Dirty Laundry
19
2012
Laying in his bed, with Riley curled up against his side, Alex tried to ignore the clock beneath the TV. It was just about ten o’clock at night and he knew it was only a matter of time before Riley would sit up and declare it was time for her to head home.
They’d both been back in LA for a few weeks, after getting back from their separate trips to the UK. They both expected it to feel different once they were back home, together, as an actual couple. But it didn’t feel too different. It actually finally just felt right.
Alex had things that he could have been worried about – like how All Time Low was technically an unsigned band at this time after they had made the hard decision to leave Interscope. He had no idea what was going to happen with the band but he had to have hope that everything was going to work out.
Or how Riley was super weird about spending the night at this place. She’d always make excuses about having work early in the morning or her strange roommate. She never invited Alex up to her apartment. Whenever he picked her up, she would already be waiting outside for him. He wanted to believe her. He had no reason not to but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was up. He easily could have just asked her about it – she’d explain more about her roommate to make him understand and he’d feel better about the whole thing. But he was afraid to ask because there was that small chance that she could say something he didn’t want to hear.
Of course, Alex was thinking her secret was more along the lines of having another guy at home. He had never even thought to take into consideration that she could have a small child waiting for her.
“Is it really almost ten o’clock already?” Riley asked, pulling Alex away from his thoughts.
“It sure is,” Alex replied, trying his best not to roll his eyes.
Riley sat up slowly, pulling the bed sheet with her to cover her exposed body. “I should get-“
“Stay,” Alex interrupted her.
“Alex,” she frowned. “I can’t…”
“Why not?” he asked. “It’s not like I’m going to think less of you if you spend the night at my house. If I didn’t think less of you after we had sex the first night we met, why would I think less of you for spending the night at my house once we’re dating?”
“That’s not it,” Riley said. “It’s just com-“
“Riley, I swear if you say it’s ‘complicated,’ my head is going to explode.”
“Well, that’s what it is,” Riley sighed. “I’m sorry if that’s not a good enough reason for you.”
“It seems like a bull shit reason if you ask me,” he said, sitting up himself now and crossing his arms over his chest.
Riley squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to buy herself some time. She wanted to be mad at Alex for being mad at her but she knew she had absolutely no right. He had every reason to question her. She knew this was the perfect time to finally just tell him the truth, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“I have to be at the gallery early tomorrow morning,” she tried.
“So? Stay here, get a good night’s sleep. Your place is only twenty minutes from here. Wake up half an hour earlier than normal and go home and get ready for work.”
“Alex…” Riley groaned. He was starting to shoot puppy dog eyes at her which made telling him no almost impossible.
“Riley…” he groaned back. “I am literally begging you to stay the night. I will crawl out of bed and get on my knees if it helps get my point across.”
Riley had to let out a laugh. “Why is it so important that I spend the night?”
Alex opened his mouth to answer her question honestly but quickly snapped his mouth shut when he realized that the honest answer was. “It just is…”
Riley raised an eyebrow. “No, go on… Tell me what you really were going to say. Why is it important that I spend the night?”
“Fine,” Alex huffed. “I like falling asleep with you being the last thing I see and waking up and you being the first thing is see. Especially since it won’t be something I’ll get to do that often,” he confessed, rolling his eyes when he finished.
Riley smiled slightly before leaning over and giving him a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. “You’re so cute.”
“Cute?” Alex scoffed. “I guess I’m not cute enough to get you to stay.”
“Stop it,” Riley hissed, looking at the clock again. “I have to go.”
“Pleaseeeee,” Alex whined, grabbing one of her wrists and pulling her against him. “Just stay tonight. I won’t ask you to stay again for a really, really, really long time.”
Riley looked at the clock again. It was after ten o’clock. Aunt Penny was in town visiting and was at home with Summer. Even though it was a Friday night, she was under strict instruction to have Summer in bed by nine o’clock. At this point, the little girl would never know that Riley hadn’t been home. As long as she was home in the morning before Summer woke up, it would be fine.
“Fine,” Riley caved.
“Fine what?” Alex asked, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree. That look alone was enough to convince Riley she was making the right choice.
“I’ll stay.”
“Really?” he beamed.
