Yay!! This a completely pointless story but the damn plot attached itself to me like a leech and refused to leave until I had written it -.-; Hope you enjoy!!
Ben groaned deep in his throat as his cell phone began to ring yet again in his pocket. The history professor cast him an annoyed glance and kept talking, raising his voice a little to be heard over the ring tone. Fumbling into his pocket, Ben pressed the "end call" button and lowered the volume once again, letting it sit on vibrate for the time being.
Ben was quite perturbed to say the least. He'd been asked to make a presentation at a local university earlier in the week and, upon arrival, discovered it was probably one of the worst ideas he'd ever agreed to. The professor had no idea what he was talking about and frequently made mistakes with his historical references. Not only that, he'd been rude to the treasure hunter since his arrival that morning and was doing everything within his power to make Ben seem like an idiot. And, to top it all off, riley had been calling non-stop for about and hour and half now.
In the past hour, Riley had called 8 times and sent at least 4 text messages, all of which Ben ignored completely. To be honest, he wasn't all that happy with his young friend either. Riley had completely bailed on their plans for dinner the night before and left Ben sitting alone at the table for a little over an hour before he'd finally left. When the older man had called him to ask what exactly happened, the computer tech simply replied something had come up and left it at that. So now, after two full days of not speaking to him, Riley was desperately trying to get a hold of Ben and the older man wasn't having it.
The phone began to vibrate again and Ben sighed in frustration as the professor gave him another dirty look. Figuring it would be a good excuse to get out of that God-forsaken classroom for a few minutes Ben stood and quietly excused himself from the room. He stepped into the hall and flipped open the phone, speaking quietly. "This better be good, Riley. What is it?" He snapped a little harsher than he'd meant to but his best friend's behavior lately had really pissed him off.
"Ben…help..." Riley groaned over the phone, his voice sounding tired and strained.
All senses alert and anger forgotten, Ben straightened immediately and pulled the phone closer. "Riley? What's wrong? Are you alright?" He whispered urgently, making his way down the hall to the exit. To hell with the presentation.
"I can't move…" The younger man groaned, coughing softly on the other end of the line.
"Are you at the apartment? Look, stay where you are, I'll be there in five minutes, okay?!" Ben couldn't keep the panic out of his voice any longer as he burst through the doors and took off across the parking to his car.
OOOOO
Ben practically leaped out of the car as he pulled to stop in front of Riley's apartment. He raced to the front door and, after fighting with his key ring for a minute, shoved the key into the lock and opened the door.
The lights were off and the air conditioner had been kicked down so low it made him shiver as he stepped inside. "Riley…?" Ben called quietly, looking around the room for any sign of the younger man.
"I'm in here…" A soft voice called from somewhere off in the living room.
Concern swelling in the pit of his stomach, Ben walked to the living room, his eyes widening at the sight of his best friend. "Well this is new…"