A Change of View

Here is chapter 3. Riley meets Cale and...well you\'ll find out.



Chapter 3



Nate followed Riley into her room, knowing Kate put her new clothes on the bed. Riley stopped when she saw them. She dropped her book bag—on her foot and winced—and walked to the bed. She picked up the first shirt, it was black. On it was Figaro—the cat from Disney’s Pinocchio—with an attitude. “Even good kitties have claws” was written under it in glittering letters. It wasn’t a t-shirt cut like the muppets shirt she was wearing now. It was a tank top, Riley never wore tank tops, but this one she liked and would wear. She laid the shirt back down and picked up the jeans with it. They were new jeans that had been commercially faded and torn.



“You know, I never saw the reason to buy jeans already torn and faded.” Riley commented absently as she laid the jeans next to the Figaro tank top. The next shirt was more of a camisole—blue this time. This one didn’t have a character on it but it was covered in silver stars. With it was a short red jacket. The sleeves would only come to her elbows and the bottom of the jacket was designed to stop just below the breasts. “Very patriotic” Riley commented. The jeans were plain dark blue.



Riley stared at the clothes for another thirty seconds before digging into her pocket. She shoved the crumpled ten dollar bill into Nate’s hand and sighed. “Okay, I like them. I don’t usually go for the sleeveless look but I like them.”



“See, I told you.” Nate said with a grin. “Now I need to hunt down Kate before I go to calm down Emily.”



“Kate doesn’t get out of class for another twenty minutes. And Emily’s class started ten minutes ago. You’re going to have to wait.”



“Oh… um…okay…” Nate looked lost. “I’m going to run home and change then, okay?”



“Nate, I’m not a social butterfly remember? I do just fine by myself. Besides I need to decide if I’m going to go along with Kate’s matchmaking plan. If I am I’ll get dolled up, if not I’m going to read something.”



“Do us both a favor and get dolled up. I don’t want to have to pick which side I’m going to battle. And I can almost guarantee with this fight I’ll side with Kate.” Nate really hoped this wasn’t a battle he had to fight.



“Tell you what, I’ll get dolled up if you tell Kate you love her. Not just a friendship ‘I love you’ but tell her you really love her.” Nate paled. “Nate, honey, you look a little sick.” She teased.



“You fight dirty, you know that?”



“Yep, it’s part of my charm. Go home, let me know if you’re going to declare your undying love and I’ll start painting my face.” Riley turned around and smiled to herself. She frowned again when the front door opened and then slammed shut and Kate voice came through the house.



“Nate? Nate I need to talk to you. Riley should be home any minute—Hi Riley…” Kate entered the room and smiled a too innocent smile. “Hey, I know you don’t like me messing with your clothes or anything but—“



“Dr. Frankenstein, for once I like the clothes you are throwing at me. So relax.” Riley looked at Nate and raised an eyebrow. Nate gulped.



“How long are you going to give me to do this?” Nate was terrified. What if she left him?



“Well for observation purposes, I should say now. But so your sakes I’ll give you one week. And I also expect you to be honest; otherwise you will owe me till the end of time.” Nate paled a little but nodded in agreement as he looked at Kate with love in his eyes. Kate looked back and forth between the two with a confused look on her face—well as confused as her heart-shaped face would allow her.



“Right… anyway. Hyde, please, please, please be Jekyll tonight. I don’t think you know how pretty you are when you are. Please, Hyde. You can wear your new clothes so you don’t have to completely dress up. Please Hyde, I’m begging you.” Kate looked like a depraved pixie. She also has the pout look down Riley observed.



Riley looked directly at Nate and scowled. “You have one week and if you don’t do it by then I’ll do it for you. Do you understand me?” When Nate swallowed and nodded at her, she turned to Kate. “Okay Dr. Frankenstein, thanks to your boy friend, I’ll be Jekyll tonight. But both of you owe me. I don’t remember the last time I socialized this much, as far as you guys know I’ll trip and break something, then I’ll step on the glass and we’ll all have to make a trip to the ER. Now get out so Hyde can transform.”



