13. Friday Night Week Five (the dance.)

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13. Friday Night Week Five (the dance.)

Kora wiped her hands on her dress for like the 20th time causing me to hit her arm; again.

"Stop it," I scolded, "you are going to make creases or marks on your dress."

Which would have been a travesty on the gorgeous off-shoulder burgundy short dress. It was tight on the top and then flared out at the waist to about mid-thigh, the front was shorter than the back. Her hair was curled and the front two strands were put in plaits and then clipped to the back, she had a black clutch and black/silver heels; she looked stunning.

"I'm really nervous, Rei," she looked over at me as she voiced this and I grabbed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

"He is amazing and you are amazing, what could possibly go wrong?" I chose to ignore how my brain made a list of all the things that could go wrong and instead rung the doorbell and waited for Debbie to answer.

My unease was diminished by the huge smile on her face when she answered the door and it somehow grew wider when her eyes landed on Kora, "You must be Kora. I am Debbie, Riley's mother."

Kora shook her outstretched hand with a smile, "Yes I am, it's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Ryker."

Yes, Kora! Earning brownie points already with the 'Mrs Ryker.'

"Please, call me Debbie."

Kora smiled and nodded. Debbie couldn't stop grinning and just stood there with the door open, staring at Kora - okay then.

"Um, can we come in Mrs Ryker?" This seemed to snap out her out of it as she shook her head, apologising and opening the door wider for us to step in before she closed it behind us.

"Riley! Your date is here!" She shouted up the stairs before turning and giving us a smile. She started up a conversation with Kora about school and I just stood there awkwardly counting the number of steps they had.

I was on number 22 when Eli came stomping from the direction of Riley's room and stopped at the top of the stairs, a scowl on his face as he looked directly at me, "this fucking thing doesn't work" he declared, waving around Riley's tie causing me to smile.

Debbie gasped midway through her conversation with Kora, turning to glare at him, "Ryker!" She reprimanded before turning back to Kora with an unsure smile.

Touching Kora's arm to get her attention, I told her I'd be just a second before jogging up the stairs, I missed one though and Eli had to catch my arm before I fell. I gave him a sheepish smile as I righted my footing and held my hand out for the tie, "you are probably tying it wrong."

He handed me the tie and then trailed behind me as I went to Riley's room, mumbling about how it was the 'stupid tie's fault'. Men.

It was pointless that I'd knocked on Riley's door as Eli just barged in, holding the door open for me and motioning to Riley who was stood in front of a mirror, "you do it then."

I gave him a glare, "I will, thank you very much."

Annoyed with his tone, I stomped past him and stopped in front of Riles. He was wearing black slacks and a burgundy button-up that I had bought him on Tuesday to match Kora's dress. Our school was very formal with dances so I had also bought him a silver tie which matched Kora's heels; I know, I'm that good.

"You look great, Riles. All the guys will wanna be you and all the girls will be jealous of Kora."

"Oh for fuck's sake, just tie the goddamn tie." Eli the Asshole exclaimed from his seat on Riley's bed, what crawled up his ass?

I glared over at him, "why don't you get lost, Eli. You're the one who failed at tying a basic tie." I was getting sick of his attitude.

Riley gave out a chuckle, "Damn Ryker, she is so not happy with you."

He fell back on Riley's bed, letting out a puff of air, "when is she ever."

Pleased, a small smile escaped me at his words.

I tied Riley's tie for him before giving him a smile which he completely ignored as he shoved me out of the way to look at himself in the mirror, vain bastard. I flicked the side of his head, "you're welcome dickhead."

"Sorry, I'm just nervous. Do I look okay?"

"You look amazing, no need to be nervous Riles. She's going to love you," I paused for a second, "well not love, because you are way too young for that. It is also way too soon. You haven't even met her yet. But she will definitely like you. I mean, I like you. Ew, god, no. I don't mean—"

"Tigru," Eli rumbled from his position on the bed.

"Yeah. Okay." I smoothed down the front of Riley's suit.

He gave me a wide smile, "I think you might be more nervous than me Rei."

"Well yeah probably. My best friend's little sister is about to go on a date with you as a favour to me, this has to go well." I grabbed the lapels of his suit jacket and jerked him down to my height, he looked startled but this had to be done, "And I swear Riley if you don't treat her well and give her an amazing night, failing English will be the least of your worries, you hear me?" I then released his jacket and smoothed the front of it down again; didn't want any wrinkles.

"Uh-yeah-okay-sure" he stuttered out.

"For the love of God," Eli sat up from his place on the bed and stood facing Riley, "get the fuck downstairs."

Riley nodded and strode out of the room, I chased after him because I wanted to see their reactions to each other and boy, was I pleased.

They both took each other simultaneously. Kora appreciating Riley's slicked-back hair and cute boy next door looks. Riley's eyes widened so much it was comical as his eyes swept over Kora, from the top of her head all the way to her toes.

Kora's eyes flickered to me, told you so, I mouthed to her with a wink.

Riley went down the stairs and they made their introductions. Kora was kinda shy at first but I knew she'd open up eventually and Riley was confident and charming; it was a cute combination. Debbie kept taking pictures until Riley groaned at her to put the camera away, she didn't care though, just carried on snapping away.

