RILEY FITZPATRICK | | TWENTY | | FEMALE | | JUNIOR | | NINA DOBREV
By the time Riley was ten she knew how to function without the primary aid of others. She was a special kid they always said, her fatherâs friends. And that she was. Aside from Riley being one of the most self-sufficient kids that most of them had known, she was also a child born into a mob family. Her father was the brother, and the right hand man to one of the most feared Irish mob heads in California. Growing up, Riley did not care for this fact. Even though she spent almost every day doing her homework at Fitzyâs, the pub that one of her family members owned, also the main hangout for her dad and his associates, she wanted nothing to do with that life. That and because when she was twelve she had to switch to studying in the library because of a full on brawl in the bar. It was one of those few times where her dad actually acted like a dad. Considering Riley was all he truly had left, he could get pretty stern with her sometimes. And she was accepting because she knew how much he missed her, and she loved her father. Though kids grow up, and Riley did just that.
Rileyâs descent from grace was a fast one. Or if you thought about all the things that led to Riley being the way she was, a rather slow progression riddled with a series of clichĂ©s. A father she didnât quite respect, a mother she never knew because she was dead, and of course a boy, There was always a boy. It happened when she was sixteen, fresh faced and with a recently acquired license displayed through the plastic in her wallet. With this shiny piece of plastic that let her drive on the road, she had become her dadâs personal chauffeur. That meant the usual phone call from Beth at the bar that he had drank too much and was passed out in the back. That eventful day however, she met Will Connolly. While two men were putting her dad into the back seat of her car, Will was charming the pants off of naĂŻve Riley.
Within the year, Riley went from being the meek little girl that didnât give any regards to anything the mob did, to being the person that could very well go to high places within it. Â She was a small time drug dealer, the occasional joy rider, and the girlfriend of one of the most caustic men in the mob. It was safe to say her father, who had been forced to now start acting like a father due to a certain lack of care from Riley, was not happy about any of this. Though, Riley was a force to be reckoned with, and also a stubborn, reckless teenager. Two months prior to her graduation, she ended things with Will. One of the things that Will never accounted for when he fell madly in love with the shy girl, was that one day she might fall out of love with him. He made her who she was today; he was the one that brought out the real her. And the real her was an unrelenting free spirit. She was the kind of girl that looked for excitement; she got bored of things easy, which is exactly what happened with Will. He talked about building a life with her once she was done with high school, and the entire time she just found herself halfheartedly listening thinking about whether or not to break into a baseball stadium that night. Â She did do just that, but not before telling Will she didnât want to be with him and grabbing a bottle of tequila.
She woke up later; bleary eyed, IV in her arm. Her father was also present, the sounds of snores mixing with the sounds of her heart monitor. For a while she stared at the ceiling, not quite awake, and unsure how she ended up here. And then the events from what followed the seventh shot of tequila flooded back to her. It was going swell, fueled by alcohol and banter, till Will showed up, and thatâs where it all went wrong. He tried to get her to talk, she refused, he pulled her to his car with brute force, and she succumbed. She remembered drunkenly asking to get Taco Bell. They never got any Taco Bell. During the car ride to the sub par Mexican fast-food, he had asked for her back, and she laughed. That night she was reminded that Will had a temper, and a propensity to rash things, such as speed down the empty road, with claims of killing them both so they would be together forever, with a manic look in his eyes. She touched her face in remembrance of the influx of tears that flooded down her face when he wouldnât let her out, and the tears that came from him when he realized what he was doing to her. And after that she did what probably got her here in the first place. She had left his car in a flurry and found herself in a bathroom at a gas station, pulling the vial from her throat and inhaling her favorite vice. Thatâs where it all went black. Apparently after she left the bathroom, she had collapsed to the ground knocking over an array of Pringles, mostly the Mexican flavored ones.
After that faithful night, Rileyâs changed again, both by choice and the force of her father. She was down a destructive path and the only way to get away from it all was to leave. Thatâs how she ended up on a plane to Ankou, Ireland, changing her plans about her future. With a few pulled strings, and a hastily written essay, Riley would be attending Gilchrist University. Despite it being where a majority of her family was, which meant more trouble, she was near the one person that had always kept her grounded â her Grandmother. She spent nearly every weekend there in the beginning. Her life consisted of going to class, studying, and hanging out with senior citizens playing Bingo. She was tame, as tame as one could be. However, she soon grew tired of the monotone her life was playing out in. As much as Riley wanted to be better, every fiber in her body screamed out to be set alight. She was once a girl that had Teeling pumping through her veins, and cocaine dilated pupils. She stole cars for fun, and she ran with the wolves. Lucky for her â trouble had a way of finding her. Trouble in the form of the Gravediggers. She lasted all of two months living life on perfectly flat ground, protected and bored out of her head before she was recruited. Â If she had talked to her father that day, she probably would have tried her best to stay far away from the likes, but instead she had spent the bulk of that day with idle hands and decaying mind. And now she was falling back into her old ways.
She had been with the Gravediggers for nearly two years, and her life was once again in a constant state of chaos. And she enjoyed every second of it. She was a destructive girl, havoc got her off and risk gave her life. The only downside to the whole ordeal was that she had once again disappointed the only people she really cared about. When she jumped down the rabbit hole â she thought it was lose them or lose herself, but now sheâs not sure anymore. Maybe sheâs lost both. There isnât much to feel when you live the way she does.
CLAIRE COOPER: In my mind, flirting and sex arenât really things Riley thinks about a lot, however I could see her flirting with Claire because she gets her kicks out of messing with people â anyone and everyone. Plus, a little light flirting never hurt.
LUCAS DAWSON:Â I would sort of imagine them being at odds all the time, just because Riley really enjoys testing people, and Lucas isnât an exception. Riley knows not to push too far, but at the same time Riley wasnât sure she cared anymore. Sheâs not exactly scared of much.
