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  Aiden walks past me and I follow close behind. We walk into what I assume is the living room, where a guy is sitting on the couch watching TV. He looks in our direction and raises his eyebrows.

  “Holy shit, I didn’t even hear you guys come in,” he says. He stands up and walks towards us.

  Aiden looks at the guy. “Alex, this is Riley. Riley, this is Alex.”

  Alex smiles at me and holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Miss Riley.”

  I shake his hand gently. “You too.”

  Alex glances at Aiden then back at me. “I would have cleaned up a little bit if I had known you were coming back with Aiden.”

  “It’s fine,” I say shyly. I don’t really do well with meeting new people.

  “I’m going to show her around if that’s fine,” Aiden says to Alex.

  “Go ahead. Just don’t take her into my room. It’s not exactly clean.” Alex smirks.

  Aiden’s hand finds the small of my back and leads me out of the living room. I feel butterflies in my stomach when Aiden’s hand touches me.

  We walk into the hallway again and make our way into another room, which is the kitchen.

  “My favorite place besides my room.” Aiden smiles. “Where all the food is.”

  “Of course.” I laugh.

  We walk out and Aiden shows me a small game room with a pool table and an air hockey table, a bathroom, and a small dining room. We then walk down a different hallway where Aiden presents me with Alex’s bedroom door, another smaller bathroom, and last but not least, his bedroom for the time being.

  He opens the door and walks in. His room isn’t anything fancy. His bed pushes up against the wall and is composed of a dark blue comforter with white pillows. There’s a small desk in the corner of the room where his backpack is thrown. A door off to the side is slightly open and I can see that it’s a closet. The walls are a plain white, making the room look bright.

  “What do you think?” Aiden asks me

  I think about it for a minute. “It’s…clean,” I tell him.

  He chuckles. “For now it is. My bedroom back at my house is trashed.”

  “Good to know,” I say sarcastically but smile at him. I find myself walking towards his bed. I sit down and discover it’s soft. Really soft.

  I lay back and sigh. “Your bed is so soft.”

  Aiden laughs at me. “It is. I sleep like a baby at night.”

  I close my eyes for a minute and instantly feel tired. I wish my bed is this comfortable. I’ll probably get a better night’s sleep.

  I feel the bed dip and my eyes spring open. My eyes widen when I come face to face with Aiden. I’m lying on my back on his bed while he hovers over me.

  My face instantly heats up.

  “Wha-what are you doing?” I stutter.

  “Seeing your reaction—” Aiden smirks “—and it’s pretty…adorable. You know you blush easily?”

  That only makes my face grow redder than it already is. “You know this is really awkward?” I find myself asking him.

  He chuckles. “I don’t know. I kind of like this.”

  “Hey, guys, I’m going to order a pizza, do you…” Alex says.

  Aiden stands up straight and I immediately sit up. My cheeks are still burning from embarrassment.

  Alex raises his eyebrows. “Um, should I come back in a minute?”

  “No.” Aiden shakes his head. “You were going to order a pizza?” He changes the subject.

  “I was wondering if pepperoni was fine with you guys,” Alex says, looking back and forth between Aiden and me.

  I nod mutely and Aiden agrees. Alex walks out of the room with a smirk on his face. I close my eyes and exhale.

  “That was awkward,” Aiden says.

  “No,” I start. “That was embarrassing.” I stand up and walk around him. “I think we should go back into the living room—”

  I stop when Aiden grabs my wrist. I turn to look at him and he pushes me up against the wall. My eyes widen in surprise. He smirks as his face draws closer to mine.

  “Do you like me, Riley?” he asks as he smirks.

  “Of course, I like you, Aiden—”

  “More than a friend?” He tilts his head.

  My brain is frying as I try to come up with an answer. I can’t tell him that I develop a silly crush on him. He probably doesn’t see me in that way, so why tell him? “No.” I keep my voice steady.

