I want you

Three

R-Riley can stay with us! She'll be fine. You know, you're kind of hurting my feelings. Don't you trust us?" Kris said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Charlie caught Riley's gaze and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if she was okay with this. Riley nodded. Out loud she said "It's okay Riley, I'll be fine."

"See? Now go on, or else we'll have to refund everyone and I really want to buy some furniture for my room!"

Charlie rolled her eyes at Kris's statement. She walked over to Riley and started introducing her to everyone.

"You've already met Alex. That's Brian. He's the Dungeon Monitor. He shouldn't be here actually– aren't you supposed to be on patrol right now?"

Brian shrugged. "Just got back from a round. I'll leave again in thirty."

"Okay. So that's Kris, she's annoying, stay away from her–" at this Kris stuck out her tongue "– and this is Miles. I'm going to have to go now, I'm really sorry about this"

"It's okay, I'll be fine. Good-luck out there!" Riley said encouragingly, even though she was kind of nervous about being stuck in a room with a bunch of strangers. But they were Charlie's friends. They might be a bit odd and a bit scary, but deep down they had to be good people.

She sat down next to Alex. Everyone else has resorted back to doing their own thing. Brian was playing a game on his phone animatedly, While Miles and Kris had started to bicker about who was heading the next Demo.

"What's a Demo?" she asked Alex. He smiled at her. "Like a demonstration. People don't just fall from the sky with knowledge about scenes, roleplay and sadomasochism. You gotta learn it. Today's demo is like, How to tie rope 101."

Her lips parted in understanding. "I never realised you had to learn that stuff too."

"Might you be interested in learning? We could go watch. Charlie's a great teacher, even if she acts like a goof most times."

"How do you know Charlie anyway? I didn't know she had friends outside of us" Kris said, butting into their conversation.

She came to sit cross legged on the ground in front of them, staring into Riley's eyes possessively.

"Um, she's my colleague at work. I'm her supervisor, actually. She's a great assistant, very smart. Anyway today she noticed I was a bit down in the dumps, so she said she'd take my mind off it, and we ended up here."

Miles had come to sit down in front of her too. She noticed Brian leaving the room to go on another patrol. "How did she meet you guys?"

Kris beamed with pride. "I'm her oldest friend. Those two–" here she pointed at Alex and Miles "–met her in college. She beat up someone and had to do community service, and they were there too. And Brian, he's Ryan's brother. I don't remember how exactly we met Ryan, it feels like he's always been there."

Riley nodded. "I have a friend like that! Brittany. She's been in my life since we were little kids, I genuinely can't remember her not being there. She hates my boyfriend, and she dyes her hair a lot. Last time I saw it, it was pink. I think you guys would like her." Riley said, then frowned. She hadn't actually seen Brittany in a while. It was a lack of communication from both sides, sure but Brittany never bothered to start conversations anyway.

"Is that why you were sad today? Because you miss your friend?" Miles asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"No, it's obviously because all her friends hate her boyfriend, didn't you hear?" Kris said rolling her eyes.

"Why can't it be both? And why did you have to hit me!?"

"Hey, don't hit me back!"

They started to argue and bicker like siblings, which made Riley laugh. So this was what it was like to have an outgoing bunch of friends. It was a nice feeling.

"If you miss your friend that much, why don't you go see her? Maybe she's been too busy to text, but misses you just as much as you miss her. You'll never know if you don't try." Alex said, separating Miles and Kris.

"I never thought about it that way. Maybe I'll go see her this weekend."

"And your boyfriend, why do you think your friends hate him?" Kris asked then slapped her hand to her mouth. "Sorry, was that too personal? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

But Riley wanted to. It felt good to talk about her problems, rather than just push them to the side. She didn't know how therapeutic talking to strangers was before, but now that she had a taste, she wanted to get the full experience.

"No. It's fine, honestly. I feel a lot better, talking about things. It's not just my friendship and relationship issues that have been making me sad, I feel like my life is boring. I've been doing the same thing everyday for a while now, and I can't stand it. My life reminds me of vanilla ice cream; bland."

"Hey! Vanilla ice cream is the best flavour!" Miles protested. "But I get what you mean. Before I found a hobby, I thought I would die from boredom."

"You're calling sadomasochism a hobby?" Kris sneered, and they started to bicker again.

Riley rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Are they always like this?" she asked Alex.

"Sometimes. Sometimes they're too busy kissing to get a word in. Bunch of weirdos."

They both laughed.

"Want to keep talking about your issues?" Alex asked, staring at her with clear blue eyes. She shook her head. "It's okay, I've already made up my mind on what to do. I'm going to add a little spice to my life."

The gang of friends cheered for her, just as Charlie burst into the room.

