'Mum!' Ryker yelled, loudly, through the hallway of his house as we stepped in the front door.
I stayed close to him as we walked in and down the hall towards the lounge, the overwhelming smell of weed hitting my nostrils as I walked closer to the door and both male and female voices could be heard.
I subtly linked his arm as we stepped into the lounge doorway and I immediately pasted a smile on my face as I prepared to greet his mother again. The sense of awkwardness hit me as she looked up at us, eyes heavy, smile sloppy, joint in one hand and a beer in the other. A man sat on the sofa opposite also holding a joint and a beer. The man looked intimidating and scary, being of a very large build, wearing a dirty, white vest and jeans. He had a very long and scruffy beard and also had a huge black eye.
'Oh, you brought a friend home,' Ryker's mum said, before letting out a loud cackle as she looked to her friend. 'Deano, our Ryker has a little girlfriend now.'
'Wow, I've got to say I'm impressed, little man,' Deano said, smiling and revealing a missing tooth right at the front. 'You've got a little beauty of a future daughter-in-law there haven't you, Donna!'
'Daughter-in-law!' Ryker's mum, Donna, screeched, before letting out a very loud and patronising snigger.
'On second thought, I think we'll leave,' Ryker said, letting out a sigh as he nudged me towards the door.
'Oh, don't be like that, Ryker!' Donna cried. 'We're just fucking with you.'
'I didn't know you'd have company,' Ryker said. 'It's the middle of the week.'
'So you brought her to meet your mum?' Deano asked. 'How very fucking adorable is that?'
'I've already met her I think,' Donna mumbled, tilting her head as she studied me with squinted eyes before they widened and she smiled a toothy grin. 'Yeah, you've been here before!'
'Yes, I came around here to see Ryker and you invited me in,' I told her, quietly.
'That's right, I remember,' Donna laughed. 'So, what was the big, important thing then? Pregnant? Broke? Parents kicked you out for shagging a good-for-nothing bum from the shitty Meadowview neighbourhood?'
'Mum!' Ryker snapped. 'Shut the fuck up!'
It pissed me off immediately as I heard the way she talked about her own son and I was dying to set her straight and tell her how amazing he actually was and that she didn't even realise it but I didn't have the balls to stand up to her.
'Well, what the fuck is she doing with you, mate?' Deano laughed. 'She's looks like she's from the posh side of town. Did you shag him when you were hammered at some party, darling? Get yourself knocked up and now he's stepping up to the mark?'
'Deano, I won't hesitate to make your other eye match that fucking black one,' Ryker muttered.
'I'm just trying to lighten the mood, fucking hell!' Deano cried, raising his hands defensively as he grinned. 'The girl looks fucking terrified.'
He and Donna burst into fits of laughter as they studied my completely frozen face and Ryker stepped forward, pushing me slightly behind him.
'Actually, I came here thinking you might be sober enough to maybe have a normal conversation with Amelia and maybe try and get to know her but I should have known better than to think you'd fucking care about anything in my life,' Ryker said.
'Oh, Ryker, come and sit down, we can all have a nice chat and get to know Amelia if you want us to,' Donna laughed. 'Come on, sit down, have a drink, have a smoke.'
'I don't want her to get to know Deano, thanks very much,' Ryker said.
'Oy!' Deano cried. 'What's wrong with getting to know me?'
'You're a fucking twat who only comes around here when you're broke and want to skeeze drugs off my mum,' Ryker replied.
'Now, now,' Deano said, slowly and sternly in a very threatening tone, as his smile dropped and he stood to his feet. 'Don't start coming at me, son, because I won't hesitate to floor you in front of your pretty little girlfriend.'
'You can't even fucking see your hand in front of your face, mate, you're that off it,' Ryker said, scowling at him. 'Sit the fuck down and carry on as you were. We're going upstairs.'
'Yeah, well make sure you use a fucking condom because I ain't ready for fucking grandkids yet,' Donna called, as Ryker ushered me out of the room and the sounds of Deano and Donna howling with laughter again echoed through the house as we hurried upstairs.
The laughter disappeared as we stepped into his room and shut the door and I hovered on the spot as he pulled off his jacket, threw it over the chair and sat down on the bed, dropping his head into his hands.
