Dirty Laundry
7
2012
"Okay, I want to hear every single detail from last night," Stacey demanded of Riley as they all sat down for brunch.
Once Riley left Alex's hotel later that morning, she took a cab to the hotel she and girls were staying at. She took a quick shower and changed her clothes before they headed down to the café next door.
Riley sighed and took a big gulp of warm liquid from her coffee mug. She wasn't completely hungover but she was definitely feeling sluggish this morning. "There's not much to tell," she lied.
"Bull shit," Stacey scoffed. "You spent the night with the guy. There's got to be plenty to tell."
Riley sighed again and looked across the faces of her three friends who were all eagerly waiting for her to regale the previous night's events. "Okay, fine," she caved and started her story from the moment Alex tapped her on the shoulder at the club to when he kissed her on the balcony.
"That is the cutest story," Katie gushed, a goofy smile on her pretty face.
Riley just shrugged and brought her coffee mug to her lips again.
"It is," Stacey agreed. "But there's more."
Riley sort of choked on a mouthful of coffee. "What do you mean,there's more?" she asked, clearing her throat.
Vanessa nodded. "I agree. I can see it in her eyes. What happen after that kiss?"
Katie gasped as if she had already figured it out. "You didn't!"
Riley sunk back in her chair and placed her coffee mug back on the table. "One second we were kissing on the balcony. Then the next second we were really kissing on the balcony. And before I knew it, we were really, really kissing on his bed and maybe some of our clothes started to come off."
The three girls all seemed to be on the edge of their seats as Riley told her story.
"And..." Katie pressed.
Riley shifted in her seat. "And I guess it was a good thing Stacey shoved those stupid condoms at me before I left the club."
Stacey, Vanessa and Katie each let out squeals of varying volumes that caused many diners seated around them to glare in their direction.
"Guys, shush," Riley groaned, feeling her cheeks go hot with embarrassment.
"Sorry," Vanessa cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. "We're just so proud of you. Three and a half years of college abroad, and you've finally gotten laid."
"Well, don't forget that one guy she met when she first came here that knocked her up," Stacey reminded the table.
Riley shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She may not have been one-hundred-percent honest with her new friends on where exactly Summer came from.
"Right," Katie shrugged at Stacey but quickly turned back to Riley. "So, how was it?"
"It was fine. Can we please talk about something else?"
"Did you have an orgasm?" Stacey asked.
"Stacey!" Riley's cheeks were even redder now. "Please stop," she whined.
Stacey laughed. "Just answer the question."
Riley shook her head.
"You know if you just answer she'll move on, right?" Katie whispered.
Riley sighed. "Twice," she muttered, causing her friends to squeal all over again.
"That's my girl," Stacey smiled proudly. "And you're welcome, by the way, for those condoms."
"Yeah thanks," Riley mumbled.
"Okay, okay," Vanessa tried to, sort of, change the subject. "How did you guys leave it this morning before you left? What did he say?"
Riley bit her lip and didn't say anything right away.
"Rile..." Katie pressed.
"He didn't say anything," Riley sighed. "Because he was still asleep when I left."
"So let me get this straight," Stacey started, "not only did you sleep with a guy you literally just met, but you had a one night stand with him?"
"Yeah," Riley shrugged. "I guess that's exactly what I did."
"But why?" Katie frowned. "It sounds like you were really liking him."
"I think that's exactly why," Riley sighed. "Everything had gone so well. I didn't need to risk ruining the experience with weird morning after talk."
"Does he have your number?" Vanessa asked.
"No," Riley shook her head. "It's better this way, you guys. He's in a band that tours all over the world. And when he's not traveling, he lives in Baltimore. I'm going to be somewhere between London and California in the next few months. It's just not a thing that was meant to last more than a day and that's fine."
"Are you sure it's fine?" Katie asked with a sad smile. "It seemed like you guys had a really strong connection."
Riley shrugged. "It's fine. It's not like I've been actively looking for a guy anyway..."
"But that's usually when the best ones come around. You know, when you least expect it," Vanessa said.
"Just drop it guys," Riley said, digging through her bag. She heard a familiar 'ding' sound that signaled she had received a text message. She swiped across the screen to unlock her phone right away, assuming the message was from her aunt about Summer. "Holy. Crap," Riley muttered as she read the text.
Was the sex that bad?
"What's wrong?" Stacey was the first to ask as all three girls had noticed the way Riley's face dropped.
Speechless, she turned her phone around to show the text she'd just received from a number she did not have saved in her contacts.
