2015

"Okay, so you spent a weekend of ruined shirts and broken noses in The UK, but how does that turn into a four year relationship?" Jess asked through her giggles.

Riley had just regaled a brief recap of her whirlwind weekend when she first met Alex. The Jameson had hit them both quickly so there was a lot of giggles and had the Jameson hit any quicker, Riley probably would have gone into more details about all the sex she had that weekend too. But for the time being she was able to have some amount of self-control to only allude to that part of the weekend.

"Not quite four years just yet," Riley corrected. "And, it certainly didn't turn into a relationship right away. After he left London and suggested we keep in touch, we did..."

"But..." Jess pressed, with a bit of a frown on her face.

"But that only lasted for about a month before we both got way too busy and the texts and phone calls started to dwindle down and eventually stopped completely," Riley said with a shrug.

"But..." Jess pressed again, a more positive tone this time.

"But then one day, months later, he showed up at my gallery."

"Like because he knew you'd be there or-"

"He swears it was a complete coincidence. He was driving around LA, passed the building and decided to go in." Riley interrupted.

"And the rest is history?"

Riley shrugged. "I guess so."

Jess smiled. "You guys seem really happy together," she commented.

Riley felt a silly smile spread across her face as she thought back to the day she was reunited with Alex at her gallery. "We are," she agreed, taking a sip from her drink as memories started to flood back to her.

2012

"Hey Henry," Riley greeted the young intern manning the front desk at Gallery 2007.

"Hello, Ms. Riley. How are you today?" Henry asked, standing up quickly.

"It's just Riley," she reminded him. "And you don't have to jump to your feet whenever I'm around."

"Right," he nodded, dropping back to his seat. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

Riley shook her head with a chuckle. Ever since the gallery opened, they brought in interns from local art schools to help out. Henry was secretly Riley's favorite even though he was a bit neurotic, constantly afraid he was doing something wrong and way too prim and proper for Riley and Stacey. But he was an amazing artist and Riley already made him promise Gallery 2007 would host his first showcase when the time came.

"Did I miss anything?" Riley asked. She had been locked away in her office for forty-five minutes on a pointless conference call.

"Not much," Henry shrugged. "Mr. Wilson called again to see if his pieces were ready and I explained again that the framing company wasn't going to be finished with them until Thursday. I reminded him it was only Tuesday and he said he'd call back tomorrow."

Riley chuckled again. "He paid a lot of money for those pieces so he can call as often as he wants as far as I'm concerned."

"Absolutely," Henry nodded. "Oh! And we have a customer."

"Oh yeah?" Riley smiled, craning her neck to try and get a glimpse of the person.

"Yeah," Henry shrugged. "Some guy. He's been here for a little while just looking around. I'm not sure he knows what he's looking for."

"And did you ask him if he needed any help?" Riley asked as her eyebrows rose.

Henry's cheeks immediately turned a light shade of pink. "No, I'm sorry, Ms. Riley. I wasn't sure I should bother him."

"It's okay," Riley assured him. "I'll take care of it."

"Okay! Good luck. He's cute," Henry whispered after her.

Riley shook her head as she started off towards the back of the gallery where she assumed the mystery customer was since she didn't see him anywhere else.

"Hey. Did you need any help?" Riley asked in her best customer service voice.

"No thanks; I'm just looking," the guy said, not looking away from the piece of art in front of him that he was staring at.

Riley couldn't help but think his voice sounded familiar but she shrugged it off.

"Okay. I will be up front if you have any questions. My name's Riley; this is kind of my gallery."

Slowly the mystery customer turned around and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the girl he spent a weekend with in the U.K.

"Oh my, God," Riley gasped. "Alex."

"Hey," he said with a smile instantly appearing on his face. "So, this is the gallery you were talking about."

"Sure is," Riley nodded. "How did you know that?"

"I didn't," Alex said, shaking his head quickly. "Honest. I finally got a place in LA not too long after I came back to the states but I really haven't been around long enough to enjoy it. Or decorate it," Alex started to explain.

"Yeah..."

"I was driving around looking for a pet store to get dog food. The stupid GPS in my truck froze, so I made a wrong turn and ended up in front of this place. I'd never seen or heard of it before and decided to check it out and here we are..."

"So this was a coincidence?" Riley asked.

"Exactly," Alex nodded. "Coincidence, fate... whatever you'd like to call it."

Riley felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up at his use of the word fate but she chose to ignore that reaction.

"Well, it's good to see you," Riley shrugged.

"You too," Alex smiled. "Congrats on this place. Everything I've seen so far is pretty awesome."

"Thanks," Riley smiled back. "And congrats on your new place. Is there anything specific you're looking for?"

