SOMEHOW DURING HER COLD BUT PEACEFUL WALK THROUGH THE SNOW, RILEY ENDED UP RUNNING INTO EMILY AND MATT. NOW SHE WAS STUCK WITH THE NEW couple and had to deal with their constant back and forth bickering with one another, making her sigh to herself wishing she stayed with Sam.

It's not like Riley wanted to leave her other two close friends behind, but hearing what Jessica said abou Mike and how she was basically going to throw herself onto him... Riley wanted nothing to do with it. Nor did she want feel her aching heart hurt more.

She would rather be with the couple, and hearing how sickly sweet they were then be stuck with Jess ranting on about Mike. And she was thankful she found them too, as ever since the accident happened, their group made it a pack to never walk alone in the woods.

  The gleaming sunset made Riley's hair look like it was ablaze, the lighter strains in her hair being more seeable to the eye. It also made things a bit more warmer too, but she still felt freezing regardless of the sun. Whether it be the weather or being back, she didn't know.

"Seriously, couldn't they have built the lodge like right where the cable car ends?" Emily's annoyed voice caught Riley's attention, the shorter girl coming up beside her as Matt closed the gate behind them.

Riley glanced down at the girl with an amused expression, ringed covered fingers holding the straps of her bag and gave a hum to answer Emily's question, "If I was alone, I would probably agree with you."

  Emily rolled her eyes, but had a smirk across her lips hearing Riley's response, while Matt was behind them picking up his and his girlfriend's luggage for the trip, "Rye is right. But I don't think it would have been, like, as pretty, you know?"

  "And where's the bellboy when you need one?" Emily whined, throwing her hands up as she turned around to her boyfriend, who lingered behind the two girls.

  Riley just sighed through her nose, already wanting to go back home but she had to push through. For the sisters, for Josh and most importantly herself. Ever since the accident happened, she never forgave herself and believed it was her fault no matter how many people reassured her otherwise.

The trio pick up their walking now through the snowy pathway, their boots leaving footprints below as a strong gust of wind suddenly blows through. It picked up any lose snow off from the ground, and rustled the pine trees around them.

"Brr... Gettin' chills..." Emily shivers with her teeth chattering, her arm finding Riley's as she lopped them together and squished herself against the taller one's side, "You're really nice and warm, Rye."

  The brunette chuckled softly, her eyelashes covered in small snowflakes that she blinked away and patted Emily's hand gently, "Don't worry, we're getting close to the lodge now." She reassured leading them towards the covered bridge, "You won't have to cling into me much longer."

"Awh, but I like being this close to you! We're friends, aren't we?" Emily over-exaggerated the pout she wore, and rapidly fluttered her lashes gaining a snort from Riley, "We're friends, but you haven't told me the latest update with a certain guy in our group."

  Riley's figure tensed at the sudden statement, and swallowed the lump in her throat as she glanced nervously down at Emily, "I really don't know what you're talking about--" She tried to squeak out an explanation, but the shorter girl groaned loudly.

"Babe, there's something obviously there. Don't give me that." Emily scolded her with a pointed stare, tilting her back with a sly smile now appearing, "If anyone belongs with him, it's you. And vise versa."

  Emily knew what Riley was like when it came to her love life, the girl never told anyone about if she dated, had crushes or even had one. Emily just had a feeling something was going on between Riley and Mike, but she also knew how bad Riley would feel considering Mike was her ex.

   "But, don't feel bad," Riley lifted her head up hearing Emily's voice again, and saw how she twirled a few rings on her fingers with a teasing smirk, "I'm rooting for you and him, Rye. Not that stuck up bitch, Jessica."

  Riley had to hold in her laugh upon seeing Emily's scowling face talking about their other friend, and felt some tense ease of her shoulders knowing Emily wasn't mad or bitter about the situation she was in. It's just... Riley still felt bad knowing that happened with him.

"It's gonna be weird seeing everybody up here again." Emily directed the conversation away, her arm still lopped around Riley's as they step onto the bridge and felt the snow under their boots slip off onto the wood.

"Definitely not gonna feel like a regular party." Matt agreed with his girlfriend, coming up to walk on Riley's side still carrying their bags in both his hands. He did offered to carry Riley's bag, but she reassured him that it was fine.

