Twelve and a half minutes had never felt so long and so short at the same time.

That was the exact length of time Riley and I had been sitting in the car next to each other without uttering a word.

Time passed differently when you were awkwardly trying not to stare at the girl sitting right next to you in a car.  I had a terrible time focusing on anything but her. If she moved even the slightest bit, she stole my attention, which meant my eyes were barely on the road.

Riley was utterly incapable of sitting still.

I started to say something to her and stopped myself so many times that I lost count. I was good at a few things, but making small talk and holding a conversation had never been one of them.

When we pulled up to her house, Riley's mom was standing in the driveway trying to balance bags of groceries on her hip. I felt terrible as I watched her try to take as many as she could in her hands.  It made me think of my mom and how she had nobody at home to help her out.

All because I couldn't find a way to keep myself clean.

My guilty son conscience was overruling the asshole portion of my brain as I sat there deciding what I should do. I switched my car's ignition off to see if I could help Mrs. Davis. It was the right thing to do.

It also gave me a few more minutes with Riley; I didn't want to admit to myself that was the real reason I might be doing it.

I wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked as she gripped the door handle.

She always worried about everything. It was another little quirk of hers that both amused me and pissed me off at the same time. 

I climbed out of my car and started walking to the back of the van. When I got a few feet away, Riley's mom spun around and jumped when she saw me.

"Ezra, it's so nice to see you again." Mrs. Davis' eyes grew as wide as Riley's did when she was caught off guard.

"Hey, Stacie. You want some help with those?" I asked, motioning towards the full trunk.

"Really?" She smiled and looked relieved. 

"Here, how about you go back inside and I can get the rest of these." I walked over to her and took the groceries she had in her arms. They were way too heavy for her. She was definitely trying to lift too much in one trip.

"Thank you." She said as she blushed and pushed a lock of hair back of her face.

Riley made a chirping noise behind me which caught her mom's attention.  She looked around me, surprised to see her daughter standing there. Her eyes examined Riley's outfit and I could see the mom disapproval forming on her face.  I was used to that look; my mom gave me the same face every thirty seconds I was in her presence.

I felt bad for Riley.

"Hey, Mom," Riley didn't miss a beat and hugged her quickly.

Mrs. Davis wrapped her arms around her daughter and squeezed her until she couldn't breathe.  I noticed she ran her hands along the upper portion of her back like she was searching for something.

When she pulled away, she had a frown on her face.  I didn't understand the little telepathic exchange between them, but the expression on Riley's face let me know she got the message.

"Hey Peanut, what are you two up to?" Mrs. Davis asked her suspiciously.

"JD drove me to that concert last night. It ended pretty late and I forgot my keys, so I went back to the band house instead of coming home." Riley caught a case of the rambling word vomit again.

Her mom kept staring at her like she had grown two heads.  She looked over the outfit once again.  I felt like Riley needed some help with this one.  She was starting to squirm.  I sure as hell didn't want Riley to blurt out what happened at Bannon's or in the basement. 

She was going to crack any second.

"Some jerk at the concert spilled beer on Riley." Mrs. Davis stood there blinking at me, waiting for more information. I paused and then blurted out, "Aiden let her borrow some clothes when we got back to the house.  Everyone had to go to work this morning except me, so I told her I would drive her home since she didn't have her car." 

I gave Mrs. Davis the biggest, toothy smile I could form on my face. If I turned up the dial on my charm, maybe she wouldn't see right through my bullshit. 

I should have just let Riley handle it.  My explanation wasn't much better.

Mrs. Davis' posture loosened as she breathed in a sigh of relief.  My shoulders relaxed, too, as she seemed to accept my version of the story. I was glad I threw Aiden's name in at the last second.  Mom's loved guys like Aiden.

"Sounds fun." She grinned warmly at me.

Riley darted around me nervously and grabbed a few bags from the back of the trunk. She took a few quick steps up to walk side by side with her mom as they led the way up to the house.

