My Last - Riley & Chelle

by Melanie Shawn

  Riley shrugged. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

  Tommy’s eyes moved to the stairs where Chelle had just been.

  “We’re just friends.” Riley spoke harshly, he felt his jaw lock and a tension rolled through him.

  Tommy was a good guy, they had served four tours together. He would do anything for him. He trusted him with his life. But this was not a subject that was open for discussion.

  Tommy smiled, “Look, I know we haven’t seen a lot of each other the last couple of years since I got out, but I do know you. And she’s it for you. She’s the real deal.”

  Riley did not want to go down this path. “We’re just friends,” he stated again, firmly.

  Tommy leaned forward resting his arms on the card table, “I don’t know if you’re just too dumb to realize it or too chicken shit to admit it. But either way, it doesn’t change the fact that you love that girl. And if I’m not mistaken, she loves you. The question is - what are you going to do about it?”

  “Nothing.” Riley knew he sounded angry, and he also knew his friend was just trying to look out for him.

  But Tommy didn’t know him like he thought he did. He had only known Riley since he had joined the military. The man he was now wasn’t the totality of who he was. There was a lot Tommy didn’t know.

  Tommy reclined in his chair, “Do you remember the night that I broke things off with Mindy, and you came over and told me that if I didn’t make things right with her you were gonna kick my ass?”

  Riley sighed. He had always suspected that somehow that night would come back to bite him in the ass. He’d been waiting for it. Here it was.

  He made it a rule to never get involved in other peoples personal lives. Too messy. Too much potential downside, almost zero potential upside. But, dammit, when he'd seen Mindy crying and she told him that Tommy had told her he needed space, he'd felt like he had to step in.

  He had known that Tommy thought he wasn’t good enough for Mindy, that she would be better off with someone else.

  Tommy came from the south side of Boston, a pretty rough area. He was an only child. He never knew his dad and his mom had had more boyfriends than Tommy could count.

  Mindy grew up on a farm in New Hampshire. Her family was wealthy. Her parents were still together, happily married for over forty years. She had an older brother and a little sister, both of which she was extremely close to.

  Tommy had gotten drunk one night and told Riley that he felt like he would bring her down. That he didn’t deserve someone as good as she was. Riley told him he was right, she was too good for him - but that, rather than breaking things off, he should pull his head out of his ass, accept that fact, quit his bitching, thank his lucky stars, and make sure he took good care of her. Tommy had looked unconvinced.

  Then, the very next week he saw Mindy leaving the base, tears streaming from her face and he had just felt like he needed to step in.

  Maybe it was just that he had been missing his younger brothers and felt guilty for bailing on them.

  Whatever the reason, after he had gone and given Tommy a push in the right direction, Tommy heeded his advice. He went after Mindy and they were engaged that very night. Riley had been glad, at the time, that he'd broken his own personal credo to never get involved in peoples' business. But, as he was discovering, no good deed goes unpunished.

  Now, the shoe was on the other foot, and Tommy felt free to intervene in his affairs.

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “You told me the truth. You said that if I let her walk away because I had some bullshit notion that she would be better off without me, then I was the dumbest asshole you ever met and that she really would deserve better.”

  “It’s not the same thing. You and Mindy had been together for years. Chelle and I are just friends.”

  “Man, you guys may not have the title, but you’re together. Two seconds around you two and that is blatantly clear.”

  Riley shook his head. Tommy didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. He and Chelle didn’t have what Tommy and Mindy had. And even if they did, it was completely different...because Chelle really did deserve better than him.

  “Listen, just think about what I said, alright? Because, as we all know, I have been with my fair share of women. Some would say I'm a damn expert on the subject. And that one? She’s special, Riley. Girls like her don’t come around that often.”

  “There are no girls like her.” Riley heard the words come out of his mouth and he knew they were true. There was no other girl in the world like Rachelle Thomas.