The brunette's face twisted up a bit at their comments, trying to keep her thoughts to herself and gripped onto her bag straps more. She couldn't blame them for saying that though, as she knew it would be different too. She just overestimated how different it would be.

"I mean--what do you think--" Matt was going to ask the girls, just as the reached the end of the overpass but suddenly something, or rather someone jumped out of the bushes to scare them.

"ARGH!"

Startled yells came from the trio upon the sudden jump scare, and it made Riley fumble backwards with a loud cry of her own. She almost tripped over onto the snow if it weren't for Emily gripping her tightly, and tried to console the heavily breathing brunette.

There, standing in all his glory was the man of the hour, Mike Munroe. His belly laughter escaped from him uncontrollably, as he clapped his hands together enjoying all their reactions to his little prank.

   "Micheal!" Emily scolded him unimpressed, her hands still gripping Riley's forearms as she looked at the startled girl concerned before glaring at Mike again, "You scared Rye and us half to death!"

  His laugher did die down a bit hearing her words, but still chuckled amused as he pointed at Emily and Matt, talking breathily, "You, really, really should have seen your faces right there."

"Dude. I almost clocked you just now." Matt huffed out annoyed by the male's act, the bags once in his hands now dropped onto the snow floor because of the scare Mike pulled on them.

Mike placed his hands behind his head, and stretched a bit laughing some more finding the prank so funny, "Nice one." He chortled.

Riley finally found her voice after almost having a heart attack, and placed a hand over where the necklace was around her neck, "Mike, that wasn't funny." She shot him an upset look, one that had his face softening and shoulders slumping.

She didn't even have time to freak out over seeing him again, nor get a good look at how much he's changed, as she was to busy trying to calm her fast beating heart down. It was either from the scare he did, or simple because he was standing there. She knew it was both however.

  "I'm sorry, sunshine." The familiar nickname flew out of his mouth easily, causing warmth to flood through her body and Emily to raise her brows at Riley, "We're all friends here, right? No need for violence, just a little harmless fun! We're in the woods! It's spooky! Come on, let's get into the spirit of things."

  Harmless fun. Her face went pale as those two words made her stomach twist, once again her mind drifting back to what happened to the twins. She hated how easily Mike was talking about fun, especially since he was in the centre of the prank.

"The spirit of things?" Emily repeated incredulously on the girls behalf, one of her hands still gripping onto Riley's forearm once she noticed how anxious she looked, "Seriously? What's wrong with you?"

Mike scoffed throwing his hands up into the air, "Just trying to lighten the mood, Emily." He responded coolly, taking Riley by surprise not hearing him call her nickname like most of the group did, "Don't be like that, I said I'm sorry."

Riley could tell they were about to argue from the way Emily was seething at Mike, and her dark eyes instantly flew to Matt for help. If sensing her thoughts, and seeing the pleading look in her gaze, he stepped forward to defuse the situation.

"Micheal... I'm just gonna lay it out, otherwise this whole weekend's gonna suck ass for everyone." Matt began to talk towards the other male, who moved his gaze off Riley and onto him, "Uhm, this is super awkward and we all know it. Let's just acknowledge it now and move on. Okay?"

That's not the words I would of used, but better then nothing I guess... Riley thought to herself with a tired sigh, fingers fumble with the butterfly necklace around her neck which gained Mike's attention briefly again.

"I hear you, man. I get it. I don't wanna make this weird." Mike nodded his head in agreement, some snowflakes dropping from his locks as he moved around.

Matt raised his eyebrows, a little relieved but still not that convinced but for the sake of everyone he had to be, "So, we're all good?"

"All good."

  When the conversation went quiet, Emily decided to pipe in with her entertained comment, "You guys gonna make out now?" She deadpanned looking between them, causing Riley to stifle the laugher wanting to escape, and place a hand over her mouth.

"Oh, my god, totally we're soooo gonna make out!" Mike answered, dragging it out with a fake valley girl accent, and exaggerated knee knocking as he ended it with a finger pointed in Matt's direction.

This time a giggle did escape Riley's mouth, it being louder than she expected. Her cheeks burned when the three looked to her, and she slapped a hand over her mouth completely embarrassed, "Sorry." Her squeak was muffled by her palm.