  He raises his eyebrows. He opens his mouth to say something but closes it immediately. He pushes himself away from me and reaches into his pocket and fishes out his phone. He frowns at the screen but holds it to his ear.

  “Hello?” he answers as he turns away from me.

  I take this opportunity to slip out of the room. I make my way around and find myself in the kitchen where Alex is pouring a glass of milk. He looks up and smiles when he sees me.

  “Hey, Riley,” he says casually.

  “Hi.” I give him a small wave.

  He closes the gallon of milk and puts it back in the fridge. “Where’s Aiden?”

  “He’s on the phone,” I answer.

  Alex takes a drink from his cup. “Oh shit, I didn’t even ask if you wanted anything to drink.”

  I chuckle. “I’m fine. No worries.”

  “Sorry I interrupted your little moment earlier. Aiden will probably kick my ass later on for it.” Alex grins.

  Great. He probably thinks Aiden and I are a thing. “It wasn’t a moment,” I tell him. “Aiden was just being weird.”

  Alex smirks. “Sure, he was.”

  I’m about to respond when Aiden walks in and grabs the car keys from the counter. Alex raises his eyebrow. “Going somewhere?”

  Aiden ignores Alex and looks at me. “Sorry to cut your visit short, but we have to go.”

  “Okay…” I say.

  “It was nice seeing you, Riley.” Alex offers me a smile.

  Aiden grabs my wrist and pulls me out of the kitchen before I can tell Alex goodbye. We walk out of the house and get into the car. Aiden quickly drives away.

  “Why did we have to leave?” I ask him. He looks tense. I wonder who he spoke to on the phone.

  “My dad is a fucking asshole.” He grits his teeth. “He packed up all the stuff from my room at our old house and put it into a new room at Anna’s place.”

  My eyes widen. I remember Kelly mentioning something about Robert and Aiden moving into Anna’s house once the wedding was over with, but I completely forgot about that until now.

  “What are you going to do?” I question.

  “I’m going to get my fucking stuff and I’m moving in with Alex. I don’t care what anyone tells me.” He grips the steering wheel tightly. “I’m taking you home first though. I don’t want to drag you into that bullshit.”

  I stay quiet throughout the car ride to my house. Aiden looks pretty scary when he’s mad, so I decide to leave him alone.

  Soon enough, he pulls into my driveway. I slowly open my door.

  “Riley,” Aiden says suddenly. I look at him. He scratches the back of his neck. “Do you wanna walk to school together tomorrow?”

  Well, I definitely didn’t expect him to ask that. I wonder where that came from. “Are you going to walk over here from Alex’s house?” If he wants to do that, he can. But it’ll be a pretty far walk.

  He shakes his head. “I’ll probably have Alex drop me off. Is that fine?”

  I give him a small smile. “That’s fine.”

  Once I’m inside the house, I’m ready to just lay down from the long day I had. But my mom calls me to the living room.

  “Yes?” I ask as I sit down next to her.

  She grabs the remote and turns the volume down on the TV. “I got the mail today.”

  “Okay…”

  “And there was something for you. I didn’t open it though,” she says, sighing. I raise my eyebrow. “It’s in the kitchen on the counter.” She’s acting kind of strange over whatever it is I have in the mail. I stand
up and walk towards the kitchen.

  I’m kind of nervous as I approach the counter. I see a white envelope sitting on the counter. I reach for it and grab it. My name is written on the back, but I don’t recognize the handwriting. I open it carefully and pull out the paper that’s inside. I unfold it and begin to read.

  Riley,

  It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. The last time I saw you, you had just turned three. I know now that you are eighteen, and I’m sorry I didn’t reach out to you on your birthday. I didn’t know how you would react to me reaching out to you.

  Please don’t hate me, Riley. I know I haven’t been the best father. I haven’t even spoken to you until now. I couldn’t bring myself to call you, so I decided to write this letter.

  I’m not living in town anymore, and I assume you knew that already. But I do live an hour away from you. And I would like you to come visit me sometime. I have talked to your mother about this once, but she didn’t think you would want to come. I have no way of knowing if you have discussed this with your mother.