“Really,” she nodded as Alex leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“You’re going to get the best night’s sleep of your life,” Alex guaranteed her as he shuffled back to his pillow and laid down, pulling the covers up to his shoulders.
Riley laughed, “Easy boy. I just have to make a phone call.”
Alex pushed the covers back down a bit and leaned up on his elbows. “Really? You just can’t send a text?”
Riley ignored him and reached on the floor for any article of clothing she could put on. Her hand first met Alex’s discarded button up shirt and her underwear. She quickly put the garments on, grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and stepped outside onto the balcony off Alex’s bedroom.
“Hey sweetheart, are you heading home?” Aunt Penny asked when she answered the call.
“Actually, no. If it’s okay with you, I am going to spend the night.”
“Are you kidding? When you didn’t call sooner, that’s what I was hoping was happening. There’s no reason you can’t.”
“How’d Sum go to bed tonight?”
“Well….”
Riley sighed. “She’s not in bed yet, huh?”
“How am I ever going to be her favorite aunt if I put her to sleep when mom tells me to?”
Riley groaned, even though she should have known better. Aunt Penny used to do the same thing when Riley was younger – which definitely didn’t hurt her chances of being Riley’s favorite aunt.
“It’s Friday night. It’s not like she’s got preschool in the morning or anything. I’m not that irresponsible.”
“What are you guys doing?” Riley asked.
“Eating ice cream and watching Tangled.”
“Ice cream? At ten o’clock? Now I’m definitely not coming home,” Riley said with a slight laugh. “Can I say goodnight to her?”
“Of course. Summer, mommy’s on the phone,” Aunt Penny said, passing the phone to Summer.
“Hi Mommy!”
“Hey baby,” Riley said. “Listen, I am going to spend the night with a sick friend but I will be home first thing in the morning, okay?” Riley felt like there was a rock in the pit of her stomach as she lied to her daughter.
“That’s okay. I hope your friend feels better!”
“Thank you,” Riley smiled to herself. “Goodnight sweetie, I love you.”
“Love you, too, Ma,” Summer said before shoving the phone back at her great aunt.
Riley quickly ended the conversation with her aunt. When she went back inside, she found Alex, with a fresh pair of boxers on, sitting at the foot of his bed with his legs crossed in front of him. The look on his face told Riley everything she was afraid of. He had overheard her phone call.
“I’m ready for that best night’s sleep ever,” she said, forcing a smile to her face as she pretended not to notice the change in Alex's attitude as she walked back towards his bed.
Alex turned to her and shook his head. “I’m ready for you to start being honest with me.”
Riley froze in the middle of the room. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Riley. How dumb do you really think I am? I’ve ignored every sign and every gut
feeling I had towards it. But after overhearing part of your phone call out there, I can’t anymore.”
“Alex…”
“Just tell me the truth, okay? Just tell me that there is someone else.”
Riley slowly let out a long breath. He had overheard her conversation but having not heard the other end of it gave him to complete wrong impression. “It’s not what you think…”
Alex let out a laugh, even though there was absolutely nothing funny about what they were talking about. “I heard you, Riley. ‘I’m spending the night with a sick friend,’ ‘I’ll see you first thing in the morning,’ ‘I love you’,” Alex repeated her conversation. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to think.”
“I don’t blame you for thinking whatever you’re thinking but I can explain.”
“Okay. So, what is it? Arranged marriage? Is it a shitty relationship that you’re trying to get out of? Or am I just a fucking schmuck for thinking you were as perfect as I thought you were and buying every line of bull shit you fed me about your weird roommate…”
“You’re not a fucking schmuck,” Riley mumbled, trying not to get too upset at his harsh words. She knew she deserved it. She actually deserved worse.
“Just admit it, Riley. You owe me that much.”
Riley shook her head knowing it was now or never. She had no excuse not to come clean anymore. “Okay… You’re right about there being someone else. But it’s not what you think.”
Alex looked up at her and shrugged. “Then what the fuck is it?” he asked, growing frustrated.
Riley took another big breath. “What you overheard just now was me saying goodnight to my daughter.”
Alex’s eyes widened double their size as her words sunk in. “Your what?” he asked lamely.
