11. Friday Night Week Four (pt1.)
Good god, make it stop.
I felt like my eardrums were going to tear and I was a hundred per cent certain there was blood streaming out of my poor ears.
Noah and Tyler were ridiculously screeching out the lyrics to One Direction and ruining a perfectly good, actually perfectly amazing, band for me.
"Shut the fuck up," I yelled over the music with my hands over my ears.
"That's a bad word Lyni," Tyler responded.
"Yeah Rei-Rei," Noah glanced over at me from his place in the driver's seat and shook his head at me, "bad word."
I rolled my eyes, "just please stop, I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Noah let out a chuckle and took pity on me as he lowered the music of the stereo and stopped with the screeching causing Ty to let out a groan and start complaining about how I was 'no fun'. 'No fun' my ass, I was the funnest.
"So, when are you gonna tell me why I'm driving you and Ty to Ryker's?"
Noah hadn't taken it the best when I told him that I was ditching him on Friday night movie night to go to Eli's place. We had made it a thing whenever my Nan asked me to look after Ty for the night, Noah would come over and spend the night with us, watching movies. We did it when we were younger as well when his older sister Sienna had to babysit Noah.
"Debbie, Riley's mum, is working the night shift at the hospital tonight and asked me to look after her kids as a favour. Nan is working so I've had to bring Ty," I tried to ease my guilt by telling myself that it wasn't a complete lie but there was still a slight ache in my chest as I didn't tell my best friend in the world the whole truth. I had only ever lied to Noah once and it had ended really badly for the both of us.
He looked sceptical and I could already tell what he was going to ask, "why can't Ryker do it?" Damn it, he had to ask, there was no way I couldn't lie to him.
I shrugged nonchalantly, "I dunno, it's not my business"
"Hmm, what was that on Wednesday then?"
"What was what?"
He arrived at Eli's house and the gates were already open so he just drove straight up to the house. He let out an exasperated sigh as he came to a stop and turned to face me, "we don't lie to each other Rei, not ever."
The ache in my chest exploded unbearably, I smiled at him and reached across the centre console to wrap my arms around him in a hug, "I know," I pecked his cheek, "love you, No-No." He hugged me back and mumbled an 'I love you too' into my shoulder.
We both got out the car and Noah got Ty out of his car seat whilst I grabbed my bag and Ty's Spiderman backpack full of toys from the backseat.
Noah made a move to carry Ty to the house but I stepped in front of him after spotting Eli stood in the doorway with a fierce scowl on his face, "I got this, it's fine, see you tomorrow for dinner at yours?" Referring to the one night a month my family and Noah's family had dinner together.
He nodded but his gaze was focused on Eli over my shoulder an equally fierce glare on his face, he handed Ty to me, softening his gaze as he ruffled his hair, "be good, little man" Ty nodded at him with a wide smile on his face, "message me when you get home Rei."
I gave him a nod and a reassuring smile as he walked back to his car and drove off. I knew how uncomfortable he was about dropping me off here, Eli and he didn't have the best history. And his protective side detested having to leave me here for the night.
My gaze fell to Ty in my arms, "let's go, buddy." I turned on my heels and headed over to Eli who was now leaning against the doorframe but was glaring at the back of Noah's car with his scowl on his face. The scowl slowly dropped and the glare gradually diminished when I stopped in front of him with Ty but his face remained impassive and unreadable. I hated when he did that.
Tyler wiggled out of my hold; Eli and I tracked his movements with our eyes as he slid down my body. Once he was on the floor he craned his neck to look up at Eli and then stuck his hand out, "I'm Ty." I smiled at his cuteness.
Eli crouched down to his level and shook his hand, "Ryker. How old are you, bud?" His deep voice rumbled.
Ty put up five fingers then looked at me behind him to see if he was right, I nodded and he smiled proudly, "I'm five."
"No shit, you look a lot older than that." I rolled my eyes as Eli swore but Ty didn't seem to care; totally unfair, where was the 'bad word Eli' nonsense.
Tyler shook his head and his smile broadened, men and their egos.
"You know," Eli started, "I have two little sisters your age, wanna go say hi?"