"Ma put the camera away. They have to go." Eli demanded. Debbie rolled her eyes and grumbled about making memories or something. "Wanna leave now, kid?"

Riley looked up at Eli as he spoke, "seriously Ryker? You're gonna drive us?" Riley couldn't have kept the excitement out of his voice if he tried. He turned to face Kora, "Ryker has the most amazing car, I swear, it's fucking incredible."

"Language Riley!" I scolded.

Kora turned to me, "is it better than Noah's?"

Eli looked at me for an answer and I completely avoided his gaze so as not to inflate his already huge ego before I nodded my head, "way better." Eli smirked at my answer but I flipped him off before he could say anything.

Riley gave Kora a smirk which was identical to Eli's before holding the door open for her, brownie points, and leading her to Eli's car.

Eli followed after them but stops in the doorway, turning to face me, "you comin'?"

Um, well I'm not gonna say no am I?

"Yup," I followed after him and got in the passenger seat of his car.

Kora and Riley spent the entire car journey talking which made me grin at how well they appeared to be getting along, hopefully, they'll stay friends after this, wouldn't that be cute.

The song 'She Moves In Her Own Way' by The Kooks came on the radio, I love this song.

The music was turned up as I gave Eli a grin before I began to sing along, belting out the words, smiling the whole time; how can you not, it's an amazing song?! Kora began to sing along with me causing Riley to laugh at our antics.

When we stopped at a red light I turned to Eli to see him already looking at me with a smile, like a genuine, dimple showing, smile on his face. The smile on my face widened into a full-on grin and he shook his head letting out a light chuckle.

"I love that song," I exclaimed when it was over.

"Hmm, we could tell, tigru."

I stuck my tongue out at him, "don't even lie, you loved my rendition. Probably better than seeing them live"

To my complete and utter surprise, Eli let out a laugh, a deep, throaty, tip his head back laugh. Astonished, I turned in my seat to face Riley to see he had the same expression of shock on his face as me. I had never seen Eli laugh before. The sight was unforgettable, he had a dimple on his left cheek and his eyes crinkled up at the corners; fuck me, I had done that.

Reeling, I span back around to face the front of the car, all traces of amusement gone. Eli was my friend, only my friend. But if that was the case, why was my heart pounding rapidly in my chest from something as simple as him laughing?

"You ok, tigru?" His eyes flickered over to me, likely noticing how my face had gone blank.

A forced smile graced my face before I nodded, "mm-hm, I'm fine."

The rest of the ride to the school was quiet with only the soft hum of the radio and Kora and Riley's incessant talking. And before I knew it, we had arrived at the school.

Riles told Kora to wait before getting out the car and jogging around to open her door for her, aw cute. Seems like chivalry was a Ryker gene.

Just before they walked off, Riley stuck his head back in through Eli's window and gave us both a shy smile, "thanks, guys."

Eli grunted out a 'welcome' and I gave him a wink and a 'go have fun'.

Eli pulled out from the school car park and neither of us said anything for a while, just sat in comfortable silence until;

"Thank you."

Slowly, I turned to face him, that was the last thing I expected him to say.

"Well you did tell me and I quote 'to fix this'" I deepened my voice to make it sound like him causing his lips to quirk upwards, damn it was sexy when he did that. Focus Rei! Friends only, remember.

"Not just for Riles. For Friday too. I didn't thank you when I saw you on Sunday but you didn't have to patch me up."

"I know I didn't have to Eli," I turned to face him in my seat causing his eyes to flicker in my direction before returning to the road, "I wanted to."

He didn't say anything just let out a smile which in turn made me smile, I loved being the reason that he did that. Friend or not.

"Actually," I started nervously, "um, Eli. You don't normally do that do you?" His eyebrows furrowed in question so I elaborated, "patch yourself up after."

"Why do you say that?"

"I've seen the scars all over your body." Only cause they are obvious, definitely not because I stare at his body. That would be weird.

"And you've seen my body enough to know this because of my shirt shortage, right?"

I smacked his arm with the back of my hand, grumbling a 'shut up' as he chuckled.

"I'm serious Eli. Not looking after yourself after you're in a fight that bad is dangerous. Especially considering how many fights you do and how intense they are."

"How do you know this exactly? And how did you know how to patch me up so well?" Oh shit, he was definitely not supposed to ask me that.

"Uh-um," I stuttered as I tried to come up with something, "Uh, Grey's Anatomy I guess." What on earth? Grey's Anatomy??.

He gave me a dry look, "you don't watch Grey's Anatomy."

"Pfft-wh-wha, what are you talking about?"

"Tigru, you cried at Happy Feet on Tuesday. There is no way in hell you could handle a show as emotional as Grey's."

"Hey! Happy Feet is very emotional, lots of people cry at it," I defended myself.

"My two five-year-old sisters didn't." He was referring to how Ivy and Aspen didn't so much as shed a single tear when we all watched the movie together on Tuesday after Riley's tutor lesson.