"But didn't you say you didn't give him your number?" Katie asked.
Riley nodded. "I di-" she paused suddenly when a memory came back to her, "oh, that sneaky, son of a-"
"What?" Vanessa asked, a slight chuckle in her voice.
"When we were at the bar he thought he lost his phone. He asked me if he could use mine to call it. Turns out it just fell from his pocket to the floor under his barstool. It was probably just a ploy to get my number without asking."
The girls laughed quietly to themselves.
"I can't believe you didn't know it was a ploy..." Stacey teased, not really hiding her giggles anymore.
"Shut up," Riley shot her a look. "What do I do?" She asked, waving her phone around.
"I think you need to reply. This guy could be the one, Rile. Don't let him go just yet," Katie tried.
"While I agree with Katie that you shouldn't let him go just yet, it's certainly not because he could be the one or anything," Stacey said with a roll of her eyes.
"Then why?" Riley asked carefully.
"He got you off twice in one night, my darling. Keep him around as some kind of booty call and then let him go," Stacey suggested. She was definitely the most crude and inappropriate of the group.
"Yeah, but her problem is that he's not around," Vanessa butted in. "She said he goes all over the place with his band."
"So?" Stacey shrugged. "If the band's as successful as that makes them seem, I'm sure he can afford to fly in for a quick fuck whenever it's possible."
Riley covered her face with her hands, shaking her head.
"Riley, what do you want?" Katie asked gently.
"I don't know," Riley shook her head as her phone signaled another two texts. She groaned as she read them.
Come on... it wasn't that bad!
But really I just wanted to make sure that you got to wherever you were going safely. You never know when you'll find an insane psycho freak
The fact that he was concerned with her safety pretty much made Riley turn into a puddle in her chair.
"Answer him," Stacey demanded.
Vanessa nodded. "Definitely answer him."
Katie also nodded. "You already know where I stand."
"But what do I say?" Riley panicked.
"Say you had an emergency," Vanessa suggested.
"Tell him you just wanted to get laid," Stacey suggested.
"Just tell him the truth," Katie suggested, trying to be the most helpful.
Riley groaned and started to type whatever came to her head first.
Riley: Sorry. :-( I had to go meet my friends and I didn't want to wake you. But I am safe with the girls at brunch where there's coffee. And bacon.
She only needed to wait about thirty seconds for him to respond.
Alex: Glad to hear you're safe in the land of coffee and bacon.
Alex: But that didn't answer the question about the sex...
Riley: Well....
Riley giggled to herself knowing that "well" would send Alex into some kind of frenzy.
Riley didn't notice the glances her friends were sharing. They all immediately took note of the smile on Riley's face and the overall pleasant glow she had after only exchanging the few texts with Alex.
Seconds later "Alex" flashed on her screen as her phone rang with an incoming call. Riley had already entered his contact into her phone.
"What do you mean 'well'?" Alex asked as soon as the call connected, before Riley even said 'hello'.
Riley laughed into the phone and excused herself from the table as she decided it was best to take his call in private.
"I just meant well..." she answered.
"Like the sex was well, or well.... it could have been better?"
Truthfully, Alex didn't need her to answer. He knew everything about last night had been next to perfect, right down to the sex.
He was afraid to admit it, but he was really hurt when he woke up and Riley was gone. Usually he was the one sneaking out so he really didn't like being on the other side of it.
He'd be lying, if he said he didn't contemplate leaving first. Sure, it was his room, but he could have easily packed up all his stuff and went down to the bus that was parked around the block. But when he woke up, shortly after they had both fallen asleep in the first place, and saw Riley peacefully asleep next to him, he didn't want to go. So it was definitely a blow to his confidence when he woke up a few hours later alone.
"Alex, you don't strike me as the type to be self-conscious when it comes to sex."
"No, definitely not. But it's nice to have your ego stroked every once in a while."
"Oh, well, in that case. You were the best I've ever had, Alex," she said in a slightly overdramatic voice. "I'm still feeling a bit weak in the knees," she continued her act, even though that wasn't completely a lie.
"Thank you. That's all I needed to hear," Alex said with a satisfied sigh. "So, what are you up to the rest of the day?" he asked, moving into a more normal conversation which caused Riley to laugh.
"I'm going to finish up brunch and then head back to our hotel to pack up and check out. And then it's back on the train to London."
"Huh..." Alex said slowly. "You're headed back home already?"
"That's right. The girls picked some other club I've never heard of to go to tonight. It's right by school so at least it's local."