She looked a bit surprised to see Riley in one piece. "Demo's over. Miles, it's your turn."

She walked over to Riley and examined her whole. "You're okay?"

"I'm okay" she giggled. "were you expecting them to tie me to a chair or something?"

Charlie nodded, but she was smiling. "Come on, we should probably get going soon if you don't want to wake up late for work tomorrow."

A pang of gloom went through Riley at the thought of leaving this place. It had brought her a lot of comfort, more comfort than she'd expected from a building where people got off on tying each other up.

Kris noticed the sad look on her face and came over to hug her. "Cheer up doll face. You're always welcome to swing by if you're in the area! I could show you my room too."

Miles nodded. "Yeah, any friend of Charlie's is a friend of ours. You have an affinity for the dark side, you should explore it more often."

An affinity for the dark side?

Riley thought about it. Sure she was more accepting than a regular person would be in the face of all this, but did that mean she wanted to be like them?

Her eye caught a pair of handcuffs lying around on the floor, and she thought back to when she was in Charlie's room, how much she'd wanted to try them on, how it felt like a second nature to her.

Her taste in music had always been eerie, and it bothered her parents growing up, but she never listened to their complaints. She liked dark genres, thrillers, horror and paranormal stories had a hold on her.

She blinked slowly, her mouth parting open in shock. Was she, like them?

Charlie smacked Miles round the head, and the sound caused Riley to snap out of her reverie. "What'd you tell her that for? Are you trying to get me fired!?"

Riley smiled. She was going to miss this odd group. She immediately started shuffling through her schedule in her mind, trying to see if she had any free time to visit them again.

Charlie had started to pull her towards the door. "Bye!" she called out, waving.

"Bye Riley!"

"Have more confidence, you're gorgeous!"

"Come visit us soon, okay?"

She blew kisses as the door shut.

***

"So, did I take your mind off things or what?"

They were back in a taxi going home. Charlie was removing most of her face paint. The driver kept staring at her through the mirror, shocked that someone would walk around in that get up. Then again, this was New Orleans. Pagans, he thought shaking his head.

"I had a great time, thank you" Riley said, in response to Charlie's question. She couldn't wait to get home and tell Adam all about her experience.

Maybe she would even borrow Charlie's handcuffs as proof.

They stopped at Charlie's place, and Riley changed into her work clothes. The bland grey suit felt like paper on her skin, now that her eyes had been opened to an exciting world of colour.

I might have to change my whole wardrobe, she thought to herself.

"See you at work tomorrow! Bright and early." Riley said as Charlie walked her out. She had given her some pieces of leftover toast to have for dinner, since all the restaurants nearby were already closed.

I didn't think it was that late, Riley thought to herself as she hailed a cab. While she was at The Spot, it felt like time slowed down or even stopped.

Adam hadn't texted her about it either. She bit her lip. Well, she was a grown woman. She didn't need anyone checking up on her 24/7. Though, it would have been nice if he showed that he cared about her being out till 12 in the morning.

She arrived at her place in a short while, tipping the cab man generously for getting her home safe. She opened the door and frowned bitterly. There were still dirty dishes in the sink. In fact, it looked like there were more.

Was Adam not home?

No, his laptop was on the table. She walked to the sink and wrinkled her nose. He had burned whatever he made for dinner, and her favourite pot.

"Adam?" she called out, taking off her clothes. She was tired. She'd take care of the dishes tomorrow.

She arrived at her room. Adam was scowling at his phone screen. She bent down to kiss his cheek, but he moved away.

"And where have you been? What are you doing, getting back from work by 12:30 in the morning?"

"I told you I was going out with Charlie. Check your phone, I texted you."

"Do you have any idea what you put me through? I almost burned the house down for chrissakes! Why didn't you restock the fridge?"

"What the? I told YOU to do that yesterday! And why are you yelling at me?"

"Why are you hanging out with that girl anyway? She's weird and she smokes."

"I smoke too."

"Exactly! She's a bad influence."

"I'm not a child, Adam!"

"You're certainly behaving like one! This house is a mess! Why didn't you tell me the cable had expired?"

"I did tell you!" Riley exploded. "You're just never home, so you never remember!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing in deeply, trying to calm herself down.

All the frustration that she had managed to forget came rushing back and she hated Adam for it.

"Look. I had a great evening. I'm not going to ruin the experience by arguing with you. Let's sort it out in the morning."

"You mean sort it out later today? Because, news flash, it's already morning! And where did you go that was so great anyway?" Adam asked suspiciously. "Did that crazy girl take you to a strip club or somethin

g?"

Riley rolled her eyes, ignoring him and climbing into bed. She couldn't believe she had been eager to share her experiences with this guy.