THE SOUND OF A FEMALE VOICE YELLING OUTSIDE CAUGHT THE DUO'S ATTENTION, MAKING RILEY AND CHRIS TO SHARE A LOOK. She helped him up from the floor, both still heaving from the jump scare they experienced, and Chris was the one who lead them out of the room since she was nervous to even move without him.

      Riley clinged into his arm tightly, wrapping her other arm around herself more to keep warm, and squinted her eyes in the darkness. Inside was barely lit, but thanks to the lighter it had some light for them to see.

      "We're freezing our buns off out here!" The muffled voice of Ashley is heard on the other side of the door, her head appearing in view to try spotting the two people inside keeping them out.

      The brunette huffs hearing the complaint, standing beside Chris at the front door, and stood back so he could shuffle in to unlock the frozen lock. It better work, she thought to herself, we did NOT just get scared for no reason.

      Chris lifts up the spray can to the door, holding the lighter in his other hand to the nozzle, and flicked it on. A small orange glow lit up the duo's features a bit, and the frozen lock melts enough for him to yank it open, letting in the cool air from outside now.

      It reveals Sam and Ashley, the two waiting outside for the lodge to be opened, and Riley sent a small grin to the blonde, to which she returned it with a quiet chuckle.

      "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week--" Chris speaks from her other side, taking a humble bow in front of Sam and Ashley, as he shakes off the burning sensation he felt from the lighter.

      Before anyone can react to his stupidity, a loud snarling noise was heard and a small figure appears, sprinting through the duo's legs inside the lodge. A girly scream escaped Chris as the rodent runs out of the door, which made Riley shriek also and grabbed onto the terrified male.

      Sam break out into laughter, it echoing around the area as Riley flushes in the face embarrassed and shot Sam a halfhearted glare, causing the blonde to only cackle more.

      "Crap, that thing freaked me out." Chris mumbled breathing heavily, still lurking behind Riley as he looked over his shoulder, worried something else was going to jump out and scare them from the shadows.

     "What was it? Are you okay?" Ashley asked glancing between the best friends, also laughing at what just happened but tried to stifle it.

      Chris looked to Riley for help, to which he gained a sheepish shoulder shrug from her, "It was, like a bear, or a tiger or something." He rambles overdramatic like usual, and it made his brunette friend slap his arm amused.

      "Aw, it was just a cute little baby wolverine." Sam coos in a baby voice, palms leant on her knees to mock the male, as Josh now appeared jogging up the steps behind her.

      "Don't worry, buddy. You're gonna be a big boy soon." Josh joins in on the teasing, shooting Riley a small smirk and she only rolled her eyes fondly, not shocked at their banter with their male friend.

      Chris just huffs annoyed, the three outside now taking a step to walk inside the lodge, and joined the other two where it was much warmer. Matt follows along behind them all, and the group trail towards where Josh was in the main room.

      "Home sweet home." He calls out airly, arms outstretched as he does a little spin in his spot, taking in the place where he never forgot what it looked like.

      "Sweet is not the word I'd use." Matt comments just loud enough for them to hear, catching Riley's attention who was beside Josh and watched him place down his, and Emily's bags onto the wooden floor.

      Her green eyes trail over the inside of the lodge, feeling more chills travel up her spine knowing what this place was and who it took from her, from Josh. She gripped onto her bag trap's more, bumping her necklace in the process, "This place... doesn't look any different."

      Josh heard his best friend's statement, and tilted his head down to her, "Nobody's been up here." He clarifies with a hum, though something lingered in his eyes, an emotion that she couldn't place, "Wanna help me start a fire, Rye Rye?"

      She only nodded with a lopsided smile, following behind him as they moved towards the fireplace, where it looked gloomier than usual. Most likely because no one has touched it for ages, she thought anxiously.

     "Even with all the police coming in and out?" Ashley was next to comment about the lodge, saying so causally without a care in the world as she glazed around the inside. Hearing this made Riley's blood run cold, and eyes to narrow on her figure from behind.

      "Not a lot of action up here lately." Chris diverts the attention onto him, sending Riley a look to calm down as he breaks the tension in the air between the two girls. That was one of the things Riley loved about him, he could always sense when something was wrong.

       The room had gone quiet for a few seconds, and the Brunette thought everything would be alright now that the tension was somewhat eased. That was until a familiar voice cut through the room, and two figures appeared next, "What's up, party people!"

      Everyone's attention move to the open doorway, as Mike walks in with his hands in the air, and a goofy grin across his mouth. Jessica trails behind him, swaying her hips as she follows him into the room, and drawls out, "Hey!"

      Riley's stomach drops seeing the man she adored, and felt a burning sensation in her chest at the way Jessica was up close and personal with him. She forced herself to look away, instead focusing on the fire she was helping Josh with.

      "Hey," Josh calls back his greeting, him being crouched at the fireplace next to Riley, his dark eyes glancing from her stiff figure back to Mike smirking, "Make yourself at home, bro."

      Mike comes up behind the two, his gaze lingering on Riley as she had her back to him, but she refused to turn around yet,  "Will do." Was all his reply was, and waves his hand out, before trailing back over to where Jess was.