"That's interesting," Alex said, leaning back against his pillows in his bunk.
"How on earth is that interesting?" Riley asked.
"Well, we're on the bus right now heading to London. We have a show the day after tomorrow so I'm sure the guys will be looking to go out again tonight."
"You're right," Riley laughed. "That is interesting."
"Too bad you don't know the name of the place you'll be at," Alex said, dropping a not so subtle hint that he wanted to see her again.
"It's a real shame, huh?" Riley replied. She knew exactly what game he was playing but she decided to play one of her own. "Look, I have to get back to my friends. Have a safe drive to London," she said quickly before disconnecting the call.
If anything was "meant to be" between her and Alex, she would leave that up to "fate" or whatever. If she was really meant to see him again, he would figure out a way to find her tonight.
----
Later that night Riley once again found herself standing by the bar, nursing a drink while she watched her friends on the dance floor.
Even though she was definitely entertained people watching, she started to feel herself get bored. She contemplated pulling out her phone and texting Alex the name of the club that she finally learned. She quickly decided against that idea when she remembered she hadn't heard from him again since she ended their phone call. She had to assume that he was with his friends and some ever nicer club surrounded by girls who were way more interesting and way more pretty than she was.
“You're just way too pretty to be standing at the bar by yourself."
Riley looked up to see a guy, about her age, standing next to her. She immediately got a vibe from him that she didn't like.
"I'm okay," she shrugged.
"I bet you do more than okay," he said, sliding a bit closer to her. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
It took everything she had not to roll her eyes. "Riley."
"I'm Robbie."
Riley nodded. "Pleasure..."
"So, sweetheart, what are you drinking?" Robbie asked, clearly becoming frustrated that Riley wasn't interested.
"My name is Riley," she reminded him and held up her beer bottle. "And I'm still working on this one," she said, waving the bottle around a bit so he could see the liquid move around inside.
"Are you sure I can't buy you a refill?" he insisted.
"I'm sure," Riley nodded.
Robbie groaned. "I don't get girls like you."
"That doesn't surprise me," Riley muttered under her breath.
"You girls come out to these bars all dressed up to get guys' attention. And then when they give you attention, you act all offended and turn them away. I mean, what the fuck?"
Riley looked down at the simple blue spaghetti strap dress she was wearing. It ended just under her knee and she wore a thin black sweater over it.
She could smell the liquor on Robbie's breath as he continued to get closer to her. She had a sense that he was the jock/frat boy type to get aggressive when he was drunk. She didn't want any problems.
"I'm really sorry," she said, keeping her voice as even as she could. "It's just that I have a boyfriend. And it wouldn't have been appropriate to accept a drink from you," she lied.
"Boyfriend?" Robbie scoffed. "I don't see no boyfriend."
Again, Riley suppressed the desire to roll her eyes. "He's on his way."
"Well, then while we wait, let me buy you a drink," Robbie offered again, but this time he rested his hand a little too low on Riley's back, causing her to flinch away from him a bit more.
"I said no," Riley repeated, starting to lose her cool.
"Seriously?" Robbie rolled his eyes. "Come on," he reached for her hand. "At least give me one dance."
"Oh no," Riley yanked her hand back. "That's not happening. I'm going to go now. It sure was nice to meet you," Riley muttered out as she tried to walk away.
Robbie grabbed her wrist again. "Let me buy you one God damn drink."
"I-I have to go find my boyfriend," she lied again, trying and failing to jerk free from his grasp.
Robbie opened his big mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut and let go of Riley's wrist when someone slipped into the empty space next to Riley at the bar and pressed a big kiss to her cheek.
"Sorry I'm late, babe. I got held up."
Riley looked up and a wide smile spread across her face when she saw Alex. "You made it," she said, faking excitement and going along with their act.
"I did," he said, slipping a protective arm around her shoulder. "Who's your new friend?" Alex asked, gesturing to Robbie.
Alex had been watching the exchange between the two of them briefly. He didn't want to interrupt until he noticed how tense Riley's body had gotten and saw her trying to jerk away from Robbie's grasp. He could tell she muttered something about her 'boyfriend' and that's when he took the chance to intervene.
"Oh, this is Robbie," she explained, leaning into Alex. She strangely felt much safer with him around. "He really wanted to buy me a drink. But I said no, thank you."
"This guy?" Robbie scoffed, looking Alex up and down."Forget you. I'm not drunk enough and you're certainly not pretty enough for the hassle," he said, as if his comments would hurt Riley's feelings, before he turned to walk away.