Kate jumped up and down screaming. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret this! Come on Nate, you need to get dressed too.”



“Um, Kate,” Nate said, “I need to talk to you first.” Nate and Kate walked out to leave Riley to her transformation. Riley looked at her clothes and then herself in the mirror. She sighed and went to go pull out her make-up bag—this was going to take a while.











“Kate, we have a little change in plans.” Nate pulled Kate into her room and closed the door. “Okay so I just realized something today…” He trailed off when he looked at the bed and saw a blue dress laying across it.



“What did you realize Nate?” Kate was waiting for an answer as she walked over to her vanity to brush her already perfect hair.



“That’s the dress I picked out, isn’t it?” Nate smiled at the bet he was about to lose. Looks like he and Riley were breaking even.



“Yes, I was saving it for a special night. I thought tonight was special.” Nate shook his head.



“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” Nate walked out of her room and went right to Riley’s door. He knocked and waited for an answer. When there was no answer he knocked again.



“You know Dr. Frankenstein; perfection takes time as you should know. Go away while I do this or I’m going to wash off what I have done and not come tonight.”



Nate chuckled, “Riley do you want your ten bucks or not.” He heard some rustling behind the door. It cracked open and Riley’s hand came out. He couldn’t see her work in progress but he chuckled again and placed the folded ten dollar bill from before into her palm.



“Thank you.” Riley sang and closed the door in his face. Nate chuckled again and turned to see Kate watching her.



“Riley won a bet.” Nate said. Kate shook her head and walked back into her room. “Anyway, I was talking to Riley earlier about Emily and why she isn’t talking to anyone. I think I figured out why. She found out Tony is coming tonight, didn’t she?” When Kate winced Nate knew he was right. “Yeah, I thought so. Well Riley put some light on the perspective as to what is probably going on.”



“Riley sure has a lot say for a fly on the wall, don’t you think?” She answered sarcastically.



“Don’t get smart Kate. You wanted her to socialize so I made her socialize. You just have to ask the right questions. If I could sum Riley up in one word it would be observant. She notices everything.” Nate grimaced as he remembered the one week promise he just made. “Well I told her how Emily and Tony have hated each other since they were kids and how Tony reacted when she brought home her first boyfriend. Riley pointed out that Tony was jealous and how they tease each other is more sexual frustration then hate. So I think we should force Emily and Tony together instead of Riley and Tony. I didn’t think it would work out between those two anyway because of how vocal Tony is. Cale is much more reserved. She will get along in a relationship a lot better with him then with Tony.”



Nate could actually see the wheels turning in Kate’s head. Oh my—Kate thought—they’re right. “How are we going to get Emily and Tony together? Right now they hate each other, do we just lock them in a closet until they start making out?”



“That is really juvenile Kate. Besides, if I thought that would work I would be all for it, but I think they would kill each other before the making out would happen. I think it would be a lot better if we provoke them and make them argue to the point that they can’t help themselves. Here’s what I had in mind…”







At seven o’clock, the door bell rang. Riley heard it but wasn’t ready to leave her room. She had become Jekyll and was very uncomfortable in the way she looked. As she inspected herself in the mirror she searched for some part of herself. This painted up doll wasn’t her, it was a stranger trying to show herself to the world. She put on her new clothes—Figaro—and took a few deep breaths. Twenty minutes, that’s all she has to endure Riley promised herself.



The knock at the door made her jump. “Hyde you had so better be Jekyll right now! Come on; open the door I want to see how pretty you look!” Riley sighed and opened the door.



Kate looked at Riley and gaped. This is the second time she has seen Riley dressed up and this time was different then the first. The first time, Riley made her eyes dark with black eyeliner and dark shadows; the contrast with her golden brown eyes made them look hypnotic. This time Riley’s eyes weren’t dark, but golden. She only used brown and golden shadows to accent her eyes. Her cheek held a deep rose blush that looked to be a part of her skin and not the powder carefully applied. Her lips were a faint pink gloss used more to accent the natural color then adding a false one.



