Say you won't let go
~James Arthur

A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other........Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late Or maybe forever.
~Dave Matthews Band

Chapter Nine - A Friend

"I can't believe we're doing this. " River stated as both of us continued scrubbing the dishes.

"Suck it up. "

"A boy shouldn't be doing this. Girls do."
He whined while grabbing the sponge and washing the plate he was holding.

I glared at him. "If you only brought money then we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place." I exclaimed at him.

"Well, If you had your money with you. WE wouldn't be in this situation." He pointed a finger at my direction.

"Blahblablah. Shut up and work you sexist pig." I muttered at him and continued washing the dishes.

"Me? A sexist? I would never." He dramatically holds his soap covered hand over his chest and acts as if he was offended.

I simply rolled my eyes and continued doing my work.

This was the price we had to pay. So you would think that it wasn't a big deal right?

Well if you have two whole tables filled with dirty dishes THEN it's a big deal. That red haired waitress was practically grinning from ear to ear when she dragged us here.

That sneaky fox.

"Anddddd....done!" River exclaimed as he placed the last of his dishes into the cabinet.

"Pftttt. Slowpoke." He leaned at the sink and crossed his arms over his chest, smirking at me.

I glared at him. "That was because you gave me a table and a half filled with plates to wash. While you took the other half. Which is like, not even fair!"

He just shrugged. "I told you that's what you girls do."

I sighed and shook my head continuing in doing my work. Letting silence overcome the room we where in. All you can hear was the occasional splatter of water and the sounds of plates clashing.

A few minutes passed and I didn't even notice that I was humming a song.

It was first humming then the rataratara phase.

"Tarattattatatta, " I continued singing along to the tune of 'Say you won't let go' by James Arthur.

Unknownly, I smiled. Replaying happy memories in my mind.

"You smiled." I stopped humming and looked at River to find him sitting on the table. And for once, he was smiling.

Actually smiling. It's not the teasing smile or the 'you're crazy smile'. It's actually a sincere one. Whenever he smiled or smirked it gave out the bad boy vibe. But this wasn't one of those ones. This smile was a proof that beneath that bad boy mask, there's still a good boy, good heart....call it whatever you want. But it's still there.

"So?" I asked him while turning back to the sink.

"You smiled while staring at a plate. That doesn't happen often you know. Either you're in love with that plate or you where imagining or remembering something." He quirked an eyebrow at me.

"I prefer the latter though." He added.

I rolled my eyes and smiled. I didn't expect that he would catch my smile.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

It was silent for a few moment when I heard footsteps nearing me. I craned my head and looked behind me, seeing River walking towards me.

"Come on. Spit it out." He leaned his head towards the left side of my face and poked my arm as he steadied himself using the sink.

"I swear there's nothing." I shook my head and smiled at him.

"Tell me." He poked me again.

"No."

"Ahah, so there is something." He squinted his eyes at me and placed his hand under his chin, pretending to have a beard.

I rolled my eyes at his stupidness and continued doing my work.

Another moment of silence passed through us.

"You know you can tell me anything." River's voice echoed across the room breaking the silence. I peeked from the corner of my eye and saw him leaning against the sink with both hands in his pockets, staring off in a distance.

"That's too cliche don't you think?" I asked him still focusing in my task.

He shrugged. "It may be cliche but I mean it."

I didn't answer him and stared at my almost done task. Six plates left.

Five.

Four.

"I met you in the dark, you lit me up
You made me feel as though I was enough,"
I heard River mutter. I stayed silent, wishing for him to continue.

Three.

Two.

"We danced the night away, we drank too much. I held your hair back when
You were throwing up," He was basically singing the sentences louder than the last time. And what can I say, I'm impressed.

His singing wasn't all good and bad. He didn't have a voice of a famous singer but he also didn't have a voice like a dying walrus. It was just right.

I craned my head to look at him to find him looking at me in the corner of his eyes.

The side of his mouth raised a bit when I looked at him. Making it clear he indeed was watching me.

I looked away and washed the last plate in my hand. Once I was done, I picked a set of plates and placed them on the plate holders.

I sighed and wiped the sweat off my forehead, happy and contented that I was done.

"Then you smiled over your shoulder
For a minute, I was stone-cold sober." River stood up and walked towards the cabinet, passing by me in the process.

I gave him a questioning look which he only ignored.

He opened one of the cabinets and grabbed a.......spatula?

He smiled at the spatula and continued his search, stopping once he saw another one.

He picked up a spatula with green rubber as a holder and handed it to me. He was smiling like a little kid.

Again, I shot him a questioning look. He just raised both of his eyebrows and nodded at spatula he was raising in front of me.

I hesitantly took it and curiously watched him. He pointed the spatula towards his mouth and started singing.

"I pulled you closer to my chest
And you asked me to stay over
I said, I already told ya
I think that you should get some rest." He bent down to my level so that we where now face to face.

Ummmmm. What is happening?

He stopped singing and watched me expectantly. I raised an eyebrow at him.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand that was holding the spatula and pointed it towards my mouth.

"You seemed like you wanted to sing this. So sing. Come on, don't be shy. It's just the both of us here." He urged me to sing.