Riley let out a sigh of relief but immediately wanted to take it back when Alex stepped forward and grabbed Robbie’s arm.
"Hang on," Alex said, "you don't have to be a dick just because she didn't want you to buy her a drink."
"So what?" Robbie groaned, yanking his arm back.
"You owe her an apology," Alex demanded.
"I don't owe her shit," Robbie laughed.
“No,” Alex insisted. “You owe her an apology.”
“It’s fine,” Riley cut in, stepping in front of Alex and pressing her hands to his chest to push him away from Robbie.
“It’s not fine,” Alex argued, trying to get around her.
“Babe,” Riley used the nickname Alex had used moments ago. “Let’s go, okay?”
“Fine,” he sighed, glancing over her shoulder to Robbie. “You can go.”
Robbie rolled his eyes before looking Riley up and down again and shaking his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he scoffed before turning to walk away.
“What a fucking dick,” Alex groaned.
“I’m sorry. What was that?” Robbie turned around and got in Alex’s face.
“I called you a fucking dick,” Alex repeated, not stepping down from Robbie. Alex may have been taller than him, but Robbie was definitely still bigger.
Riley squeezed her eyes shut and silently prayed to whatever higher power could hear her that Robbie would just walk away.
Riley opened her eyes again, just in time to hear a handful of other insults shouted from both guys' mouths before she was shoved into the bar and out of the way when fists started flying.
---
“What the hell were you thinking!” Riley yelled at Alex.
Moments after the fight had started, security guards swarmed the area and quickly dragged Alex and Robbie off in different directions.
Alex sat on a step outside one of the side entrances waiting on a medic to come examine his face while Riley anxiously paced back and forth.
“I was thinking that guy was a total douche for talking to you like that,” Alex grumbled, pulling the bottom of his shirt to his face to wipe at the blood that continued to drip from his nose.
“I get that. And I appreciate it so much, but it also would have been totally fine if we just walked away. Because now what? That guy is still a douche and your face his broken.”
Alex mumbled something else under his breath that Riley didn’t quite understand.
“Here,” she said, taking off her small black sweater and bunching it up in a ball, pressing it against Alex’s nose. “It’s probably a bit more absorbent than the hem of your shirt.”
“Great,” Alex said, his words muffled against the fabric. “Another article of your clothing for me to ruin.”
“I’ll just add it to your tab,” she said, giving him a sad smile.
A few moments later the medic came over and started to clean Alex up. Besides the bleeding nose, he also had a small cut under his right eye that would more than likely result in a black eye the next morning.
The medic recommended Alex get properly checked out at the hospital. She didn’t think that Alex’s nose was broken but after he admitted to his vision being slightly blurry and his head feeling a bit fuzzy, she feared he may have a concussion. Alex strongly refused to go to the hospital but Riley eventually convinced him to go.
One of the members of the club’s security offered to call them a cab. When Riley asked if Alex wanted her to use his phone to contact any of his friends inside to let them know what was happening, his refused again. He was pretty embarrassed by the whole scenario and wanted to go as long as he could before the guys all found out and made fun of him. He kind of just hoped they would assume he found Riley and they ran off together somewhere – which, technically wasn’t a lie. When they were in the back of the cab, Riley sent a text to the girls explaining what had happened.
Thankfully their time in the hospital didn’t take too long. Alex’s nose was in fact broken, but thankfully he did not have a concussion. He was given a few pain killers and the instruction to take it easy for a few days before he was sent on his merry way.
“I’m so sorry,” Alex said softly once he and Riley were in the back of another cab that was now taking them back to his hotel.
“You have no reason to be sorry, Alex,” Riley assured him.
“I ruined your night. And I ruined you sweater,” he frowned.
“Yeah, but you also stuck up to that jerk for me, which means way more to me than some sweater I’ve had since high school.”
“You had that sweater since high school?” Alex gasped. “Then that means it had some kind of sentimental value to you.”
Riley laughed quickly before giving Alex’s knee a squeeze. “I promise it was just an old sweater. There was a hole on the sleeve and a bleach stain on the inside of it. You probably did me a favor forcing me to get rid of it…”
“But I still ruined your night,” he continued to frown.
Riley shook her head. “I wasn’t having much fun there anyway, so it’s really okay.”
Alex looked up at her, forcing a sleepy smile to his face before letting his head fall to rest on her shoulder. “But at least I found you…”
***
"Okay, I want to hear every single detail from last night," Stacey demanded of Riley as they all sat down for brunch.
