CHAPTER EIGHT  ✧.*  the search for something more

Riley Davis was standing in the record store with Haley and Lucas, looking through the many CD's while she tried to take last night's events off her mind. After she closed up the cafe that night, she slept over at Haley's house like they talked about, since Riley wanted to avoid speaking to Nathan and her sister for the rest of the night. But when she woke up the next morning, she had received a couple of texts from Peyton who had told her that Brooke was safe and sound sleeping over at hers, and also wanted to know if everything was okay with the blonde. So she quickly responded to her, not wanting to tell her everything but enough for her to understand why she wasn't talking to her sister.

"Luke, did you ever hear of a UHF or SARA?" The Davis girl looked up at the sound of Haley's voice and shifted her eyes towards Lucas, also wanting to know his answer.

Lucas nodded slightly. "Yeah, UHF. They're from Portland, right? They're good." He said. "Um, but with SARA, they're great." The girls chuckled, not seeing the blond's gaze turn towards the door.

Riley looked back up at Lucas and parted her lips open to say something, but she stopped when she saw him looking behind her, making her turn her head in that direction and her face dropped ever so slightly when Nathan entered the store.

"You okay?" Haley asked quietly as her and Lucas looked at Riley, wondering if their friend wanted to be alone or have them standing with her.

"Yeah," Riley sighed, "I'll be okay." She reassured the two. Her friends nodded before walking off to stand somewhere else to give them some privacy as Nathan finally approached her.

"I called Peyton after no one answered the phone at your house." Nathan said shyly. "She said you were here."

"Well, that was a mistake." Riley muttered. "Next time I just won't say anything."

Nathan sighed. "Look, I didn't know that Brooke read that note, ok? I didn't even know there was a note until later." He explained to her. "I wouldn't do that to you, Riles."

Riley was quiet for a moment as she remembered what happened last night. She was still unsure on what to think of the situation and who she should believe. Maybe she did believe him, considering how Brooke was acting the night before. Or Riley was still trying to push him away.

"Okay." She finally responded to him, and pursed her lips as she looked away.

Nathan bobbed his head, seeming relieved of her answer. "Great, so... we cool?"

Riley pressed her lips together before shaking her head slowly. "No... not really."

Nathan furrowed his brows at the blonde. "Well, you believe me, right?"

"I believe that you're sorry." She said, making the raven-haired boy even more confused.

"Well, then what—?" A scoff escaped his lips just before Riley interrupted him.

"Look," She exhaled deeply, "this whole tutoring thing or whatever, I just think it's a bad idea, I'm sorry. But, I'm done. I'm just done." And without another word, Riley brushed straight past Nathan and walked out the record store.

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Riley walked out from the back of the cafe with a frown on her face. She decided to pick up a shift, knowing that would help her take her mind off of everything that's happened. The blonde had still yet to have talked to Brooke, mainly because she had no idea what to say to her.

However, it seemed as though her opportunity to do so came quicker than she had wanted to when her eyes shifted towards the door to see her sister enter the cafe.

Brooke smiled nervously as she cautiously made her way over to her sister who stood at one of the tables. "We're closed." Riley said bitterly, without taking her eyes off what she was doing.

Brooke's eyebrows rose slightly before she took a look around the cafe, seeing the customers sat at their tables. "Oh," She bobbed her head when she realised, before turning back to face Riley. "I get it. Closed to me. I don't blame you. I'd be a bitch to me too after last night."

Riley finally lifted her head up to look at Brooke and merely shrugged at her. "What do you want, Brooke? I'm busy." She muttered, moving over to clear up another table for the next customer.

Brooke followed after her. "Feisty." She chuckled awkwardly. "I see one of the reasons why Nathan likes you a lot." Riley glanced back at Brooke, not bothering to respond to her, causing the brunette to sigh heavily. "Look, you're blaming Nathan for something that I did and that's not fair. Okay? I was drunk and I was pissed, and I found your note and you know the rest... The point is, I'm sorry and I wanna make it up to you."

Riley hummed. "By going away?"

Brooke scoffed out a laugh. "By hooking you and Nathan up tonight." She explained to her, looking rather excited about this plan of hers that she has got for Riley and Nathan. "What's your idea of a perfect date?"

"Watching you walk out that door."

