41|| Heart

Thank you all so much for 130k reads!! I would have never thought I'd make it this far. It's truly a blessing.

It's been a few days since River and I went to get our stuffies.

We've gone to school and still have no sign of my brothers there.

I also haven't gotten any texts from them whatsoever.

I started to be a little worried but if they can watch someone die they should be strong enough to defend themselves.

I try not to make people feel bad for their decisions. But it just gets so hard when the downfall is always on you.

River had driven me back to his house in silence. He looked tired but I refrained from asking.

I know how it feels.

I was now at Rivers's house with Leo watching a British baking show.

River left a while ago he said he had work to attend to.

"Aww come on man I was rooting for him!" Leo yelled.

Leo was mad because the guy just dropped us fancy macaroons all over the ground.

"I'm done with this" Leo exclaimed then he grabbed the remote and turned in SpongeBob.

We spontaneously decided to bake cookies so we went to the kitchen and got all the ingredients.

Eggs, flour, sugar. You know, the who shebang.

We mixed all the ingredients and put the cookies in the oven.

Now it was time to clean up.

Somehow there was a broken egg on the floor and flour in our hair.

I have no idea how we managed to make this big of a mess.

After everything was cleaned and we ate all twelve cookies we turned on a movie called Dont be Afraid of the Dark.

Twenty minutes into the movie I heard a scream and it wasn't from the tv.

"Ahhhhh! Turn it off please Taliah! Please!!" Leo screamed.

Although I wasn't screaming with him I was still terrified.

The tooth fairy was supposed to be glittery and pretty not dark and ugly.

It also started to give me small flashbacks about Nigel. The dark and not know when he would ever just hit for no reason.

I turned off the movie quickly and took a few deep breaths.

I thought about all the people who care for me and love me but unfortunately, I could only think of one.

River.

"Taliah are you okay?" Leo asked.

"Yes! I'm fine just creeped out from the movie." I smiled.

"Me too! One time River told me a story about Santa. He said the good kids get gifts but the bad kids get packaged up while they're sleeping and went to the wilderness to fend for themselves till the next Christmas." He said as he smiled brightly.

"Umm, and that was supposed to make you a better person?" I asked while chuckling.

"Supposed to?! It did! I didn't lie for two years straight after that until I found out he lied." He smirked.

"Then I got my revenge." He said as he continued to smirk and rub his hands together.

"Oookay. Bedtime?" I asked as helped him up off the couch and pushed him to the stairs.

"So, what's the deal with you and my brother?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing. We're good friends." I smiled. I was nervous. Very nervous.

Not only do I really really like River. His little brother was interrogating me and I could feel the slight heat rising to my cheeks. (An: face cheeks y'all 🙄)

"Hmm and do friends look at each other the way you both do to one another?" He asked while easing his eyebrow.

"I- umm well I don't know," I answered nervously.

Leo let out a loud laugh and shook his head.

"I'm just messing with you. I know you like him and he likes you. Unfortunately, I still think you are inhumanely beautiful, and if you're going to be my sister-in-law I'm going to have to get over you." He said very concerned.

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you about your brother. I do like him but he'll never like me back." I said while fiddling with my fingers.

"He's really handsome and sweet, and-" Leo cut me off with a gag.

"I'm gonna be sick!" He said while exaggerating another fake gag.

I sat there laughing as he ran up the stairs.

"So who's the guy?" A voice asked from behind me.

I turned around and saw River. He was in a black hoodie and sweats.

And he looked better than he did when he left this morning.

His hair was now messy but his eyes held a hard emotion in the.

"What guy?." I chuckled nervously. I turned around and looked at the tv but I could still feel Rivers's gaze on the back of my head.

"Who's the guy Taliah?" His lips were right by my ear making me feel even more nervous than before.

I turn to my side so now our lips are just inches apart.

"Nobody." I tried to sound confident but my answer came out as a breathless whisper.

River stared at me for a few seconds longer making the tension rise higher.

My legs were numb.

My head was fuzzy.

My heart was beating so fast I thought he could hear it.

He put his hand on my cheek and rubbed his thumb under my eye.

He kissed the corner of my mouth which took me by surprise.

He leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes.

"Can you- can you just hold me?" He whispered.

I nodded my head unable to move

He laid on the side of me and put his face on my neck.

I put one hand on his back and the other in his hair and started to rub his scalp.

It felt so good to just hold him. Just him and I alone with our thoughts.

To feel him with me as if we've found each other's missing piece to this puzzle called life.

I loved it. I loved how my life don't seem terrible when I was with him.

I felt loved.

I felt a strong feeling towards him too. And it made me scared and excited me at the same time.

"Il n'y a rien de plus beau que la façon dont vous me faites me sentir. Merci d'être mon tout" is what he mumbled before falling asleep.

I'm sure he can hear how loud my heart is.

My heart is the only thing that is telling me what I'm doing is right.

Oop! I gave y'all a bit of a tease. *insert creepy laugh* Anywho, don't watch the scary movie I mentioned. I watched it as a kid and was scared of vents for YEARS! QOTD: Whats a book trope or stories that you would like to see more of? Me? Age gap Stories that don't have smut. It's hard to find and it makes me sad 😞. Don't forget to VCF!

Mya❤️