  Tommy smiled. “My point exactly. So don’t lose her.”

  Riley shook his head. “I never had her.”

  --- ~ ---

  Riley needed to get some space, clear his head. Taking a few deep breaths didn't seem to be working. He had to get a little distance if he was going to get his head on straight. As it was, he didn't seem to be able to think of anything other than how incredibly sexy Chelle looked, and smelled, and...hell...even sounded. Just hearing her voice, saying even the most innocuous thing, could apparently get him hard in .0005 seconds.

  After they had gotten back from Tommy’s, he had asked if she wanted stay up and watch a movie, like they had when they were teenagers. She agreed. He said he would run down to the video store he had seen on the corner and pick something up.

  The nice thing about it was that he really did want to veg out and watch a movie. It worked out well that way. But the main reason he had suggested the activity was to create an errand that would buy him a little time alone (and fresh air to boot) so that he could process what was going on between them. Between the last couple days with Chelle and his talks with both Eddie and Tommy, he was overwhelmed with conflicting thoughts and emotions.

  On the one hand, he knew Tommy was right. There was absolutely no other girl in the world like Chelle. He knew that his feelings for her were real. He also knew that his current coping mechanisms (which basically consisted of pushing those feelings down and trying to ignore them) were not working. His feelings for Chelle grew stronger with every minute they spent together.

  But, on the flip side, he also knew that Eddie was right. He was not the man for Chelle. Eddie’s words kept echoing in his head.

  “I know you.”

  “You’re not what she needs.”

  “She deserves better.”

  All of which were true.

  He knew that, logically. But, emotionally and physically, he was having a tough time getting on board with that line of reasoning.

  He lived by instincts, he always had. Sometimes, like when he was in his teens after his mom passed away, those instincts had gotten him in trouble. But as an adult, and especially as a Marine Special Ops (MARSOC), those instincts had saved, not only his life, but the lives of other men and women during missions.

  In this case though, he was receiving conflicting instructions from those instincts. That certainly was not a feeling he was used to, and he didn't like it one bit.

  His protective instincts were telling him to keep his distance. Keep things G rated. Don’t let her get too close. Save her from him.

  Then there were his base instincts. Well...those told a different story. They said that he needed her as much as she needed him. He needed to touch her. Taste her. Feel her. Claim her. Love her. Make her forget anyone else had ever existed outside of the two of them. Show her that he needed her more than he needed his next breath.

  Damn.

  The more time he spent around her, the stronger his base instincts became, and the more his protective instincts waned.

  That's why he needed this reprieve, needed these few minutes to try and make sense of the battle that was raging inside of him.

  He wasn't having much luck.

  As he approached the video store, he felt a vibration coming from his pocket. He was so lost in thought that it startled him. He reached in, pulled out his phone, and saw that it was a text from Mindy:

  “Grea
t seeing you 2night. So glad you got to meet the little princess. LOVED Chelle! She is a keeper! SO get your head out of your ass and make that happen! Luv Ya! XOXO”

  He had to smile. Mindy certainly did know how to get to the heart of the matter, and she had no problem telling it how it was. That was part of the reason why she was so good for Tommy - she kept him in line.

  He smiled as his thumbs flew across the keypad. “Good seeing you guys too. Serena is amazing. Thanks for the pep talk. Will work on removing head from ass.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  As soon as Riley left, Chelle put on sweats and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. She had just finished making some popcorn for their movie night when her phone rang. She grabbed it and saw that it was Katie.

  A grin spread from ear to ear as soon as she saw her friend's name and photo on the display.

  “Hey diamond friend! You having fun in paradise?”

  “Yes I am, so much fun! Wow. You sound so much better than the last time we talked.” Katie’s voice sounded shocked.

  “Yeah, I’m doing better. A lot better.” Now that Riley’s here, Chelle wanted to add, but didn’t.

  “And does this newfound ‘betterness’ you speak of have anything to do with my new brother-in-law?” Katie asked.

