He looked up at me, with his curious blues as though he wanted to say something. And if there was something I'd learned, it was that with River you had to drag his words out of him. I smiled and decided it was time to speak after a full twenty minutes of just laying here.
"What's on your mind, Kennedy?" I asked tilting my head in question,
"Was that good for you?" He asked and I laughed, not because I found his question ridiculous but because I thought it was obvious enough that it was practically magical.
"It was more than good," I assured him and he got up and placed his hands on either side of me so he was hovering on top of me and looking me in the eye. “It was amazing.”
"I've never done that before." He admitted and to say I was shocked was an understatement. I would've thought guys like River had all the experience in the world, with all the girls practically hunting him down. "Could you tell?"
"No one has ever done that for me." I expressed and his expression softened, "And no I couldn't."
"On peut le faire quand tu veux." River said, his voice deep and sultry as he mumbled into the nape of my neck.We can do that whenever you want.
It took me a moment to unscramble and translate what he said in my head, fast fluent French still wasn't my strong suit.
"Fuck sorry, living in Paris for the past few years makes it sometimes hard to speak English constantly. French is still my first language and to be honest I only ever really speak English when I'm around you." He apologised,
"You sure are full of apologies today." I teased, "It's okay you need practice anyways."
"We should probably head back downstairs before we get caught." River realized turning to look at the chair we'd used to block the door.
"Doubt anyone's missing us." I groaned reaching to pull him back onto the bed with a chuckle.
When my lips met his once more it was the reassurance I needed, it was the breath I didn't even know I was holding, it was everything that went unsaid. His lips were becoming strangely familiar now, and I remembered when I wished for just that. That one day his kiss on my lips would be familiar and not so foreign. I reluctantly slipped back into my Angel costume only to remember that my wings were torn.
The memory of his hands fiercely stripping me of my clothes flashes in my mind and oddly enough I didn’t regret a thing. I had the glitter from his makeup look all over my body, and I most certainly wasn't complaining. I picked up what was left of my wings and we made our way out the door and into the seemingly empty corridor.
"I was never an angel anyways." I proclaimed as River tied up the ribbons of my corset,
"Now tothatI can agree." He added and I laughed as I heard footsteps making their way up the stairs, I turned my head to see who it was and it wasFabian.
"Armani?" Fabian spoke as he examined the scene and I had to admit we looked beyond guilty.
The look in his doe-brown eyes alone was enough to make me feel like the most terrible person on the planet. And it was then that I realised that I had done to him exactly what River had done to me, Fabian was my collateral damage just as I was River's. That's the thing about broken things, they can't help but cut even those who were only trying to pick up their pieces.
"Fabian, it's not what you think." Is the only thing I could think to say, because what else could I have possibly said?
“That sounded like a Disney Channel line—”
“Kennedy, quiet,” I warned him.
My mind was racing with apologies; I'm sorry that you're not the one, I'm sorry that you probably never were and that you never will be. I'm sorry that I couldn't see what a shitty thing I was doing when I was doing it. I lead him on, I had strung him along for too long and it was time to cut the cord and let him go. Because Fabian Lyon was one of the most extraordinary humans I'd ever let and he deserved better. Better than me. And it was for that reason that when he asked,
"It's him isn't it?" Looking me directly in the eye and not daring to glance at River, that I had to say.
"It wasalwayshim, Fabes, I'm sorry," I explained and Fabian shut his eyes for a moment before nodding in careful understanding. His eyes met Rivers for a brief second and that was when he said,
"You don't deserve her." Fabian scorned,
"I know." River replied simply,
"But she really cares about you for some reason. Don't ruin the best thing you've got going for you, Kennedy." Fabian declared before reaching into his pocket and handing me what looked like a charm for a keychain.
As he placed it in the palm of my hand I realised that it was a tiny snow globe with a tropical forest inside it, which I recognized as the Kakamega Rainforest back home in Kenya. Tears began to well in my eyes and my heart hurt. I couldn't bear to lose him as a friend. I couldn't bear to lose him at all.
"A little piece of home." He smiled sadly before making his way back down the stairs. I tucked the little charm into my purse and turned to look at River who seemed slightly withdrawn at the scene.
"Do you-" he began but I knew exactly what he was going to ask,