Alex sighed. "To be honest, I'm not even sure what to look for. Do I just pick pieces that I like and hang up wherever they fit? Should I try to match the pieces to the walls and the furniture in specific rooms? I don't even know what sizes I am looking for."

Riley laughed a little. "So, you really were just looking."

"Exactly." Alex nodded, suddenly feeling like he was getting nervous. "I should come back at another time when I know what I'm looking for so I'm not wasting your time."

"You're not wasting my time," Riley said quietly. "But you're in luck," she said quickly. "We offer this In-Home Consultation service. We'll send someone to your place to see what you're working with and help decide which pieces you like will look best where."

"Oh," Alex nodded slowly. "That actually sounds great. How can I set up an appointment?"

"I'll give you my card with my number. Just call when you know when you'd like to make it."

Alex gave her a shaky smile. "I still have your number..."

"Right," she nodded. "You just forgot how to use it," she teased.

Alex gasped. "That is so not fair! And if I recall correctly, I sent the last text."

Riley laughed. "Yeah! You said 'I'll call you later,' I replied with 'okay!' and you sent back some dumb, wonky eyed smiley face."

"And you never replied to the dumb, wonky eyed smiley face," he defended himself.

"And you never called me later," Riley finished, crossing her arms over her chest.

Alex winced. "Okay. You got me there. I'm sorry."

Riley shrugged. "It's really okay. I get it. We were both super busy. It wasn't the right time."

Alex nodded and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. "Would you excuse me for a second? I have to take this," he said before turning away from Riley and pressing his phone to his ear.

A few seconds later, Riley felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she quickly pulled it out and rolled her eyes when she saw "Alex" flashing across the screen.

"Hello?" she answered, sounding unenthusiastic.

"Riley! Hey! It's Alex. I know I said I'd call you later. And I guess it's my bad that I didn't specify that later meant in about four months."

"Yeah. That's cute. Listen, I'm really busy with my gallery and stuff so is there anything you need?"

"Well," he turned around to face her. "A little birdie told me that your gallery offers consultations for guys like me who are awful at interior design. I was hoping I could set up an appointment today. You know, my schedule is a bit all over the place these days."

Laughing, Riley disconnected the call and shoved her phone back in her pocket. Alex didn't realize it until that moment, but he missed her laugh.

"Today? Let me go check. You stay here and keep looking. I'll be right back," Riley said, excusing herself as she walked back towards the front desk.

The second she was out of Alex's field of view, she practically ran over to Henry.

"Okay, so that guy? I know him. We met when I was still in school and talked for a little while and it eventually fizzled out. I need you to pretend like you're checking the schedule to see who's available for an In-Home Consultation today."

Henry stared at Riley with wide eyes for just a second before springing into action. "Um, okay, what's an In-House Consultation and how long should I have been scheduling appointments for them?"

Riley sighed. "They're not really a thing. I made it up as an excuse to see him again because I really suck at this."

Henry laughed as it all sort of started to make sense. He clicked around on the computer a little before speaking in a clear and slightly loud voice. "Well, Ms. Riley, it looks like Mr. Goldstein cancelled his appointment this evening, so you are free."

"Thanks Henry," Riley smiled.

"Was that good?" he whispered.

Riley nodded and gave him a quick thumbs up before turning on her heel to head back to Alex but before she got too far she turned back to Henry. "Um, so I remember from my internship days, I had to write a journal entry for each day I was at the job. If you could promise to pretty, pretty please not mention this particular task for today, it would be much appreciated."

"What particular task?" he asked with a wink.

"Perfect, thank you," she smiled before heading back towards Alex.

"So, what's the verdict?" Alex asked when he saw Riley approaching him.

"You're in luck. You were able to get an appointment today."

"Awesome. Who with?" he asked.

"Oh, well, of course I wanted to make sure you got the best experience so I set you up with the best."

"And that would be?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled, lifting her index finger and pointing it towards herself. "You're looking at her."

"That's good," Alex smiled. "I was hoping I was."

Riley felt butterflies explode in the pit of her stomach when he smiled at her. She desperately wished there was a way she could have turned that off.

"Okay. So, I'll be here all day so you can just give me a call whenever you're ready and-"

"I'm ready," Alex cut her off. "I'm parked right out front."

Riley nodded slowly. "Me too. I guess I'll follow you to your place."

"Let's go," he smiled, leading the way towards the front of the gallery.

Riley stopped to check in on Henry. "We're going to head out now for his consultation. If you need anything, Stacey is in the back."

"You got it," Henry smiled.

"Thanks Henry," Riley smiled back as she grabbed a binder from behind the desk. "This is a cheat sheet of all the inventory we have right now," she explained to Alex as they walked out the door. "There's pictures of each piece, a little blip about the artist and of course, the exact measurements."

"Sounds good," Alex nodded as he stopped in front of his truck. "Did you just want to ride with me?" he asked, gesturing to his vehicle.

