Treat You Better

7.

"These are amazing Riley," Ashley scrolled through the pictures that I had taken at the weekend. "They look so professional." I smiled and carried on looking through them- we had taken so many; I had to transfer all the photos onto my computer. I landed on a photo of Tyler and I, he was looking down at me as I looked into the lens- one of those stereotypical 'couple' photos. Tyler, who was sat next to me saw me pause on the picture and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, kissing my cheek in the process.

"That has to be my favourite." Ashley said pointing to the screen, it was one of the many photos I had taken of her and Lucas and as much as I loathe him I have to admit the photo did look good and Ashley and Lucas looked like the perfect couple- a power couple. It's amazing how much you can tell from photos, a picture really can tell a thousand words.

"I'll send it to you," I clicked on my safari and opened Facebook, looking for Ashley's profile and sending her another picture of Lucas and herself. We scrolled through the photographs for another ten minutes and then Tyler looked up from his phone.

"Luke is here," We gathered our things and left our high school's little library to go and meet Lucas in the parking lot. We exited the building only to find a group of people surrounding Lucas and his car, sharing glances between each other, Ashley, Tyler and I quick-walked down to the scene.

"You are all talk Matthews, why don't you stop racing amateurs and prove yourself?" It was the same guys that Tyler defended Lucas to the other day.

"How? By racing you? I thought you said to stop racing amateurs." The (growing) crowd went crazy at his comeback causing Lucas' rival to tense his jaw. I looked over at the three boys and instantly knew who they were; Sam Hutton, Michael Cross and Joe Prescott- notorious for being douchebags. Sam regained himself quickly and put his hand over his heart.

"I'm hurt Matthews but I'm going to let it slid because I know you're only saying that to protect your ego and that's ok." Sam placed a hand on Lucas' shoulder in mock affection, Lucas only had to look down at the unwanted body part to get the boy to remove it.

"This isn't playtime boys, you can't run to mommy and daddy when you scrape your knees." Lucas took another step closer to Sam, their noses almost touching.

"Then I'm not playing, race me Matthews and we will see who ends up on top." Sam said. Lucas's whole body tensed and was just about to speak before I jumped in.

"Okay boys this whole masculinity match has been fun but some of us would like to get home in this century." As I said it Tyler grabbed my arm and pulled me back giving me a 'What the ever-loving fuck are you doing?' kind of glare.

"Ok kiddies, let me know when and where," Lucas held out his hand, for Sam to shake, as he spoke the words.

"Aren't you going to do something?" I whispered to my boyfriend and my best friend, Ashley shook her head in awe of the macho-showdown whilst Tyler sighed in anger.

"Luke is an adult he can do what he wants, I don't care what he does." Tyler whispered.

"Even if it gets him killed?" I retorted and walked towards Lucas.

"You can't be serious." I said.

"Why do you care?" Lucas muttered trying not to cause too much attention.

"Oh, I don't, but two people I love seem to care an awful lot about you and I don't want to see them hurt. You can jump off a cliff for all I care." I remarked.

"Riley, I had no idea you felt this way." I rolled my eyes and opened the car door, climbing into the back seat. Ashley, Tyler and Lucas soon followed. I sat silently next to Tyler while Ashley swooned over Lucas, it was almost sickening. Once we were back at the Matthews' residence, I pulled my best friend to the side to have a 'chat with her'.