Once Riley left Alex's hotel later that morning, she took a cab to the hotel she and girls were staying at. She took a quick shower and changed her clothes before they headed down to the café next door.
Riley sighed and took a big gulp of warm liquid from her coffee mug. She wasn't completely hungover but she was definitely feeling sluggish this morning. "There's not much to tell," she lied.
"Bull shit," Stacey scoffed. "You spent the night with the guy. There's got to be plenty to tell."
Riley sighed again and looked across the faces of her three friends who were all eagerly waiting for her to regale the previous night's events. "Okay, fine," she caved and started her story from the moment Alex tapped her on the shoulder at the club to when he kissed her on the balcony.
"That is the cutest story," Katie gushed, a goofy smile on her pretty face.
Riley just shrugged and brought her coffee mug to her lips again.
"It is," Stacey agreed. "But there's more."
Riley sort of choked on a mouthful of coffee. "What do you mean,there's more?" she asked, clearing her throat.
Vanessa nodded. "I agree. I can see it in her eyes. What happen after that kiss?"
Katie gasped as if she had already figured it out. "You didn't!"
Riley sunk back in her chair and placed her coffee mug back on the table. "One second we were kissing on the balcony. Then the next second we were really kissing on the balcony. And before I knew it, we were really, really kissing on his bed and maybe some of our clothes started to come off."
The three girls all seemed to be on the edge of their seats as Riley told her story.
"And..." Katie pressed.
Riley shifted in her seat. "And I guess it was a good thing Stacey shoved those stupid condoms at me before I left the club."
Stacey, Vanessa and Katie each let out squeals of varying volumes that caused many diners seated around them to glare in their direction.
"Guys, shush," Riley groaned, feeling her cheeks go hot with embarrassment.
"Sorry," Vanessa cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. "We're just so proud of you. Three and a half years of college abroad, and you've finally gotten laid."
"Well, don't forget that one guy she met when she first came here that knocked her up," Stacey reminded the table.
Riley shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She may not have been one-hundred-percent honest with her new friends on where exactly Summer came from.
"Right," Katie shrugged at Stacey but quickly turned back to Riley. "So, how was it?"
"It was fine. Can we please talk about something else?"
"Did you have an orgasm?" Stacey asked.
"Stacey!" Riley's cheeks were even redder now. "Please stop," she whined.
Stacey laughed. "Just answer the question."
Riley shook her head.
"You know if you just answer she'll move on, right?" Katie whispered.
Riley sighed. "Twice," she muttered, causing her friends to squeal all over again.
"That's my girl," Stacey smiled proudly. "And you're welcome, by the way, for those condoms."
"Yeah thanks," Riley mumbled.
"Okay, okay," Vanessa tried to, sort of, change the subject. "How did you guys leave it this morning before you left? What did he say?"
Riley bit her lip and didn't say anything right away.
"Rile..." Katie pressed.
"He didn't say anything," Riley sighed. "Because he was still asleep when I left."
"So let me get this straight," Stacey started, "not only did you sleep with a guy you literally just met, but you had a one night stand with him?"
"Yeah," Riley shrugged. "I guess that's exactly what I did."
"But why?" Katie frowned. "It sounds like you were really liking him."
"I think that's exactly why," Riley sighed. "Everything had gone so well. I didn't need to risk ruining the experience with weird morning after talk."
"Does he have your number?" Vanessa asked.
"No," Riley shook her head. "It's better this way, you guys. He's in a band that tours all over the world. And when he's not traveling, he lives in Baltimore. I'm going to be somewhere between London and California in the next few months. It's just not a thing that was meant to last more than a day and that's fine."
"Are you sure it's fine?" Katie asked with a sad smile. "It seemed like you guys had a really strong connection."
Riley shrugged. "It's fine. It's not like I've been actively looking for a guy anyway..."
"But that's usually when the best ones come around. You know, when you least expect it," Vanessa said.
"Just drop it guys," Riley said, digging through her bag. She heard a familiar 'ding' sound that signaled she had received a text message. She swiped across the screen to unlock her phone right away, assuming the message was from her aunt about Summer. "Holy. Crap," Riley muttered as she read the text.
Was the sex that bad?
"What's wrong?" Stacey was the first to ask as all three girls had noticed the way Riley's face dropped.
Speechless, she turned her phone around to show the text she'd just received from a number she did not have saved in her contacts.
"But didn't you say you didn't give him your number?" Katie asked.