Riley thought for a short second before shaking her head. "No, that's fine. I don't mind just following. It would be silly for you to have to drive me all the way back later."

Alex shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."

Riley smiled. "I'm just down there," she said, pointing a few cars away. "I'll follow you. Just don't drive like an ass."
----

"Alex, this house is amazing," Riley complimented as they headed down the hall on the second floor of his home.

"Thanks," he shot her a smile as he pushed the door to the room at the end of the hall open. "This is the last room I have to show you," he said as they walked into his large master bedroom.

Riley gazed around the room quickly before her eyes set back on Alex. "Please don't make a 'this is where the magic happens' joke."

Alex laughed. "I'm kind of insulted that you think I would resort to such lame joke telling."

Riley tilted her head to the side causing Alex to laugh again. Similar to Alex earlier, Riley realized that she too missed the sound of Alex's laugh.

"Okay, fine," he caved. "It was literally about to be the next thing that came out of my mouth."

Riley nodded slowly. "I thought so."

"Okay, so, I was thinking I need a big piece to go there," he said, gesturing to the large space above his bed.

Riley nodded. "I agree that would be the best place since most of the other wall space in this room is filled with furniture."

"I guess I could move some stuff around," Alex shrugged.

"No," Riley shook her head. "I don't think that's necessary. Is there a giant window behind the curtains?" she asked, pointing to the other side of the room.

"No," Alex grabbed her by the wrist and led her across the room. "It's actually the reason I decided on this place," he said as he pushed the curtains aside to reveal two French doors that lead out to a balcony.

"Why do you have curtains over a door?"

"Privacy," he shrugged. "And sometimes the sun is blinding in the morning."

"Right," she nodded as he opened the doors and they both stepped out on to the balcony. "Wow," Riley sighed as she took in the amazing view.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"Alex, this view is amazing. I take back what I said about putting a piece above your bed. You don't need anything except to get rid of those curtains. Anyone that comes up here should immediately have to see this view."

"It's my bedroom, Riley. The only one that's going to see it is me," Alex said with a chuckle.

"Oh please," Riley rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you've had plenty of visitors take in this view already."

"Yeah. Maybe the moving company crew and my friends and parents who came by for a tour but if you're suggesting any 'magic happened,' not so much."

Riley looked away from the view for the first time since they'd stepped outside. "For real?" she asked and Alex nodded. "I'm sorry. I guess I just figured a cute guy in a band must 'make magic' whenever he wants."

"I guess I could. I just haven't wanted to," he said.

"And why's that?" she asked, subconsciously taking a small step closer to him.

"I don't know," Alex shrugged. "If I'm being totally honest with you right now, I haven't wanted to since London."

Riley's eyes flew open. "You haven't been with anyone since me in London?"

"I'm trying not to be offended with how shocked you seem about that," Alex said with an uncomfortable laugh.

"I'm sorry," Riley shook her head. "Again, cute guy, in a band, 'makes magic' whenever he wants..."

Alex nodded. "And again, I just haven't wanted to."

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I haven’t been making much magic these days either.” Riley admitted.

“Really?”

“Really,” Riley nodded. “I’ve been pretty busy and I definitely haven’t been looking. And, since we’re being super honest with each other right now for no real reason, I will admit that before you in London, it had been an even longer time since any magic was made.”

“Really?” Alex repeated. “How much longer?”

“That’s not important,” Riley laughed. “But it was a while.”

“Well,” Alex laughed. “Good for you, because I would have never known.”

“Wow,” Riley nodded. “That might be the weirdest compliment I’ve ever received.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s cool,” Riley shrugged. “I’ll take it.”

Alex looked over at her as a small smile took over his face.

“What?” Riley asked, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious under his awkward gaze.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said quickly, shaking his head and looking away. “I just can’t believe that I am standing here with you right now.”

“Yeah,” Riley nodded. “I know what you mean.”

“Can I, uh, be honest with you about one more thing?” Alex asked. There was a nervous twist to this voice that Riley wasn’t used to hearing.

“Of course,” she said, looking up at him.

“I didn’t exactly lose touch with you just because I was busy.”

“Oh?”

“The truth is, I did plan on calling you back that night but I kind of freaked out.”

“What did you freak out about?”

Alex shrugged. “It suddenly hit me how much I was starting to like you and how impossible it seemed for anything to really happen between us so…”

“So you just jumped ship before we could hit the iceberg?” Riley interrupted.

Alex nodded with a small frown forming on his lips. “Yeah. Basically…”

“Well,” Riley sighed, “since we’re still being honest, when you never called, I was sort of relieved.”

“You were?”

Riley nodded. “Probably for the same reason.”

“So now what?” Alex asked, turning to face Riley completely.