'Ryker?' I mumbled.
'I shouldn't have brought you here,' he said, keeping his head down. 'She's a fucking embarrassment.'
'There's nothing to be embarrassed about,' I said, moving towards him and dropping to my knees, pulling his hands from his face so that he looked up at me. 'I've been here before. I've met her before. I knew what to expect.'
'That's besides the fucking point,' he sighed. 'We go to your house and even after all of the shit I've pulled, your mum still made me feel welcome that day I stayed; she cooked me dinner, she let me lounge around with you, she talked to me, got to know me, she was nice to me and I didn't even deserve it. I felt more at home than I ever have here with my own mum. It's so shit for you that you don't get to receive the same treatment when you come here as I do at your place.'
'It's not shit,' I told him, lacing my fingers through his as I moved my face closer and looked at him seriously. 'It's just the way it is.'
'It's fucking terrifying,' he said, his eyes creasing up as he looked back at me. 'I don't know why the fuck I thought it was a good idea to come.'
'What's so terrifying?' I asked. 'You know I'd never judge you or your mum.'
'I know you wouldn't,' he sighed. 'I just worry that it could scare you off. I don't want you to fear coming around here so maybe it's best I don't bring you at all. The type of people she has here...I just don't want you around them.'
'Then we don't have to come,' I said. 'If you want me to be here with you, I always will, this will never ever scare me off. I'm not with you for any reason other than I love you. We can just stay up here and be away from them but if you don't want me here at all, we can go to my place. If you feel at home there, then you can come anytime you like.'
'I really do have nothing, Amelia,' he told me. 'No loving family to invite you into, no fancy house for you to stay over at...I don't even have proper friends, just dickheads who I would never want you to be around. I will, however, look after you and make sure you're as happy as you can possibly be. I'll do everything to make sure you have everything if I can make that happen and I'll be here for you no matter what.'
'I know you will,' I whispered, placing my hands around his neck as I pressed my forehead to his. 'That's all I need.'
'I can't change who I am and where I come from but I'm doing my best to change where I'm heading,' he said. 'I'm going to make something of myself so we can have a future and so that I can give you everything that I can't give you now.'
'You give me more than enough,' I told him. 'I just need you. Nothing else. I know you're working hard but I want you to do that for you, not me. We'll both work hard and we'll both do well and we'll succeed together.'
'We'll get the fancy house,' Ryker said. 'I'll make sure of it. A place that's ours.'
'I know we will,' I said, with a soft smile, feeling like I was glowing from the inside out at his talk of us having a future together. 'I can't believe you think about all of that stuff so soon.'
'Everyday,' he said, resting his hands on my waist. 'Does it freak you out?'
'Not at all,' I replied.
'Good, because this is the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm never letting you go,' he said, before he tilted his head inwards and pressed his lips to mine.
I straightened up on my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly, losing myself in our kiss and loving the way his hands clutched onto my body as if I were about to be ripped away from him.
'I'm going to take you home now,' he whispered, as he pulled his lips from mine.
'Why?' I asked.
'When Deano is here it usually means there's a few more to follow,' he said.
'Oh,' I said, softly, instantly feeling like taking me home was a good idea. I would have stayed if he'd wanted me to, but the idea of several more people like Deano arriving made me feel uneasy and I was more afraid that someone might say something to me and Ryker would flip out.
'You understand, right?' he asked, gently holding onto my chin.
'Of course,' I replied, nodding.
We got to our feet and Ryker pulled his jacket back on before we left his room, headed downstairs and stepped straight out the door. He took my hand in his as we paced quickly down the driveway and as we stepped into the street and turned left, a voice made us stop and turn back.
'Where are you going?' A bald man with a huge, thick, black moustache spoke up, aggressively, as his eyes wandered over me. There were two other guys behind him, both extremely skinny and very ill-looking, hunched over slightly as their eyes slowly moved across us. I could tell by their faces that they were under the influence of something. Even though they were looking at me, it's like they weren't really there.
'Just out, Billy,' Ryker replied.
'Who's this?' Billy asked him, nodding towards me.
'No one,' he replied, squeezing my hand tightly. I knew his reasons for keeping the details from this man. I knew he had absolutely no intentions of this man finding out who I was and I was glad for it.
