[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/180227/e4dde0aaa87a06bf172683d5c7be5fcd.png[/img] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/180227/8c681a4afb6a511aacce84e12413b750.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/aMh16Ok.gif[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/SQnJZGL.gif[/img][h3][sup][color=426f6f][b]Riley[/b][/color] [color=f6989d]&[/color] [color=DC143C][b]Savannah[/b][/color][/sup][/h3][/center][center][color=f6989d][sub]After school at [b]Heartfelt Bites[/b]...
Collab with [@Lovely Complex][/sub][/color]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/AQRt55p.png?1[/img][/center]
[indent]Savvy was stuck.

Having been holed up in Heartfelt Bites for the past two hours attempting to write her article, she was beginning to get frustrated, her words not sounding as good as she thought they would. If she were writing this by hand, the garbage can in the corner would be overflowing by now with drafts, but since she was on her trusty laptop, the edit history was longer than life itself.

Sav took another bite of her chocolate eclair, savoring the delicious dessert that was currently keeping her sane. She was still a little shaken up from earlier, the incident at practice engrained in her memory, but knew she shouldn’t dwell on it. It had been a long day filled with ups and downs, but as her mother taught her, chocolate was always the cure to anything and everything. A deep sigh escaping her lips, she took a sip of her coffee and continued powering through with the article.

The bell of the door ringed and Riley Wells, the brother to a lovely redhead’s desire, came rolling in with a black helmet on his head and a medium-sized delivery bag on his back, having just gotten done with his round of cheesecake deliveries for the day. All food in this building may it be served at Captain Cuddles, Heartfelt Bites, or The Underground, was influenced and catered by his father, Remy. His father could’ve been the next Gordon Ramsey, minus the anger and cursing, especially with the experience on his belt, but he chose being a father first, chef second. Some people may say settling at a family friendly place like Captain Cuddles was a waste of potential for Remy but Riley knew his father was happy. He got to see him and Trevor grow up and all three of them would patiently wait for their famed father, the money maker of the family, Jareth Wells, to return home from frequent tours and other music obligations. Their life was good and together they all could and would get through anything. At least once all things were out in the open and not left inside one’s head… festering. 

Truth be told, Riley was in the dark with a lot of the happenings in Trevor’s life, as of recently, and vice versa. Especially today. They haven’t had enough time for a good heart to heart. Trevor didn’t know about Riley’s party mishap with Marshall and Jamie and Riley didn’t know that Trevor had asked Savannah out, and also gotten in a brutal fight with Jacob. But maybe before dinner they would catch up! There was no doubt that Riley needed brotherly support today — he was a mess.

After exchanging the bag and the money with the afternoon shift manager, Lacy, who usually took care of financing for his father, Riley, while taking off his helmet, sluggishly scanned the menu of the bakery that only had females working there. It definitely had a visual the moment you walked in. Only girls were hired. The color scheme was pink, red, and white. And it was super lovey dovey. Hearts everywhere. It was extremely gag worthy. Usually the girls would attract people that wanted to flirt with them. Riley was pretty sure one of the girls had a crush on him, but he just wasn’t into her like that. Speaking of that girl…

[color=#fad6a5][b]“One cappuccino and a slice of strawberry buttercream cake, right?”[/b][/color] [url=https://idolwiki.com/pics/MadisonPettis/MadisonPettis.jpg]Jasmine[/url] beamed her dimpled smile and leaned on the counter, with obvious intention to show cleavage. She even added a wink at the end of her words, as if she knew everything about him even if she knew absolutely nothing besides his usual order. If there was one thing Riley knew, this girl had a type, which he has seen during many bakery visits. It usually involved boys that wore black and came off as ‘cool and mysterious’ (edge lords), but he also knew at her school, which wasn’t Beverly Hills High (thank god),  she was always in a relationship...one after the other, with different guys. Riley would like to think he knew crazy when he saw it and this girl definitely gave him those vibes. 