“I don’t know,” Riley shrugged, turning to face him as well.

“You know, there’s actually something that I’m curious about,” Alex said with a playful smile on his lips.

“What’s that?” Riley asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Are you still a good kisser?” Alex asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Riley laughed. “Well, I’d like to say yes, but like I told you, I haven’t had much experience the last few months.”

Alex’s smile widened as he took a step closer to her. “I don’t mind taking one for the team to find out.”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Riley said with a laugh right before Alex’s lips landed on hers.

“Not bad,” Alex said a few seconds later when he pulled back.

“Thanks…” she said slowly as she noticed Alex still looking at her weird. “What now?”

Alex just shook his head and without another word he pressed his lips firmly against Riley’s again in a heated kiss. This time his hands grasped her waist tightly as Riley’s arms snaked around his neck as she returned his kiss with just as much heat.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Riley muttered against his lips when she found herself back inside Alex’s bedroom, standing at the foot of his bed.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said breathlessly, jumping away from her so there was a bit of distance between the two of them. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“No, no, no,” she shook her head, reaching for out for him and pulling him back to her by a handful of the front of his t-shirt. “I just needed a second to process what was happening.”

Alex backed away from her a bit again. “What is happening?”

Riley shook her head with a nervous laugh. “I don’t know…”

“I don’t either,” he agreed.

The pair stared at each other in silence as a few seconds passed before Riley muttered a ‘screw it,’ under her breath and launched herself forward and crashed her lips to Alex’s.
Almost immediately, clothing started to litter Alex’s bedroom floor and once they were both down to just underwear, they fell over onto the bed as the heated kissing continued.

“Alex,” Riley said a little while later, turning her head to the side so Alex’s kisses continued down the side of her neck.

“Riley,” he replied against her skin.

“Do you have…”

Alex propped himself up on his hands and looked down at her with a confused look before he realized she was asking about condoms. “I guess your stash from Stacey finally ran out.”

“Don’t make jokes to ruin the mood,” she said, laughing despite herself.

“I’m sorry,” Alex muttered, clearing his throat before reaching into his nightstand and pulling out a sealed box of condoms.

Riley watched with a raised eyebrow. “No magic, huh?”

“Shut up,” Alex laughed. “Jack bought these for me as a stupid house warming gift. He even put the box there himself.”

“I’m sure he did,” Riley said with a roll of her eyes.

“Have we ruined the mood?” Alex sighed as he rolled onto his side next to Riley. “Do I still need this?” he asked, holding up the condom.

Riley paused for a second before she moved so she was straddling Alex’s waist and pressing light kisses across his chest.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Alex smiled as grabbed Riley’s face lightly, guiding her lips back to his.
-----

“Okay, so I know I said I could not believe that I was standing on my balcony with you before but I think that might have been slightly more believable than this…” Alex said as they lied together in his bed.

"I know," Riley shook her head. "Why do you think this keeps happening?"

"Why do I think what keeps happening?"

Riley laughed slightly. "Why do you think we can never be left in a room alone with each other before we..."

"End up naked in a bed?" Alex finished for her. "Or partially naked against a door?"

"That would be it..." Riley nodded.

"Well, if you ask me, it's probably because after the first time, you realized how good I was that you just couldn't control yourself all the other times..."

Riley laughed with a roll of her eyes. "Oh yeah, that's definitely it...."

"Okay fine, if not that, I'd say it probably has something to do with chemistry or the weird connection it feels like we have," Alex said, giving Riley a small smile that made butterflies go wild in her stomach. She returned his smile, letting Alex know she agreed.

“Oh my God,” Riley giggled quietly to herself as she pulled the comforter around her a little tighter. “I just realized that I’m technically still at work right now.”

Alex laughed. “Is this how you end all your home consultations?”

“No…” Riley shook her head. “But that might just be because I’ve never done one before,” she admitted.

Alex leaned up on his elbow and looked over at Riley. “How is that possible?”

Riley’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink before she admitted, “Because they’re not a thing…”

“Excuse me?”

“You sounded like you were getting ready to leave so I panicked and made the whole thing up as an excuse to see you again,” Riley explained, slowly pulling the comforter up of her face.

Alex laughed. “Why would you need to come up with an excuse to see me again?” he asking, tugging the comforter back down.

“Because I was too embarrassed to just ask you out for coffee or something,” she said with a shrug.

Alex laughed again. “Girl, you must not know me at all if you really thought I was going to leave that gallery today without asking you out.”

Riley leaned up on her elbow to match his position. “Are you still planning to do that?”

Alex paused for a second before he rolled back on top of Riley, pressing his lips back to hers.

“I’ll take that as a yes…”

Notes

Story Title: All Time Low - Dirty Laundry

Kind of a long one... Hope you enjoy. XO!