'Well it's obviously someone or you wouldn't have her around here,' Billy said, stepping towards us. 'What's your name, darling?'
'Don't talk to her, Billy,' Ryker said, stepping in front of me. 'She's nobody.'
'Very protective,' Billy said, arching a brow. 'What's her name?'
'I said she's fucking nobody!' Ryker spat.
'Come here,' Billy said, gesturing to Ryker with his finger.
'Fuckoff,' Ryker said.
'I said come fucking here!' Billy yelled.
Ryker sighed and let go of my hand, taking a few steps towards the man.
'What?' Ryker asked him, as I stood on my own feeling absolutely scared as hell.
'Name,' Billy said.
'Why?' Ryker asked.
'You've had her in the fucking house,' Billy replied. 'That's why!'
'It's nothing to worry about,' Ryker told him.
'Listen,' Billy said, leaning forward. 'You know the fucking drill so I want a name and address.'
There was silence as Ryker didn't speak and I waited, feeling myself start to shake as Billy's face became more impatient and pissed off.
'Sarah,' Ryker lied.
'Where does she live?' Billy asked.
'I don't fucking know, Billy, I told you, she's no one!' Ryker cried.
'You don't bring no one around the house!' Billy shouted, before he shoved Ryker aside and stormed towards me.
I stared up at him as he towered over me and I felt like I was about to piss myself from fear.
'Where do you live, kid?' he asked me.
'Ummm...' I couldn't speak. I was too afraid.
'Answer me before I get really pissed off,' he said.
'I...ummm...I live over that way,' I said, my voice shaking as well as my hand as I raised it and pointed in any old direction.
'Well, where's that?' he asked.
'Leave her alone, Billy!' Ryker cried, moving back over to stand by my side. 'She didn't fucking see anything.'
'You've nicked off me before, you fucking little twat so I'm not about to trust a fucking word that leaves your mouth!' Billy yelled.
'Fuck you!' Ryker yelled back. 'I'm done being spoken to like shit off all her fucking mates so piss off!'
Ryker spun around and laced an arm around my shoulder, pulling me with him as he began walking up the street and I gasped as I felt a tight hand around my wrist, yanking me back so hard that the tug on my shoulder made me cry out in pain.
'What the fuck are you doing?' Ryker cried, as he turned around to see Billy pulling me back towards him.
Before Billy could say a word to me, Ryker raced forward and the sound of his fist connecting with Billy's jaw made a loud, cracking sound, before Billy stumbled back and fell to the floor out cold.
My mouth fell open as Ryker and I stared down at him, unmoving on the ground and I instantly looked up to the other two men, watching as they casually shuffled up the driveway into the house as if they hadn't just witnessed what happened.
'Are you okay?' Ryker asked, as he looked down at where my hand was clutching my shoulder still.
'Yeah,' I replied.
'I hope he hasn't dislocated it,' Ryker said, reaching out to gently rest his hand on it. 'I'll fucking kill him.'
'It's fine,' I said, looking back down at the man on the ground. 'He's not dead, is he?'
'No,' Ryker said, guiding me up the street away from Billy. 'He'll be fine. Come on.'
I didn't argue as I quickly grabbed his hand and we paced away, eventually leaving the street and I was finally able to calm down as we walked the journey to my house.
'I'm so sorry,' Ryker said, after a short time of us not speaking.
'Please, you're not to blame,' I said.
'You're never coming back here,' Ryker said. 'I don't mean that in a bad way and I don't want to offend you but I can't have you around this life.'
'I understand,' I said, not wanting to ever come back anyway. 'I don't want you to come back here either.'
'I'll be fine,' Ryker said.
'You have to come back here where he is,' I said, feeling like I wanted to cry at the thought. 'What will he do to you?'
'Fuck all,' Ryker said. 'He won't touch me. He'll probably have a go but I'm used to it.'
'Who is he, Ryker?' I asked. 'Why did he want to know who I was?'
'Half the gear in that house is his,' Ryker said. 'He doesn't trust having anyone around, especially my friends. I've nicked his weed loads of times and I've learned to stop because he takes it out on mum but he's paranoid. He needed to know who you were incase anything went missing.'
'So he would come looking for me?' I asked.