“My daughter,” Riley replied just as lamely as she took a few steps closer to his bed and sat down next to him.
Alex shook his head. “How old?”
“Four.”
“Okay, I assume you didn’t just find out you had a four year old daughter,” Alex vented, standing from his bed and pacing back and forth a bit. “Why on earth didn’t you tell me?”
“Trust me, Alex, I tried to tell you a million times.”
“Trust you? How am I supposed to trust you? It’s been months of you hiding a kid! A kid? Jesus Christ, Riley.”
She tried to hold them back, but a few tears started to slide down her cheeks as she tried to find a way to justify her actions. “I didn’t tell you in the beginning because I didn’t think it would matter. Neither one of us expected this to go any further after that first weekend in the UK.”
Alex tried to ignore her tears. He knew he had the right to be mad at her but seeing her look so defeated wasn’t making it easy for him to be angry. “Fine but why not tell me after it went further than that weekend.”
Riley quickly wiped new tears away. “Because then I was afraid you wouldn’t give us a chance. I didn’t want to tell you that and scare you away before this had a chance to become anything.”
Alex sighed, having finally stopped pacing, “Don’t you think you should have given me the opportunity to make the decision if I was going to be scare off or not?”
Riley shrugged. “The longer I waited to tell you, the worse I knew it was going to be when I did. But the longer I waited to tell you, meant how much more I liked you, and it would make it that much harder to lose you,” she confessed, looking down at her hands as more tears fell from her eyes.
Putting himself in her shoes, Alex’s heart broke for her. He had to assume being a mom as young as she was could not have been easy on her at all.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, keeping her eyes down. She was afraid if she looked up at Alex she would start crying even harder than she already was.
“Riley,” Alex said softly, taking a seat next to her at the foot of his bed again. “I wouldn’t have been scared off,” he said, placing his hand over hers.
Riley looked up at him. “You’re only saying that now because you don’t want to hurt my feelings and you’re invested. If we had just met and I told you I have a four year old, you don’t know how you would have reacted.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter how I would have reacted because I didn’t get the chance.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m so sorry, Alex.”
“Me too,” he said as an awkward silence fell between the two of them.
“When I was in school, I had class with this guy. We flirted for a bit before he finally asked me out. I made the mistake of telling him I needed to make sure I had a babysitter before I could commit to a day. When I was able to confirm a date with him, the next day he texted me to cancel, that ‘something had come up,’ and he’d let me know when he was free again.
He switched out of that class and never texted me again…” Riley explained.
Alex looked up at her and shook his head. “He’s an idiot.”
“Then there was this guy that working for a delivery service in the building where my internship was. I worked the front desk and would always have to sign for the packages he brought. After the third or fourth time he came in, he asked me out. I decided not to tell him about Summer until the date. Halfway through dinner, I told him. He acted like he was okay with it, but I wasn’t buying it. The date ended, we said goodnight. He said he’d call me. A few days went by and I didn’t hear from him so I called him. He didn’t’ answer. I never heard from him again and suddenly a new delivery guy started showing up in the office.”
Alex sighed. “Another idiot…”
“And finally, there was a guy that I also met through my internship. Because we kind of worked together, I thought he knew about Summer. So when he asked me out, I didn’t think to mention it right away. He came to pick me up for our date early and I was running late, so he came up to my apartment. Obviously, I had baby stuff all over the place. He asked me if I took care of my younger sister. I told him it was my daughter, and again, he tried to seem like he was okay with it. While I was finishing getting ready, he asked to use the bathroom. He was in there for like ten minutes. When he finally came out, he said he wasn’t feeling well.
He promised to reschedule. I feel like it’s safe to assume that you are seeing the trend here but in case you couldn’t figure it out, he never rescheduled and spent the rest of the internship pretending I didn’t exist.”
“A third idiot…”
“Yeah,” Riley shrugged, looking up at him. “Maybe those stories will help you to understand why I didn’t tell you right away.”
Alex let go of her hand and stood up again. “Riley, yeah, I get why you didn’t tell me when we first met. And I guess I get why you might not have told me when we first started hanging out in California. But the fact that we’ve been in an actual relationship for a few weeks now and you still didn’t tell me is what bothers me.”