[color=426F6F][b]“Yeah… that’s right.”[/b][/color] It didn’t help he was not good at handling encounters like this. After attempting to pay and she stopping him,’it’s on me’, like she had power in this place, he decided to find a seat since the bakery usually brought your food to you. His eyes did light up when he saw a familiar face. Savannah. The girl that captured his brother’s heart. To what extent, Riley didn’t know, but he did know his brother had been crushing on this girl for some time. Clearing his throat, Riley approached the redhead, his helmet rested between his arm and side, [color=426F6F][b]“Mind if I sit here? Oh, and yeah, sorry about the party. I don’t usually drink and I [i]might[/i] have said things and done things that weren’t okay. Like call you out and totally embarrass my brother.”[/b][/color] 

Savannah was so engrossed in her writing that she didn’t notice when someone approached the table, and nearly jumped five feet when the person cleared their throat and began to speak. Realizing that it was Riley, she let out a small laugh at her panic, nearly cursing herself for making herself look like an idiot in front of Trevor’s brother. [color=DC143C][b]“No, not at all, please do,”[/b][/color] She replied, clearing her papers off of the far side of the table to give him some space. Sav smirked at his apology regarding the events of the party, knowing that he had nothing to apologize for- if he hadn’t said anything, things wouldn’t have been the same. [color=DC143C][b]“I didn’t mind, it actually made for some good conversation.”[/b][/color]

Gratefully, Riley took a seat and placed his helmet under his seat, sweat gleaming from his forehead. Being delivery boy wasn’t the easiest when his father was locally a big hit because of his grinds. [color=426F6F][b]“I haven’t seen him all day — he’s probably worried because of how bad the morning show went. Gotta’ take the punches as they come, you know?”[/b][/color] His attention went up to Jasmine who loudly placed his drink and cake on the table, purposely side swiping some of Savannah’s papers so that it fell on the ground.  

[color=#fad6a5][b]“So you like gingers. Figures.”[/b][/color] The girl clicked her tongue with an immense amount of tude. 

[color=426F6F][b]“What? No.”[/b][/color] Riley bent down to pick of Savannah’s papers. 

[color=#fad6a5][b]“Then you [i]must[/i] be gay.”[/b][/color] Hearing that, Riley jolted up, hitting his head on the table. Fuck. He had enough shit going on. His friend hated him. His other friend had god knows what going on with him that made him cry in the closet. Oh wait, Owen did scare the daylights out of him… that would definitely make someone cry. Pulling himself up, his head pounding, Riley placed Savannah’s papers back on the table and watched the girl flip her hair and walk away. Just because he didn’t want to fuck her didn’t make him [i]gay[/i]. 

[color=DC143C][b]“Yeah….punches...right.”[/b][/color] [i]Too soon[/i].

From thinking about one altercation to witnessing another, for second time today, Savannah was absolutely shocked by someone’s behavior. What was this girl’s deal anyway?  Why did she have to be so rude? [color=DC143C][b]“For someone who works at bakery like this, you’d think she’d be nice…”[/b][/color] She whispered to Riley, afraid the girl would hear. [color=DC143C][b]“Your head okay?”[/b][/color]

With a warm smile, Riley nodded at the natural sweetheart and lightheartedly joked, [color=426F6F][b]“It’s seen better days, but I’ll survive.”[/b][/color] After grabbing his fork, Riley scooped a small piece of cake and cutely nommed it in his mouth. His face lit up. Man, this cake was the best. Too good. Giving himself a moment to enjoy his dessert, he glanced toward Jasmine briefly then back at his brother’s crush, [color=426F6F][b]“She doesn’t like that I’m [i]not[/i] into her. I come here at least three times a week, which is three times too many for a girl that wants to get in your pants.”[/b][/color] The dark haired boy shrugged, continuing to eat the cake, with incredible speed and like nobody was watching. It was like he ate cake as if it were going to run away. [color=426F6F][b]“So —”[/b][/color] He put his fork down and grabbed his cappuccino. If he could, he’d ask more questions about her progress with his brother, but he didn’t want to come across as that nosey, possessive brother that needed to make sure the girl his brother was into wasn’t batshit.  [color=426F6F][b]“— you seem deep into writing. What’s your story about?”[/b][/color] He’d assume it had something to do with the paper. 