  Mike's grin got wider if it was possible knowing he made her laugh, his gaze warm trained on Riley's embarrassed figure as he sighed contently, "Uh... no, seriously, I'm gonna go check out the cable car back down the trail. But, first--"

  Riley made a confused noise as he practically skipped on over to her, the girl looking from his grinning face to Emily who smirked knowingly and moved out of the way, going to stand with Matt a few meters away from them.

"I owe Miss Watson a hug." Just as Mike declared that his strong arms were wrapping around the girl's waist, and back, pulling her into a sudden embrace that she wasn't expecting.

  Her eyes went wide not prepared for that, her hands hovering over his shoulders and her chin was touching the side of his face. She did melt into the warm embrace, something she has dearly missed, and felt him squeeze her tightly against his toned chest.

"It's really good to see you again, Rilz." His normal deep tone was soft, it being whispered into the crook of her neck making the girl shiver feeling it. His cold nose brushed along the skin also, and her breath hitched looking to Emily for help who watched amused.

  Not knowing what to say or react, she just dumbly patted his back a bit dramatically and laughed awkwardly, "The feeling is mutual, Munroe!" She exclaimed loudly, making him pull back from the embrace and watched her flustered state with a smirk.

  He went to open his mouth to speak, his bigger hands perched on her waist but she just waved her hand in front of his face, jewellery clinging, "I best be going now. Josh is probably waiting for me and worried." She fumbled out, missing the flash of jealousy that appeared in his eyes for a second.

Riley just marched forward with a serious expression, unlike how she was mentally panicking over the entire interaction. She didn't look back once, but heard Emily snorting to herself and felt Mike's gaze trail her figure until she was out of view.

  In that moment, she wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow her whole. Riley was never going to live that down, not when Emily was there to watch the entire thing.

BY THE TIME SHE REACHED THE LODGE, HER ENTIRE FIGURE WAS SHIVERING FROM HEAD TO TOE AND SHE COULDN'T WAIT TILL SHE WAS INSIDE WHERE. The tip of her nose was slightly red from the cold, as well as her finger tips from having leaving them out in the breeze for too long. She totally regretted not brining gloves now, but she hoped maybe Josh would give her a pair to use.

Riley ended up meeting back with Chris and Sam again, her preferred pair of friends to hang around now that they were all back at the lodge. She just wasn't excited to see Jessica a second time, nor Ashley, as she couldn't stand either of them.

  When she did arrive though, her face lit up spotting Josh before the stairs to the lodge and called out his excitedly, "Josh!" She gained his attention straight away, left hand waving in the air rapidly beside Chris and Sam.

  She saw how his eyes went wide, before a grin spreaded across his mouth and she was running up to greet him in the middle. A happy laugh left her, as his arms opened up for her and she jumped inside them into his familiar embrace.

  Josh's chuckle was warm against her ear, arms wrapped around her waist as he span them around in a circle, his touch lingering a bit longer then necessary which made Chris and Sam share a curious look.

He soon placed her back down onto the ground, her hands resting on his shoulder blades as she beamed up at him and he grinned down at her softly, "If I knew you'd greet me like that, I would of done this sooner."

  Riley just rolled her eyes amused, and patted his shoulder gently before she stepped back to reveal the other two who followed her up. She fixed up her strings on the red jacket she was wearing, and flipped them the right way up, while the two boys talked.

"Man I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it." Chris complains breathlessly, his hands resting on his hips as he caught his breath from the long trip they made.

"Oh, yeah?" Josh hummed crossing his arms over his chest, mockery dancing in his gaze that had Riley smiling spotting it, "Feels the same to me."

  She tilted her head to the side, and nudged her shoulder into Josh's one knowingly, "C'mon, you grew up here." She reminded with a chuckle, "You are use to the long walk up the mountain."

"I guess that's true." He shrugged his shoulders comfortable, looking down at the snow covered ground before back up to his two best friends.

  Chris pulled out his phone from his pocket, making Riley peek over his shoulder wondering what he was looking at, "When are you gonna install some cell towers up here?" He asked seeing the no service on his device, and held it up above him, "I'm getting withdrawals already."

