Dirty Laundry
8
2012
"Stay here," Riley instructed Alex once she'd gotten him comfortably situated on his hotel room bed after having helped him change into a clean shirt and sweat pants. He had offered her a clean pair of pants and a sweatshirt to change into as well.
She grabbed his room key off the dresser and the ice bucket from the counter by the sink and quickly slipped out of the room and down the hall to fill the bucket with ice.
When she returned to the room, she wrapped a handful of ice in a washcloth from the bathroom. She sat next to Alex on the edge of the bed, gently pressing the ice to his face, strategically placing the cloth to reach his nose and under his quickly swelling and bruising eye.
"Let me know if I'm hurting you," she said quietly.
Alex grunted something incoherent.
Between the booze he must have consumed before showing up to the club, the pain meds they gave him in the hospital and the crash from the adrenaline rush he must have had before his little brawl, he was struggling to stay awake.
"I'm sorry," Alex muttered again after a little while of silence. "This is so not how I expected the night to go when I finally found you in that club standing by the bar."
"It's definitely not how I saw my night going either, but it's okay. Please stop apologizing," Riley said, adjusting her grip on the ice filled wash cloth. "How did you find me anyway?"
"Well, I remember you saying that you go to Brunel University. And you said on the phone that the place you were going to was near school. I did a quick google search and that club was the only new one in the area, so I took a chance that it was the one you'd be at..." Alex explained, a tired but proud smile forming over his lips.
"I must say, I'm very impressed with your ability to pay attention to details."
"Well, thanks," Alex shrugged. "But don't get too used to it. I'm known to kind of space out when people talk to me."
Riley laughed softly. "Well, I'm glad to have your attention as long as I can."
"I'm sorry, what?" Alex asked. "I must have spaced out," he smirked.
Riley shook her head, shoving him gently with her free hand. "Jerk."
He nodded. "I am a jerk. I'm a night ruining, clothes destroying jerk."
"Stop it," Riley pleaded. "You're none of those things. I mean it."
"Okay, fine." Alex groaned. "But this is still super embarrassing. I try to protect you and end up getting my own ass kicked."
Riley smiled at him sadly. "You did protect me. If you didn't step in when you did, who knows what that guy would have done."
"Please," Alex scoffed. "You would have slapped him and he'd run off with his tail between his legs."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Riley laughed.
"Oh, but I do," Alex nodded. "You're scrappy. You would have done just fine."
"You did just fine, too," Riley assured him.
This time Alex laughed, gesturing to his face. "Yeah, super fine. Never been better."
"You landed a few good hits yourself," Riley said. She may have been lying because it all happened so fast, she wasn't really sure what exactly happened.
"I did? As good as him though?" Alex asked, perking up a bit.
Riley nodded. "Definitely. I'm pretty sure he walked away with a busted lip."
"Good," Alex nodded, feeling somewhat better about himself. "It's the least he should deal with for being such a tool." Riley nodded.
"I'm sure his bad karma will come back to him eventually and he'll pick a fight with someone he's got no chance of winning."
"He already did," Alex decided. "I just realized that I clearly won our fight."
"Oh?" Riley raised an eyebrow at his change of heart.
"Who got the pretty girl to leave with him?" Alex asked, wiggling his eyebrows a bit.
Riley laughed and lightly shoved him again. "So I'm just a prize to you?"
Alex's eyes widened and he suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "What? Wait. No, that's not how I meant that!" He panicked.
"Oh, calm down. I was just kidding," Riley giggled.
"Hey," Alex frowned, "that's not fair," he groaned, poking Riley in the side.
She hissed softly and flinched at his touch.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said quickly. "It's nothing."
He lightly poked her side again and winced when she still flinched.
"Riley..." He said her name quietly before gently lifting the sweatshirt up to just under her ribcage. "Fuck," he muttered to himself when he revealed a nasty looking bruise. "How did this happen?"
"I got pushed out of the way and into the bar. It didn't really hurt at the time so I was surprised to see such a big bruise forming when I changed before."
Alex lightly ran his finger tips over the discoloring patch of skin. "I'm so fucking sorry, Riley."
"Hey," she grabbed his hand in hers, letting the sweatshirt fall back into place. "I'm fine and it's not your fault."
Alex scoffed. "It's totally my fault," he started shoving her hand holding the ice to his face away. "You should be taking care of yourself."
"It wasn't your fault," Riley repeated herself, placing the icy washcloth over his injuries again. "And I'm okay; I promise."
"Are you sure?" he frowned.