  If you don’t want to visit, I understand. Just know that I would like to know the young lady my daughter has become, and I do care. I always have. Please just consider it. Give me a call when you make your decision.

  Love,

  Dad

  I purse my lips as I finish reading the letter. My dad wants me to visit him? My mom walks into the kitchen and looks at me. “What was it?” she asks curiously.

  I set the letter down. “It was a letter. From Dad.”

  Her eyebrows raise and she stares at me intently. “What did he say?”

  “He wants me to visit him,” I tell her as the information is still processing in my mind. Why is he reaching out to me now? After fifteen years of silence from him, he wants to see me now.

  “I knew he would do this,” she mutters, mostly to herself. “If you want to visit him, then you can. I’m not going to keep you away from him. He is your father after all. This is your choice, not mine.”

  I think about this. Do I want to see him? I don’t even know what he’s like. Does he have a new wife? Does he have another kid?

  Instead of standing in the kitchen, I run up to my room so I can have some alone time. I’m not sure if I want to see him. I mean, I don’t even remember him that much.

  But will it hurt to see the dad I haven’t seen in fifteen years?

  Chapter 21

  The doorbell rings as soon as I sit down to eat some cereal for breakfast. I look down and eat a spoonful real quick. I’m starving and nothing is going to come between me and my food. I take a few more bites then stand up from the chair. My bare feet slide across the carpet as I make my way to the door.

  Once I open it, Aiden smirks. “Well, it took you long enough.”

  I give him a small smile. “I was eating.” I open the door wider for him and let him inside the house. My mom left for work already, so it’s just us, making me a little uneasy.

  We walk into the kitchen and I sit down at the kitchen table where my cereal sits. “I would offer you some cereal, but I got the last bit of it,” I tell him.

  “I already ate anyways.” He shrugs. He glances around the kitchen. “Nice house.”

  “Thanks,” I mutter. I didn’t really sleep well last night, so I feel grumpy. I kept thinking about the letter from my dad and was trying to decide if I want to meet up with him or not. I’ve never actually thought about this since I never really expected to hear from him after all this time. I want to think this through.

  Aiden sits across from me at the kitchen table. “What are you thinking about?” he asks, slightly tilting his head to the side.

  I take in his appearance. He looks different, I guess. His hair is the same, but his outfit is somewhat off. He’s wearing a dark red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He leaves it unbuttoned and wears a plain white t-shirt underneath. Along with that, he wears regular jeans and some old Converse. I notice he doesn’t have his black leather jacket with him.

  “Riley?” I hear him ask. I blink and see him staring at me. He wears an amused expression on his face. “Damn, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you were checking me out.”

  The blood rushes to my cheeks. “I was not,” I mumble. In a way, I guess, I was checking him out. But I will never admit that out loud.

  He chuckles. “It’s okay. I know I’m gorgeous.”

  “You tell yourself that,” I say, continuing to eat my cereal.

  “A lot of girls find me attractive, Riley. You’re not the only one who thinks so.” He grins.

  I roll my eyes. “You’re being exceptionally conceited today. I don’t know if I want to walk with you to school today.” I finish my cereal and stand up. I rinse the bowl and set it in the sink.

  “Of course, you do,” he says to me. “You could get kidnapped remember?”

  I face him. “I could fight them off. I’m sure I would be fine.” What a lie.

  He smirks. “Oh yeah. I’m sure you would,” he says sarcastically.

  “Anyways,” I say, changing the subject. “I’m going to go brush my teeth and get some shoes, then we can go.”

  Aiden is already walking towards the living room when I finish speaking. He grabs the remote and turns the TV on. I make my way up to my room and finish getting ready.

  Today, my outfit consists of a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt with some jeans and my black Converse.

  When I walk back downstairs with my bag on my shoulder, I find that Aiden is no longer watching TV in the living room. I slowly walk around and finally into the kitchen.