  Damn it. They didn’t call Katie ‘Sherlock’ for nothing. Stall. That was Chelle’s only option.

  “What do you mean?” That came out sounding curious and not nervous...she hoped.

  “Well...Jason just talked to Eddie, who had a question about a job he’s overseeing, and Eddie mentioned that he had just gotten off the phone with Riley who is still out in the Golden State with you! Oh, and...by the way...your big bro is not too happy about that fact.”

  Chelle groaned inwardly. She loved her brother, but he drove her CRAZY sometimes. He needed to mind his own frickin' frackin' business!

  So Riley and Eddie had talked. Riley hadn’t mentioned anything about it. But...hmmmm...

  Maybe that explained his behavior earlier this evening.

  She was trying to put the timeline together like a puzzle when Katie interrupted her thoughts.

  “You still there?” She asked. Her tone indicated that she knew damn well Chelle was still on the line. She was just making a point.

  “I’m here.”

  “SO...? What’s going on with you and Riley?” Katie sounded like she had when they were in middle school, gossiping about a boy.

  “Nothing, nothing.” Chelle wanted to open up to Katie. To tell her everything that was going on. To ask her for advice.

  But now Katie was married to Jason. And that was amazing, Chelle loved Jason to death. But it changed things. Jason was not only Riley’s brother, he was also her brother Eddie’s boss. She didn’t need anything that she said getting back to either of them.

  “Really? So then why is Riley still there after he was just supposed to pop in, make sure you were okay, and then head on home?”

  Chelle didn’t really have an answer for that. So she was honest.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t asked him.”

  “What have you guys been doing?”

  “Mostly sightseeing and just hanging out.”

  “Uh huh, sightseeing.” Katie didn’t sound convinced.

  “We went down to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 yesterday and today we went on a day cruise. Then we went over to have dinner at his friend’s house who had just had a baby. And now were gonna watch a movie.” Wow, she said that all in one breath.

  “Thanks for the itinerary. So nothing physical has happened between you two?” Katie asked, her tone sounding like Chelle imagined she sounded in the courtroom cross-examining a witness.

  “Not really.” Damn! Chelle meant to say no. Why in the name of everything that is good and holy had ‘not really’ come out of her mouth? Why for the love of freaking Pete could she not just keep things simple?

  She had minored in psych and, based on some of her studies, she knew that what she had just said was probably a Freudian slip. Subconsciously, she must have wanted to talk to Katie about it, otherwise she would have just denied that anything had happened.

  “Look, I’m not going to say anything to Jas, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Katie and Chelle may not have been in contact much over the past decade, but when it came to knowing Chelle inside and out, Katie still had the goods.

  “Fine, we kissed.” Chelle blurted out.

  “OOOH I knew it! And then what?” Katie asked, wanting to get all the juicy details. Chelle only wished that there were any further details, juicy or otherwise, to be had.

  “And then nothing,” she admitted glumly.

  “What? How could there be nothing? He just kissed you and then nothing happened?!”

  “Well...” Chelle admitted, “Actually...I kissed him. Sort of.”

  “How do you ‘sort of’ kiss someone?”

  “I mean it wasn’t like a kiss kiss, it was more like a peck. And then I just walked away.” Chelle thought it sounded bad now that she said it out loud.

  “So he didn’t kiss you back?”

  “Well, yeah. He kissed me back...I think? I don’t know. It happened really fast.”

  “When did this happen?” Katie was in full information-gathering mode.

  “Yesterday.”

  “And you haven’t talked about it.” This was more of a statement than a question. Chelle wouldn't have been surprised if Katie had magically summoned a yellow legal pad into her hands, upon which she was now recording the pertinent details.

  “Nope, no, not at all, no thank you. Not a conversation I am trying to have. ‘Hey, remember when I kissed you, what did you think about that?’ No sirree.”

  “Well, why did you kiss him?”