She smiled, holding up three fingers. "Scout's honor."
Alex returned her smile, grabbing her hand and pressing a light kiss to her finger tips. "I'm still sorry though," he whispered as his eyes locked on Riley's.
"I'm sorry, too," she also whispered, leaning over him and bracing herself on the mattress by placing her other hand down on the other side of Alex before she lightly brushed her lips over his.
"You're getting much better at that," Alex said quietly once Riley had pulled away. There was a small hint of laughter in his voice.
"I've had some practice," she shrugged, still positioned awfully close.
"Well, practice does make perfect," Alex muttered before his fingers became tangled in Riley's hair and he pulled her lips back down to his.
This time the kiss was much more heated and Riley was having a hard time keeping the ice in place.
"Wait," Alex said, turning away from the kiss, earning a muffled groan from Riley when her lips made contact with his cheek.
"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling back just a bit.
Alex reached up and grasped Riley's hand, taking the washcloth away from her and tossing it in the bucket that sat on the nightstand next to the bed.
"Better," he said, leaning forward and pressing his lips back to Riley's, both hands tangling in her hair this time.
Without breaking from the kiss, Riley shifted her body so she was kneeling on the bed, with one leg on each side of Alex's waist while her hands rested on his chest.
"The doctor said you were supposed to rest tonight," Riley said breathlessly, pulling back just enough from Alex's lips so her words would be audible.
"I don't care," Alex shrugged, pulling Riley's lips back down to his.
She giggled softly against his mouth and pulled away again. "Alex, come on..."
"Riley, come on..." He mimicked her.
She tilted her head to the side and backed away from him a bit so she was now just sitting across his legs. "I think we should get some sleep," she suggested, glancing behind her at the clock above the TV. It was well after four in the morning.
Taking advantage of her distraction with the time, Alex wrapped one of his long arms around Riley's waist and effortlessly flipped their positions so she was laying on her back and he held himself above her.
"I had something else entirely in mind," Alex said, bracing himself above her with a hand on each side of her head as he bent down to press a light kiss to her lips.
"Wait," she laughed. "You think we're going to have sex right now?"
"Aren't we?" Alex asked, confidently.
Riley forced out a laugh. It was really just to buy her some time. Truthfully, she wanted to. She really, really wanted to.
She had never felt such an attraction to a guy like this before. Sexually, emotionally, physically. She was attracted to him in all different ways. It was almost uncharted territory that she should have been afraid of. But she wasn't. At least not that much.
But Alex had just come from the hospital and per the doctor's orders, he was supposed to get lots of rest. Riley'd never forgive herself if she somehow accidentally knocked him in the face and made his nose worse or something.
"Are you really giving this that much thought?" Alex groaned, leaning up a bit. "Okay, really, if it's no, it's no and I one-hundred-percent respect that. But if you're just saying no because my face is fifty shades of fucked up, don't worry about that."
"Alex," Riley shook her head, still laughing slightly at his 'fifty shades of fucked up' comment.
"Look, the way I see it, I'm out of London in less than forty-eight hours. More than likely, no offense, we'll never see each other again-"
"So, you're saying it's now or never?" Riley interrupted, raising an eyebrow and leaning up on her elbows.
"Yeah," Alex nodded slowly. "I guess that's precisely what I'm saying."
Riley paused to think for a second. It was more for dramatic effect. She knew where this was going the second they started making out.
"You're killing me kid," Alex groaned at her delay. "Is it now or never?"
Riley let a smile wash over her face before she pointed towards the corner of the room. "Go get my bag."
A huge grin took over Alex's bruised and busted face before he pecked a kiss to Riley's lips. He quickly scrambled off the bed to retrieve Riley's bag, knowing she still had her supply of condoms from Stacey in there.
He dug through the bag and Riley was temporarily paralyzed with fear. She didn't know if any of Summer's belongings had found their way in there and she certainly was not in the right state of mind to explain any of that at the time.
Alex acquired the condoms, dropping them on the nightstand, jumping back into bed with Riley, causing her to laugh - a sound that was quickly becoming a favorite of Alex's.
Almost immediately, Alex positioned himself above Riley and covered her lips with his.
"I'm going to make sure you stick around until morning this time," he told her before taking off his t-shirt and tossing it away.
Riley replied by slipping her sweatshirt over her head and tossing it in the direction Alex's t-shirt had gone.
Right away Alex's eyes went straight to the bruise that was still forming on her side. He frowned slightly before bringing his lips down her arm and then brushed them lightly over the black and bluish skin.
