Fighting for Her

"The sun is up, the sky is blue, its beautiful and so are you... dear Prudence... won't you come out to play..." Riley sung along happily to her iPod while she painted. She was twenty five today and had a lot to be happy about. She loved what she did for a living, had her own place, amazing friends and... a boyfriend. Her smile dropped as she thought of Ryan and how he would be missing her birthday.

She picked up her iPod and scrolled down the list until she found something a little more potent than the Beatles. The heavy guitar and slow drum beat made her head rock up and down. She painted with harder strokes now, eyebrows wrinkling together in concentration.

She started mouthing the words, until the chorus kicked in and she began to yell, "LETS START A RIOT! A RIOT! LETS START A RIOT!" Jumping up to her feet, she hopped around in a circle, turning around to see Tommy leaning against the shop's doorway.

"Shit!" Riley screamed, startled. "You scared me!" She pulled the ear buds out of her ears.

"Good," he laughed. "You looked like you were about to hurt yourself."

"I'm about to hurt you if you don't shush." She slapped his shoulder. He jumped back a little, letting out a high pitch laugh.

"I mean, I think we all get the point." He smiled mischievously as she glared at him. "You clearly want to start a riot."

She ran up to him and put her hand over his mouth. "SHUSH!" Their laughing was getting a little out of control. So much so that Max came in from the store front and cleared his throat.

"Hey kids, wanna simmer down a bit?" He pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry." They both said in unison. Riley held her hands together in front of her and when Max left in satisfaction with the silence, she swatted Tommy in the chest.

"Jerk." He smiled at her.

"Did you just call me a jerk?" Riley looked at Tommy with surprise and her eyes grew wide when he nodded his head. "You can't call me a jerk on my birthday!"

"Is that a rule? Because I've never heard of that one before." He laughed and readied himself for a swat. Instead she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"So if its your birthday, why are you working?" He played with a dry paint brush, rubbing the bristles against his palm.

"Because I like working. Would you not go to the gym if it were your birthday?" She sat on the floor in front of her almost finished piece. Dipping the brush in primer, she began to paint the final leg of the coffee table.

He stood there and thought about it for a second. "No. I don't think I would."

She laughed, finding that highly unlikely. "What would you do then?"

"Have a cheat day." He sat on the floor next to her. The primer was suffocating but he sat there and stared at her. Her precision, making sure every single grove was laden and smooth with paint, was astounding.

"A cheat day? Like eat whatever you want?" Her eyes were affixed to the brush, slowly dragging it across the small surface.

"Yup."

She took in a breath as the last stroke swiped off the furniture. "Well I already do that. That's no fun." Moving her eyes up and down the recently painted section, Riley studied her paint lines, making sure everything was even.

"So then do something you have never done before. Something... I don't know... Crazy." He flipped his black baseball cap backward on his head. He wondered if she still had his old one.

Riley popped her head up. "I want to get a tattoo."

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"I cant believe Riot Girl herself doesn't already have a tattoo." His fingers wrapped around the steering wheel of his dad's Oldsmobile, he glanced over at Riley who was fiddling nervously in the passenger seat.

"Well. My parents aren't exactly the type to condone such reckless behavior. It'll be with you forever, you know! " She imitated her mothers voice, to the T if she said so herself.

"So what are you going to get? Like a heart or something?"

She snorted. "Yeah, just like the rest of the female population." She stared out the car window, watching the clouds as they passed.

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." Her eyes never left the clouds.

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Riley tried to focus on Tommy who let her squeeze his hand as hard as she needed. She winced when Sam, an old friend of Tommy's, slid the razor over her inner arm, getting her skin nice and smooth.

"Are you sure about this?" Tommy asked while trying to get her to loosen her grip a bit.

"Yes." She squeezed harder when she felt him slipping away. He chuckled under his breath. Tommy had brought her to the place where he had gotten his first couple of tattoos. He had known Sam for years before he left for the Marines.

Sam turned on the machine with a loud buzz, making Riley tense up. "Alright here we go."

Riley closed her eyes, expecting the worse. As Sam dragged the machine over her arm, she couldn't help but stare. She liked the way the excess ink would get wiped away, leaving a beautiful black script embedded in her skin. She loosened her grip on Tommy's hand, never fully letting go.

