assured her. "I'd rather be a fool with you then anything else without you." I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
For a moment, the two of us were in complete peace. The entire world revolved around us and for a second, we were the main characters in this story about our love- not the antagonists in the story of Mason Kieper's murder.
The silence remained for a while until I decided to break it. "We'll find out who did it, don't worry." I promised her. "They have security cameras here and the principle said she would reprimand anybody who tried to punish you on their own terms."
"And then what Maya? We'll get this person expelled but the next day something even worse is going to happen. First the pictures, and now this. I'm so grateful that I have you to protect me but this can't go on forever." She replied.
"Have you thought about coming out?" I asked.
Riley picked her head up to look at me in my eyes. "No. Why would I do that?"
"They've all seen the pictures anyways honey." I said, referring to the ones that Thomas posted of us kissing in the hallway. "My point is that they think you killed him because you didn't want to be with him anymore and he couldn't handle that- hence the picture of you two arguing in the hallway."
She nodded and tilted her head, trying to understand what I was getting that. "Okay but I don't see how coming out would help. It would just make me even more suspicious. I killed my boyfriend because I was gay and he couldn't accept that? Even worse."
Riley had the horrible habit of always imagining the worst possible outcome to a scenario before it had even finished. "That's why you tell them the complete truth. That you were gay and so was Mason and you guys were just each others' beards. If you're being honest, people will be able to see that and they'll believe you and leave you alone. I promise."
She paused for a moment before gathering herself. "What about Farkle? He's not ready to come out yet."
"Leave him out of it. You don't need to mention that Mason and Farkle were dating. Just say that you were both fake dating and the story ends there."
"You're a genius peaches." She grinned and kissed me on the cheek, cupping my jaw with her hand. "I'll do it at lunch today. I'll be able to do anything as long as you're by my side."
~
A/N: I feel like everyone always does Lucas so dirty in their rilaya books (I'm guilty of this in typical) so I made him a sweetheart in this one. whisper Lucas is my child so an attack in him is an attack on me. 😤 Updating soon, next chapter is wild, hope you enjoyed!
P.S- do you guys like these little A/N's at the end of the chapters where I give you updates on my writing process and hints? If you do I'll continue if not I'll just stay in my lane lmao.