Riley sunk back into the pillows and closed her eyes. Her entire body was hot with anticipation and only grew hotter as Alex's soft lips continued to roam her body.
"You okay?" Alex asked, looking up from where he had been trailing kisses across her stomach, just above the waistband of his sweatpants she was wearing.
"I'm okay," she said before Alex moved back up over her and crushed his lips to hers.
---
The sun was just starting to rise above the horizon as Alex and Riley lay quietly in bed together willing their breathing and heart rates to return to normal.
Riley had already wrapped herself up with the bed sheet while Alex let the comforter lay loosely over his waist. Their heads rested on the same pillow as they both laid on their back, looking up at the ceiling.
"Riley?" Alex asked into the darkness. He had been able to reach the light switch from the bed, flipping it off about the same time he eventually ended up reaching for a condom off the nightstand.
"Hmm?" she mumbled, sleepily.
"What's your favorite color?"
She smiled to herself even though she knew he couldn't see and answered his question. "Blue."
She could feel him nod his head slowly before they fell into silence again.
"Alex?" It was now Riley's turn to ask into the darkness.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?" she asked.
"I am actually a bit lactose intolerant so I don't eat much ice cream anymore. But if I'm feeling brave, I enjoy some cookies and cream."
"Hey, me too," Riley replied, maybe too excitedly.
Alex chuckled quietly. "Who is your favorite Disney Prince?"
"Eugene."
"Who the hell is Prince Eugene?"
Riley laughed. "Also known as Flynn Rider. From Tangled."
"Oh," Alex nodded again. "Right."
"Alex, who's your favorite Disney Princess?"
"Ariel." He answered quickly. "That whole purple bra and mermaid tail is super hot."
Riley laughed again and turned to her side so she was now facing Alex. He quickly shifted to match her position.
Over the following twenty minutes or so, Alex learned that Riley's favorite superhero was the Flash. Her favorite book was the entire Harry Potter series. Her favorite vegetable was a green pepper and her favorite board game was Clue. She preferred *NSYNC to the Backstreet Boys (though she really did love them both), tea over coffee and vanilla over chocolate.
In turn, Riley learned that Alex's favorite number was fourteen (because of his birthday). His favorite pizza topping was meatballs. His favorite subject in school was English and his favorite candy was Milk Duds. He preferred summer to winter, dogs to cats and Batman over Superman.
Their rapid fire questioning had continued down a playful road until Alex decided to throw Riley off.
"Why did you leave before I woke up the other morning?"
"I don't know," Riley took in a shaky breath and shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to ruin a good thing by overstaying my welcome."
Alex shook his head. "You most definitely wouldn't have been overstaying your welcome," he assured her.
"I guess I was also feeling sort of insecure about the whole thing and didn't want to face any sort of awkward morning after chats."
"That's just ridiculous. There was no reason for you to feel insecure."
Riley shrugged. "I felt really bad about leaving. But I just sort of figured I would never hear from or see you again, so I just tried to push the bad feelings away."
"So my 'hey, I think I lost my phone, can you call it?' trick worked?" Alex asked with a proud tone in his voice.
"Like a charm," Riley laughed, which caused Alex to laugh too. "Look, I am sorry for leaving like that. It was kind of a dick move."
Alex shrugged. "It was but I will be honest, there was a brief moment when I had woken up before you where I contemplated grabbing my things and holding down to the bus."
"What made you stay?"
Alex shook his head, keeping his mouth closed.
"Alex," Riley nudged his leg with her foot. "What made you stay?" she asked again.
"Fine," Alex let out a loud sigh. "I stayed put because you looked so cute in your sleep and I don't know," he shrugged. "Your sleep cuteness enticed me to stay."
"Oh great," Riley groaned. "I feel like an even bigger dick now because you looked cute when you were sleeping too and I still left."
Alex laughed. "You certainly don't have to feel that way."
"I'm sorry," she said again.
"With all the damage and destruction that I've caused, I think it's safe to say we're even," Alex decided.
"Deal," Riley agreed, yawning at the end of the word.
"Maybe now we should finally try to get some sleep?"
Riley nodded. "I think that's a great idea." Alex smiled sleepily before leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to her lips.
"Goodnight Riley."
"Night Alex," she replied, tugging the comforter up over both of them.
"Riley, one more thing," Alex started.
"What's that?"
"Promise you won't leave before I wake up this time."
Riley smiled and leaned over to kiss him again. "I'll be here."