Tommy stretched his fingers out under her hand, catching a couple of her fingers with his own as he brought his fingers closer together. Riley felt their fingers lace together and glanced over. Her hand was so small in his, but they fit together so perfectly somehow.

Sam finished the final swirl at the end of "Gogh" and wiped her arm one last time. "You're all done, Riley. What do you think?"

Riley reluctantly let go of Tommy's hand and held her arm out. She gasped at how amazing it looked. She hovered her fingers over the lettering, careful not to touch. It spanned from her wrist to her elbow and was everything she had ever wanted.

My parents are going to kill me.

Sam spread an ointment like substance over the tattoo and covered it with a black bandage.

Slowly, Riley began to put her sweater back on, followed by her coat, careful not to move her arm too much. She turned and saw Tommy giving Sam money for the tattoo.

"Hey!" She walked over to the guys and gave Tommy an inquisitive look.

"Happy Birthday Jerk." He tousled her hair and smiled.

She furrowed her brows.

"Usually people say 'Thank you'." He said his goodbyes to Sam by bumping fists with him and lead Riley out to the car.

"You didn't have to do that."

He said nothing but smirked.

"Well, thank you. Really." She smiled sincerely. She absently grabbed the hand that was holding his in the tattoo shop before. She missed the feeling.

Tommy closed the door behind her and checked his watch. 7:30 P.M. Almost time to complete the mission. Anna had made him keep Riley busy for the day while she readied the house for her surprise party. He assumed Riley would have been at the gym in the morning, as she had been for the past couple days but when she didn't show, he went to her shop and found her there instead.

"So are you going to be mad at the next birthday present I give you?" Tommy slid into the drivers seat, turning on the car to get the heat going. He didn't need to see her face to know the expression that she was making.

Riley narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes I'll be mad!" She laughed and turned in her seat to face him. "I'm kidding. I'm just not used to getting showered with gifts on my birthday. Its kind of like, a forgotten holiday. Like arbor day."

As Riley rambled nervously, Tommy produced a round, wooden jewelry box from a bag in the back seat. It was covered in carved leaves and tiny flowers on the top.

"It was my moms. I thought you could paint it."

Riley was speechless. She stared at the box, breathing heavy. He leaned in closer, staring at her intently.

"I can't possibly..." She put a hand to her open mouth, nibbling on her thumbnail. She finally met his gaze and blinked slowly. "Tommy, this is beautiful. I don't even know what to say."

She took the box in her hand and ran her fingers over the carvings. It was clearly an antique, and probably had been in his family for decades.

"Do you like it?" He waited patiently while she examined the box. She raised her head and with watery eyes reached over and hugged him.

He held her tight against his chest, breathing into her ear. Her hair held the distinct smell of lavender. He slid his hand up to the back of her neck, twisting strands of her dark hair between his fingers. She pulled back slightly and looked down at his full lips, their foreheads barely touching.

He searched her eyes for some sort of sign that she wanted this. Finally her eyes flickered up to his and he leaned forward. Their lips brushed ever so slightly but were interrupted by Riley's cell phone.

Fuck. Riley cursed in her head. She answered to a frantic Anna on the other end.

"Riley?!?! Don't freak out but I had a little accident while I was baking your birthday cake. I must have left it in there for too long and I don't know what happened, I just came back and there was smoke everywhere and-"

"What? Hold on slow down. What happened?" Riley shot up in her seat.

"Just get down here! The whole kitchen is black!"

Riley rolled her eyes and swiped her phone to end the call.

"Everything okay?" Tommy asked, not knowing if this was part of the surprise or if Anna really burned the kitchen down. He was betting on the latter.

"I have to get home. I'm sorry." She ran her fingers through her hair anxiously.

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Tommy sped to her house, getting there in twelve minutes flat. Coming from across the bridge, that was pretty impressive. He hadn't even fully parked when Riley jumped out of the car and ran up the steps to the apartment. Tommy ran behind her, feeling relieved when he didn't smell any smoke.

Riley stumbled with her keys, trying to unlock the front door. Tommy reached over and placed his hand on hers, steadying it and guiding the key into the slot. She swung the door open expecting to see all of her beloved things turned to ash.

Instead she was greeted by an entire apartment full of people shouting, "SURPRISE!"