After a full minute of Kate gaping Riley looked down at the floor. Being stared at made her uncomfortable and she didn’t want to be stared at tonight. She already felt off from her day with Nate; socializing as much as she had today made her feel off, like she wasn’t herself. Riley turned and looked at the girl in the mirror again. This was not Riley. This was some other person that had her face, Riley wasn’t sure if she liked that or not.



“Katie, honey, Tony and…” Nate walked into view and stopped dead. The look on his face was pure shock. How could anyone go from one extreme to the other so well? Riley was tired of being stared at. “Wow…Riley…you look—“



“I don’t want you to tell me how I look. I’m about thirty seconds away from slamming and locking that door. I hate being stared at. It means attention and I would rather be left alone. I’m going down for twenty minutes and if anyone stares at me the way you two are right now, I’m leaving.” That snapped Kate out of her trance



“Oh, in your dreams Jekyll, that’s not going to happen.” Kate’s smile looked devious and made Riley want to run and hide in a cave deep in the jungles of South America. “Come on.” Kate came in and took Riley’s hand. “I need to warn Emily, cuz if you walk into the room now, she will choke on something. Stay right here and look happy, the frown only makes your face look prettier because then it is being begged to made to smile.” Riley looked confused. She tried to keep it simple tonight to avoid the attention. Obviously that didn’t work.



“Man, Kate, stop pushing me. I can walk on my own you know.” Riley could hear Emily’s voice coming closer and considered running, but Nate was standing behind her—probably making sure she didn’t run away. “I already know how Riley looks all done up. I don’t need to be pushed like this.” Did she sound mad at me? Riley thought. When Emily was pushed around the corner she froze—that tended to be the reaction to tonight. She didn’t like it. “Holy shit. Riley, you look…I don’t know what to say…” That was a first; Emily always knew what to say.



“Thanks Emily.” Riley felt sick. She didn’t want to do this, why were people pushing tonight on her so bad.



“Come on, you’ve got to meet the guys Riley.” Kate was to enthusiastic, she didn’t notice Emily’s eyes go hot. Either she was mad Tony was here or she thought Tony was being matched with Riley. Either way, she was mad. Emily turned around and stalked back into the living room with Kate dancing after her. Nate gave Riley a friendly shove and she reluctantly went to join her roommates. At the threshold of the room, Nate slipped past her to go greet his friends. Riley hesitated, wanting to know how much a flight to South America cost.



Riley felt like she was going to be sick which was strange to her because this was a small group of people and not a big party. This should be simple, she told herself, I’ve done small groups before, why can’t I walk in the room? Nate said a few words to his friends and then went to go sit by Kate. Riley took a deep breath and took a step into the room. In an instant, every eye in the room was looking at her. She froze in her place and didn’t move. She wanted to run, she wanted to be sick, she wanted to go to South America and find that cave. Each pair of eyes seemed to have a different expression in them. Kate’s was eager, Emily’s was anger, and Nate’s was a strange combination of awe and protectiveness. The other two sets of eyes were from the men she had never met before, one was pure lust and Riley quickly looked away from them. The other set of eyes were guarded and unreadable. Riley seemed to be in a trance and she stared back at the eyes staring at her. The eyes were unreadable but not blank, there was some strange emotion behind them Riley had never seen before and that made her cautious.



When someone whispered, “I told you” Riley’s trance was broken and she looked away. She walked into the room and over to the sodas purchased earlier that day. Suddenly her throat was so dry it ached.



“So, introductions,” Nate’s voice announced. Riley didn’t bother to turn around until she could calm herself. “Tony, Cale, you guys have already met Kate. Cale, this is Emily, my cousin; and this is Riley. Riley,” He waited until she turned around, “this is Tony and Cale.”



“Hey,” Came from Tony. “Hello” quietly spoken came from the guarded Cale. Riley’s eyes met his again and this time he smiled. Riley thought Nate’s smile was mesmerizing, but it didn’t even come close to Cale’s. No dimple flashed here, it was a smile that just radiated man and Riley wanted to run again, but whether it was to him or South America she didn’t know. Tony said something that Riley couldn’t hear and Emily’s sharp come back pulled her attention.