“I understand,” was all Riley could say.
“I’m not bothered that you have a kid. It actually doesn’t bother me at all. What’s bothering me is that you lied.”
Riley nodded.
“And it seemed really easy for you to do it.”
Riley closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could sense it. She knew this is when he was going to break up with her.
“And it just makes me wonder what else you could lie about moving forward.”
Riley shook her head. “I know it doesn’t mean much, but lying to you was not easy for me at all. I actually felt sick every time I had to do it.”
Alex shrugged. “But you still did it.”
“Yeah,” Riley felt tears sting her eyes again as another bout of silence fell between them.
“I think you should go,” Alex finally said, standing in front of where she sat.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him.
“You should go,” he repeated.
Riley shook her heard. “No, I want to stay,” she insisted.
“Go,” Alex said. “Go put your daughter to sleep.”
Riley stood up, reaching for Alex’s hands. “We need to talk about this, Alex.”
Alex gave her hands a squeeze before shaking them off. “I need some time, Riley. I need to process all of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I need some space.”
“Space?” Riley repeated.
“Yes, space,” Alex said, collecting Riley’s clothes from the floor and passing them to her.
In silence, Riley changed back into her clothes and gathered all her stuff together. She made sure not to leave anything behind because she couldn’t help but feel this would be the last time she would be in this room.
The silence continued as Riley stood at Alex’s front door, itching to just get the hell out of there.
“Are you going to be okay to drive home?” Alex asked.
“I’m fine,” Riley nodded, grasping her car keys tightly in her hand.
“Okay.”
“Before I go, I just have to ask… What happens once I leave?” Riley asked, looking up at Alex.
“I’ll call you. I just need to figure all this out.”
“You’ll call me?” Riley repeated, rolling her eyes. “I’ve certainly heard that before…”
“Hey,” Alex said, reaching out and touching her cheek lightly. “I will call you.”
“Scouts honor?” she asked, tears brimming her eyes.
Alex nodded, leaning down to kiss her lightly. “Scouts honor.”
***
Laying in his bed, with Riley curled up against his side, Alex tried to ignore the clock beneath the TV. It was just about ten o’clock at night and he knew it was only a matter of time before Riley would sit up and declare it was time for her to head home.
They’d both been back in LA for a few weeks, after getting back from their separate trips to the UK. They both expected it to feel different once they were back home, together, as an actual couple. But it didn’t feel too different. It actually finally just felt right.
Alex had things that he could have been worried about – like how All Time Low was technically an unsigned band at this time after they had made the hard decision to leave Interscope. He had no idea what was going to happen with the band but he had to have hope that everything was going to work out.
Or how Riley was super weird about spending the night at this place. She’d always make excuses about having work early in the morning or her strange roommate. She never invited Alex up to her apartment. Whenever he picked her up, she would already be waiting outside for him. He wanted to believe her. He had no reason not to but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was up. He easily could have just asked her about it – she’d explain more about her roommate to make him understand and he’d feel better about the whole thing. But he was afraid to ask because there was that small chance that she could say something he didn’t want to hear.
Of course, Alex was thinking her secret was more along the lines of having another guy at home. He had never even thought to take into consideration that she could have a small child waiting for her.
“Is it really almost ten o’clock already?” Riley asked, pulling Alex away from his thoughts.
“It sure is,” Alex replied, trying his best not to roll his eyes.
Riley sat up slowly, pulling the bed sheet with her to cover her exposed body. “I should get-“
“Stay,” Alex interrupted her.
“Alex,” she frowned. “I can’t…”
“Why not?” he asked. “It’s not like I’m going to think less of you if you spend the night at my house. If I didn’t think less of you after we had sex the first night we met, why would I think less of you for spending the night at my house once we’re dating?”
“That’s not it,” Riley said. “It’s just com-“
“Riley, I swear if you say it’s ‘complicated,’ my head is going to explode.”
“Well, that’s what it is,” Riley sighed. “I’m sorry if that’s not a good enough reason for you.”
“It seems like a bull shit reason if you ask me,” he said, sitting up himself now and crossing his arms over his chest.