      "Yeah, come on in." Matt suddenly raises his voice, stopping the cocky male from moving any further, "Take a load off, have whatever you want." He stands up with a glare, and stomps his way to Mike, "You just take whatever you want anyways, right?"

      Riley couldn't help herself hearing Mike getting attacked, and turned to look over her shoulder. She leant into Josh's side a bit, as her fingers grazed the butterfly necklace hidden under her clothing. Mike did have this coming, but she wondered what provoked Matt.

     "Whoa, easy there cowboy." Mike's smile is instantly uncomfortable, no longer feeling or being amused at the sudden words from the other male, who only got closer.

     "Mike, stay away from my girlfriend." Matt's blunt tone throws the said male off, his brows furrowing confused since they just only recently had a talk, and things were supposed to be squashed.

     "Dude-- what are you talking about?"

     Matt, obviously getting even more triggered at Mike's dumbfound expression rose his voice even more, "Stay away from Emily!" He exclaimed, lifting a finger to point at him, and his next words were quieter, "Don't you already have Jess, huh? Or maybe it's because you can't have Rye?"

    Mike's jaw clenches hearing his best friend's name, and something flickers in his dark eyes, "Don't bring her into this." He murmured, voice dropping to a warning as he knew Riley was watching them, "And Emily? Why would I want anything to do with Emily?"

      Matt released a heavy sigh, and nodded his head reluctantly, "Right, sorry. I lost my head, it's been a long day." He says as he steps away from the confused male.

     "Right, well try not to lose it again." Mike tells him coolly, understanding where Matt was coming from and moved away also, both on the opposite sides of the room now.

      He felt a gaze on the back of his head, and he knew who it belonged to, which brought a knowing smile across his lips. He went to sit down beside Jess, who thought he was smiling at her, and she returned it widely, not realising it was because of the brunette.

      Josh nudged Riley hearing her disgusted groan, now trying to ignore how Jess was all up in Mike's face wanting to kiss him on the couch. Riley just grumbled to herself, and only turned back around when she heard Emily's voice next.

       She cursed how fast she did turn around however, as she caught the last of Jess and Mike kissing. Her breath hitched when she made eye contact with Mike, his dark gaze already trained on her even when he was kissing Jess back. Her cheeks flushed, but her eyes widened spotting the feline smirk he wore at her reaction.

     "Oh, my god. That is so gross." Emily's sarcastic voice knocks the girl out of her trance, attention moving to her other friend who was standing in the middle of the room unimpressed, "Are you trying to swallow his face whole?"

     "Em--"

     "Seriously, can she be any more obvious?" She continued on, cutting Matt's words off, "No one wants in on your territory, honey. Why do you feel so threatened, huh? You think someone's gonna steal him from you when he isn't even yours?"

      Riley instantly knew Emily was hinting at her, from the way the shorter girl's gaze flickered to her crouched figure. She sighed heavily, really wanting the ground to swallow her up whole at this point. She knew this fight wasn't going to be good.

    "Excuse me, did you say something?" Jess snarks back, a tight smile across her face as she stood up from Mike, who was causally leaning back on the couch, without a worry in the world.

     "Oh, did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?" Emily was quick for a comeback, arms uncrossing to be thrown at her sides, and her words made Riley's eyes go wide in shock, shuffling closer to Josh who was still fixing up the fire.

     "Sounds like someone's biter she didn't make the cut."

      "Yeah. It's a big cattle call with that dreambot." Emily laughs like it was the funniest thing in the world, watching Jessica pace around the floor in front of an awkward Mike, "Congrats, you're top cow...Oh, but wait. You aren't."

     Jess's eyes narrow down on Emily, wondering what she was yapping about, but didn't bother lingering on it as she was furious, "Cuts real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow."

      Riley bites her bottom lip nervously, fingers fiddling with her bracelets for a second as she stood up to block Josh from view, "Guys, come on. This isn't what we are here for--" She tries to defuse the situation, but was met with the opposite. 

     "Mind your own business, Rye." Jessica suddenly span around to snarl at the girl, who's face went pale realising her comment didn't help at all, "Typical of you to always butt into shit that doesn't involve you."

     Mike's figure tensed up hearing the rude comment thrown at her, sitting up more straight as his jaw clenched and bit his tongue from saying anything to protect Riley. He knew if he did, things would escalate even more.

     "Hey, watch it!" Emily snapped on her friend's behalf, defending her when no one else did in that moment. She crossed her arms over her chest, and glared more at the blonde in front.

     Jessica rolled her eyes with a scoff, "Whatever. I don't give a crap what you think." She trailed off, turning around to expect Mike to be smiling, but her face fell when his expression was anything but happy. His brows were creased, and eyes were squinted with a scowl.

      "At least I can think, 4.0, bitch, honor roll." Emily grins back sharkly, hands touching her chest as she laughs in Jess's face loudly, "Suck on that when you're trying to sleep your way into a job."

      "Who needs grades when you've got all the natural advantages you can handle." The blonde smirks widely, and motioned to her body with a sway in her hips, gaining an eye roll from Emily, "You couldn't buy a moldy loaf of breed with your skanky ass."