“Tony has anyone ever told you that thinking out loud with your dick is not how to get laid?” When Riley met Emily’s eyes, there was not just anger, but bitterness. So Emily was angry that Tony was supposed to be matched up with Riley.



“It seems to have worked fine in the past sugar; as a matter of fact, just this last weekend—“



“Tony,” Emily said too sweetly, “you do know that our lease on the house says no dogs’ right?” Riley chocked on her soda, she has never heard Emily like this.



“Then you better leave too, bitch.” Riley turned to look at Tony. Wow, this was a lot worse than Riley realized. Each was too stubborn to notice how much they loved each other. Well two can play the matchmaker game, Riley decided.



“Nate,” Riley said softly, “I have a question. Which one of the three of you would win an arm wrestling match?” Let the games begin, Riley smiled.



Nate wasn’t slow, and she knew it. He caught on immediately, so, evidently, did Cale since he hid his smile in the drink.



“Oh, well defiantly not Tony.” Emily answered before Nate could. “Some boys just don’t have what it takes to be men.”



“Oh, please powder puff. That was fifteen years ago and I let you win.”



“Did you? Then why do you still get all huffy about it?”



“I don’t get huffy, girls get huffy.”



“You’re right; boys, like you, just whine.”



“Okay, that’s it. I am challenging you, here and now. I’ll prove to you I can take your fancy ass in anything here and now.”



“I have an idea.” Nate supplied. “Since a battle of strength really isn’t fair anymore, let’s do a different competition.” Cale was chuckling. It was as if he had been waiting for this day and now that it was here it going better than he expected. Emily and Tony started to argue about what would make a decent competition.



Riley walked over to Cale. He stopped chuckling. Riley wasn’t short—about five-seven—but she had to go up on her toes to reach Cale’s six feet and whisper in his ear. “Shut up before you screw this up.” Cale sharply turned his head and stared into her eyes again. This time they were very readable and what he wanted made Riley take a step back. She stepped up against the wall and was very easily caged in. Cale set down his drink and took Riley’s from her limp fingers. He leaned down to her and half smiled at her, Riley gulped.



“Hi.” He whispered. “You look nice.”



“Um…th-thanks.” Riley stammered.



“Your eyes are very interesting. I can’t decide if they’re brown or gold, almost like they’re a part of your hair.” The room around Riley disappeared as she looked at Cale’s eyes—green, like a cat’s eyes. His hair was a shaggy dusty blonde. It wasn’t artfully placed like Nate’s but natural. It looked…sexy, Riley decided.



“Cale, kiss her already and get it over with.” Tony sounded frustrated. When Cale looked over at him, he looked irritated.



“Why don’t you take your own advice, stupid?” Cale said casually. Riley looked over to see Emily and Tony toe-to-toe arguing. Tony’s face reddened with anger and he turned back to Emily.



“I can’t stand you.” He said in a low tone to Emily. Her eyes narrowed. When she opened her mouth to comment back, Tony put his hands on either side of her head and kissed her, hard. Emily gasped and froze. After five seconds of the frozen kiss, she kissed him back.



Nate turned to Kate, “See, I’m a genius.” Nate’s dimple flashed at Kate with love shinning in his eyes.



“If you are such a genius, why is Emily the only one being kissed?” Nate smile grew and kissed her.



Riley looked away. Deep down, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, she envied those who had a relationship like her roommates now had. Emily and Tony couldn’t hide it now that the dam broke and it would only be a matter of time now before Nate told Kate he loved her. Riley was staring at the wall; she didn’t want to look at her roommates right now and the man still towering over her smelled too good. Cale was looking at her—she could feel it—and she wasn’t ready to look back.



Cale didn’t know what he was doing. When he first looked at Riley, his heart froze. She was too beautiful for her own good. Nate hadn’t told him much about Riley but had talked a lot about Emily. Somewhere from yesterday and today the tables had been turned from Emily to Riley. He hadn’t heard much about her: she was a little plain to look at except for her eyes, a loner who preferred to read a book over going to a party, and was just fine going to a movie by herself. Cale could see all of those things now if he paid close enough attention to her. When she started the argument between Tony and Emily, he knew she saw what he had known for three years—since he met Tony. She was the new girl of the group and didn’t mind being left out; not anymore, Cale decided.



