Location:The woods, then campsite
Riley listened slightly to Cassie, she sighed softly and rubbed the back of her neck she looked back over towards the campsite the RV mainly where she had left Alyssa and Kim. It would feel very awkward now being around the two of them for what she actually knew, but Riley wasnt going to tell them that they were a thing now and she wouldnt want to hurt her two best friends more then she already had.
"Have you ever kissed your best friend then and only to find out that she didn't feel the same way?" Riley asked as she took in a deep breath and wiped away a few more tears.
"I fucked up really bad.." Riley said softly looking towards Cassie.
Cassie frowned, it wasnt that she hadn't figured out what had happened from watching, but rather that she couldn't answer the question.
"No" She said softly,
"I haven't, but mainly because I've never risked letting anyone in, in fear of losing them" She said softly, hesitating before enveloping Riley in a hug. It was quite true, and perhaps that was why she didn't know how to offer comfort.
"Nothing's ever so badly fucked up that it can't be fixed" She said
"Best friends are that for a reason, and it means never having to ask for forgiviness, just knowing that its there. Things will work out." She felt lame saying the words, as if she was just trying to speak for speaking's sake.
"It will be okay, Riley"Riley sighed softly as she felt Cassie pulling her into a hug and returned it, she still wasn't sure that it would be the same if she was around the two of them and they were doing couple things she would end up feeling very jealous.
"Thank you Cass.." Riley said softly, maybe it would work out in some way, she hoped that things would be normal around Kim and Alyssa she hated herself for just doing that and hurting Alyssa the way that she did.
Cassie sighed, seeing that her words hasn't helped and feeling like she was a horrible friend because she could offer comfort.
"In the end, Ri, it's better to have experienced feelings, even if it hurts." She had Riley a sad smile,
"after all, there might be someone else out there, waiting for you to see they like you. We will all make mistakes, fall for people who like someone else, or fall for the wrong person, but that's what life is. Searching for the right person, and stumbling over wrongs, almost rights, people we think are right but aren't. Some of us are just lucky to find that early. There's someone out there for you, Riley. Why wouldn't there be? You smart, funny, an amazing person. Alyssa and Kimberly will be okay, it's just hard seeing someone you like being approached by someone else, but I'm sure she'll understand once the shocks warn off" there was a strange sort of emotion in Cassie's voice, one she could quite figure out. Was it hope? Fear? Longing? A mixture of all three? She didn't know.
Pat lowered her gaze into the ground as she listened.
"So...it did not work out...." She did not know if she was supposed to be happy or sad about it. She was not sure of anything any longer. Pat could not help but laugh sadly at the situation, taking another swig from her bottle. Her hazy mind registered what she had done, but it did not matter as she leaned her back up against a tree.
"That's what I told myself before as well. Know what? Things don't get better." Pat looked up at the sky as she talked before turning her gaze towards the other two. She looked at them for a few moments before once again looking up at the sky, sighing sadly.
Riley smiled softly at Cassie she was right and she did want to have her friends be happy and she would eventually get over the whole deal and she would just have to deal with both Kim and Alyssa being together Riley's gaze then turned over towards the woods and noticed Patricia there. She blushed slightly and wondered how long that her friend and teacher was there the whole time, how much did she actually knew of the conversation. Riley rubbed the back of her neck slightly as she turned to look back at Cassie and smiled as she pulled her friend into another hug. [color-lightgreen]"Thank you Cassie for making me feel better, and you know talk to me anytime you need to since you have been there for me."[/color] Riley said as she turned back to look at Patricia again and waved at her, at this point she didnt care who was listening in on their conversation.
She glanced over at Pat as she spoke, frowning at the other woman.
"You're aware that I was five when my parents died. I didn't think things would ever get better then, but they did. You just have to want them to get better. If you don't want that, then of course things won't get better. I strive everyday to pull myself out of the whirlpool of sadness, anger and fear a child can feel, and I still do every day. Things do get better. You just have to be open to seeing it." She smiled at Pat, hoping she hadn't sounded anything but compassionate.
"Sometimes, you just need a friend"Hoping she hadn't misjudged, Cassie held out a hand, an offering of companionship.
Pat laughed quietly as Cass spoke.
"You might be right. But my path towards the better is a forbidden path. A path that leads to ruin." She slowly made her way up to her feet. Her legs were wobbly and felt like wet noodles. She had been drinking much more than what she had thought. She slowly made her way over towards the two girls, leaning up against trees as she walked.
"I'm a weakling, unlike you Cass."She was feeling nausious. She could tell she was at the edge of her tolerance. She was supposed to be their teacher damn it! Supposed to be a role model for them. Not a drunken slob like she was. Riley had helped her come out of her drinking habit. She had helped her live when she was on the edge. She walked straight up to her, or at least as straight as her legs allowed her. Pat grabbed onto Riley's shoulders before planting a deep, slobbery kiss on her lips.
A sigh escaped her lips as she moved back a step. Her eyes went wide as she brushed against a branch and started falling backwards. She reached out for Riley as she was falling, trying to grab ahold of her.
Riley watched as Patricia approached them more she noticed the woman stumbling forward and closer towards them, she could also smell alcohol on Patricia had she been hitting the bottle again? She looked at Patricia with a concerned look on her eyes before she instantly turned a bright red when Patricia suddenly leaned in and planted her lips upon hers. Riley's heart started racing as it happened right in front of Cassie, she could easily taste alcohol while Patricia kissed her, when Pat finally broke away from the kiss Riley still wasnt sure what she thought about it. Then Patricia tok a step back, Riley noticed Patricia was about to fall, and quickly reached out to hold her hand but Patricia being much older and weighing more then her Riley fell down as well with Riley falling on the ground first with Patricia on top of her.