Sav couldn’t help but laugh at Riley as he ate his dessert- he acted like a little kid who was experiencing sugar for the first time in the way that he smiled giddily as he ate. But she could agree that the pastries here were [i]that[/i] good, and probably looked the same way as she chewed her eclair. Dabbing her mouth with her napkin, Savvy then gathered her papers and stacked them neatly next to her laptop, resembling the way they were before the waitress knocked them off the table. 

[color=DC143C][b]“It’s actually next week’s main feature for the [i]Orange and Black[/i] about the Football team and the upcoming season,”[/b][/color] She picked up one of the sheets of paper that had some bullet notes and passed it over to the boy across from her so he could peruse the bits and pieces she had already thought of. [color=DC143C][b]“I stopped by tryouts today to do some research, so now I’m planning it all out and beginning to put it on paper- well, screen.”[/b][/color] Sav joked, motioning to her computer.

Riley raised an eyebrow when the interview highlights were focused solely on his brother. Absentmindedly, and perhaps rather crudely, Riley said out loud, all the while still looking at the points,  [color=426F6F][b]“Is this about the team or about my brother?”[/b][/color] Don’t get him wrong, his brother was interesting and really did care about Football, but the article would appear bias if it only focused on one person’s opinions, especially after what had transpired this morning. [color=426F6F][b]“Don’t you think this should be more about how each player is going to handle losing their biggest asset? This just seems like just another glorified article about an unstoppable team. When everyone knows without Damian… they’re kinda fucked. Sorry for the cursing.”[/b][/color] 

He didn’t mean to critique her or make it seem like he knew how to find a story better than she could, but none of the students would care about this. At least he didn’t. None of the players knew what to expect this season. Why? Because they lost their captain. Their captain that unified them. How were the boys going to keep that strength? That unified brotherhood? Trevor was too nice and it showed in the written script of her interview with him. The only time his brother actually showed backbone was when he defended someone he cared about. The rest of the players? Jacob, he was too angry. Lucky? He could care less about the winning streak and probably was only there to watch everything fall. The others? They followed the leader.  [color=426F6F][b]“I want to know what’s going on in Damian’s head. He deserves to clear his name because no one deserves what he’s going through. And it sucks he’s getting punished for a party that we ALL were at.”[/b][/color] Riley didn’t know when Savannah’s deadline was, but what she had so far wouldn’t impress Trixie. With all this time Trixie has been spending with him trying to create projects for both his club and her’s, he was starting to realize she was a tough girl to please, which probably was a bitch for the writers of the newspaper club. Her being the editor-in-chief and all. 

Savvy willed herself as much as she could to not turn crimson, but her face did not listen to her brain and thus her cheeks began to match her hair. Riley’s comments had quite a lot of truth to them- Sav was so concerned with impressing her crush and talking to him, that her resulting article lacked any real substance. The biggest thing to happen to the team in the past two years had just occurred that morning, and yet her writing didn’t reflect [i]any[/i] of it. She sighed deeply, looking down at the ground in defeat. [color=DC143C][b]“I got to the tryouts with much better questions, and when Coach Moss said that Trevor was the most likely to not say anything dumb besides Damian, he looked absolutely distraught.”[/b][/color] She admitted, [color=DC143C][b]“I couldn’t bear to make him feel even worse by talking more about it. Plus, I was going to talk to more people on the team but there was a little...incident that prevented me from doing so..”[/b][/color] Sav took another bite of her eclair in frustration. [color=DC143C][b]“Needless to say the interview did not go as well as I wanted it to.”[/b][/color]

[color=426F6F][b]“An incident?”[/b][/color] Riley was in the dark as ever. The closet incident was haunting his mind and her bringing up the word ‘incident’ made it wash over him again. Stop, Riley. He took a sip of his coffee before continuing. 