"And that sense of humour..." Brooke seemed to just ignore what Riley said as the corners of her lips tugged up into a soft smile. "Nathan's really lucky. He'll be here at seven. Have fun. And once again, I'm sorry for what I did to you. I love you, Ri." Riley's frown deepened when she heard the sincerity in her voice before Brooke began to turn towards the door, giving her sister one last smile before exiting the cafe.

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Riley sighed loudly and started pulling her apron off. "Okay. Inventory is done." She announced to the adults and Haley before flicking her eyes over to Keith and said, "Catch." Riley threw her apron at him and made sure to grab her jacket from the table before she left. "I'm gonna head—" She cut herself off once she saw Nathan standing outside and he knocked on the door. "—out."

Haley pursed her lips before patting Riley on the shoulder. "Good luck." She told the girl who took a deep breath, saying her goodbyes to the three of them before heading out the door, not seeing the smirk that grazed across Keith's lips as soon as he saw his youngest nephew waiting for Riley.

"What are you doing here, Nathan?" She asked him, walking down the steps before she began putting her jacket on.

Nathan stared at her with his eyebrows pinched together, assuming that Brooke would have told her about this. "Didn't your sister tell you that I was gonna come?"

"I try to block out some of what Brooke says. So, whatever you two are up to or have got planned, I'm not really in the mood tonight."

"I'm not up to anything." Nathan tried to defend himself once again, wanting to prove to her that he wasn't playing any games. "Look, I apologised and I told you the truth. The rest is Brooke. She set up this whole serial date thing. One card leads to the next."

Riley stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, digging her tongue against her cheek while she contemplated on her response. Letting out a puff of air, the Davis girl flicked her eyes down to the cards in Nathan's hand before asking: "What does the first one say?"

Nathan glanced down at the first card to read off what Brooke wrote on it. "Convince Ri to go." He said and smiled lightly when he looked back up at her. "How am I doing so far?"

Riley pursed her lips to stop herself from smiling before shaking her head. "I don't know." The girl responded. "Perhaps you should tell me what the next card says."

Nathan looked down and pulled the second card out of the small envelope so he could read it. "Go to 1423 River Street and find your next envelope. On the way, tell three things you like about each other."

"I don't know..." Riley sighed deeply, shifting on her feet.

"Look, I'll go first." Nathan offered and continued before Riley could say anything. "You're the most patient person I know. You don't go postal on me during tutoring, and you don't treat me like some kind of a moron. I really appreciate that." When Riley didn't respond, Nathan sighed softly before stepping around the blonde. "Look, I know I have no right to ask, but we never do anything just fun together when it's just the two of us." Riley made a noise, however before she could say something, Nathan interrupted. "And plus, this is your sister. You know Brooke. I mean, you can bet it's not gonna be boring."

Riley raised a brow. "I'm free to bail whenever?"

"Whenever you want." Nathan nodded. "Trust me."

Riley thought about her decision. At the moment, her head was currently saying: Leave! Leave now before you get hurt! But on the other hand, her heart was telling her to say yes and join Nathan on this adventure. "Okay." She sighed, choosing to listen to her heart. "Let's do this."

She just hoped she wouldn't end up regretting it.

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"Your kindness. Like the way you protect Brooke and your friends." Nathan continued, stating the second thing he liked about Riley while they were on their way to the address that Brooke had told them to go to, on the second card.

Riley bobbed her head and grinned up at Nathan with an arched brow. "And number three?"

"Your loyalty to your friends. Especially Lucas. I know I'm not always wild about how it plays out, but it's cool." Nathan said, causing Riley to laugh slightly.

"Okay. Three things I like about you."

"My good looks." Nathan quickly chimed in, and Riley laughed at him.

"Being cocky, are we now?" She reached her hand over to push his face away, only amusing Nathan more as he chuckled. "Anyway, what I was going to say, was that I like the way you let me in, past all the bluster you give everybody else. And I like your smile, especially when you solve a problem. And... not to boost your ego here, but you're not horrible to look at."

Nathan didn't seem to acknowledge what she just said as they finally arrived at the address and his attention averted towards the store they stood in front of. Riley had followed his gaze, and her jaw dropped once she realised that Brooke had sent them to a lingerie store. "Seriously? This is where we're going?"