***
"Stay here," Riley instructed Alex once she'd gotten him comfortably situated on his hotel room bed after having helped him change into a clean shirt and sweat pants. He had offered her a clean pair of pants and a sweatshirt to change into as well.
She grabbed his room key off the dresser and the ice bucket from the counter by the sink and quickly slipped out of the room and down the hall to fill the bucket with ice.
When she returned to the room, she wrapped a handful of ice in a washcloth from the bathroom. She sat next to Alex on the edge of the bed, gently pressing the ice to his face, strategically placing the cloth to reach his nose and under his quickly swelling and bruising eye.
"Let me know if I'm hurting you," she said quietly.
Alex grunted something incoherent.
Between the booze he must have consumed before showing up to the club, the pain meds they gave him in the hospital and the crash from the adrenaline rush he must have had before his little brawl, he was struggling to stay awake.
"I'm sorry," Alex muttered again after a little while of silence. "This is so not how I expected the night to go when I finally found you in that club standing by the bar."
"It's definitely not how I saw my night going either, but it's okay. Please stop apologizing," Riley said, adjusting her grip on the ice filled wash cloth. "How did you find me anyway?"
"Well, I remember you saying that you go to Brunel University. And you said on the phone that the place you were going to was near school. I did a quick google search and that club was the only new one in the area, so I took a chance that it was the one you'd be at..." Alex explained, a tired but proud smile forming over his lips.
"I must say, I'm very impressed with your ability to pay attention to details."
"Well, thanks," Alex shrugged. "But don't get too used to it. I'm known to kind of space out when people talk to me."
Riley laughed softly. "Well, I'm glad to have your attention as long as I can."
"I'm sorry, what?" Alex asked. "I must have spaced out," he smirked.
Riley shook her head, shoving him gently with her free hand. "Jerk."
He nodded. "I am a jerk. I'm a night ruining, clothes destroying jerk."
"Stop it," Riley pleaded. "You're none of those things. I mean it."
"Okay, fine." Alex groaned. "But this is still super embarrassing. I try to protect you and end up getting my own ass kicked."
Riley smiled at him sadly. "You did protect me. If you didn't step in when you did, who knows what that guy would have done."
"Please," Alex scoffed. "You would have slapped him and he'd run off with his tail between his legs."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Riley laughed.
"Oh, but I do," Alex nodded. "You're scrappy. You would have done just fine."
"You did just fine, too," Riley assured him.
This time Alex laughed, gesturing to his face. "Yeah, super fine. Never been better."
"You landed a few good hits yourself," Riley said. She may have been lying because it all happened so fast, she wasn't really sure what exactly happened.
"I did? As good as him though?" Alex asked, perking up a bit.
Riley nodded. "Definitely. I'm pretty sure he walked away with a busted lip."
"Good," Alex nodded, feeling somewhat better about himself. "It's the least he should deal with for being such a tool." Riley nodded.
"I'm sure his bad karma will come back to him eventually and he'll pick a fight with someone he's got no chance of winning."
"He already did," Alex decided. "I just realized that I clearly won our fight."
"Oh?" Riley raised an eyebrow at his change of heart.
"Who got the pretty girl to leave with him?" Alex asked, wiggling his eyebrows a bit.
Riley laughed and lightly shoved him again. "So I'm just a prize to you?"
Alex's eyes widened and he suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "What? Wait. No, that's not how I meant that!" He panicked.
"Oh, calm down. I was just kidding," Riley giggled.
"Hey," Alex frowned, "that's not fair," he groaned, poking Riley in the side.
She hissed softly and flinched at his touch.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said quickly. "It's nothing."
He lightly poked her side again and winced when she still flinched.
"Riley..." He said her name quietly before gently lifting the sweatshirt up to just under her ribcage. "Fuck," he muttered to himself when he revealed a nasty looking bruise. "How did this happen?"
"I got pushed out of the way and into the bar. It didn't really hurt at the time so I was surprised to see such a big bruise forming when I changed before."
Alex lightly ran his finger tips over the discoloring patch of skin. "I'm so fucking sorry, Riley."
"Hey," she grabbed his hand in hers, letting the sweatshirt fall back into place. "I'm fine and it's not your fault."
Alex scoffed. "It's totally my fault," he started shoving her hand holding the ice to his face away. "You should be taking care of yourself."
"It wasn't your fault," Riley repeated herself, placing the icy washcloth over his injuries again. "And I'm okay; I promise."
"Are you sure?" he frowned.
She smiled, holding up three fingers. "Scout's honor."