  Chelle had generally believed that there was no such thing as stupid question. But Katie had just proved that notion to be incorrect.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. Why did you kiss him?” Katie repeated.

  Chelle didn’t know if it was built up anxiety from the last few weeks or just built up tension from the last few days, but something inside her snapped.

  “Uuuummm...well, I kissed him because I have been in love with him since middle school. I kissed him because I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about Riley Sloan. No one even comes in a close second! I kissed him because I can barely think of anything other than kissing him when he is within a four block radius of me. No, scratch that - he doesn’t even have to be in the same country as I am and it’s hard not to think about it. I kissed him because I had to.”

  Katie was silent for a moment, and then she said, “And all he got out of that was a peck?”

  Chelle burst out laughing and Katie joined her.

  Katie continued, “Okay, so I realize I’m playing catch up here, but is it safe to assume that Riley is the ‘unrequited love’ you were referring to at Sophie’s bachelorette party?”

  Chelle suddenly remembered. When all of Sophie's bridesmaids had been playing a drinking game where you had to answer questions about your love life, Chelle’s question had been ‘Have you ever had an unrequited love?’ - to which Chelle had immediately responded ‘yes’.

  Pssshhhh...

  Leave it to Katie not to forget that, even though she had gotten massively wasted that night.

  Lawyers!

  Chelle figured there was no point in denying it, since she had basically just admitted as much. “Yes, that's right. He’s the unrequited love I was talking about.”

  “So any chance of him requiting said love?” Katie’s voice sounded much more hopeful than Chelle felt.

  “I don’t think so. In fact, now that you’ve asked me, I’m not sure if he did kiss me back. I think that he likes me just fine. You know...as a person. And he might be attracted to me on some level,” she wasn’t going to say that she had seen and felt physical proof that that was in fact the case – some things she wanted to keep private, “but I think to hi
m I will always be Eddie’s baby sister.”

  “Well, hmm. Maybe you need to show him that baby sister is all grown up.”

  “It sounds so lascivious when you say it.” Chelle said.

  Katie laughed, “What can I say, it’s a gift.”

  Chelle was so happy to be back in touch with her diamond friend. She had missed her so much over the years. And even if there wasn’t a solution to the situation, it felt good to talk about it with Katie.

  “So how’s married life? Are you guy’s sick of each other yet?” Chelle asked, knowing full well that Katie and Jason were madly in love and would not be getting tired of each other for as long as they lived.

  Katie sighed a happy sigh. She said dreamily, “Married life is amazing! I honestly never knew life could be this good. I have never been happier, and I think Jas feels the same, and that makes me even happier.”

  “Oh, I know Jas feels the same. He’s been in love with you forever.”

  “Yeah and I think I always loved him too. It just took me longer to realize it. Hey!” Katie’s voice raised in excitement. “Maybe that’s the same with you and Riley, only you are like Jason and I am like Riley! Maybe Riley loves you too, he just has to figure it out! Why else would he still be there when he was supposed to fly home three days ago?”

  Chelle didn’t want to put the kibosh on Katie’s enthusiasm. Katie did LOVE to try and play Colombo, and normally no one could refute her deductive abilities. Still, Chelle was fairly certain that his continued stay did not mean anything nearly as significant as Katie was trying to say it did.

  “No, I wish,” Chelle responded wryly, “If only my life were like a romantic comedy. That would be awesome. But, in reality, I'm pretty sure he’s just sticking around because he wants to see the city, and because he's enjoying the fact that – for the first time in over a decade – he has nowhere that the government has said he has to be.”

  She heard the door shut and looked over her shoulder to see Riley. He had just come in and was holding her favorite movie, Good Will Hunting, in his hand.

  If Chelle had been on the fence about what she felt about whether or not she was completely in love with him, the fact that he remembered her favorite movie after all these years would have pushed her over to the ‘definitely-yes-madly-in-love’ side.