Me? Sing?

I shook my head at him. "Nononono. Me? Sing? It will rain. Like bad rain. You know. Whoosh. Splitiplatplat." I made raindrop motions using my hand.

He only chuckled. "Sing. Come on, it will be fun."

I pointed the tip of the spatula at my mouth and sang.

"I knew I loved you then
But you'd never know
'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go" I sang.

I looked at River who was smiling. He took my hand and dragged me towards the center of the room, where a huge space was set.

"I know I needed you
But I never showed
But I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old" He sang whilst smiling at me. His hand tightened around mine and surprisingly, he spun me around.

I laughed at how ridiculous we must've looked. Two teenagers were holding spatulas pretending they were mics.

"Just say you won't let go
Just say you won't let go" Both of us sang in sync grinning at each other.

"I'll wake you up with some breakfast in bed
I'll bring you coffee with a kiss on your head
And I'll take the kids to school
Wave them goodbye
And I'll thank my lucky stars for that night"

He let go of my hand and went to the table pretending to make breakfast, holding an invisible tray and bringing it to me.

I decided to play along and pretended to sip on imaginary coffee.

We both looked at each other and laughed.

I sat down cross legged on the floor and smiled at the spatula in my hand.

I still can't believe that really happened.

I went from wanting to kill him to wanting to punch his face in a second. Which is a good thing I suppose. It's his fault why I went to the wrong classroom on my first day.

Mehh, At least I don't want to kill him.

"So care to tell me what you where thinking?" River sat cross legged in front of me, copying my position.

His jade green eyes were staring at me, waiting for my reply.

I shrugged and looked down at the ground. "It's just that, I remembered when I was little. That song was our family song. Whenever that came on the radio, we would all sing. Dad would carry one of my sisters, Xavier and me would be shouting out the lyrics and Jordan would be pretending to be a ballerina with mom." I smiled at the memory. I still remembered the grins on each of our faces back then.

"It's just. Those where the times when we were still whole. We were crazy, wild, but most of all we were a Family." I continued on telling River.

He was silent for a few seconds then decided to speak. "Okay, I don't know who Jason or Xander is but let me ask, What changed?"

Let's just ignore the fact that he didn't remember even a single name.

I looked at him to see him already looking at me. I smiled. "We grew. Dad had business trips often, if not he would be busy with his office work. Jordan's in college. Mom, she's....Mom."

I shrugged and smiled at him. "It isn't a big deal anyways. It's not that we have family problems. It's just that I missed those times you know?" I looked at him.

He smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah, I understand you. That's just how life works. We grow."

I smiled at him and looked at the room we were in.

We were both silent for a few minutes until he got up.

"You know this touchy conversation is really good but I don't think your mother would appreciate her sixteen year old daughter coming home at nine pm." He's lips tugged upwards as he smirked at me.

"What!" I exclaimed at him and hurriedly got to my feet.

Oh no. Mom's gonna kill me.

"Okay, let's go. We're going. Bye bye diner." I speed walked towards the exit of the diner, showing a thumbs up at the waitress who made us clean the dishes.

She smiled at me and waved. I smiled back and waved goodbye. That sly little fox.

I didn't look back to know whether River was following me or not, I just went to where his motorcycle was parked and grabbed the helmet.

I looked at the sky and smiled.

Well, at least the stars were twinkling, it would be shameful if they didn't.

And somehow, that was enough for me to be satisfied with my night, even if I have to get on this death trap and be lectured for hours.

River's POV

I placed my hands in my jean pockets and stopped walking once I reached the door of the diner. The cold night air swept past me making my brown curls fall over my face.

There, in the parking lot stood a girl with a black helmet on her head, hiding her brown haired ponytail.

She was one of a kind, let me tell you that.

She was many things.

Weird.

Kind.

Crazy.

Stubborn.

Pretty.

She was all of it.

Ew, why am I getting mushy.

I smiled at the thought of her.

That didn't last long though. As if feeling my presence, she craned her neck to look at me. Immediately, I covered my smile with a smirk.

"Enjoying the view sweetcheeks?" I teased her which she only replied by rolling her eyes.

"Yep. Unfortunately, you came along and spoiled it." She gave me an innocent look.

Sarcastic little shit.

"Hey Lovebirds! It's already.....Ten O three pm. Aren't you guys supposed to be at home or... I don't know, A motel or something?" Exclaimed a voice which I recognized as the waitress.

I ignored her last statement and looked at my phone. Indeed it was Ten O three pm. And I still haven't dropped home Ms. Sarcastic over here.

I walked past the girl with a helmet on her head and got on Haley.

Yes, I named my motorcycle Haley.

And no, I'm not telling you why.

"Ready sweetcheeks?" I asked her while starting the engine.

"Yup. Just don't make me puke again." I suddenly felt a weight being placed on Haley, meaning she got on.

"As long as you hold on me and not the side handles." With that, I revved the engine and drove off.

I Felt arms wrap around my torso making my lips twitch.

I smiled. No, more specifically, I smirked.

Maybe

Just maybe

It was okay to get mushy

And maybe

Just maybe

This was the start of a new friendship.

