Chapter Eleven:

"You know, you've never told me why you always come at exactly seven-thirty every day," Ria questioned. Her mouth was partially filled with the fresh, doughy chicken dumpling, the warm gooey texture melting upon her tongue.

Blaine sat at the opposite end of the sofa and had opted for the safer option of sweet and sour chicken chow mein. They were currently situated in the lounge room of Ria's home, a place rapidly becoming their favourite to hang out. Blaine softly blew at the steaming mouthful before welcoming it into his mouth. "It's the most convenient time between my babysitting shifts. You know, between you and my parents. Takes a lot of time; I have to find a way to divide my time equally."

"Ha-ha, you're hilarious." Ria mocked the older boy, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. "Hey, I forgot to tell you earlier," She whipped out her iPhone from beside her. "Ms McQueen dropped us a message on our work group chat. She's said she will push the promotion date back to the end of the year. She says it gives us longer to prove ourselves." She squealed the words, barely able to contain her excitement; her eyes gleamed with glee, her hands waving around with contentment.

Blaine found himself mimicking her body language; her happiness infectious, almost as though it had been him who'd received the fantastic news. "That's great," he responded, "you deserve a fighting chance."

"Do you reckon somebody might have complained?" She paused, tilting her head quizzically. "I don't know why else she'd change her mind. I mean, she's hardly an understanding boss at the best of times."

Blaine placed his fork down hesitantly into the takeaway box. "I don't know, maybe? Or maybe, she just realised she'd made a colossal mistake not choosing the best intern. Obviously." He said almost matter-of-factly, both of his hands pointing at Ria.

"Obviously," She repeated, a soft giggle leaving her lips. "That has to be the reason." She popped a second dumpling into her mouth, savouring the taste before continuing. "Anyway, how was that interview? You never mentioned it again." She rose a brow as she spoke.

"What interview?"

"You know, the one you said you had to dash for that night. After...you know...after, we...fucked." Her honey orbs widened as she said the last word of profanity so matter-of-factly that she almost shocked herself.

He choked, a piece of chicken catching in his throat as the girl caught him by surprise. He grabbed the bottle of sparkling water on the table and chugged it down. "Right, yeah, that interview," he drawled, "it was good. It was great, excellent. Went really well."

She felt her lips twitch slightly at his obvious discomfort at being caught out in a lie. "So, when do you hear back from the employer?" She teased.

He carefully scratched the back of his neck, "In like a week, I think," he let out an awkward chuckle.

"There was no interview, was there?" She questioned knowingly, cocking her head to the side unhurriedly.

"I - I mean, no. No, there was no interview," Blaine muttered, accepting defeat.

"You said that so you could get out as fast as possible because you felt just as uncomfortable as I did. You didn't want to admit it, so you put on a brave face and tried to convince me the whole thing meant nothing. That's what you were doing, isn't it?"

Blaine blinked down at her twice. It'd been the second time he'd been scrutinised by a woman in the last forty-eight hours. It was steadily becoming something of a recurring theme. "I just didn't want you to overthink it. And clearly, that didn't work because that's exactly what you're doing now."

"Right. I shouldn't overthink it. Because it was nothing, right? It was just sex. That's what you said, isn't it?" She pushed at him. She wasn't sure why those words had irked her; people had casual sex all the time. But she wasn't people, and it certainly wasn't what she did.

He audible winced at her reciting the words he's used that night; they sounded almost cold and careless now. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant...it was an incredible night like honestly, it was amazing." He let out a quick whistle, and Ria felt herself blush in response, "but it didn't mean anything — it shouldn't have meant anything, there was no emotions attached." He said almost dubiously.

She nodded slowly. "Right." The final dumpling in her mouth tasted cold and flavourless as she took in Blaine's words. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's not a big deal." She changed the topic, "So, since there was no interview, what are you doing for a job now?"

He noticed the subtle change in the younger girls' demeanour. "I don't know. But what I do know is I desperately need to find something fast. I'm falling behind on my rent and owe a lot of money."

