Raising the White Flag (Roland)

[Riley Neves]

Riley wouldn't meet his eyes, and she wouldn't respond to him either. Who the hell was he, anyway, to pull that on her? He had just given a cold line about leaving, then kissed her? How was she supposed to keep up?

She needed him to leave so that she could breathe again, and not smell him or be surrounded by him. His lips had been sweet with wine and... and the timing was wrong.

She was silent until the door closed again, and Roland was finally gone, and her shoulders fell and she let out a sigh.

Now what?

[Roland Ferrera]

He wished he didn't feel ike a chastised little boy, slinking back to his room after having been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

He was furious with himself. Once again, he'd lost control with her... but it was different this time. Instead of being a jerk and arguing with her for no reason, he'd messed up and kissed her. All during dinner, he'd wanted to, he realized. He'd started seeing a new side of her and he'd liked it. But the comment about the date had driven him over the edge. It put thoughts in his head that he really wanted no part of. It made him want things that he had always sworn he didn't want. If he could have just left as soon as he had those thoughts, it would have been fine. He could have pushed them down, forgotten them. But then she was there, and he saw the little fire in her eyes again, and she was standing so close... some bit of insanity had seized him.

And now he'd ruined all the goodwill that the evening had built up between them.

He went back into his apartment, and immediately looked for something to drink... something to drown these thoughts from his mind.