Nevaeh's POV

I didn't even get to say anything when we suddenly took off.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his torso. I swear, I can practically hear him smirking.

"Cocky green eyed bastard." I grumbled while glaring at the back of his head. I really wish I had eyes with powers you know. The kind where lightning bolts and lasers shoot ou of it. That would be so cool. Like, totally cool, anyway.....

I raised my head which was buried in his back a few seconds ago. I used one of my arms to let go of his torso and opened the front of the helmet. I immediately felt the cool air enter the helmet. Some of my hair covered and got on many parts on my face, Mouth included.

I used my free hand to get the strand of hair out of my mouth.

A few cars passed by. Maybe between two to five cars. It was deep into the night with only the lights of the vehicles being illuminated.

"You alright there sweetcheeks?" River shouted over.

"Never been better!" I sarcastically replied back, burying my face in his back. I shivered from the coldness of the breeze.

Without warning, River revved the engine then took off with much greater speed than before.

I tightened my arms around him and buried my face deeper into his back. I started praying in my head.

I don't want to die young. Lord protect me. Its okay if one of us die tonight. Just not me. I have many many more dreams I want to come true.

Okay, I may be rude. Not.

After sometime, I felt us slowing down.

"Alright, where does sweetcheeks live?" He asked me while quirking an eyebrow whilst combing his fingers through his brown curls that have flown to his forehead when we were riding.

I told him my address. Okay maybe not. I told him the address of the house, five houses away from mine.

He seemed to buy it though.

"Okay, hold on tight."

In no time, I was climbing down the motorcycle. I sighed in relief once my feet touched the cold pevement.

"Thank god." I muttered while stretching my arms and handing him back the helmet.

He shook his head. "You take it." He nodded his head towards the helmet in my hand.

Me being the stubborn one, Only glared at him and grabbed a fistful of his hair, bringing him down to my level since he was a few feet taller than me.

I placed the helmet on his head rather roughly and tapped it because I felt like tapping it.

"Nope, You need to drive safe mister. I don't want a friend dying." I glared at him while he whined about how violent I was.

"Bye now! Shoo. Go away. I'm sure your mom's probably waiting for you." I made shooing gestures.

"Glad you like having me around sweetcheeks." He said sarcastically while glaring at me.

I sighed. "It's late. Come on Spaghetti, Go now."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay I'll do that. But first, get inside your house."

Nononono. He cannot know where I live. Having Xavier as a brother is already a pain in the ass. I can't deal with another one. No way in hell I'm going to tell him that this wasn't my house.

I crossed my arms. "No."

"No? Really?"

"Yes. No."

He crossed his arms, copying my action. "You just literally need to walk there you know." He pointed towards the door of the two story house painted in pastel green.

To be honest, I don't even know who lives here. All I know, is that there's a couple here.

"Nope." I all but answered him still crossing my arms.

"I'm trying to be a gentlemen and this is what I get." He sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Just go already and you are nowhere near a gentlemen." I ponted out at him.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Seriously. Just go and I thought we friends and done with this." He pointed a finger between us, indicating how we always argue on such simple things. Like this for example.

"Nooooooooooooooooo." I slowly dragged out the word and stared at him in the eye.

"I'm just trying to....make sure you're safe." I shrugged my shoulders and lied through my teeth.

I stared at River dead in the eye. He looked at me and then we had a stare off.

After a few moments he finally gave up and sighed. "Just promise me you're not going to be kidnapped by gang members. Alright?" He revved his engine and looked over at me.

"Promise. Now go. Shoo." I shooed him away plastering an annoyed look on my face.

But on the inside, I was jumping in relief. Knowing that he bought my lie.

"Okay. Bye Princess." He looked at me in the corner of his eye and smirked.

I glared at him. "Princess? Really?"

"Bye," He said in a sing song voice.

Just as he was about to drive off though, He turned back to me. "Oh and princess, I know this isn't your house. Lance lives here. Just wanted to tell you though. Oh! One more thing. See you soon sweetcheeks." He revved his engine and took off leaving me there standing with mouth agape.

"I suck at lying."

I hurriedly walked towards our house, because I wouldn't want River's prediction of being kidnapped by gang members to come true.

After a few minutes of walking and me occasionally sneaking glances at my surroundings, I finally reached our house.

I opened the door. I walked inside and saw my family and the gang in the living room. My mom had her fly squasher in her hand. She was occasionally tapping it making her look a hundred times scarier than the original.

Sam, Xavier, The de Ville twins, and My sisters were sitting on the couch squashed together looking at the floor in shame.

Dad was sprawled on his very own couch eating nachos staring between my mom and the gang.

I knew what was going to happen and I mentally thanked the huge cabinet covering me. Because I know that my mom is probably going to lecture me for hours.

I shrugged. Atleast no one will know.

I tiptoed to my left and stepped on something making me fall to the floor with a thud.

In lightning speed, mom was in front of me with hands on her hips. Just like when I saw her at the living room.

The only difference was that she wasn't holding a fly squasher anymore.

She was holding a hanger.

And I'm in ultra mega really big trouble.

Hellooooooooooooooo!

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!