What Are You Waiting For?

“Why the hell are we leaving so early?” Riley asked Kaedyn as he was walking to the car with us, Keegan in the driver’s seat, warming the car up.

“How am I supposed to know? Keegan wanted to.” Kaedyn said, getting in the passenger’s seat.

I sighed and got in, Riley following on the other side. Ethan’s coming back today, and I’m not thrilled. Ian’s really worried about me losing it around Ethan, he called me at midnight telling me that he couldn’t sleep. I didn’t get the call because I was asleep, so I’m hoping is mom sent him to bed so he could at least get a couple hours of sleep.

We pulled up to school and there were no other cars in the parking lot, aside from one. I felt like I should’ve recognized it, but I couldn’t put a name to it.

Riley and I got out of the car and walked into the school, the twins following slowly behind, Kaedyn in the middle of one of his cigarettes.

“God, we still have like, a half hour before classes start. We usually don’t get here for another fifteen minutes.” Riley complained, flinging open the front door so we could both go through it.

“I know.” I said, keeping my eyes on the floor. We were both in pretty sour moods today, hopefully they’ll lighten up later on.

I realized that the car in the parking lot was Nathan’s when Ethan walked toward us as we made our way to our lockers. Damn it.

“What the fuck do you want?” Riley asked harshly.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” He asked, the cockiness in his voice completely gone. It took me by surprise, but I wasn’t fooled, and neither was Riley.

“If you talk to him, you talk to me, too.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, glaring at him.

He sighed, playing with a chunk of hair on the side of his face. “Alright, fine. I’ll just ignore you then, you little bitch.” I was about to yell at him, but Riley held his hand up. I sighed and stepped back against the lockers, giving them space.

Riley looked up at Ethan. “What do you want?”

Ethan stepped closer to Riley and put his hand on Riley’s neck. It made my eye twitch.

“I’m sorry for acting like a dick, I didn’t mean to say all that shit. I’m just…” He looked at the floor, then back at Riley, who was looking slightly astounded. I really hope he’s not falling for Ethan’s shit.

“I’m afraid of relationships, of commitment, of anything like that. With you, though, I think I would wanna try it out. Do you wanna try again?” He asked quietly, inching his face closer to Riley’s.

I swear to god if Riley says yes…if their lips touch, even the slightest bit…

Riley looked down and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “No, I’m not falling for it again.” He pushed Ethan away, making him stumble back a little bit. “You meant everything you said, don’t lie to me like that. You’ll always be a dick.”

Faster than I could comprehend, Ethan’s hand met Riley’s cheek in a painful sounding slap.

Riley stared at him with, jaw dropped, tears automatically welling in his eyes.

“You don’t believe me? Fine. You’re just a little piece of shit that thinks their better than everyone else. You’re never going to get with anyone thinking like that. When you bring your ego down to a decent level, then people might give you a chance. I doubt it, though, you’re just a fucking bitch.”

He stormed off after that, towards the front of the school, flying through the front doors.

I jumped when Riley fell into my arms, sobbing.

“Come on, Riley, lets go in here.” I said quietly, leading him to the bathroom.

“I can’t believe I almost fell for it again.” Riley said into my shoulder as we slid down the wall.

“But you didn’t, that’s all that matters.” I said quietly in his ear, kissing his cheek.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that it was Ian, wondering where we were. I told him we were in the bathroom, and less than a minute later, he barged through the door, seeing the scene I was a part of on the floor.

“What happened?” He asked, squatting down next to Riley.

“Ethan…Ethan came up to me. He tried telling me that he wanted to be with me…” He sniffled. “I said no and pushed him away, telling him that I don’t believe him. Then he…” He broke down again, leaning into me.

I rubbed his shoulder and finished the story. “He slapped him after Riley told him all that and started telling Riley how he’s just a little piece of shit and how no one’s ever going to be with him. He walked off, out of the school.”

“Probably to get wasted.” Riley said in a hoarse voice.

“Shh, it’s okay. Don’t talk.” Ian said, rubbing his back now. He looked at me. “Ethan’s probably not coming back, is he?”

I shook my head, and Ian directed his attention to Riley again. “Are you gonna be okay, hun? Or do you want us to go to the office and ask if you can go home?”

“I think I’ll be okay, as long as I don’t see him again.” Riley said, the “him” coming out like acid.

“I’m going to go get our stuff from our lockers, okay?” I said, thinking that there’s probably not much time before class starts. Ian smiled a little at me and I gave him a quick kiss before getting up.

“I got my stuff, you just need to go to Riley’s.” Ian called to me.

I nodded and left the bathroom, looking up and down the halls, seeing more people coming into the school.

I fought my way through the crowd of people to my locker, then to Riley’s. I looked at the clock and saw we had ten minutes to get to class. I got a little mischievous smirk on my face and went to Ian’s locker, opening it, seeing two containers of chocolate chip cookies sitting there. I smiled and grabbed one, shutting his locker, half-skipping to the bathroom. I flung the door open, seeing Riley and Nick hugging, Riley’s tears dried up for the most part.

I smiled and handed the container of cookies to Riley.

“Hey! You raided my locker!” Ian said, hitting me.

“The temptation was there. How long were you up last night?” I asked as Ian moved from Riley’s arms to mine.

He avoided looking me in the eyes, keeping them on the floor. “Long enough…”

“When did your mom send you to bed, Ian?” I asked in a firmer tone.

“I don’t know…1 or 2, maybe 3...” He trailed off.

I stared at him in slight disbelief. “You were that worried? You’re gonna kill yourself over this whole thing.”

“I can’t help it, I worry about the people I love.” He said quietly, giving me his puppy eyes. I automatically melted and hugged him tightly.

The bell rang, signaling we had five minutes left to get to class. Ian and I looked at each other, smiling, and kissed. Our lips parted and we left the bathroom with Riley, connected at the hip, heading to first hour.