"Nice work, Brooke." Nathan commented. Riley looked over at him and playfully scoffed, making him laugh slightly before going over to open the door, letting Riley walk in first. The pair of them started moving around the store, looking through the clothes to search for the next envelope. Well, Nathan was. He shifted his eyes over to Riley who stood awkwardly to the side while fiddling with a piece of clothing. "You know, this would go a lot faster if you helped."

Riley groaned. "I'm gonna kill Brooke."

Nathan chuckled, still looking through the racks of lingerie until he finally found the envelope that Brooke hid. "Okay, here it is." He quickly grabbed it and went back over to Riley before pulling the card out so they could read it. "Congratulations. Now, buy each other a gift and exchange them on your way to... There's another address here."

Riley pulled a face and sighed. "This is so wrong."

"You wanna quit?" Nathan asked.

"I didn't say that." She told him, pointing a finger in direction while narrowing her eyes. "Let's just shop."

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After Nathan and Riley bought what they needed from the store, the two of them walked out of the door with bags in hand as they laughed. "Did you see what that saleswoman was wearing?"

"Or not wearing." The girl chuckled. "Here," She passed Nathan the bag, wanting him to open her gift for him first. "you go first."

"All right." Nathan said, and reached his hand in the small bag, pulling out the pair of black socks that Riley had bought. He furrowed his eyebrows, a little amused by what he received as he looked back at Riley. "Socks."

"I was playing it safe, okay?" She playfully rolled her eyes at the raven-haired boy. "Now, what did you get me?" Riley perked up at that, intrigued to see what Nathan had bought for her.

The Scott boy smiled lightly and held out the bag to her. "Open it and see." Riley quickly grabbed it from him, managing to get a glimpse of what was inside the bag before she even tried pulling it out, causing her lips to open slightly.

"Oh my god... Nath." The Davis girl smiled softly as she pulled out the cream-coloured nightgown, feeling the soft-silky fabric in her hand. "This is beautiful. Thank you."

"Okay." Nathan bobbed his head. "If we go to this next place and we hate it, then we can just get some pizza, all right?"

"Sounds good."

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"To be honest, I'm a little afraid." Nathan admitted once him and Riley finally settled down at the restaurant Brooke had sent them to. Riley chuckled softly, watching him take a look at the menu in his hands while she pulled the next card out the envelope Brooke had left for them.

"Order your favourite dish for the other person."

After Riley read off what was on the card, Nathan arched his brows at the blonde, teasing her. "Any chance your favourite dish is prime rib?"

Riley winced playfully. "Nope. Sorry to burst your bubble." Shrugging, her bright blue eyes shifted down to the menu as Nathan chuckled.

After a beat, Nathan nervously pointed out. "I'm not very experienced with this, so uh..."

The Davis girl raised a brow and snorted. "What? Ordering food?"

"No." Nathan responded. "I mean, with Peyton... you know, it was all just parties and games and drama. I never really did anything like this. This is different."

Riley pursed her lips as she tried to fight the soft smile that was threatening to surface. "Different good, I hope?"

"Yeah." Nathan breathed out. "I'm really glad you decided to come."

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"Couldn't you be into lobster?" Nathan chuckled, referring to Riley's favourite dish she ordered for him: Mac and Cheese. And of course, Nathan had ordered the prime rib for her.

"Hey," Riley tilted her head at him, pointing her fork in Nathan's direction, "do not judge me on my food choices, okay? Macaroni and cheese is food of the gods."

"Yeah, if the gods are five-year olds." He quickly remarked, making Riley laugh before shrugging to herself when she mentioned: "Hey, if it's good, it's good."

Nathan smiled, spotting the red envelope on the table before directing his blue eyes over to Riley to ask her: "Ready for this next envelope?"

"Yeah, I think so." The girl sighed, feeling slightly concerned about what her sister had wrote on the next envelope for them to do, because she knows Brooke too well.

Nathan picked up the red envelope to pull out the card that was inside and read what the next thing was that Brooke had wrote. "Reveal a secret that nobody else knows about you."

"See," Riley clicked her tongue while she thought about it, "this is a hard one since Brooke basically knows everything about me." She sighed deeply, trying to rack her mind to find at least one secret she could tell Nathan that her sister didn't know about. "Uhmm... I have a small Stitch teddy that I can't sleep without."