"Riley, you should have put your bra back on before you left the house. You don't want to let boys think you're easy." Riley's mom said loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

I almost dropped the bags in my hands from the fit of laughter I was fighting back.  Clearly, she didn't know her daughter very well at all.  There was nothing easy about Riley Davis.  In fact, she was quite the pain in the ass.

When we got inside the house, Mrs. Davis motioned for me to place the bags in the kitchen on the counter in the center. Riley ran upstairs as I went back out for another load.  

When I got back inside with completely full arms, Mrs. Davis was emptying the contents of the bags and scurrying around to random cabinets to stick the groceries in.

"That's the last of them," I grunted as I lifted a thousand bags up and onto the counter.  I had never seen so many groceries at one time.  My mom was lucky to be able to afford a quarter of what Mrs. Davis brought home from the store. 

"Thank you so much." She said, rushing over to grab one of the bags of cold items to put away next. She came back from the fridge carrying a green can of soda.  I looked down and smiled when she offered it to me.

"I'm glad I could help." I took the can out of her hands and opened it. I gulped down half of the sugary drink before taking a breath. 

"Thank you for taking Riley home today. I feel so much better knowing you guys all look out for her. She's young and it is easy for a girl her age to get caught up in trouble." Mrs. Davis patted my shoulder and then walked back over to look through the rest of the bags on the counter

"It's no big deal. I just wanted to make sure she got home safe." I shrugged. It was the half-truth; I just didn't want Aiden to be the one to bring her home.

"Well, it's a lot to ask. I appreciate it. JD told me the story about that girl in the kitchen at that party you all had and I just get so nervous when I hear about things like that. Riley is young and doesn't have much experience and I worry she'll get herself in trouble if she gets around the wrong people." Mrs. Davis' face was full of concern when she talked about her beautiful daughter.

"It's really no problem. Riley is a sweet girl." I tried to squash the conversation.  I didn't want to talk about what happened that night any longer.  I could feel the steam rising up again as I pictured how defenseless Riley was the night I found her.

"I know, but it doesn't mean she can't end up like that girl at the party." Mrs. Davis countered.

"What happened to the girl at the party the other night was not the girl's fault. Some jerk thought he would take advantage of her while she was vulnerable. She couldn't have stopped the guy if she tried." 

"Oh my, that's not the story JD told me. Did you see what happened?" She gasped and covered her mouth.

"I was the one who pulled the guy off her," I mumbled as I sipped another drink out of the can and tried to still my shaking hands.

"Well, it was a good thing you were there then. That girl could have gotten really hurt if you didn't stop him when you did."

I heard Riley move in the doorway. She had a habit of making noise when she walked into a room.  It was probably a good thing she did.  I had already made her cry this morning by taking all my frustrations out on her.  Hearing about that night again would probably bring on another round of tears out of the girl.

Riley was wearing tiny denim shorts with a loose long-sleeved shirt that covered just her breasts. It was situated perfectly over top of a longer, tighter shirt beneath it.  It was utterly confusing to me that she would put on a long-sleeved shirt in the summer, but I had to admit that the outfit looked good on her. Her thighs and ass looked perfect in the shorts like they were made just for her.

She looked good in my clothes this morning, too; there wasn't much she could do to make herself less attractive.

"You look refreshed." Mrs. Davis said, putting up the rest of the groceries.

"I'm feeling a bit better." Riley looked over at me and  played nervously with the sleeves on her shirt. She wound them up in her palm and pulled them over her hands.

She chewed on her lip and took a deep breath before walking over to the empty stool next to sit on it. I smiled when she casually brushed against my side as she scooted a little closer to me.

I inched forward on the seat to feel the warmth of her body next to mine. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to pull her into me.

"Honey, I'm home." A male's voice called from the front door.

"We're in here, Dad," Riley called out as she smiled at me.

Shit. Lingering around to buy a little extra time with her was a bad idea.