Riley squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to buy herself some time. She wanted to be mad at Alex for being mad at her but she knew she had absolutely no right. He had every reason to question her. She knew this was the perfect time to finally just tell him the truth, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“I have to be at the gallery early tomorrow morning,” she tried.
“So? Stay here, get a good night’s sleep. Your place is only twenty minutes from here. Wake up half an hour earlier than normal and go home and get ready for work.”
“Alex…” Riley groaned. He was starting to shoot puppy dog eyes at her which made telling him no almost impossible.
“Riley…” he groaned back. “I am literally begging you to stay the night. I will crawl out of bed and get on my knees if it helps get my point across.”
Riley had to let out a laugh. “Why is it so important that I spend the night?”
Alex opened his mouth to answer her question honestly but quickly snapped his mouth shut when he realized that the honest answer was. “It just is…”
Riley raised an eyebrow. “No, go on… Tell me what you really were going to say. Why is it important that I spend the night?”
“Fine,” Alex huffed. “I like falling asleep with you being the last thing I see and waking up and you being the first thing is see. Especially since it won’t be something I’ll get to do that often,” he confessed, rolling his eyes when he finished.
Riley smiled slightly before leaning over and giving him a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. “You’re so cute.”
“Cute?” Alex scoffed. “I guess I’m not cute enough to get you to stay.”
“Stop it,” Riley hissed, looking at the clock again. “I have to go.”
“Pleaseeeee,” Alex whined, grabbing one of her wrists and pulling her against him. “Just stay tonight. I won’t ask you to stay again for a really, really, really long time.”
Riley looked at the clock again. It was after ten o’clock. Aunt Penny was in town visiting and was at home with Summer. Even though it was a Friday night, she was under strict instruction to have Summer in bed by nine o’clock. At this point, the little girl would never know that Riley hadn’t been home. As long as she was home in the morning before Summer woke up, it would be fine.
“Fine,” Riley caved.
“Fine what?” Alex asked, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree. That look alone was enough to convince Riley she was making the right choice.
“I’ll stay.”
“Really?” he beamed.
“Really,” she nodded as Alex leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“You’re going to get the best night’s sleep of your life,” Alex guaranteed her as he shuffled back to his pillow and laid down, pulling the covers up to his shoulders.
Riley laughed, “Easy boy. I just have to make a phone call.”
Alex pushed the covers back down a bit and leaned up on his elbows. “Really? You just can’t send a text?”
Riley ignored him and reached on the floor for any article of clothing she could put on. Her hand first met Alex’s discarded button up shirt and her underwear. She quickly put the garments on, grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and stepped outside onto the balcony off Alex’s bedroom.
“Hey sweetheart, are you heading home?” Aunt Penny asked when she answered the call.
“Actually, no. If it’s okay with you, I am going to spend the night.”
“Are you kidding? When you didn’t call sooner, that’s what I was hoping was happening. There’s no reason you can’t.”
“How’d Sum go to bed tonight?”
“Well….”
Riley sighed. “She’s not in bed yet, huh?”
“How am I ever going to be her favorite aunt if I put her to sleep when mom tells me to?”
Riley groaned, even though she should have known better. Aunt Penny used to do the same thing when Riley was younger – which definitely didn’t hurt her chances of being Riley’s favorite aunt.
“It’s Friday night. It’s not like she’s got preschool in the morning or anything. I’m not that irresponsible.”
“What are you guys doing?” Riley asked.
“Eating ice cream and watching Tangled.”
“Ice cream? At ten o’clock? Now I’m definitely not coming home,” Riley said with a slight laugh. “Can I say goodnight to her?”
“Of course. Summer, mommy’s on the phone,” Aunt Penny said, passing the phone to Summer.
“Hi Mommy!”
“Hey baby,” Riley said. “Listen, I am going to spend the night with a sick friend but I will be home first thing in the morning, okay?” Riley felt like there was a rock in the pit of her stomach as she lied to her daughter.
“That’s okay. I hope your friend feels better!”
“Thank you,” Riley smiled to herself. “Goodnight sweetie, I love you.”
“Love you, too, Ma,” Summer said before shoving the phone back at her great aunt.