It felt like heart skipped a beat as Ty smiled widely at Eli. Eli pointed to the lounge which is where I assumed the girls were and Ty ran off without a look back making me let out a chuckle at his eagerness.
Eli stood back up to his full height and looked over at me but I was too busy running my eyes over him, he wore all black as normal, his hair was wet and he was barefoot leading me to believe that he'd just come out of the shower. When my eyes landed back on his face he was staring at me intensely. Holy hell. His eyes always caught me off guard, so blue you could drown. Neither of us blinked for as we peered at each other.
The moment was over though when he asked, "what's that Noah kids problem?"
I shook my head to snap out of it, "huh?" Eli leaned on the doorframe again, "what problem? He doesn't have a problem." I brushed past him to come into the entrance hallway of the house. He pushed off the doorway and turned to follow me in, shutting the door behind him.
He rolled his eyes after I turned around to face him, "he definitely has a problem, tigru."
Trying to be nonchalant, I shrugged, "do we have to talk about this?"
Eli's eyes narrowed at me and he spoke through gritted teeth as he asked, "why wouldn't we and how close are you two?"
My eyes met his and I saw something I couldn't place swirling in them, "we're pretty close, we've known each other our whole lives."
"Pretty close, huh?" He scratched his chin and looked up at the ceiling but he didn't say anything for a moment so I decided to break the tension by answering his other question.
"Talking about why my best friend," his eyes flickered back down to me at the word 'friend', "hates your guts make me kinda uncomfortable Eli, that's why I don't wanna talk about it."
He turned his head back down, "sure that's not just me, tigru?" He smirked as he said it and I rolled me eyes at his arrogance, deciding to just give in.
"He has a sister, she's a year older than us, away at college now," he said nothing so I continued, "well last year, her senior year, our junior year, you-um-you kinda sorta slept with her." My eyes were darting around the room, I couldn't look at him, this felt so awkward.
He nodded and scratched his chin again, "yeah, so? I've fucked plenty of girls."
I cringed at his choice of words and met his gaze again, "you took her virginity and she was crying to him about it for about a week because she regretted it," I looked away from him again and started shuffling on my feet awkwardly.
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his black joggers and tilted back on his heels, his head tipped back to look at the ceiling. "That's her problem. All the girls I fu-," he stopped and rocked back forward, his eyes flickering to me, "sleep with, know that I'm not gonna stick around."
Softly, I told him the reason for Noah's lasting anger, "you slept with her for a bet Eli, the whole school knew about it. People made fun of her for ages."
He closed his eyes as understanding dawned, "His sister is Sienna?"
"Yeah," I nodded at him, "really messed her up."
He opened his eyes after a moment and tilted his chin up at me in a questioning nod, "what do you think?"
I was taken aback by his question, "about you sleeping with a girl for a bet?" He nodded, "I think it's a really selfish thing to do and that it makes you a first-class asshole," before he could get angry at my words, I rushed to continue, "but, I also think that it was a year ago and whilst you are definitely still an asshole," I gave him a cheeky smile, "I don't think you're a 'first-class' one anymore. People change Eli," I smiled at him. He gave me no response back, simply stared at me, the blank expression still on his face but I think may have seen gratitude? swirling in those ocean blue eyes of his.
Abruptly, thirty dollars was thrust in my hand as he bent down to put on his shoes and pick up his gym bag, "order pizza for dinner. I should be back around 11 or 12."
"I can pay for some pizza's myself Eli."
"I don't doubt that you can." I smiled at his response as he left and I shut the door after he drove off on his motorcycle; that boy couldn't be more of a cliche if he tried.
I stepped into the lounge and waved the money around, "who wants pizzaaa?" I shouted, drawing out the 'a'. All the kids jumped up and started nodding enthusiastically, pizza it was. Okay, next order of business.
Smiling, I stepped out of the living room and stood at the bottom of the stairs, "RILEY!!," I screamed, "COME DOWN HERE FOR A SEC."
It took a few seconds but his face appeared at the top of the stairs, he was scowling at me, "what? I'm on the Xbox." Rude.
"Xbox isn't going anywhere kiddo, come on, I need to talk to you."