"That's cause they have an unemotional hard-ass brother as a role model," I lifted my chin in the air indignantly, "I intend to teach them better."

He smiled slightly at my words, "you still don't watch Grey's Anatomy though."

He was right of course, I didn't watch it and I didn't watch it because it did make me cry too much but like hell was I going to admit that to him.

"Look, that's not what I'm getting at here," I told him, trying to change the subject.

"So what are you getting at then, tigru." Subject successfully avoided.

"I'm the only one who knows about you fighting right?" He nodded slowly, "so it stands to reason that I should help you after your fights."

"And why would you want to do that?" Ah, see, I had this one all sussed out.

"Simple. I almost lost all of my hair out of worry on Friday. It was not good," he looked surprised for a moment but I ignored it and carried on. "Now see, I have curly hair and not a lot of people have curly hair," I took a breathe, "I am basically an endangered species. I mean, come on," I picked up a lock of hair and waved it around, "I think that it's fair to say that it is your obligation, your moral obligation, to do all you can to protect my dying out species."

He arrived at his house and punched the number in to open the gates, "for your hair right?"

I nodded vigorously, "of course" It's not because I care or anything.

He pulled up outside his house and turned to face me after turning the car off. He picked up a lock of my hair and played with it in his fingers, I sucked in a breath at his action. "Well, if it's for your hair, then how can I say no?"

"Exactly," I breathlessly responded.

We got out of his car and continued talking, "so when is your next fight?"

"It's actually tonight," he responded looking at me over the roof of his car.

What!? I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and shut the door before rounding the car to stand in front of him, "tonight?!" I exclaimed, "well that's ridiculous, you fought three people last week, three people Eli!."

He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged, "I don't pick the when and how many."

"Well at least tell me today is only one," I pointed to my head, "I don't think my hair could handle another week of three stupid people throwing punches at you."

That sexy lip twitch thing happened again and he picked up another lock of hair, "Mmm, and we wouldn't want you to lose any of your lovely endangered hair now would we."

I gave him a dry look, "Ha-dee-fucking-ha."

He smiled fully before he dropping my hair and putting his hand back in his pocket, "only one tonight, tigru."

Oh shit.

"What?" He questioned when I realised what tonight was.

"It's Tori's surprise party tonight," I responded looking up at him wide-eyed and annoyed at the clash.

"Oh yeah, I know. Go to that then."

I shook my head, "no," I pointed at my hair again, "it can't deal Eli." He rolled his eyes in response. "What time does your fight start?"

"10:30"

"Great!" I smiled at him, "I just have to be at the party until 9:30 when Tori shows up after dinner with her family to surprise her, then I can meet you at Staircase."

"Okay," he nodded, "but how are you going to get there?" Oh yeah, my car was still in the shop.

But then I remembered the party was going to be at Noah's house, "I'll borrow Noah's car," my proud smile deflated when I saw the look on Eli's face.

He crossed his arms, looking intimidating, "Noah's?"

"Yeah, the party is at his so he won't need it." It made perfect sense.

"No." Um, what?

"No?" I questioned perplexed, "what do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean. No."

I rolled my eyes, "well that clears it up, thanks Sherlock," my voice was laced with sarcasm.

He looked annoyed but I didn't care.

"The last thing I need is your little boyfriend—"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"—asking questions."

I rolled my eyes, "he won't ask questions, I'll just make something up."

"No means no Rei." He strode past me in the direction of his house.

"Are you being serious right now? What is your problem?" I yelled after him, "I'm trying to help you here, Eli!"

Abruptly, he stopped at my words and stomped his way back over to me, child.

"I didn't ask for your goddamn help Reillyn," he stopped right in front of me and looked me right in the eye, "and I sure as shit don't fucking need it."

I growled at him and speak through gritted teeth, "the bruises and scars on your body say otherwise, Elias."

"I don't need your help Rei!" He shouted, tilting his head up as he spoke.

I grabbed either side of his head and forced him to look at me again, "this is about Noah isn't it?" I questioned softly. He said nothing, just looked at me, breathing heavily so I continued, "why do you have such a problem with him, Eli?"

"He's the one who's got a problem with me," he growled.

For fuck's sake. I gave him a dry look, "and we both know why." He closed his eyes like he did when he first figured out Noah was Sienna's brother. "Look, if it matters that much, why don't you just come and pick me up from the party at 10 and we can go straight to Staircase from there?"

"Won't pretty boy wonder where you've gone?" I rolled my eyes at the name but removed my hands from Eli's head when I realised he had calmed down.

"Let me worry about that."

"Fine," he mumbled, "I'll come and get you from his house at 10."

So it was about Noah the whole time, idiot boy. I smiled at him with a shake of my head, "okay."

I got in my car and drove home to pick up my backpack with my clothes for tonight in it before driving to Kinsey's house so we could go to Noah's and get it ready for the party.

She got in the car with a shit load off bags filled with party supplies before she turned to me with a wicked grin, "tonight is going to be crazy."

Yes, it bloody is.

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3206 words^

Edited

Because so much happens on this night I have split it into three chapters, I actually love all three of them, it's such an eventful evening 😉

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