"You got a spare million lying around and I'll fix you right up." Josh replied causally, uncrossing his arms as he smirked at the male knowing no one had that kind of cash on them.

Riley listened to the conversation grinning to herself a little, feeling relaxed now that she was closer to the lodge and having gotten to see Josh as she was worried about him being back.

"Funny you should say that..." Chris began with a fake gasp, throwing an arm around Riley's shoulder as Josh leads them up towards the lodge's staircase, "Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket." He finished, pointing a finger behind him.

"Oops." Josh wiggles his fingers in Riley's face, and she pushed them away with a playful laugh at his behaviour. He then turned to the two on the steps waiting, "Hey, guys. Get up here okay?"

"Yeah... Well, more or less. But it's good to see you!" Ashley replied through a small smile, her ginger hair covered by a pink beanie, and she glanced towards Matt, who looked annoyed for some reason.

Riley furrowed her brows wondering why the male looked pissed, her trailing along beside Josh who noticed also and turned back to her, and Chris, "'Sup with him?" He asked in a lowered voice, gaining confused shrugs from the pair.

  The three spare a few more glances at Matt, as they approach the steps and began to climb up them, all the way up to the front door of the massive lodge, making Riley's nerves jump realising this was getting real now.

"Yo yo yo!" Chris' exclaiming voice had Riley flinching startled, shooting him an incredulous look as she gripped onto Josh's bare arm, who looked amused more the anything, "We get things moving up here or what?"

"Yeah, man." Josh answered in that drawl of his, unbothered attitude coming back which showed Riley that her best friend was still the same, just a bit... secretive now.

Chris glanced from Riley with a pointed look, his wide eyes trailing from her to Josh and then back again. She shakes her head rapidly knowing what he was thinking, but Chris opens his mouth to ask anyway, "Hey.... you doin' alright? I mean I know it must be really tough without your sis--"

"Stop. You know, seriously, I'm over it." Josh demisses both their worrying over his wellbeing, and Riley's face twists up hearing his answer knowing he was most definitely not over his sisters deaths, "I just want us to have a good time, you know? Like we always used to."

Riley bit her bottom lip worriedly, and shared a look behind Josh's back with Chris who was feeling the same way. There was no way he was 'over it', he couldn't be, not when it was his very own family who died. She knew Josh like the back of her hand, and there was no way he was being fully truthful with them.

"Dammit... this freaking thing..." Josh mumbles to himself, struggling to open the doorknob leading inside the lodge, but was met with it not moving at all.

"It's iced?" Riley speaks up from behind him in confirmation, moving up to peer over his shoulder and was joined by Chris on her other side, "I'm not even surprised. There has to be another way inside."

  Josh's dark eyes flicker up to meet Riley's ones, before glancing back down to the doorknob pondering, "There are a million ways in. They're just all locked." He answered still trying to wiggle the knob that was resisting.

"There's gotta be, like, a window round the corner we can get, like..." Chris trailed off, glancing behind him thinking off the options they had to get inside, "get open or something."

  "Wait a second, are you saying we should break in?" Josh asked suddenly mischievous, turning around fully to look a them, a grin lining his mouth that made Riley shake her head fondly.

Riley rolled her eyes with a small smile, and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think it's counted as breaking in if you own the place, Joshua." She used his full name, and pointed a finger his way, "Which you do last time I checked, right?"

"Not if I don't report you." Josh continued his teasing on them, pushing away her finger in front of him with a smirk and held out his arm to gesture down the staircase behind them, "Lead the way, Rye Rye!"

  With a soft chuckle she turned around,
facing the way down the stairs as the two boys follow close behind, all descending down the way they came up to try and find another way inside the lodge before they freeze.

❪ ✏️ ❫ 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂 : 3578
─►☆ AUTHOR'S NOTE :
been a hot minute since ive updated this fic but im back now since my motivation appeared outta nowhere tbh LMAOAOAO. i will say writing riley and josh's bond really makes me want to write my josh fic faster before this one oml i love him so bad but i gotta stay loyal to mike until this fic is over 😭

also look at this gorgeous manip miss tay (eternityei) made of riley and mike AGHHH still screaming over how good they look and how hot she made them 🫦🫶