Pat looked down at Riley's face. She stared blankly for a few seconds before leaning in closer. Their noses brushed together before she closed the last distance and kissed Riley again. She wanted to do more, feel more, have more. She ran her hand along Riley's side when her senses came back slightly and she looked towards Cass. Her mind blanked. Cass was here. Cass had seen her. Pat pushed off from Riley and crawled backwards, fear in her eyes. She tried to stand and got up about halfway when her legs were moving away. She tried to run, but only came a few steps before falling. Her head hit a tree trunk and she staggered, falling again.
Tears streamed down her cheeks along with some blood from a cut she got from a branch. She had scrapes, cuts and bruises all over her legs. It started coming back to her. What she had done, what she was doing.
"I'm sorry Riley," she said between her sobs.
"I'm so sorry..."Casie watched the scene, a little bit shocked, but she instictively reached out to grab Pat, but Riley has already done so. Cassie stood there, feeling stupid. Did everyone act on their feelings, and she was just too reserved? Did nobody like her? She watched, feeling like she was intruding.
As pat became aware she was there again, Cassie took a step back, which may have been a mistake when Pat turned away with fear.
It came to Cassie that people didn't know how she would truly react to same sex couples. Bemused, Cassie crouched, examining without getting too close the cut.
"That needs to be cleaned. You are weak, Pat. You just haven't found you're strength yet. But you will. Why do you run from what you feel, when you act? I'm not going to stone you for like girls, cause then I'd have to stone myself too"Riley's mind was going a million miles a minute as she fell onto the ground and looked up at Patricia her face was a bright red again the moment Patricia's lips landed onto her's again the kiss was passionate her heart started racing faster and faster as she felt Pat's hands sliding along her sides. Then Patricia finally snapped out of it, Riley quickly scrambled back till she was resting her back up against a tree, Patricia was way older then she was and the woman was their high school teacher. The trip this year was certainly an interesting one now, Riley's eyes looked between Cassie and then Patricia.
"W-what was the kiss for?" Riley asked softly her face was still a deep shade of red.
Pat followed Cassandra's instructions hazily and started cleaning her wound, wiping it off with her hand and some moss. Her head was pounding like a bitch. She could barely think straight from the combined might of alcohol and hitting her head hard. She turned around and looked at the two girls.
"It's not that Cass...." she said and looked at Riley with an expression somewhere between despair and blush.
"I'm your teacher.....I'm way older than you..." She averted her eyes. [color=fff79a]"You really are dense aren't you?" She chuckled sadly and looked at Riley again.
"Because I love you, that's why!"She tried to stand once again and started searching for her bottle, finding it after a little while and took another sip. Today was just getting worse and worse...
"So? We can accept men having women potentially fifty years younger then them, why not this? After this year, it won't matter whether you are our teacher or not, and in this world we need to take what happiness we can get, not run away from it." Cassandra said,
"I'm not going to tell anyone. Why would I?"She gave the teacher a smile, standing up, she took a few steps back, now feeling like she was intruding
Riley was shocked to hear what Patricia had just said she was still getting over the fact that she had just been turned down by Kim to be with Alyssa, Riley was seventeen while Patricia was thirty though she would be legal in just a few weeks. A relationship would be really bad for Patricia's career. "I don't know what to say.. I mean you have been there for me Pat and I was there for you.." Riley said quietly and then looked towards Cassandra for a moment biting her lower lip and then looked back towards Patricia, she was one of the cutest teachers in the school.
"What about your job?" Riley asked softly.
Pat smiled sadly and sat down once again. [color=fff79a]"Yeah...that's where the problem lies huh?" She chuckled.
"I guess we could keep it a secret until you graduate. It's just another year." She mused the idea for a while. One year...until they could tell people. She was not planning on losing her job. Despite everything she trusted Riley and she trusted Cass. She did not think either of them would ruin her career. This was so hard for her. She knew what her heart said, and what her mind said. Neither agreed with each other.
"I'm willing.....if you are...." She said finally.
Cassie stepped back further, thinking she should just walk away, but she could at least be a guard in case someone else stumbled along.
She fell into her own thoughts, troubled. It seemed her friends were finding partners, and she was still just...alone. Looking away, she looked out over the lake, pondering it.
"Um. I'll just...go over here" she said awkwardly, moving away so that she couldn't hear anything, but could still see if anyone was coming
Riley bit her lip for a moment she had just been rejected and then Patricia came out to tell her that she loved her, she looked over towards Cassie seeing her friend turning around and taking a few steps closer to the lake.
"I like you to... though can I have some time to think about it?" Riley asked softly, she then heard a twig snapping and then a low growl Riley slowly turned her head trying to find where the noise was coming from since it was dark now she could only see what looked like a silhouette of a wolf. Riley quickly got up and helped Patricia back up to her feet and then grabbed Cassie's hand.
"Theres a wolf!" Riley said as she made a run back towards the camp.
She nodded slowly. Even thru her hazy mind she realised that she could not expect an answer directly. However, Riley had not pushed her off, or away, or rejected her. Despite knowing, she didn't know why. They had all lost track of time as darkness was decending upon them when the growl came from behind. Pat turned her gaze and saw something glimmer before she was janked up onto her unsteady feet as they began running back. Pat sighed when they got back.
"I'll be in the tent Riley....a wolf should not come around the camp. I need to sleep off the drunk.." Her voice was still slightly slurry as she spoke, but with some determination this time around. She looked around the camp and quickly gave Riley a peck on the lips before entering the tent. In a few minutes the flask was empty and Pat was asleep in her sleeping bag, snoring softly.