His mouth curved into a soft grin, finding Riley's confession quite adorable. He quirked a brow at the blonde when he wondered: "Does your sister know about that?"

"Uhh..." Riley paused for a second before huffing out a breath, "yeah, she does. Damn it. Does that mean I have to tell you another one?"

"Well, first of all, thanks for sharing that with me anyway." Nathan replied, chuckling softly. "And I guess, you don't have to..."

"No, no, it's okay." Riley muttered and shook her head slightly, making sure to take a breath before confessing to the raven-haired boy. "I cheated on a test last year."

Nathan arched a brow. "Riley Davis cheated on a test?"

"Yeah." The blonde exhaled deeply. "Brooke was sick and I had to take care of her so I didn't have time to study. Our grandparents still helped out though, like they always do. Bless them. They do so much for me and Brooke already, I just didn't have the heart to ask them to come to the house and do that when I could just do it myself." She murmured with the shrug of her shoulders. Her and Brooke were ever so grateful to have their grandparents, who lived just outside of Tree Hill.

Nathan smiled warmly at the Davis girl, knowing how much of a good person she is. "Did you get caught?"

"No. That wasn't the point." Riley shook her head at him. "I mean, I knew what I had done and that didn't sit right with me."

Nathan raised his brows, looking like he had just realised something. "So you started tutoring?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Riley chuckled and the phone that currently resided in her back pocket, buzzed when someone messaged her. "I think I thought it would be like, penance or something. But as it went on, I actually started liking it."

"I thought it was just to get closer to me." Nathan said cheekily, and Riley snorted before her phone buzzed once again, causing her to sigh.

"Oh, who the hell is texting me?" Riley muttered, giving Nathan a quick apologetic smile before she reached for her back pocket to grab her phone to see if anybody has messaged. "It's probably just Brooke anyway." She shrugged, thinking it might be nothing, however she thought it wouldn't hurt to check.

Nathan watched her as she frowned down at her phone screen, noticing the worried expression on her face. "Is everything okay?"

Riley parted her lips open a little, with her fingers dancing across her phone screen as she started to respond to Brooke's messages, with what she said concerning her very much. Before either of them could say anything else, Nathan heard a familiar voice which belonged to his friend. "What's up, Nathan?" Tim approached the barrier fence that separated the restaurant tables from the concrete footpath, with more of his buddies from the team behind him. "Hey Riley."

Nathan looked up at his friend, managing to hide his annoyance well for the interruption before he greeted the group. "What's up, guys?"

Tim chuckled, using his finger to gesture between Nathan and Riley. The girl continued typing away on her phone, and was either ignoring him or just didn't acknowledge him. "What's this?"

Nathan motioned towards the blonde. "Well, you know Riley's also my tutor, right?"

Tim quirked a brow, looking between them once again. "Looks more like a date to me."

Nathan shook his head and looked back up at the boy. "No, dude, no, definitely not a date." He said quickly, missing how Riley stopped what she was doing after she heard what he said. The Davis girl frowned, unsure of what to think of him denying them being on a date.

The boys all chuckled, but looked like they didn't believe what he said one bit. "Okay, if that's your story." Tim said.

Riley finally pulled her eyes away from her phone to look at Tim expectantly. "Bye, Tim."

The Smith boy merely shook his head with a grin on his face, before him and the rest of his friends walked away and left the pair alone.

Nathan closed his eyes for a moment before they opened again and he shifted his gaze to Riley so he could apologise. "Hey, I'm sorry about that."

Riley cleared her throat and connected her bright blue eyes with Nathan's. "Okay... I don't know if it's just me or what, but are you embarrassed to be on a date with me, or are you just afraid to tell your buddies that you're on one?"

"No. He just, he was gonna—"

"What?" Riley arched a brow at him stammering over his words. "You don't want them to see that you're a secret softie, is that it?" She watched him shake his head, making a noise as he struggled to come up with a response, earning a scoff from the girl. "You know, I can't believe you just fooled me again." Riley backed her chair away and began to stand up with a heavy sigh leaving her lips. "See you later, Nathan." She murmured before turning around and she left the table, pressing her phone to her ear after dialling Brooke's number. Nathan watched her go with a frown, knowing he just messed up with Riley yet again.