Riley quickly ended the conversation with her aunt. When she went back inside, she found Alex, with a fresh pair of boxers on, sitting at the foot of his bed with his legs crossed in front of him. The look on his face told Riley everything she was afraid of. He had overheard her phone call.
“I’m ready for that best night’s sleep ever,” she said, forcing a smile to her face as she pretended not to notice the change in Alex's attitude as she walked back towards his bed.
Alex turned to her and shook his head. “I’m ready for you to start being honest with me.”
Riley froze in the middle of the room. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Riley. How dumb do you really think I am? I’ve ignored every sign and every gut
feeling I had towards it. But after overhearing part of your phone call out there, I can’t anymore.”
“Alex…”
“Just tell me the truth, okay? Just tell me that there is someone else.”
Riley slowly let out a long breath. He had overheard her conversation but having not heard the other end of it gave him to complete wrong impression. “It’s not what you think…”
Alex let out a laugh, even though there was absolutely nothing funny about what they were talking about. “I heard you, Riley. ‘I’m spending the night with a sick friend,’ ‘I’ll see you first thing in the morning,’ ‘I love you’,” Alex repeated her conversation. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to think.”
“I don’t blame you for thinking whatever you’re thinking but I can explain.”
“Okay. So, what is it? Arranged marriage? Is it a shitty relationship that you’re trying to get out of? Or am I just a fucking schmuck for thinking you were as perfect as I thought you were and buying every line of bull shit you fed me about your weird roommate…”
“You’re not a fucking schmuck,” Riley mumbled, trying not to get too upset at his harsh words. She knew she deserved it. She actually deserved worse.
“Just admit it, Riley. You owe me that much.”
Riley shook her head knowing it was now or never. She had no excuse not to come clean anymore. “Okay… You’re right about there being someone else. But it’s not what you think.”
Alex looked up at her and shrugged. “Then what the fuck is it?” he asked, growing frustrated.
Riley took another big breath. “What you overheard just now was me saying goodnight to my daughter.”
Alex’s eyes widened double their size as her words sunk in. “Your what?” he asked lamely.
“My daughter,” Riley replied just as lamely as she took a few steps closer to his bed and sat down next to him.
Alex shook his head. “How old?”
“Four.”
“Okay, I assume you didn’t just find out you had a four year old daughter,” Alex vented, standing from his bed and pacing back and forth a bit. “Why on earth didn’t you tell me?”
“Trust me, Alex, I tried to tell you a million times.”
“Trust you? How am I supposed to trust you? It’s been months of you hiding a kid! A kid? Jesus Christ, Riley.”
She tried to hold them back, but a few tears started to slide down her cheeks as she tried to find a way to justify her actions. “I didn’t tell you in the beginning because I didn’t think it would matter. Neither one of us expected this to go any further after that first weekend in the UK.”
Alex tried to ignore her tears. He knew he had the right to be mad at her but seeing her look so defeated wasn’t making it easy for him to be angry. “Fine but why not tell me after it went further than that weekend.”
Riley quickly wiped new tears away. “Because then I was afraid you wouldn’t give us a chance. I didn’t want to tell you that and scare you away before this had a chance to become anything.”
Alex sighed, having finally stopped pacing, “Don’t you think you should have given me the opportunity to make the decision if I was going to be scare off or not?”
Riley shrugged. “The longer I waited to tell you, the worse I knew it was going to be when I did. But the longer I waited to tell you, meant how much more I liked you, and it would make it that much harder to lose you,” she confessed, looking down at her hands as more tears fell from her eyes.
Putting himself in her shoes, Alex’s heart broke for her. He had to assume being a mom as young as she was could not have been easy on her at all.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, keeping her eyes down. She was afraid if she looked up at Alex she would start crying even harder than she already was.
“Riley,” Alex said softly, taking a seat next to her at the foot of his bed again. “I wouldn’t have been scared off,” he said, placing his hand over hers.
Riley looked up at him. “You’re only saying that now because you don’t want to hurt my feelings and you’re invested. If we had just met and I told you I have a four year old, you don’t know how you would have reacted.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter how I would have reacted because I didn’t get the chance.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m so sorry, Alex.”
“Me too,” he said as an awkward silence fell between the two of them.
