Chapter Text
Riley was pretty sure if his nails pressed any further into the palm of his hand, he’d start bleeding pretty soon. Yet somehow he couldn’t find it in himself to unclench his fists as he stared across the Dino Bite cafe where Chase was sitting with Kaylee. He couldn’t help it, they were just...they’d both been making his stomach churn and clench in horrible ways and he couldn’t even deny that he almost wanted to go over there and dump soda over the both of them. It was stupid, it was incredibly petty and Riley was well aware of that, yet the thoughts wouldn’t leave his head.
“--iley? Riley!” A pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, and Riley was brought back out of his thoughts by a stern looking Shelby. “What are you doing? You should be taking orders!” Her face softened slightly. “...are you alright? You’ve been kind of off all day today.”
Riley shook his head quickly, pulling his notepad out of his pocket (which he noted, was covered in raptor stickers that Chase had gotten him for his birthday. He could feel his throat constrict slightly.) and he tried his best to smile naturally at Shelby. “I’m perfectly okay, don’t worry about it.”
Shelby looked like she was about to say something, but decided against it and instead took a deep breath. “Alright, then let’s get back to work.”
Riley nodded, turning his gaze fully away from Chase and Kaylee and focusing on getting orders from customers once again. This momentary distraction was good enough at least for now to keep his mind away from the bad thoughts that were trying to penetrate his mind. Just so long as he didn’t look at where they were sitting, he could act like nothing had changed. At least that’s what he told himself, because even has he took orders and brought them back to the kitchen, his thoughts kept straying back to the couple.
And then he noticed the grill was unmanned.
Chase was supposed to be there, flipping burgers and actually helping out. But he had gone off when Kaylee had arrived at the cafe. He stared at the grill with slightly widened eyes, knowing that he should do something, anything. But he knew that this was Chase’s fault. He brought this upon himself...and it a strange moment of illogical weakness, instead of calling someone’s attention to it...he turned away. He grabbed some drinks for customers, and just ignored it all. And he absolutely hated the swell of sick joy he got when he heard Chase scream about the grill and Kaylee’s gasp of surprise.
And all this meant he shouldn’t have been surprised when Shelby managed to corner him later on in the base after everyone had left. (Chase being grossly happy and practically singing about how he and Kaylee were going to be going to another local museum dedicated to all things space related.)
“Riley, something is wrong.” She pressed gently Riley on the shoulders, forcing him to sit down on some chairs. “Ivan told me that you were staring at the grill before just completely leaving it alone. That’s not like you at all Riley, that was dangerous and--”
“Illogical.” Riley finished, before sighing. “...I-I know.”
Shelby crossed her arms. “What’s going on? You can tell me, you know that.”
Riley was silent, looking everywhere except at Shelby. He wasn’t sure what to tell her, given that he still wasn’t sure he wanted to admit it to himself. So they sat their in silence, Shelby’s patience clearly starting to wear thin as she pursed her lips at Riley’s lack of reaction. Riley was starting to clenched his fists again, briefly wondering how much harder he’d have to do it to finally draw blood.
“...It’s Chase, isn’t it?” Shelby finally said, and Riley snapped his head up to look at her. She nodded her head slightly. “It is.”
“...How did you know?”
“You aren’t particularly subtle sometimes, Riley. When we were all teasing Chase about his failed dates and how crazy he was about Kaylee, I noticed you looked pretty upset the whole time. I don’t think I really picked it up at the time, but you were completely zoned out staring at Chase and Kaylee earlier today too.”
“And you didn’t assume I liked Kaylee or anything?” Riley wondered aloud.
Shelby laughed a little and shook her head. “You don’t seem the type who would get a crush on anyone you didn’t really know well. You barely know Kaylee...so that left Chase.”
Riley felt heat rising from his neck up to his cheeks. “Yeah well...bit late for it to be out in the open now isn’t it?” He could feel tears starting to prick the corners of his eyes, and he angrily scrubbed them away.
He almost jumped a bit when Shelby wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug, and she gently nudge his head to lie on her shoulder. “It’s alright Riley, you’ll be alright.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.” Riley sniffled, turning a bit to fully accept Shelby’s embrace.
“You’ve only just barely turned 18. It’s definitely not the end of the world, kid.”
“You’re barely a year older than me…” Riley mumbled into her shoulder, feeling her start to rub circles on his back.
Shelby smiled. “You’re still the baby of the group.”
Riley wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, just sitting in the base hugging each other like his life depended on it, like he was going to slip away from them when he let go. But at some point they must have finally broken apart and Shelby wiped away the last of the remaining tears on his face.
“Y’know...I know a guy, I met him online a while ago on a Dino forum. Really sweet, lived in Europe for some time. But he messaged me a like two weeks ago saying he was stopping by Amber Beach for while…”
Riley stared dumbfounded at her for a few moments before he couldn't help it, he giggled. “Shelby Watkins...Are you trying to hook me up with one of your Dino buddies?”
Shelby grinned awkwardly. “Too soon?”
“A little bit, yeah.” Riley admitted.
“I could still give you his number you know, if you ever decide--”
Both of them jumped a bit when the doors to the base opened suddenly, and Riley tensed visibly when Chase suddenly walked in. The black ranger paused, looking at them in confusion. “I kind of forgot my wallet here in the base...Am I interrupting something?”
Both Shelby and Riley shook their heads, and Shelby put a hand on Riley’s stiff shoulder as they watched Chase search around the base.
And without thinking it through once again, Riley suddenly spoke up. “You know what, give me his number.”
He saw Chase pause with his wallet finally in hand, and saw him glance up at them briefly.
“Riley.” Shelby hissed under her breath. “What are you doing?” But Riley kept looking at her before she finally relented, and spoke in her normal tone of voice. “Alright, I'll give you Ian’s number. Maybe you two can hang out when he stops by.” She accepted Riley’s phone when he handed it to her, hesitating slightly before she started to punch in her friend’s number.
Chase was now looking between the both of them. “...Who’s Ian?” He asked.
“A friend of mine.” Shelby mumbled. “Thought Riley would be interested in him, that’s all.”
Chase blinked. “Interested? As in…?” Well, on the very dim bright side, Chase didn’t recoil immediately. No, he just seemed a bit confused.
“Shouldn’t you be leaving?” Riley cut in. “Your...girlfriend is probably waiting for you.”
Chase nodded suddenly. “O-oh yeah. I should go. See you two later!” He turned quickly and was out of there before they knew it.
“Riley. You shouldn’t have done that.” Shelby shoved him slightly.
“What’s done is done.” Riley looked down at the name now in his contacts, his hands visibly starting to shake slightly.
“Riley…”
He stood up and smiled at Shelby, though he knew that it probably looked as forced as it felt. “I should really get going Shelby. Thanks for sticking around to talk to me.”
“No problem…”
It was Riley’s turn to walk out of the base, though the thought of Chase was still burned into his mind. He was probably off with Kaylee now, laughing about the fact that Chase was absent minded enough to leave his wallet at the museum. Maybe they’d be holding hands, or Chase has his arm around her shoulders...Riley shook his head before looking down at his phone again. He wasn’t sure what to do. There was only one thing that was concrete in his mind, and that was what Chase’s decision had been.
He chose her.