Riley nodded. "I di-" she paused suddenly when a memory came back to her, "oh, that sneaky, son of a-"
"What?" Vanessa asked, a slight chuckle in her voice.
"When we were at the bar he thought he lost his phone. He asked me if he could use mine to call it. Turns out it just fell from his pocket to the floor under his barstool. It was probably just a ploy to get my number without asking."
The girls laughed quietly to themselves.
"I can't believe you didn't know it was a ploy..." Stacey teased, not really hiding her giggles anymore.
"Shut up," Riley shot her a look. "What do I do?" She asked, waving her phone around.
"I think you need to reply. This guy could be the one, Rile. Don't let him go just yet," Katie tried.
"While I agree with Katie that you shouldn't let him go just yet, it's certainly not because he could be the one or anything," Stacey said with a roll of her eyes.
"Then why?" Riley asked carefully.
"He got you off twice in one night, my darling. Keep him around as some kind of booty call and then let him go," Stacey suggested. She was definitely the most crude and inappropriate of the group.
"Yeah, but her problem is that he's not around," Vanessa butted in. "She said he goes all over the place with his band."
"So?" Stacey shrugged. "If the band's as successful as that makes them seem, I'm sure he can afford to fly in for a quick fuck whenever it's possible."
Riley covered her face with her hands, shaking her head.
"Riley, what do you want?" Katie asked gently.
"I don't know," Riley shook her head as her phone signaled another two texts. She groaned as she read them.
Come on... it wasn't that bad!
But really I just wanted to make sure that you got to wherever you were going safely. You never know when you'll find an insane psycho freak
The fact that he was concerned with her safety pretty much made Riley turn into a puddle in her chair.
"Answer him," Stacey demanded.
Vanessa nodded. "Definitely answer him."
Katie also nodded. "You already know where I stand."
"But what do I say?" Riley panicked.
"Say you had an emergency," Vanessa suggested.
"Tell him you just wanted to get laid," Stacey suggested.
"Just tell him the truth," Katie suggested, trying to be the most helpful.
Riley groaned and started to type whatever came to her head first.
Riley: Sorry. :-( I had to go meet my friends and I didn't want to wake you. But I am safe with the girls at brunch where there's coffee. And bacon.
She only needed to wait about thirty seconds for him to respond.
Alex: Glad to hear you're safe in the land of coffee and bacon.
Alex: But that didn't answer the question about the sex...
Riley: Well....
Riley giggled to herself knowing that "well" would send Alex into some kind of frenzy.
Riley didn't notice the glances her friends were sharing. They all immediately took note of the smile on Riley's face and the overall pleasant glow she had after only exchanging the few texts with Alex.
Seconds later "Alex" flashed on her screen as her phone rang with an incoming call. Riley had already entered his contact into her phone.
"What do you mean 'well'?" Alex asked as soon as the call connected, before Riley even said 'hello'.
Riley laughed into the phone and excused herself from the table as she decided it was best to take his call in private.
"I just meant well..." she answered.
"Like the sex was well, or well.... it could have been better?"
Truthfully, Alex didn't need her to answer. He knew everything about last night had been next to perfect, right down to the sex.
He was afraid to admit it, but he was really hurt when he woke up and Riley was gone. Usually he was the one sneaking out so he really didn't like being on the other side of it.
He'd be lying, if he said he didn't contemplate leaving first. Sure, it was his room, but he could have easily packed up all his stuff and went down to the bus that was parked around the block. But when he woke up, shortly after they had both fallen asleep in the first place, and saw Riley peacefully asleep next to him, he didn't want to go. So it was definitely a blow to his confidence when he woke up a few hours later alone.
"Alex, you don't strike me as the type to be self-conscious when it comes to sex."
"No, definitely not. But it's nice to have your ego stroked every once in a while."
"Oh, well, in that case. You were the best I've ever had, Alex," she said in a slightly overdramatic voice. "I'm still feeling a bit weak in the knees," she continued her act, even though that wasn't completely a lie.
"Thank you. That's all I needed to hear," Alex said with a satisfied sigh. "So, what are you up to the rest of the day?" he asked, moving into a more normal conversation which caused Riley to laugh.
"I'm going to finish up brunch and then head back to our hotel to pack up and check out. And then it's back on the train to London."
"Huh..." Alex said slowly. "You're headed back home already?"
"That's right. The girls picked some other club I've never heard of to go to tonight. It's right by school so at least it's local."
"That's interesting," Alex said, leaning back against his pillows in his bunk.