“When I was in school, I had class with this guy. We flirted for a bit before he finally asked me out. I made the mistake of telling him I needed to make sure I had a babysitter before I could commit to a day. When I was able to confirm a date with him, the next day he texted me to cancel, that ‘something had come up,’ and he’d let me know when he was free again.
He switched out of that class and never texted me again…” Riley explained.
Alex looked up at her and shook his head. “He’s an idiot.”
“Then there was this guy that working for a delivery service in the building where my internship was. I worked the front desk and would always have to sign for the packages he brought. After the third or fourth time he came in, he asked me out. I decided not to tell him about Summer until the date. Halfway through dinner, I told him. He acted like he was okay with it, but I wasn’t buying it. The date ended, we said goodnight. He said he’d call me. A few days went by and I didn’t hear from him so I called him. He didn’t’ answer. I never heard from him again and suddenly a new delivery guy started showing up in the office.”
Alex sighed. “Another idiot…”
“And finally, there was a guy that I also met through my internship. Because we kind of worked together, I thought he knew about Summer. So when he asked me out, I didn’t think to mention it right away. He came to pick me up for our date early and I was running late, so he came up to my apartment. Obviously, I had baby stuff all over the place. He asked me if I took care of my younger sister. I told him it was my daughter, and again, he tried to seem like he was okay with it. While I was finishing getting ready, he asked to use the bathroom. He was in there for like ten minutes. When he finally came out, he said he wasn’t feeling well.
He promised to reschedule. I feel like it’s safe to assume that you are seeing the trend here but in case you couldn’t figure it out, he never rescheduled and spent the rest of the internship pretending I didn’t exist.”
“A third idiot…”
“Yeah,” Riley shrugged, looking up at him. “Maybe those stories will help you to understand why I didn’t tell you right away.”
Alex let go of her hand and stood up again. “Riley, yeah, I get why you didn’t tell me when we first met. And I guess I get why you might not have told me when we first started hanging out in California. But the fact that we’ve been in an actual relationship for a few weeks now and you still didn’t tell me is what bothers me.”
“I understand,” was all Riley could say.
“I’m not bothered that you have a kid. It actually doesn’t bother me at all. What’s bothering me is that you lied.”
Riley nodded.
“And it seemed really easy for you to do it.”
Riley closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could sense it. She knew this is when he was going to break up with her.
“And it just makes me wonder what else you could lie about moving forward.”
Riley shook her head. “I know it doesn’t mean much, but lying to you was not easy for me at all. I actually felt sick every time I had to do it.”
Alex shrugged. “But you still did it.”
“Yeah,” Riley felt tears sting her eyes again as another bout of silence fell between them.
“I think you should go,” Alex finally said, standing in front of where she sat.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him.
“You should go,” he repeated.
Riley shook her heard. “No, I want to stay,” she insisted.
“Go,” Alex said. “Go put your daughter to sleep.”
Riley stood up, reaching for Alex’s hands. “We need to talk about this, Alex.”
Alex gave her hands a squeeze before shaking them off. “I need some time, Riley. I need to process all of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I need some space.”
“Space?” Riley repeated.
“Yes, space,” Alex said, collecting Riley’s clothes from the floor and passing them to her.
In silence, Riley changed back into her clothes and gathered all her stuff together. She made sure not to leave anything behind because she couldn’t help but feel this would be the last time she would be in this room.
The silence continued as Riley stood at Alex’s front door, itching to just get the hell out of there.
“Are you going to be okay to drive home?” Alex asked.
“I’m fine,” Riley nodded, grasping her car keys tightly in her hand.
“Okay.”
“Before I go, I just have to ask… What happens once I leave?” Riley asked, looking up at Alex.
“I’ll call you. I just need to figure all this out.”
“You’ll call me?” Riley repeated, rolling her eyes. “I’ve certainly heard that before…”
“Hey,” Alex said, reaching out and touching her cheek lightly. “I will call you.”
“Scouts honor?” she asked, tears brimming her eyes.
Alex nodded, leaning down to kiss her lightly. “Scouts honor.”
***
Notes
Hmm... Is he overreacting? (I don't think so)
If you could come back and update, that'd be great <3
1/23/19