He turned her head with just his index finger. Reluctantly she looked at him. He smiled and decided to follow Tony’s advice. “Why don’t we get this over with?” He said as he place his hands on the wall on either side of her head.



Her eyes grew wide, “Don’t you dare—“ His mouth came softly down to hers. He didn’t move, just rested his lips against her soft lips. He watched her reaction. She stood frozen in shock. Very carefully, as if testing the waters, he moved his lips over her. Her gasp was a kind of victory for him but at the same time made him wary. She was inexperienced. Very carefully he began to trace kisses over her face. He kept his hands firmly place on the wall, giving her the chance to back away. She didn’t, and her breathing quickened.



“Kiss me back.” He demanded when his lips came back to hers. For a second she didn’t move, as if she was

about to pull back. Then she took him by surprise. She fisted her hands in his hair and plundered. He had completely lost his mind. Wrapping his arms around her, he pasted her to his body that fit a little too well to his. Her lips were so soft he had a faint thought as to be careful with them but then she moaned quietly and the trace thought disappeared. His hand moved for his molding grip to tangle in her hair. He tore his lips to find the hollow of her neck; he nipped lightly and felt another little victory and her sharp intake of breath. He waged a small battle with himself over to continue devouring her neck or to move back to her mouth. The need to taste her lips again chose the outcome and he went back to her lips.



Riley didn’t know what she was doing. When his lips met hers she was shocked. When they began to trace her face she felt a burning in her stomach. She no longer felt sick and South America seemed like an anomaly. When he told her to kiss him back and brought his mouth back to hers, the burning in her stomach exploded and spread to every inch of her body. She kissed him back in a way she has never kissed another man before. When he pulled her body to his, she felt a small warning in the back of her mind to take a step back, and then he moved from her lips to her neck. The burning in the pit of her stomach spread throughout her body and she felt as if she were on fire. All her buried feeling began to claw their way out. When his mouth came back to hers, she felt the feelings of the loner girl erupt out of her. Suddenly she remembered that was who she was, the loner girl. She didn’t kiss men she just met. She liked to be by herself while her friends went off to make out and party. She jerked back from Cale and he released her, not wanting to scare her. She slammed up against the wall, gasping for air. “I can’t do this.” She gasped.



She dashed away and Cale let her go. He got too close to losing control of that kiss when she jumped back. He had to take a few deep breaths in order to calm his own breathing. It was then he noticed his friends and their women staring at him. Kate and Emily looked to be in shock and, still looking at him, got up to go find their friend. Nate looked taken aback and Tony was grinning. He knew what they were thinking. Cale couldn\'t believe he just lost control and he hated the fact Riley just ran. He felt an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach and he wanted her back in his arms so much it hurt.











What was she thinking? She knew nothing about Cale. Yes, he had amazing eyes and he kisses like a God, but she had no idea who he was. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Emily and Tony were supposed to be together, they’ve known each other since they were kids. Riley and Cale had known each other for five minutes and they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. But the man could kiss. Riley groaned as she sank down on the bed.



When Emily and Kate barged into the room without knocking, Riley fell over on the bed and covered her head with a pillow. They sat down on the bed next to her wordlessly. Emily started rubbing her back while Kate rubbed her leg in comfort. They knew Riley was upset and understood she felt ashamed and embarrassed. Riley wanted to cry.



“I told you. I’ve reached my social capabilities for the day.” Riley finally mumbled from under the pillow.



“Well, if I would have known this would be the consequences I would have done this a lot sooner.” Riley could hear the laugh in Kate’s voice. She went from embarrassed to angry.



“Don’t you dare make this into some kind of comedy act! I humiliated myself tonight and all the two of you can do is laugh at me? I don’t even want to know what the guys are thinking!”



“Well I can guess what Tony is thinking, and I doubt it’s about you.” Emily sounded smug.