"How on earth is that interesting?" Riley asked.
"Well, we're on the bus right now heading to London. We have a show the day after tomorrow so I'm sure the guys will be looking to go out again tonight."
"You're right," Riley laughed. "That is interesting."
"Too bad you don't know the name of the place you'll be at," Alex said, dropping a not so subtle hint that he wanted to see her again.
"It's a real shame, huh?" Riley replied. She knew exactly what game he was playing but she decided to play one of her own. "Look, I have to get back to my friends. Have a safe drive to London," she said quickly before disconnecting the call.
If anything was "meant to be" between her and Alex, she would leave that up to "fate" or whatever. If she was really meant to see him again, he would figure out a way to find her tonight.
----
Later that night Riley once again found herself standing by the bar, nursing a drink while she watched her friends on the dance floor.
Even though she was definitely entertained people watching, she started to feel herself get bored. She contemplated pulling out her phone and texting Alex the name of the club that she finally learned. She quickly decided against that idea when she remembered she hadn't heard from him again since she ended their phone call. She had to assume that he was with his friends and some ever nicer club surrounded by girls who were way more interesting and way more pretty than she was.
“You're just way too pretty to be standing at the bar by yourself."
Riley looked up to see a guy, about her age, standing next to her. She immediately got a vibe from him that she didn't like.
"I'm okay," she shrugged.
"I bet you do more than okay," he said, sliding a bit closer to her. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
It took everything she had not to roll her eyes. "Riley."
"I'm Robbie."
Riley nodded. "Pleasure..."
"So, sweetheart, what are you drinking?" Robbie asked, clearly becoming frustrated that Riley wasn't interested.
"My name is Riley," she reminded him and held up her beer bottle. "And I'm still working on this one," she said, waving the bottle around a bit so he could see the liquid move around inside.
"Are you sure I can't buy you a refill?" he insisted.
"I'm sure," Riley nodded.
Robbie groaned. "I don't get girls like you."
"That doesn't surprise me," Riley muttered under her breath.
"You girls come out to these bars all dressed up to get guys' attention. And then when they give you attention, you act all offended and turn them away. I mean, what the fuck?"
Riley looked down at the simple blue spaghetti strap dress she was wearing. It ended just under her knee and she wore a thin black sweater over it.
She could smell the liquor on Robbie's breath as he continued to get closer to her. She had a sense that he was the jock/frat boy type to get aggressive when he was drunk. She didn't want any problems.
"I'm really sorry," she said, keeping her voice as even as she could. "It's just that I have a boyfriend. And it wouldn't have been appropriate to accept a drink from you," she lied.
"Boyfriend?" Robbie scoffed. "I don't see no boyfriend."
Again, Riley suppressed the desire to roll her eyes. "He's on his way."
"Well, then while we wait, let me buy you a drink," Robbie offered again, but this time he rested his hand a little too low on Riley's back, causing her to flinch away from him a bit more.
"I said no," Riley repeated, starting to lose her cool.
"Seriously?" Robbie rolled his eyes. "Come on," he reached for her hand. "At least give me one dance."
"Oh no," Riley yanked her hand back. "That's not happening. I'm going to go now. It sure was nice to meet you," Riley muttered out as she tried to walk away.
Robbie grabbed her wrist again. "Let me buy you one God damn drink."
"I-I have to go find my boyfriend," she lied again, trying and failing to jerk free from his grasp.
Robbie opened his big mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut and let go of Riley's wrist when someone slipped into the empty space next to Riley at the bar and pressed a big kiss to her cheek.
"Sorry I'm late, babe. I got held up."
Riley looked up and a wide smile spread across her face when she saw Alex. "You made it," she said, faking excitement and going along with their act.
"I did," he said, slipping a protective arm around her shoulder. "Who's your new friend?" Alex asked, gesturing to Robbie.
Alex had been watching the exchange between the two of them briefly. He didn't want to interrupt until he noticed how tense Riley's body had gotten and saw her trying to jerk away from Robbie's grasp. He could tell she muttered something about her 'boyfriend' and that's when he took the chance to intervene.
"Oh, this is Robbie," she explained, leaning into Alex. She strangely felt much safer with him around. "He really wanted to buy me a drink. But I said no, thank you."
"This guy?" Robbie scoffed, looking Alex up and down."Forget you. I'm not drunk enough and you're certainly not pretty enough for the hassle," he said, as if his comments would hurt Riley's feelings, before he turned to walk away.