     Emily cackles loudly once more, sharing a look across the room with Riley who shakes her head at her, "Are you serious? Do you think that's insulting?" She asked amused, a bitter smirk forming.

      Jessica turns her back to the girl she was fighting with, glazing at Mike who still sat there not impressed, and the blonde pointed a finger towards Emily, "That bitch is on crack or something."

     Riley runs a palm down her face exhausted at the bickering, earrings chiming as she did so and went to say something again, but Matt was quick to beat her to it, "This is out of hand. There's no reason to fight like this!"

      "This isn't what we call came here for, and I don't know why you both have the nerve to fight in the first place." Riley now added surprisingly steady, voice low and expression serious as her dark eyes threatened to drown the two girls involved where they stood, "I get things are shit between you two, but cut it out. If you're gonna argue, don't do it here. This isn't about you guys, or the rest of us, it's for Josh and the twins. Stop being so selfish."

     Everyone was pretty shocked to say the least, the most quiet and timid one of the group was speaking out on the fight between the girls. Her eyes didn't move from Jessica nor Emily, who both seemed to back off now after her words, making Riley exhale shakily, glad her input worked this time.

     "Rye is right." Josh finally finds his voice, the male standing up beside his best friend to offer her support, which made her heart ache knowing this isn't what he wanted, "This is not why we came up here. This is not... helping. It's not what I wanted. If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little of a break, right?"

     The room went completely silent after his talk again, awkwardness filling the air that had Riley sighing to herself and stepped up beside Josh more into the middle of the room. She avoided eye contact with Mike, but still felt him trying to catch her eye from where he sat.

     "Mike, why don't you go check out the guest cabin? The one I told you about." Josh suggested, and lifted up his finger to point at the male, as he sent a knowing glance to Riley out of the corner of his eye.

     "Yeah, yeah alright," The male nods his head, pressing his palms on his jeans and pushed himself up from the couch, walking over to Jess like a robot, "Want to go do that?"

     Jessica huffed out some air annoyed, "Any place without that whore." She sent a glare to Emily, before taking the hand Mike outstretched to her and began to walk out of the lodge together.

      Riley felt her heart clench in pain once more, her fingers moving around her rings nervously, as she hated how jealous she was feeling. It made her sick. It made matters worse, when her eyes finally managed to lock onto Mike's dark ones, as they trail to the exit.

      That look of longing, and sadness in his gaze took her breath away, she also couldn't place the other expression he was looking at her with where she stood in the room. All she could do was blink away the burning sensation, and turned her back to him, as she heard their footsteps get further away.

     Matt imitating an explosion noise catches her attention next, as he had turned to face her and Josh near the fireplace, "... Glad that's over." He muttered more to himself, gaining small chuckles back from Josh, "So, uh... should we get this fire going?"

     "What do you think me and Rye have been doing?" He raised an eyebrow up at the male who stuttered a reply, making Josh wave him off smirking, "I'm messing with you. We can't get it started yet, since we have no fire wood."

     Josh's eyes instantly fell upon his best friend, who was placing her bag down with Sam's on the couch, and flinched at his sudden stare, "....Why are you looking at me with puppy dog eyes?"

      He stood up from his spot, and pulled her over to him by her forearm with a teasing smile, "Oh, no reason at all." He trailed off, both his hands coming to clasp hers in between his, "It's just we need fire wood, and you're the only other person who knows where it is apart from me."

      She furrowed her brows confused, tilting her head to the side which made her earrings cling once more, and glanced at the empty stool where it was once filled with wood, "And why didn't you pick some up beforehand? You knew we needed it, mister."

      "My bad, Rye. I just didn't have any time to since I've been--" He pauses mid way, a look flickering in his eyes like he wanted to say something more to her, but shakes it off with a lazy smile, "All I'm asking is for you to grab some and come back. I mean... you might even get to see our good old friend Mike too."

      She deadpanned at him at his words, but nevertheless nodded her head knowing she couldn't say no to him, "Of course I'll go get some. You know I was gonna say yes anyway." She answered with a nose scrunch, making him playfully flick it and released her hands he was still holding.

     "Still had to ask, Rye Rye." He spoke in a baby voice, further more making her annoyed with his teasing, but was glad he felt alright enough to do so, "Just follow the path I showed you, pick up as much as you can carry and come back safely. But, you know, take your time too with Mi--"

      She slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish that sentence, his laughter muffled by her palm as she huffed at him, "That won't be happening. I'm getting the firewood and coming back here, where it's warm."

     Riley dropped the hand over his mouth, as he sent her one last teasing smirk that had her poking her tongue out at him. She span around with a new goal in mind now, collect the wood and get back to the lodge quickly.

❪ ✏️ ❫ 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂 : 3278
─►☆ AUTHOR'S NOTE :

yk i keep forgetting this isn't a josh fic and actually a mike one with the bond between riley and josh LMFAOOA 😭 it's actually baddd but that's okay because i have a josh fic cooking up in my drafts as we speak 😈🙏🏻