'Yeah,' he replied. 'Any of those crackheads could steal from him tonight and he'd blame me or you. That's why you're never coming back; I was fucking stupid to bring you.'
'You need to get away from there, Ryker,' I told him. 'I'm honestly so scared that one day one of them will really hurt you.'
'They leave me be,' he said. 'I'm rarely home anyway.'
'I'll speak to Christine,' I told him. 'I'll ask if you can stay over.'
'Oh yeah, that will go down well,' Ryker laughed.
'We have a spare room,' I said. 'If we explain, she'll understand.'
'I have to go home, Amelia,' he said. 'I've got to be there incase anything happens to mum; that's the only reason I stay there.'
'She's not your responsibility, Ryker,' I told him, honestly. 'I know she's your mum but this is not a life for a 16-year old boy.'
'I know,' he sighed. 'But what do you expect me to do? Abandon her?'
'No, but you don't have to stay there,' I said. 'You can still check in on her everyday.'
'Amelia, she takes drugs every single day,' he told me. 'Not just weed...the weed is nothing. She's tried getting clean so many times but she can't do it. I know the day will come when she'll take that one hit that ends it all. I know she doesn't have a lot of time left in this world. She's an addict and...it's getting worse. How could I ever abandon her at a time like this? A crucial time that might not be a lot of time at all.'
I stopped dead in the street and turned to look at him, pressing my palm to his cheek. He was so strong. He was talking about this like he was discussing the weather, so casually and without emotion. It pained me that such an amazing person had been handed such a traumatic life. It never failed to make me realise how lucky I'd been to escape mine.
'You're expecting the worst?' I asked him.
'I'm prepared for it,' he said. 'Everyday I wake up I tell myself today could be the day.'
'I'm so sorry,' I said, feeling myself welling up for him but I did not want to cry. I wanted to be strong for him so he knew he could talk to me about anything.
'I don't feel sad about it anymore,' he said. 'How can I be sad? It's the choice she made for herself. She knows where she's headed. She knows the risks. I love her because she's my mum but...the truth is she's given me a terrible, shitty life. I was never number one. The drugs, the alcohol...it always came before me. I was never enough for her to stay sober. I know better than to hope she can turn it around now.'
'You deserve some much more,' I replied.
'You have no idea how happy I am for you that you got away from your shit parents,' he told me. 'I'm so happy for you that you found a good family.'
'I'm going to make sure you have that,' I told him, moving in and pressing my body against his. 'You deserve the world, Ryker. You're a good person underneath it all and like you said, we'll make sure we have the most amazing future...one you deserve.'
'I know we will,' he said, smiling down at me. 'You're my family now.'
'Yes, I am,' I replied, moving up onto my toes to kiss him before we continued hand in hand up the road, not far from my neighbourhood. 'Stay at my house tonight. The window is still always open for you.'
'Thanks,' he laughed. 'I think I'll give it a miss tonight. I've left a shitstorm behind so I have to go and sort it.'
'I'm scared you'll get hurt,' I said.
'I might,' he sighed. 'But I'll be fine, I'm hard as nails.'
'Shut up,' I laughed.
'I just knocked a 200-pound bloke out cold,' Ryker chuckled, nudging me. 'Don't pretend it didn't turn you on.'
'Stop!' I gasped, before a smile broke onto my face. 'I was too scared to be turned on!'
'See, I don't want you to be scared,' he said, clutching my hand tighter. 'From now on, I think we'll spend our evenings at your house.'
'That's fine by me,' I said, as we turned the corner into my neighbourhood.
'Don't worry about me, okay?' he said. 'I'll be fine and as soon as Billy's had his fix he'll be flat out for the night.'
'I hate you going back there,' I said, feeling completely useless that I could do nothing to protect him.
'I'm used to it, darling,' he laughed. 'But you're the first person to ever worry about me so much in my whole life and it's a nice feeling. Strange for me...but I like it.'
'Worry is an understatement,' I mumbled, feeling saddened as we reached my street and I could see my house.
'As soon as I've dealt with the drama, I'll be locked away in my room; they never ever come up to my room,' he said. 'I'll be sure to call you right away.'
'You'd better,' I said, as we reached my house and stopped at the gate. 'Call me the second you're away from them.'