He rolled his eyes, brat, then stomped back to his room to put his controller away and close down or whatever you do to end Xbox. Hearing the kids playing loudly in the lounge I decided the kitchen would be the best place for the conversation so I headed over there to wait for him.
"Rei?"
"In the kitchen Riles."
He came into the kitchen, a slight frown on his face, "if you're about to give me more advice, it's fine. I'd be better off asking the twins."
"Smartass," I rolled my eyes, "come over here then."
He groaned but came over to where I was leaning on the centre island, I held my phone out to him, showing him a photo of Tori and her sister Kora, "so what d'ya think?" I asked him.
"The one with glasses is really hot." I smacked him upside the head. He complained and rubbed the back of his head, glaring at me. Oh please, get over it.
"Not her, fool, the one that's your age." I pointed to Kora who was stood next to Tori laughing.
Riley nodded his head, "yeah, she's pretty, why?"
"Her name is Kora and that," I pointed to Tori, "is one of my best friends Tori. I asked a favour and Tor said that Kora said that she doesn't mind going to your dance thing with you."
Riley looked at me with wide eyes and a look of disbelief on his face, "no shit." Yes shit.
I smiled at him and nodded slowly, "yeah of course, I sent Kora a pic of you. She's the same age as you, she doesn't go to our school and her first dance isn't until next year so she said that she'd love to. Want me to send you her number?"
"Fuck yeah I do," he practically tackled me in a hug, he was tall for his age and so actually had to bend over a little; stupid tall people.
I chuckled wrapping my arms around him, "okay, you get her some flowers on the night, dress nice and I'll handle the rest."
He pulled away from my hug, "thanks Rei." He gave me a shy smile and his eyes shined with gratitude. I noted that he didn't have the same enchanting eyes as Eli though, in fact neither did the twins, they all had their mother's greeny brown eyes. The girls had inky black hair like Eli but Riley had his mother's mousy blonde locks which he consistently styled in a messy quiff most days; he was definitely going to be a hit with the ladies.
"Don't worry about it. Now, what do you want on your pizza?"
I ordered the pizzas for everyone, Ivy wanted pineapple on hers, freak, and they came at around 7:30 pm. I made Riley come sit downstairs and watch The Lion King with us whilst we ate because let's be real, who doesn't love The Lion King??
Call me a child but I actually ended up playing lego and barbies with the kids â yeah I know, I'm a skilled multitasker â until they went to bed at around 9pm. I carried the girls up to their rooms because they fell asleep on the sofa and checked on Riles at around 11:30 pm to find him fast asleep. The urge to snoop around the house was so strong but I was way too tired from looking after the twins and Tyler so I decided I would snoop around just the downstairs for today. After checking Ty was still sound asleep on the sofa, I set off.
Not going to lie, for a house as grand as theirs, it was pretty boring. There was nothing special about anything. Most of the rooms were blank, giving me no insight into the lives of the mysterious Ryker family. The only few rooms that seemed like they had a personal touch in them was the lounge, playroom and dining room. The lounge was pretty generic and there was nothing new to see in here, same with the kitchen and the playroom, just an empty spaces.
So the dining room it was. The back of the room had a giant shelving unit which was filled with pictures and books, bingo. Pleased, I looked at photos of Eli as a kid, playing with Riley and the girls, he seemed so calm, none of the hardness in his eyes that he has now; just happiness. There was one photo which confused me though, it was of the whole family, Debbie and even Rosemary was present but there was also a girl, maybe 3 or 4 years older than me and Eli. She seemed like part of the family, integrated, but I had never known that Eli had an older sister, which made me realise how little he actually told me. There were easily about 30-40 photos in here that I had scoured my eyes over and I uneasily noticed that there was no Dad in any of them. In the newer ones, Eli looked like the father figure of the family, mature and aged noticeably by the absence of his father; where was he?
Exhausted from snooping and calm now that all the kids were asleep, I would kill it at the mum shit, I decided to go watch another movie until Eli came home but ended up drifting off to sleep.
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Edited â
I had to split this chapter in two so the rest of this evening is in the next chapter...