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"Are you sure you're okay?" Riley asked Peyton for about the third time since she left her house that morning. After she left Nathan alone at the restaurant the night before, she called her sister who started crying over the phone as she told her what happened to Peyton at the party. However, she managed to get there in time and got Peyton out of there before it escalated and Brooke called Lucas for help. Unfortunately, for Riley, history had just repeated itself.

So the next morning, she made sure to drive over to Peyton's house first thing, wanting to check up on her herself. "Yes, R. Davis. I'm okay. I'm just glad Brooke got me out of there." Peyton Sawyer reassured her best friend once again through the phone. "But, can we please talk about you know who?"

Riley hung her head back and groaned. "Peyton, I thought we already established this back at the house." She reminded the Sawyer girl. She didn't know how but when Riley was at Peyton's house, somehow the conversation went from — speaking about Peyton's wellbeing to Nathan and Riley's relationship, and also ended up telling her what happened with them the night before.

"I know, I know." Peyton muttered through the phone, pretending like she acknowledged what Riley told her before deciding to continue on with the Nathan topic much to Riley's dismay. "But I still want to talk about it."

Riley furrowed her brows, looking ahead of her to see that she was almost back home. "W-Why are you even supporting this anyway? I mean, this is your ex-boyfriend we're talking about here. And wouldn't me going out with him be going against girl code or something?"

"Oh please." Peyton scoffed. "Riles, I've already told you that I'm completely okay with this. Like what me and him had, is nothing compared to what you and Nathan have or could potentially have. This is different."

"How?" Riley asked.

"I just know it." Peyton sighed. "I know him, and I definitely know you. But, just promise me one thing, please."

"What?"

"Don't let your stupid ass parents stop you from being happy."

Riley opened her mouth to say something before freezing in place when she noticed the Scott boy standing outside of her house, throwing pebbles at Brooke's window.

"Riley?" Peyton called out at the lack of response from her best friend.

"Peyton, I'm gonna have to call you back." Riley said, not taking her eyes off of Nathan who still thought the blonde was inside the house. "Love you."

"Oh, okay. Love you too." Peyton replied before the phone call ended.

Riley put her phone into her pocket and crossed her arms over her chest as she walked along the path and arrived back at her house. "Keep doing that and you will soon have an angry and sleepy Brooke coming for ya." Riley spoke up, causing Nathan to stop what he was doing and turn his head over to her. "That's her room."

As she started making her way towards her front door, that's when Nathan rushed over, stopping her half-way down the path to the door. "Wait! Riley, look I need to apologise, okay?"

Riley scoffed. "You should write them in bulk if you're gonna hand apologises out that often."

Nathan sighed. "Can we just..." He trailed off and looked away for a moment, before his eyes found their way back to Riley. "I don't know how to do this, all right? I'm not like you."

"And what do you mean by that?" Riley asked.

Nathan shrugged. "I screw up a lot, all right? And being around you, I just... I don't want to be that guy anymore."

"Well, who do you want to be, Nathan?"

"I want to be somebody who's good enough to be seen with you." He admitted, speaking softly.

Riley huffed. "Well, you should've thought of that last night. You know, I have put myself out there more than once now, and you keep messing it up, and it's probably a good thing 'cause at this point, there's nothing you could say or do that's gonna surprise me—"

Catching her off-guard completely, interrupting her rambling, Nathan leant down and kissed her gently on the lips. It was only for a few seconds, however, those very few seconds surprised the hell out of Riley. Nathan slowly pulled away and the blonde opened her eyes, parting her lips open in shock. "Except for that." She murmured. "You shouldn't have done that, Nath."

"I wanted to." Nathan said quietly.

"Yeah." Riley whispered softly, staring at the boy while she contemplated on a decision in her head before she surprised him this time as she pulled Nathan back in, wrapping her arms around his neck and collided their lips together in a more passionate kiss. Nathan's hands moved down to her waist and they stayed there until the pair had pulled away from each other again and Riley gave him a warm smile.

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author's notes!

a night changes update?? WHAT. i'm even shocked myself.

anywaysss, i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!! the niley ship has officially sailed!

thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33