'I will,' Ryker said, smirking at me.
'Please, take me seriously,' I said, pouting at him.
'I am!' he said, letting out a small laugh. 'It's just cute.'
'It's not cute, I really feel scared for you,' I told him.
'Okay, come here,' he sighed, pulling me in and I rested my head on his chest, smothered by his arms closing in around me and I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent as I held onto him. 'Nothing is going to happen to me, okay?'
'Okay,' I mumbled.
'Now, go inside, I'll head straight home and I'll be calling you before you know it,' he said, planting a kiss on the top of my head.
I looked up at him, resting my chin on his chest and he leaned down and kissed my lips, his mouth moving against mine slowly and tenderly and all of my fears disappeared in that moment, until he pulled away and stepped back from me, then they all returned again as I stared at him sadly.
'Go on,' he laughed, gesturing for me to go inside.
'Okay,' I said, nodding as I headed through the gate and up to my front door. I unlocked it and stepped inside, turning back to wave at him once more and he grinned at me from the street, giving me a small wave before I closed the door and sighed.
I hated the feeling of not being with him but it was even worse knowing where he was, all on his own. This was the very reason why having Mason as a best friend had been so good for him. He'd had an escape. He'd had Mason's house there for him whenever he needed a place to be and now he no longer had that. It would never ever cease to sadden me that he'd lost his best friend.
I quickly headed upstairs, throwing my things down in my room and I went for a shower, making sure I was in and out of it quickly. Racing back to my room, I checked my phone to see there was nothing and telling myself he probably still wasn't even home yet, I proceeded to get into my pyjamas. I did my usual routines of cleansing my face, brushing my teeth, drying and straightening my hair and then I quickly tidied up my room before I put on the TV, grabbed my phone and got into bed.
No sooner than I'd got under my duvet, my phone rang and I jumped before a smile spread on my face at seeing his name.
'Hi!' I said, feeling relieved as I answered.
'See,' he said, smugly through the phone. 'Now you have me for the rest of the night.'
🖤🖤🖤
The next morning, Ryker was waiting for me at the end of my driveway and we walked to school together hand in hand.
He told me the story of what happened when he'd returned home the night before and I was relieved to hear that nothing serious went down. Billy was awake but already high as a kite when Ryker arrived and although he did threaten him, he was far too out of it to even move from the sofa.
'Anyway, the rest of them were all off their faces too so I just ignored Billy's attempts at threatening to take my head off my shoulders and went to my room,' Ryker continued. 'Then I called you and was very much enjoying my night talking to you until halfway through me telling you about my current project, I heard snoring through the phone.'
'Shut up! I cried, scrunching my face up at him. 'I don't snore!'
'Well then how did I know you were asleep?' Ryker laughed.
'I was obviously breathing loudly,' I said, nudging him.
'Whatever you say,' he chuckled.
'What's the project anyway?' I asked. 'I remember you saying you had a surprise you'd been working on; can I see it?'
'When it's...done, yeah,' he said.
'Well, what is it?' I asked, as we walked across campus towards the main doors.
'Ummm, well, it's to do with you, I guess,' he replied.
'Really?' I said, my whole face lighting up.
'Yeah,' he said, smiling down at me. The smile he did when his mouth turned up on one side and his green eyes practically sparkled always made me weak at the knees.
'I can't wait to see it,' I said.
'Well, not just yet; we have to wait,' he said. 'We have to be patient, which is annoying because I'm never one for taking my time with anything, especially my drawings. I have no patience. I rush and just get it down on the paper, which is why all of my work looks like a load of scribbles.'
'You're brilliant, Ryker,' I told him. 'That's just your style of art. I can't wait to see more when you'll actually let me.'
'With this...project, I really took my time,' he said, as we headed through the doors. 'I paid close attention to every single detail to make sure I captured every single perfect little part of you for it.'
'You're making me blush,' I laughed. 'But giving me small insights to this surprise is very intriguing.'
As he chuckled at me hiding my reddened face from him, we moved through the hallway and as I kept my head low to hide my face, I felt Ryker stop and I immediately looked up at him, turning to see what he was looking at with a stern expression.
My lips slightly parted as Mason stood in front of us, all three of us staring at each other in silence.
