I spent all of my time in the hospital room from the moment the doctors confirmed he was awake and safe.
When the doctor told me he was disorientated, I knew the only reason behind this was his worry to know if I was okay.
It was sometimes difficult to believe he cared for me the same way I did for him, but I knew that was my past and my stubborn nature talking. Especially after he put his life at stake for me, for once I wasn't doubting anything.
It was strange seeing as I had always been an overthinker and I had always been sceptical around people. I still was, but I was completely comfortable around Parker. It was great to have something constant.
Things in my life had been changing since I met him, but my caring for him never wavered. And apparently, his caring for me acted similarly.
It wasn't that I hadn't trusted him before the pain, the heartbreak, and the accident that threatened both our lives.
But in some ways, I think I needed something huge to happen to scare me. To knock some sense into me that would last through anything. Because now, I felt like I knew for a fact Parker was and always would be the best of me.
I think that even if I saw him kissing some random girl, as stupid as it may have been, I wouldn't be angry at him. I knew for a fact he would never betray my trust nor hurt me, and I would look for any other option before I blamed him. It might have seemed naïve, but I wasn't a naïve person, I had just learnt an indescribable trust that could get me through anything.
"Riley?" He addressed my name while we had been chatting casually about a series that we should watch together. I nodded at him and smiled. The smile had been plastered on my face for a while, I couldn't seem to get rid of it.
"Maybe it isn't the best time to bring it up, but I think we should talk about the person driving that car."
He gave me a knowing look because he will have known I was already thinking about it. My mind solved problems without me even trying to think about it, so in the time I had to think, naturally my mind wandered back to silver car that almost ended my life as well as my boyfriend's.
"It was a hit and run." I took a large breath of air and forced it down my throat. I felt an irritating tinge of guilt. "I think it was her, my stepmother." My personal affairs could have killed him.
"I told remember anything after I pushed you out the way and then everything went black. But before that, I saw the person driving and they were masked. You are right, I think this was an attack."
I gulped hearing the words out loud. Thinking it was one thing, but somehow hearing the words be spoken made things a whole lot more real. I had seen someone with a knife, I had been threatened, and don't get me wrong that was scary.
But it didn't compare to facing death head-on. It didn't compare seeing Parker's motionless body. That was simply terrifying.
"They drove directly as me. Their tires did not screech to slow down. They did not try to break. It was definitely an attack." He looked down with a dispirited look awning his face.
"When we get back, I won't let you out alone anymore. I know you are independent, but I won't let you die. When the police question us about the circumstances of this, we don't tell them what we know yet. I know I'm being hypocritical seeing as I was the one who convinced you to go to the police the first time round, but I am beginning to realise they are useless. Don't argue with me on this, but I can illegally hire and private investigator-"
"No." I said bluntly ignoring the fact he had told me not to argue with him on it. "If you get caught you could go to prison."
He rolled his eyes at me and I did it back because that was my signature gesture not him. He snickered, and I grinned back at him, but then we both forced serious faces back on ourselves.
"Either that or we could die. The police won't do anything, and I'm not going to let anything put you in danger." I blushed probably a strong shade of red. I wasn't embarrassed, just overwhelmed at how sweet he could be. He gave me a bold and vain, yet joking, wink.
It was a while before Parker was discharged from the hospital. Summer and Noah finally came to visit. We sat together and conversed like we used to, not risking the mention of what had happened between me and Parker.
Parker and I discussed it a little with each other, but to be honest, we just wanted to put it behind us. We had made it apparent how both of us felt about each other and that's all we needed.
I always slept in the hospital room with Parker. He tried to get me to go back to his and sleep properly, but I refused.
Finally, the day came when the doctors decided Parker would be okay to go home. He was told to take things easy for a while. He had a sling for his broken shoulder and stitches in multiple places which he would have to get removed in a few weeks. But he wasn't in too much pain. That's what he claimed, at least.
I finally went back to his home. It felt nice to live somewhere other than a disgusting apartment or a hospital room. As soon as we got back, he asked me to officially move in with him, no longer as a temporary thing while I sorted things out with my father.
I agreed immediately. We planned to move my few things that we in the old apartment over the next day.
Evening came. Parker had gone to his work office to sort some things out. He assured me he wouldn't be gone for long and that he didn't want to go, but he had to check everything was running smoothly.
After he left, with nothing to do I took the liberty to take some time to let my random thoughts take over. It was sometimes relaxing not to think too hard, just to watch as the thoughts crossed my mind.
I stepped onto the patio and sat on the bench, looking up at the incredibly cloudless and starry sky. Then I began to think.
Parker
When I got back home, I couldn't see Riley at first. When I came in, why first instinct was to look for her to kiss her and let her know I was back. It was getting too late for dinner, so I assumed she might have already eaten.
I wanted to get back to her as quickly as possible seeing at I had only just got her back, but business took longer that I had hoped. It was a few hours before I returned.
I hunted for Riley and couldn't see her. That's when I looked out the window and caught a glimpse of her staring up at the sky on the patio.
It was freezing out there, and she was not wearing enough to keep herself warm. Before I went to join her, I grabbed a blanket. I didn't want her to get too cold.
I approached the bench silently. I then gently placed my hand on her shoulder, and she flinched a little anyway. She must have been in very deep thought. I cradled her in my arms, sliding onto the bench so she was lying across me. It hurt a little, I still had a lot of scars and bruises as well as a broken shoulder, but it was well worth ignoring that.
She was freezing and I knew she had been out there for hours. I pulled up the thick, woollen blanket I had brought out over us and I wrapped it around her. As I settled down, I pressed my lips firmly against her forehead. I kept them there as I took a long breath of the cold air, and it burned a little as the icy air travelled down my throat.
"What are you thinking about?" I whispered softly. She was calm, but there was also clearly a lot on her mind.
"The stars." She said simply in the sweetest and most compelling tone possible. I took another long breath. I was about to ask more when she continued.
"Is it not funny how just a tiny spec of light in the sky is so much more. Something so much bigger than us yet so far away we can barely see it." She paused and sighed. This was clearly what she had been thinking away for so long, it fascinated her, and I could understand why.
"And the closest star to earth, other than the sun" she continued thoughtfully, "is still over 4 light years away. That's four years ago that it was as we see it now. Time here is present. You and me sitting here. But the things that are always out there, just above our heads, things many people never even take the chance to appreciate, they aren't from the present. They are from years ago. I don't believe that time travel could ever exist, but if it did it would have to be something to do with the stars."
She was so sweet, so perfect, so thoughtful. And I'd be damned if she wasn't the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen under the soft glow of moonlight.
I adored how perceptive she was, to the extent that no other human I knew could reach. She noticed and appreciated things that barely crossed other people's minds. And she thought about it a lot. When she took the time to think, her mind was even more beautiful.
"We are so small in this universe, Parker. Some would say irrelevant. When I think like this everything that has happened just seems to fade." She looked like she had her tongue tied a little before she spoke.
"But you never fade. I know I'm not making sense, but how I see it, in this endless universe I feel I can only rely on you. So let's be each other's reliability." She snuggled into my shoulder. "Never leave me." She muttered, muffled by my t-shirt.
"I wouldn't dream of it." She smiled. "I love you so damn much." She put her soft fingers against my chin guiding my face to hers and she kissed me.
"I love you, you are the only thing keeping me sane." She murmured.
Chapter 50!!!! whoop whoop
Halfway done now :)
no, I'm joking, don't worry, it's almost finished hahaha
I'm hilarious
Hope you enjoyed <3