[color=426F6F][b]“And hey, you’re still a phenomenal writer.”[/b][/color] He softened his expression, internally reprimanding himself for hurting Savannah. [color=426F6F][b]“Sorry, my brother says I can be a downright ass because I don’t know how to sugarcoat my words. But, you’re extremely welcoming and that’s a great trait to have when it comes to talking to people. If there’s one thing I know journalists have, like Trixie or… Jamie, they’re ruthless. Nothing else matters but the story and what they gain. That’s the only thing you lack and oddly enough, my brother too. But that isn’t a bad thing. You don’t have to corner or pressure someone to get them to speak. And I’m sure you’ll find the best method that works for you.”[/b][/color]

[color=DC143C][b]“It’s okay, I need some constructive criticism in my life. Sometimes I’m afraid that people aren’t being completely honest with me.”[/b][/color] Sav reassured him. It was true- she always worried in the back of her mind that people were putting up a front and saying terrible things behind her back, but this was refreshing. It kind of stung, but it was what was necessary if she wanted to be a writer. [color=DC143C][b]“I guess I just need to be more direct and not worry completely about hurting someone else’s feelings, even if I do care about them...”[/b][/color] She trailed off, not wanting to say too much more about it.

[color=DC143C][b]“But yeah, there was a small incident at tryouts. I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you what happened…”[/b][/color] Sav cringed thinking about Riley’s possible reaction to Trevor getting beat up.

[color=426F6F][b]“You have to tell me now.”[/b][/color] For some reason, Riley didn’t think his brother was involved. He did assume things would go to shit because of Damian being MIA, but his ignorance of never thinking his brother would be directly involved or even that his brother would get hurt, because his brother was kind of his hero and never got hurt, was definitely written on his face. Hopefully the Weekend Warrior wasn’t around because his brother being in the general vicinity of ‘an incident’ was never good for anyone. That bashing site would paint his brother in a bad light and his brother probably didn’t do anything. 

[color=DC143C][b]“Well…”[/b][/color] Savvy tried to tread lightly, not wanting to scare the younger brother of her crush. [color=DC143C][b]“I don’t know why, but Jacob threw Trev to the ground during a play, and then they started arguing about something, I don’t know what, but Trevor was [i]really[/i] angry. I’ve never seen him lose his cool like that. And then…. they got into a full on brawl, it was pretty bad.”[/b][/color] Sav couldn’t help but wonder if it was her fault, since she had pulled Trevor aside to interview him and Jacob didn’t seem to take to that, but she doubted that was it. 

Oh. 

His brother was involved. A full on brawl? That wasn’t like Trevor at all, unless he was defending [i]someone[/i] not something. Did Jacob have beef with anyone? Emotions were probably heightened because Trevor was most likely going to be Captain. That would make anyone on the team that actually cared [i]angry[/i], but if that was the only matter, Trevor wouldn’t have fed into the jabs. Riley knew for one he had nothing going on with Jacob so it didn’t make sense for Jacob to use him against his brother… his eyes rested on the girl in front of him. Was she already [b]that[/b] important to him? Important enough for her brother to fight for her? All this time, he thought Trevor’s crush for her wasn’t something too serious. She was pretty and his type. 

And yet, he had a feeling they cared about each other more than he expected. Was he going to lose his brother soon? [color=426F6F][b]“I’ll check on him.”[/b][/color] Riley’s response was short, like he was taking in everything. A new revelation dawned on him — that his relationship with his brother was going to change soon because his brother now had someone else to go to. [color=426F6F][b]“Which reminds me… I need to help with dinner tonight. Thanks for letting me sit here, Savannah. You’re... [i]sweet[/i].”[/b][/color] Not waiting for a response, Riley got up and left the bakery, forgetting his helmet under his chair. 

She [i]knew[/i] she shouldn’t have told him. Watching Riley react wasn’t pretty, and she knew that he was probably going to have words with his brother about the events. Oops. But something else was going on, Sav knew he just wasn’t reacting to the fight alone, she could see the wheels turning in his head. But before she could say anything else, he got up and left, clearly not too pleased with the situation. Gazing over at his empty seat, she noticed he had left behind his helmet. [color=DC143C][b]“Riley, wait!”[/b][/color] She grabbed the helmet and ran out the door after him, catching him before he got too far away. [color=DC143C][b]“Don’t need you hitting your head a second time today.”[/b][/color]

[color=426F6F][b]“Ah, yeah. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m sure.”[/b][/color] Taking the helmet, he placed it on his head and gave her a thumbs up before hopping on his mini motorcycle. His dad didn’t think he was ready for a big one. He gave Savannah a final nod and then the brother to her heart’s desire sped off.  [/indent]