  I find him leaning against the counter. He holds a paper in his hands and stares at it intently. I realize the paper he’s reading is the letter from my dad.

  I walk up to him and snatch the letter from his hands. “What do you think you’re doing?” I demand from him.

  He sighs and crosses his arms. But he doesn’t say anything.

  “Let’s go,” I say as I turn around. I fold the letter and stuff it into my backpack.

  Once I lock the door, we start walking in the direction of the school. We walk in silence until Aiden decides to speak.

  “So what are you going to do?” he asks.

  I look at him. “What?”

  “Are you going to visit your dad?” he asks instead.

  “I don’t know.” I kick a rock on the sidewalk. “I don’t know what to do.” I look back at him and he has an unreadable expression. He stares at me, and I see something flash in his eyes. But it’s gone before I can think any further about it.

  Aiden clears his throat. “I think you should see him.”

  I shrug. “I think I should see him too. But then I think of why he wants to see me now after all these years. It just…it doesn’t make sense.”

  My mind is trying to process everything still. Like I said, I can’t just decide right now what I want to do.

  “That’s true.” He nods. “I don’t think it’d kill you to see him though. At least he wants to see you.”

  I look at him and narrow my eyes. “Why do you want me to see him so badly?”

  “You might not get another chance like this,” he says to me. “Don’t you want to know what your dad is like?”

  I do want to know what he’s like. “Okay.”

  “Okay?” He raises his eyebrow.

  “Okay, I’ll tell him I want to see him,” I say, hesitantly. I’m going to do this. I want to see him.

  ***

  I pace in the hall by myself, holding my phone in my hand. It’s lunch time, so there’s hardly anyone in the hall. My mom had given me my dad’s phone number and his work number so I can call him, but I’m extremely nervous. I take a deep breath and look down at the screen.

  Just do it already.

  I press the call button and hold the phone to my ear, waiting for him to answer. Maybe I should have called his cell number. He could be busy. I pace some more until the ringing stops.

  “Lance Summers speak
ing.” I hear him answer. I almost forget that I have his last name.

  “Um, Dad?” I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for him to respond.

  After a few seconds, he replies, “Riley? Is it really you?”

  “Yeah, uh, it is,” I say awkwardly. I don’t do well on the phone. I lean against the lockers behind me.

  “I can’t believe I’m speaking to you right now,” he says. “I guess I’m still picturing you as a little girl. I’m assuming you’re calling about my letter?”

  “Yes, I am,” I say to him. “And I would love to go and visit you sometime.”

  I hear him sigh. “That’s great,” he says happily. “I was afraid you would say no. I’m so glad you want to come down and visit,” he tells me. “I’ll call your mother later and sort all of the details out.”

  “Okay.” I nod.

  “I’ll talk to you soon, Riley.”

  “Okay. Bye.” We hang up and I exhale. Well, that went pretty good. It’s settling in now that I’m actually going to see him.

  “Boo,” someone whispers behind me and pinches at my sides.

  I whirl around, expecting to see Aiden. But I’m caught off guard when I see that it’s Ryan. “You scared me.” I place my hand over my heart. What is it with people scaring me?

  He chuckles. “Sorry.”

  “So what’s up?” I ask him casually. I haven’t talked to Ryan in a few days.

  He shrugs. “Not much. The usual.”

  I’m not sure what the usual is, but I go on with the conversation. “How’s everything at home?”

  “Good.” We start walking down the hallway together. “Robert has been good to us. As for Aiden, he went to the house yesterday and argued with Robert. Aiden had taken a few boxes of his and left. Apparently, he won’t be staying with us.”

  Because he’s staying at Alex’s. “I know,” I say.

  “I heard you spent the day with him yesterday.” He nudges my arm.

  I roll my eyes. “Maybe because that’s what friends do? You know, hang out?”

  He laughs. “So you finally admit that you two are friends?”

  I nod. “Well, it seems like we’re friends.”

  We stay quiet for a few seconds. “So, Nicole tried getting back together with me this morning,” Ryan speaks.