"What happened to football? That was your dream, wasn't it? Reid's too." She added thoughtfully.

He focussed his gaze on the floor, kicking his feet slightly at the memory. "I wasn't good enough for footie in the end. I probably never was."

Ria scoffed. "Oh, come on, don't start acting humble now. You were good. Much better than Reid - don't tell him I said that, though," she added quickly, a soft smile painted across her lips.

He chuckled softly. "That's a distant memory, anyway. No going back to that now."

Blaine talked a lot at times and very little at other times. She always had a sinking feeling that sometimes things were left unsaid. "Well, what's the backup plan, then?" She sighed audibly.

"I don't have one."

"Oh, come on, everyone has a plan B."

"I'm not like you, Ria." He said clearly.

"What? You mean, beautiful?" She joked, placing both her hands under her chin and fluttering her eyelashes exaggeratedly.

He rolled his eyes, letting out a loud chortle. "Jesus, we are spending way too much time together. You're even starting to sound like me." Ria noticed she was his sheer focus, a gaze so intense that she thought he was trying to memorise her being. "You know, I think I may even be a little sad that Reid's coming back next week."

"You'll still be around here every day, irritating me." It was a statement, but it almost sounded like a question. Unbeknown to them, they'd inched closer on the sofa, only a mere few centimetres left between them.

"It won't be the same, though." He whispered, eyes dropping down to her lips, his tongue languidly nipping at his bottom lip as he did so. He shot up suddenly, realising how close they were and faked a coughed. "Anyway, I don't know about a plan B. When I said I wasn't like you, I meant that I'm not...I was never that good at school, or you know, even average."

"That's because you spent all your time messing around with Reid or chasing girls."

"Yeah, because I was good at that! My teachers and parents always said I wouldn't amount to anything. And look, they were right." He gestured his hand to himself. "It's just about making it through life for me now."

"Ah, I see. Self-fulfilling prophecy." She murmured, appearing deep in thought.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned, genuinely confused.

"All your life, you were led to believe you weren't good enough, so you convinced yourself that that was the case. Eventually, it ended up being true because you almost manifested it." She said in one single breath.

"Yeah, I don't know about that." He mumbled, slightly caught off guard by her observation.

"Look, I'm going to help you find a purpose. Find something at least, so you're not quitting your job every five seconds."

At that exact moment, Ria's phone pinged. She leaned forward to reach for it, tapping the screen, "That's weird."

"What is it?"

"It's Ms McQueen." She sighed, looking up. "She privately messaged. She never messages me." Her face appeared both terrified and excited consecutively.

"Maybe, it's about the promotion?" Blaine speculated, feigning surprise.

A brief moment of silence passed. "No...it's about mixing business with pleasure. I would never do that...what the hell?!" Her lips moving silently as she read the explanatory text. "Oh my god. You went there?!" She yelled accusingly at Blaine.

"Look, it's not that bad, okay? She's rethinking the promotion. That's can only be a good thing, right?"

"Oh my god, Blaine. Why couldn't you just leave it? I specifically told you not to get involved, and what did you do? You fucking got involved in something that didn't concern you." She was standing up now, her hands flying around as she angrily confronted the boy.

"I had to. Rocco tried to sexually assault you. I couldn't just let that slide!" He retaliated.

"Why couldn't you? I was going to handle it in my own way!"

"You weren't going to do anything, though, were you? You didn't even think about reporting the man! This career means so much to you that you would've just kept quiet. You would let someone disrespect you in any way just to get a promotion!"

"So what? It's up to me how I want to handle things, not you and not anybody else." She jabbed a finger into his hard chest, a slight twinge of pain hitting her as she did so. "You threatened them, didn't you?"

He shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "No, I didn't threaten him," She tilted her head to the side, challenging him. "Okay, so yeah, I kind of threatened him, but he deserved it. He's done this before. He has a reputation for this kind of thing. Look," He pulled out his phone, attempting to show her the google search and the nude images.

"What about my reputation? My career has just started, and you could've ruined that all for me!"