Riley let out a sigh of relief but immediately wanted to take it back when Alex stepped forward and grabbed Robbie’s arm.
"Hang on," Alex said, "you don't have to be a dick just because she didn't want you to buy her a drink."
"So what?" Robbie groaned, yanking his arm back.
"You owe her an apology," Alex demanded.
"I don't owe her shit," Robbie laughed.
“No,” Alex insisted. “You owe her an apology.”
“It’s fine,” Riley cut in, stepping in front of Alex and pressing her hands to his chest to push him away from Robbie.
“It’s not fine,” Alex argued, trying to get around her.
“Babe,” Riley used the nickname Alex had used moments ago. “Let’s go, okay?”
“Fine,” he sighed, glancing over her shoulder to Robbie. “You can go.”
Robbie rolled his eyes before looking Riley up and down again and shaking his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he scoffed before turning to walk away.
“What a fucking dick,” Alex groaned.
“I’m sorry. What was that?” Robbie turned around and got in Alex’s face.
“I called you a fucking dick,” Alex repeated, not stepping down from Robbie. Alex may have been taller than him, but Robbie was definitely still bigger.
Riley squeezed her eyes shut and silently prayed to whatever higher power could hear her that Robbie would just walk away.
Riley opened her eyes again, just in time to hear a handful of other insults shouted from both guys' mouths before she was shoved into the bar and out of the way when fists started flying.
---
“What the hell were you thinking!” Riley yelled at Alex.
Moments after the fight had started, security guards swarmed the area and quickly dragged Alex and Robbie off in different directions.
Alex sat on a step outside one of the side entrances waiting on a medic to come examine his face while Riley anxiously paced back and forth.
“I was thinking that guy was a total douche for talking to you like that,” Alex grumbled, pulling the bottom of his shirt to his face to wipe at the blood that continued to drip from his nose.
“I get that. And I appreciate it so much, but it also would have been totally fine if we just walked away. Because now what? That guy is still a douche and your face his broken.”
Alex mumbled something else under his breath that Riley didn’t quite understand.
“Here,” she said, taking off her small black sweater and bunching it up in a ball, pressing it against Alex’s nose. “It’s probably a bit more absorbent than the hem of your shirt.”
“Great,” Alex said, his words muffled against the fabric. “Another article of your clothing for me to ruin.”
“I’ll just add it to your tab,” she said, giving him a sad smile.
A few moments later the medic came over and started to clean Alex up. Besides the bleeding nose, he also had a small cut under his right eye that would more than likely result in a black eye the next morning.
The medic recommended Alex get properly checked out at the hospital. She didn’t think that Alex’s nose was broken but after he admitted to his vision being slightly blurry and his head feeling a bit fuzzy, she feared he may have a concussion. Alex strongly refused to go to the hospital but Riley eventually convinced him to go.
One of the members of the club’s security offered to call them a cab. When Riley asked if Alex wanted her to use his phone to contact any of his friends inside to let them know what was happening, his refused again. He was pretty embarrassed by the whole scenario and wanted to go as long as he could before the guys all found out and made fun of him. He kind of just hoped they would assume he found Riley and they ran off together somewhere – which, technically wasn’t a lie. When they were in the back of the cab, Riley sent a text to the girls explaining what had happened.
Thankfully their time in the hospital didn’t take too long. Alex’s nose was in fact broken, but thankfully he did not have a concussion. He was given a few pain killers and the instruction to take it easy for a few days before he was sent on his merry way.
“I’m so sorry,” Alex said softly once he and Riley were in the back of another cab that was now taking them back to his hotel.
“You have no reason to be sorry, Alex,” Riley assured him.
“I ruined your night. And I ruined you sweater,” he frowned.
“Yeah, but you also stuck up to that jerk for me, which means way more to me than some sweater I’ve had since high school.”
“You had that sweater since high school?” Alex gasped. “Then that means it had some kind of sentimental value to you.”
Riley laughed quickly before giving Alex’s knee a squeeze. “I promise it was just an old sweater. There was a hole on the sleeve and a bleach stain on the inside of it. You probably did me a favor forcing me to get rid of it…”
“But I still ruined your night,” he continued to frown.
Riley shook her head. “I wasn’t having much fun there anyway, so it’s really okay.”
Alex looked up at her, forcing a sleepy smile to his face before letting his head fall to rest on her shoulder. “But at least I found you…”
***
Notes
Story Title: All Time Low - Dirty Laundry
And their saga continues...
If you could come back and update, that'd be great <3
1/23/19