Alex returned her smile, grabbing her hand and pressing a light kiss to her finger tips. "I'm still sorry though," he whispered as his eyes locked on Riley's.
"I'm sorry, too," she also whispered, leaning over him and bracing herself on the mattress by placing her other hand down on the other side of Alex before she lightly brushed her lips over his.
"You're getting much better at that," Alex said quietly once Riley had pulled away. There was a small hint of laughter in his voice.
"I've had some practice," she shrugged, still positioned awfully close.
"Well, practice does make perfect," Alex muttered before his fingers became tangled in Riley's hair and he pulled her lips back down to his.
This time the kiss was much more heated and Riley was having a hard time keeping the ice in place.
"Wait," Alex said, turning away from the kiss, earning a muffled groan from Riley when her lips made contact with his cheek.
"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling back just a bit.
Alex reached up and grasped Riley's hand, taking the washcloth away from her and tossing it in the bucket that sat on the nightstand next to the bed.
"Better," he said, leaning forward and pressing his lips back to Riley's, both hands tangling in her hair this time.
Without breaking from the kiss, Riley shifted her body so she was kneeling on the bed, with one leg on each side of Alex's waist while her hands rested on his chest.
"The doctor said you were supposed to rest tonight," Riley said breathlessly, pulling back just enough from Alex's lips so her words would be audible.
"I don't care," Alex shrugged, pulling Riley's lips back down to his.
She giggled softly against his mouth and pulled away again. "Alex, come on..."
"Riley, come on..." He mimicked her.
She tilted her head to the side and backed away from him a bit so she was now just sitting across his legs. "I think we should get some sleep," she suggested, glancing behind her at the clock above the TV. It was well after four in the morning.
Taking advantage of her distraction with the time, Alex wrapped one of his long arms around Riley's waist and effortlessly flipped their positions so she was laying on her back and he held himself above her.
"I had something else entirely in mind," Alex said, bracing himself above her with a hand on each side of her head as he bent down to press a light kiss to her lips.
"Wait," she laughed. "You think we're going to have sex right now?"
"Aren't we?" Alex asked, confidently.
Riley forced out a laugh. It was really just to buy her some time. Truthfully, she wanted to. She really, really wanted to.
She had never felt such an attraction to a guy like this before. Sexually, emotionally, physically. She was attracted to him in all different ways. It was almost uncharted territory that she should have been afraid of. But she wasn't. At least not that much.
But Alex had just come from the hospital and per the doctor's orders, he was supposed to get lots of rest. Riley'd never forgive herself if she somehow accidentally knocked him in the face and made his nose worse or something.
"Are you really giving this that much thought?" Alex groaned, leaning up a bit. "Okay, really, if it's no, it's no and I one-hundred-percent respect that. But if you're just saying no because my face is fifty shades of fucked up, don't worry about that."
"Alex," Riley shook her head, still laughing slightly at his 'fifty shades of fucked up' comment.
"Look, the way I see it, I'm out of London in less than forty-eight hours. More than likely, no offense, we'll never see each other again-"
"So, you're saying it's now or never?" Riley interrupted, raising an eyebrow and leaning up on her elbows.
"Yeah," Alex nodded slowly. "I guess that's precisely what I'm saying."
Riley paused to think for a second. It was more for dramatic effect. She knew where this was going the second they started making out.
"You're killing me kid," Alex groaned at her delay. "Is it now or never?"
Riley let a smile wash over her face before she pointed towards the corner of the room. "Go get my bag."
A huge grin took over Alex's bruised and busted face before he pecked a kiss to Riley's lips. He quickly scrambled off the bed to retrieve Riley's bag, knowing she still had her supply of condoms from Stacey in there.
He dug through the bag and Riley was temporarily paralyzed with fear. She didn't know if any of Summer's belongings had found their way in there and she certainly was not in the right state of mind to explain any of that at the time.
Alex acquired the condoms, dropping them on the nightstand, jumping back into bed with Riley, causing her to laugh - a sound that was quickly becoming a favorite of Alex's.
Almost immediately, Alex positioned himself above Riley and covered her lips with his.
"I'm going to make sure you stick around until morning this time," he told her before taking off his t-shirt and tossing it away.
Riley replied by slipping her sweatshirt over her head and tossing it in the direction Alex's t-shirt had gone.
Right away Alex's eyes went straight to the bruise that was still forming on her side. He frowned slightly before bringing his lips down her arm and then brushed them lightly over the black and bluish skin.