"No, it's not ruined. I tried to help you. I tried to make sure you got the promotion!"

Her eyes widened as realisation dawned on her. "Oh my god. The promotion." Her hands flew up in frustration. "Even if I get it now, it's only because of your threat, not because I actually even deserved it."

"You do deserve it. You always deserved it." He explained quietly.

"No. If I deserved it, I would have gotten it." She mumbled before circling back to him, her anger reigniting. "Why did you need to get involved?"

"I couldn't let it slide, okay? I couldn't stand the thought that he might do it to you again," He sighed, running a hand through his chestnut locks. "Look, you might still get that promotion, so I don't know, maybe you should even be grateful to me in a way?!"

"Be grateful?! Are you fucking kidding me right now?! I might not have a job come Monday morning!"

"I doubt that. But even if that happens, you'll find another job where you won't have the risk of random men trying it on with you." He added.

She let out a cold laugh as she paced up and down before returning to him. "Do you think just because you got into my pants once, you now have some sort of right over me? That no other man can approach me or want to have sex with me?"

"What?" He scoffed. "No, this is completely different! I don't think that, and that isn't what happened, and you know it. You're angry, I get that, but—"

"Oh, I'm angry, am I?" She interrupted. "No, Blaine, I'm fucking fuming right now." She could feel Blaine's hot breath against her cheek, adding to her heightened emotions.

"You know what? Fine, next time something happens, I won't bother." He responded, marginally raising his voice, tutting. "I bet you even thought about it. You're so desperate for that job that I bet you even thought about fucking him."

A solid hard slap cut his words short, the sharp sting of Ria's hand burning into his cheek.

The harsh 'crack' resonated heavily in the air.

His hand immediately flew to caress his red-raw cheek, but before it reached, Ria's hand was already there. She began stroking at the sensitive skin softly, the touch of her hand feeling like an injection of morphine, the ultimate antidote to pain.

He turned his head to look at her and noticed a pained expression across her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

The words were so quiet that it wouldn't have been audible to Blaine if they hadn't been standing almost chest-to-face. Her chest heaving up and down against his.

He let his hand drop down to her jawline, barely grazing over the supple skin, the light touch evoking an electric jolt through her being.

His eyelashes drooped over his stormy eyes, darkening by the second until his irises were pitch-black, the desire and lust all-consuming. He inched his face down to Ria's until they met in a searing kiss.

She barely felt it as he slammed them against the wall behind them, her arms desperately draping around his shoulders. The desperate need to be closer to him in any way possible dominated the situation.

His tongue felt hot and precise, demanding entry past her willing but hesitant lips until it finally reunited with her tongue. His tongue massaged hers with such urgency one would've thought they only had moments to savour each other. His lips refused to leave hers because that would mean having to rationalise their situation. The moments prior were all but forgotten as they grew intoxicated by the mere taste of one another.

Ria could feel her legs quivering as she raised her knee up to Blaine's crotch, applying adequate pressure, growing increasingly aroused by his hissing sounds.

She felt strong arms lift her and place her on the cold dining table. She watched Blaine climb over her, their kiss still unbroken.

The picture of Rayhan loomed in the background; his eyes firmly clapped upon the couple in front of him.

"Blaine, this is a mistake," She murmured against his lips, still refusing to break the contact.

"Let's worry about that later," He groaned as his mouth continued to explore the depths of hers.

Blaine's eyes fluttered open for a mere second, and he observed Ria, eyes still firmly shut, her lips still dancing against his.

From his peripheries, the picture of Rayhan came into frame, and he could've sworn for a mere second that the man's eyes narrowed in anger.

He gulped as he hurriedly removed himself from the girl on the table, his hand reaching for the door.

"Blaine?" Ria opened her eyes, the harshness of the cold hitting her bruised lips as they reeled from the shock of Blaine's absence. She gazed over at him and noticed his eyes still transfixed on her dad's picture. "Blaine, what's wrong?"

"You're right. This was a huge mistake." He whispered, but before she could even answer, he raced out of the house, leaving Ria both flustered and bewildered on the table.