“You know, you could have done that any time. You didn’t have to wait for someone to push you two over the edge.” Kate said, still smiling over the night’s events.



“You two are impossible!” Riley sat up and pushed her way off of the bed. She grabbed her wallet, cell phone, and her keys, shoving them into her pockets as she headed for the door. She caught a glace of herself in the mirror and noticed she hadn’t messed up her face—yet. “I need to get out of here. I’ll be back in a few hours. Stay here with your men, I’ll be fine.”



Riley left the room without waiting for a response and walked out the back door so no one in the next room would see her leave. She turned left—away from her normal walking route—and burst into a run. She wanted to be as far away from the “get together” as she could.



She ran for two miles before she noticed she didn’t know where she was. Turning around, Riley started to walk back the way she came. An uneasy felling fell over her, but she fought the urge to look behind her. She saw an intersection ahead of her and felt a wave of relief wash over her. She started walking faster when she heard someone come up behind her.



A hand smelling of booze clamped over her mouth. A man’s mouth came close to her ear and his breath made her nauseated. “Now what,” the man slurred, “ish an angel doin’ way out here?” He licked her ear and Riley could feel the tears that had welled up in her eyes spill over. “Awe, sweet heart, don’t cry. You’ll like this…” Riley felt cold, sharp metal run down her arm and she let out a sob. “Don’t worry sweet heart; it’s gonna be fun…all the others begged for this.”



The man shoved Riley into an ally way and slammed her up against wall; she cried out in pain. When she started to struggle against him he groaned, “You mus’ be da angel of love sweetheart, you know just what makes this fun.” She felt a rough hand and her breast and when she jerked away from it she heard her shirt rip. She panicked and, reflexively, her hands came up, scratching the man’s face, drawing blood. He back handed her and Riley saw stars as she fell to the ground.



“You stupid bitch,” he wiped the blood from his face as he straddled her. He spit in her face then drew the knife across her cheek, cleanly drawing blood himself. He smiled, “Now it’s gonna hurt.” He sounded even more excited than before and Riley froze. “Now, I’m gonna make you scream.”



He drew her hands above her head and held them there with the blade of his knife. Because of his drunken state the knife bit into her wrists. With his free hand he grabbed her breast again. “Scream.” When Riley shook her head, he dug the knife in deeper. Riley cried out and the man laughed. He released her breast and started working on the button to his jeans, fighting with it and cursing.



Riley sobbed and began to beg. The man laughed, “See sweet heart, I told you, dey always beg.” When he got the button to his jeans undone and started fumbling with his zipper, Riley started screaming for help. He back handed her again, “Shut up bitch!”



Suddenly the weight was off of her and she curled up into the fetal position, cradling her arms. She heard the sound of someone being punched and she tried to crawl away. When she reached the wall of the ally she turned around. The man who had assaulted her lay unconscious on the ground, back to her, with his hands tied behind his back. She looked up at the man who came to her rescue, her vision was starting to blur and she had to blink multiple times to try to focus on him.



Cale kneeled down in front of her, he said something but she didn’t hear him. When he reached out and touched the front of her jeans she jerked back, hitting her head against the wall. “Easy, Riley, easy…” Cale stroked her hair and looked into her eyes. “I’m just looking for you phone. I need to call 911. Okay?” When he reached her the front of her jeans again, Riley didn’t move, she sat frozen in terror. He drew out her phone and placed the call. Riley was starting to see spots. Cale looked down at her wrists and cursed, he started yelling into the phone but Riley couldn’t hear. She saw him take off his shirt but she couldn’t move. He tore it and carefully wrapped her wrists.



Cale wondered if she even realized how badly she was shaking. He yelled into the phone again when Riley’s eyes began to glaze over. “Riley, honey, look at me Riley. Come on honey, stay with me. Look at me. There you are…” He could hear sirens in the distance. “Riley, don’t leave me…”



“Cale…”



“I just found you, don’t leave me now…” Then, for Riley, everything went black. She wasn’t sure but she thought she could feel Cale cradle her in his arms and rock her.







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Let me know what you think!