Riley sunk back into the pillows and closed her eyes. Her entire body was hot with anticipation and only grew hotter as Alex's soft lips continued to roam her body.
"You okay?" Alex asked, looking up from where he had been trailing kisses across her stomach, just above the waistband of his sweatpants she was wearing.
"I'm okay," she said before Alex moved back up over her and crushed his lips to hers.
---
The sun was just starting to rise above the horizon as Alex and Riley lay quietly in bed together willing their breathing and heart rates to return to normal.
Riley had already wrapped herself up with the bed sheet while Alex let the comforter lay loosely over his waist. Their heads rested on the same pillow as they both laid on their back, looking up at the ceiling.
"Riley?" Alex asked into the darkness. He had been able to reach the light switch from the bed, flipping it off about the same time he eventually ended up reaching for a condom off the nightstand.
"Hmm?" she mumbled, sleepily.
"What's your favorite color?"
She smiled to herself even though she knew he couldn't see and answered his question. "Blue."
She could feel him nod his head slowly before they fell into silence again.
"Alex?" It was now Riley's turn to ask into the darkness.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?" she asked.
"I am actually a bit lactose intolerant so I don't eat much ice cream anymore. But if I'm feeling brave, I enjoy some cookies and cream."
"Hey, me too," Riley replied, maybe too excitedly.
Alex chuckled quietly. "Who is your favorite Disney Prince?"
"Eugene."
"Who the hell is Prince Eugene?"
Riley laughed. "Also known as Flynn Rider. From Tangled."
"Oh," Alex nodded again. "Right."
"Alex, who's your favorite Disney Princess?"
"Ariel." He answered quickly. "That whole purple bra and mermaid tail is super hot."
Riley laughed again and turned to her side so she was now facing Alex. He quickly shifted to match her position.
Over the following twenty minutes or so, Alex learned that Riley's favorite superhero was the Flash. Her favorite book was the entire Harry Potter series. Her favorite vegetable was a green pepper and her favorite board game was Clue. She preferred *NSYNC to the Backstreet Boys (though she really did love them both), tea over coffee and vanilla over chocolate.
In turn, Riley learned that Alex's favorite number was fourteen (because of his birthday). His favorite pizza topping was meatballs. His favorite subject in school was English and his favorite candy was Milk Duds. He preferred summer to winter, dogs to cats and Batman over Superman.
Their rapid fire questioning had continued down a playful road until Alex decided to throw Riley off.
"Why did you leave before I woke up the other morning?"
"I don't know," Riley took in a shaky breath and shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to ruin a good thing by overstaying my welcome."
Alex shook his head. "You most definitely wouldn't have been overstaying your welcome," he assured her.
"I guess I was also feeling sort of insecure about the whole thing and didn't want to face any sort of awkward morning after chats."
"That's just ridiculous. There was no reason for you to feel insecure."
Riley shrugged. "I felt really bad about leaving. But I just sort of figured I would never hear from or see you again, so I just tried to push the bad feelings away."
"So my 'hey, I think I lost my phone, can you call it?' trick worked?" Alex asked with a proud tone in his voice.
"Like a charm," Riley laughed, which caused Alex to laugh too. "Look, I am sorry for leaving like that. It was kind of a dick move."
Alex shrugged. "It was but I will be honest, there was a brief moment when I had woken up before you where I contemplated grabbing my things and holding down to the bus."
"What made you stay?"
Alex shook his head, keeping his mouth closed.
"Alex," Riley nudged his leg with her foot. "What made you stay?" she asked again.
"Fine," Alex let out a loud sigh. "I stayed put because you looked so cute in your sleep and I don't know," he shrugged. "Your sleep cuteness enticed me to stay."
"Oh great," Riley groaned. "I feel like an even bigger dick now because you looked cute when you were sleeping too and I still left."
Alex laughed. "You certainly don't have to feel that way."
"I'm sorry," she said again.
"With all the damage and destruction that I've caused, I think it's safe to say we're even," Alex decided.
"Deal," Riley agreed, yawning at the end of the word.
"Maybe now we should finally try to get some sleep?"
Riley nodded. "I think that's a great idea." Alex smiled sleepily before leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to her lips.
"Goodnight Riley."
"Night Alex," she replied, tugging the comforter up over both of them.
"Riley, one more thing," Alex started.
"What's that?"
"Promise you won't leave before I wake up this time."
Riley smiled and leaned over to kiss him again. "I'll be here."
***
Notes
Story Title: All Time Low - Dirty Laundry
Anyone out there?
If you could come back and update, that'd be great <3
1/23/19