Page 42 of Don’t Be A Stranger

I throw my head back and groan. “Oh, come on. You never show me anything anymore.”

“There’s nothing special to show.” River tries to argue but I beg to differ.

I climb over the couch, plopping down next to him. I lightly shove his leg with my foot when he purposely sticks his sketchbook in between the couch cushions furthest away from me.

“You know, I’m starting to think that you’re drawing like hentai or something,” I accuse.

River chokes on his own breath and laughs, but he shakes his head regardless.

What the hell can possibly be so secretive that he can’t show me? I’m tempted to climb over him and snatch the goddamn sketchbook. River begins cleaning up his colored pencils, lazily tossing them into a pencil case. “I’m just working on using some color. It’s a little embarrassing as an artist for my art to look like shit when it’s colored.”

I don’t know why he thinks that I’d laugh at him for trying to differentiate between colors. It’s not his fault he can’t see them. But fine, I guess I’ll let it go.

For now.

River leans back on the couch, his art supplies somewhat cleaned up. He doesn’t say anything about me leaning against the arm of the couch and resting my feet in his lap.

“I talked to Lils today.” I change the subject.

“Is she okay?” River begins massaging my ankles. The parts he knows that tend to ache when I’m on my feet for too long.

“Yeah, they made it back home a little while ago, but Lils was so anxious during the flight that she had to pop a Xanax, so she’s pretty much passed out right now.”

River smiles. “She’ll be okay. She just also needs to believe that.”

Yeah she does and maybe one day she will.

River’s hands move down to my feet. An involuntary moan escapes me and River’s hands pause on the spot that made me react.

It’s already nearing the end of June. We don’t have a lot of time left to kill with this deal of ours, so I don’t bother to beat around the bush. “River? Do you want to shower with me?”

The second he nods his head, I climb onto his lap, my knees bracketing his hips and my arms wrapping around his neck.

It should terrify me how easy this feels. How naturally we move against each other, like there’s never been any other way for us to exist before this. I want to teach him things no one has before and ingrain myself in his memory.

Needing his skin on mine with no barriers between us, I peck his lips, slide off his lap to stand, and drag him toward the bathroom but the front door swings open abruptly. I pull away from River, tripping and falling forward onto the couch. I wince when my knee hits one of the couch springs.

Moose walks back in, grumbling about something with a pout on his face that reeks of disappointment. He freezes when he sees River and me on the couch.

A tightness begins to form in my chest.

I’m sure Moose can practically see the tension floating around in the air. If it is visible to Moose at all, he chooses to ignore it for now.

“I’ve been grounded.” Moose all but whines and mopes over to the recliner.

River shifts next to me and from the corner of my eye, I see him grab one of the couch pillows and set it down on his lap.

Subtle. Real subtle.

I clear my throat, choosing to answer Moose, otherwise we’d be sitting in an uncomfortable amount of silence. “What are you talking about?”

“Apparently—” Moose crosses his arms. “I forgot about Beth’s and my three-month anniversary. I didn’t even know that was a thing to celebrate.”

River snorts. “Duh, dude.”

“How would you even know?” I can’t help but laugh at River and he has the nerve to look offended.

He’s literally only dated one girl.