'Can we help you?' Ryker asked, finally breaking the silence.
Mason looked awkward and uncomfortable as he shifted on the spot and seemed to struggle to find a response.
'Well?' Ryker asked.
'Come on, Ryker,' I said. 'Leave it.'
'You have to understand why I did it,' Mason said, looking at Ryker seriously. 'As much as you're angry with me, you have to know why it came to that.'
'I get it, Mase,' Ryker said. 'I completely understand every single feeling of rage and anger and fury that you must have felt when you found out about us. I get it.'
'Well then you have to understand why I tried to make you leave,' Mason said.
'I hope you're not about to apologise for that,' Ryker said. 'Because I might just laugh in your face, mate.'
'I'm not going to apologise for something I'm not sorry for,' Mason said. 'Especially after you fabricated some stupid fucking story to my parents and landed me in the shit. I still wish you were gone.'
'Well, I'm not,' Ryker said.
'You got me...you win,' Mason said. 'You're here to stay and I'll have to just deal with it but I will get past it.'
'I hope you do,' Ryker said.
'Do you really love her?' Mason asked him.
'You don't get to ask me that question,' Ryker replied. 'But I'll answer it anyway, because I'm not about to pass up any opportunity to say it out loud. Yeah, I love her more than anything on this fucking planet. Does that give you some comfort? Does it help to know that she's with someone who loves her or are you just torturing yourself some more?'
'Well if you love her as much as you say you do, then surely you can understand how it would feel if someone took her away from you,' Mason said.
'No, mate,' Ryker replied. 'I don't ever have to wonder for one second what that might feel like because I wouldn't be stupid enough to let her go.'
'I didn't let her go,' Mason said. 'I lost her. You took her.'
'She left you, mate,' Ryker said. 'You weren't together.'
'We would have got back together,' Mason said, his nose wrinkling as he started to become annoyed.
'I never have to worry about what it might feel like to lose her because I'll give her everything she needs so that no one else can ever take my place,' Ryker said. 'I'll be exactly who you weren't. You weren't enough for her.'
'Neither will you be one day,' Mason said, before he finally looked at me. 'That's just how she is. She'll do the same to you.'
I felt Ryker take a step forward and I gripped onto his hand tighter to stop him, immediately feeling him breathe out and calm down.
'Whatever makes you feel better, Mase,' Ryker said, apathetically, as he remained composed. 'Now, if you'd kindly fuckoff, my girlfriend has a class I need to walk her to.'
'I'm leaving,' Mason said, looking at me so that I was well aware he was telling me and not Ryker. 'I'm finishing my studies through home-schooling.'
'Okay,' I said, feeling awkward and unsure of why he was telling me this.
'The little stunt you guys pulled caused so much trouble and now my parents don't trust me at all,' Mason continued. 'They believe I was led down a troublesome path by being friends with Ryker and in a relationship with you and now I'm being forced to correct my ways after all of the terrible things you told them about me...including the lies.'
'Well,' Ryker laughed. 'I won't say that doesn't make me feel completely fucking thrilled to hear.'
'I also can't bear to spend another day seeing you two together in this school so I'm happy to be leaving,' he continued. 'I won't be at Richmond College either. I'll be going to university like I originally planned and hopefully never seeing either of you again will help me move on.'
'Well,' I said, calmly. 'I think that's for the best.'
'Of course you do,' he said, eyeing me up before he turned to Ryker and gave him a final stare down too. Pulling his backpack up further onto his shoulder, he gave us a small nod and took a step sideways. 'Well, you two have a nice life.'
'We will,' Ryker replied, but Mason had already sped too far down the hall to hear him.
'That was awkward,' I said. 'But I'm relieved that he doesn't seem to have anymore intentions of fucking with us.'
'Yeah,' Ryker replied. 'We'll see.'
'You think he's got more plans in store for us?' I asked.
'Nah...I think he's done,' Ryker said. 'You forget he was my best friend. I know him. I know that expression on his face. He's defeated and he's tired and he's done.'
'Well...good,' I said, unsure of whether or not I felt bad for Mason but I quickly dismissed the idea in my head.
'Come on then,' Ryker said, pulling me down the hall. 'Let's get you to class.'