Sometimes I wished that I didn’t have such a sweet and kind fiancé.

Because lying to him was breaking my heart.

How could I keep two secrets from him? It was tearing me up inside, and yet I still didn’t tell him. I didn’t want him worrying, and if he found out that I kept it from him for so long… he’d be angry. Not angry enough to break up with me or anything, but still angry. And I didn’t want him angry, or worried.

And I wasn’t sure which one we’d be angrier about. Jay, or the note? The note would make more sense, since it could put my life in danger, but if Jay went after me… River would probably be angrier about Jay, because of how easy it was for him to get jealous.

It was sweet that he worried about me so much, but it really wasn’t needed. I didn’t want him stressing himself out over something that wasn’t even important. As long as I stayed away from Jay, I was fine. He couldn’t do anything to me if I stayed away from him.

The note, though… was a whole different story.

I was just going to have to wait and see.

“So what were you doing before I came to your dorm?” River asked as we continued to walk hand-in-hand.

I shrugged. “Talking to Julie. I haven’t talked to her in forever… Dang it, I should have asked her about Tanner. It totally slipped my mind. She wasn’t acting upset or anything, so everything must be fine with him.”

“Yeah, I talked to him a week ago. Everything’s fine,” River nodded. “Now that he’s out of college and with Julie, you can tell that he’s a lot more mature than he used to be. He’s not two-timing her or anything, like he used to do all the time to girls. So next time you see him, you don’t have to worry about him hitting on you or trying to undress you or anything.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Good. But I’m glad that we’re friends now. But I’ll never be able to forget everything that he did.”

“He did save you from my dad, remember.”

“True, true.”

I was thankful for Tanner. I might have not been dead, but I definitely would have even more mental and emotional problems if River’s dad actually hit me. He had tried to twice, but Tanner grabbed his arm the first time and took the punch for me the second. I was thankful for him, because his dad would never hit him. His dad would never hit his mom, either. His dad would always just hit River, which wasn’t fair.

River had always been treated badly, even since he was a little kid. He was supposedly their reject son, as Tanner used to call him. But Tanner and River were starting to get along again, and I could tell that they were going to be as close as they used to be when they were kids. I sure hoped that they would.

“Hi, Delilah! Hi, River!”

That knew voice made me cringe, and my eye couldn’t help but twitch. That girl was going to be the death of me, I was sure…

“What a surprise that I ran into you here!”

I was starting to really despise that voice.

More than just that voice. I was started to hate everything about Kendra Harris. Her hair, her face, her clothing, everything. I didn’t even think that I hated Arianna that much! Arianna was just mean, not annoying. Kendra wasn’t mean, but she sure was annoying!

But I didn’t know if I’d rather have Arianna or Kendra. Would I rather have someone mean, or annoying? Someone that used to make my life absolutely miserable every single day, or someone that can never shot up and used to have the hots for my fiancé?

I honestly couldn’t decide.

They were both pretty bad to me.

They were so different, yet they both were the two people I hated the most. Not counting Mr. Higginson, of course. But how could I not include Mr. Higginson when it came to the category of who I hated?

How did she always manage to find us, wherever we went in the school? Why did it not seem like a surprise at all that we had run into her? Even though her dorm was across the campus, and so were most of her classes, she always managed to find us. And that was the creepy part. Was she stalking us or something?

That probably wasn’t the best thing to say.

“Hi,” I smiled forcefully, my grip on River’s hand clutching a little bit tighter. Kendra didn’t seem to notice, however, because she only giggled. She was ruining giggling for me. It was becoming too annoying and I hated the sound of it now.

Even though I really didn’t like her, I just couldn’t be mean to her. She seemed like such a little girl, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But then again, I did. Because she was annoying and made a move on my fiancé.

Why couldn’t she just stay away from all of us? I was sure she’d be able to make many friends, since her brother was Jay Harris and everything. Why didn’t she just go off and make friends, preferably ones her own age that she actually had class with?

How could River be friends with her when they were little? Did he just feel bad for her? Or was she not as annoying? She could have just grown up and started being annoying… I was sure Jay wasn’t always an ignorant jerk all his life. But who knew?

To everyone else in the school, not even mentioning the rest of the world, Jay Harris was a God. He was an amazing and nice person that was willing to do anything for anyway. But I was starting to learn that he was nothing like that at all. Not even close.

I also started to notice that he didn’t like all the attention that he got. He didn’t like fan girls, and he didn’t like when people did things for him or let him off for something just because he was famous. Jay Harris, even though I didn’t think so at first, was easy to read.

He got better grades, because he was famous.

He got less homework, because he was famous.

And I could tell, even if it was just deep down inside, that he wanted to be a normal kid.

But Kendra… definitely wasn’t easy to read at all. All I knew about her was that she was annoying, couldn’t shut up, and had a weird crush on Gabe. And then there was her obsession with River…

Yeah, I wanted to forget all about that.

“Where are you two going?” she giggled, annoying me even more with that stupid sound. “A secret date?”

Now why would we have to date in secret? We were going to get married, and everyone knew we were together, so why would we have to go on a secret date? It felt like she just wanted to get on my nerves with her stupid question, and it was definitely working.

“No, we’re just going to go see our friends,” I answered, gripping onto River’s hand even tighter.

“Oh?” she blinked. “Can I come al--”

“Hey, Kendra,” a new voice now said, causing me to jump slightly. River and I looked over to see Jay, who was smirking at me even though he was speaking to his sister. “You know that you’re supposed to be calling Mom now, right?”

Kendra slapped herself on the forehead, her mouth going agape. “I totally forgot!” she cried. “I left my phone in my dorm! Come get it with me, Jay!”

She clutched onto her brother’s wrist, turning in the opposite direction and starting off quickly, only shouting, “Bye-bye, Delilah! Bye-bye, River!” as a goodbye.

I squeezed River’s hand a quickly started back to Seth and Rex’s dorm, trying to get as far away from Jay and Kendra as I possibly could.

“You really don’t like her, do you?” he chuckled, keeping up with my pace.

“Nope,” was all I responded with.

When I entered the dorm room, I was almost completely tackled to the ground by Rex.

But for some reason, I really wasn’t surprised by this. Could you blame me? I mean, come on. He’s Rex. I had gotten used to all his touching, poking, and prodding.

“Deli Sandwich, Deli Sandwich!” he cried, clutching me by the shoulders and shaking me. “Deli Sandwich, Deli Sandwich!”

“What?” I snapped, removing myself from his grasp before stepping slightly away from him. He seemed really excited, and it wasn’t exactly the best idea to be near him when he was as excited as this. What was going on? And why did he look like he was on a sugar high?

“Guess what!” he cried again, throwing his arms up in the air.

An eyebrow rising, I looked behind Rex and at Seth. “Did he eat too much sugar or something?”

Seth let out a disappointed breath and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to sit in the desk chair. Marnie sat on the desk, her legs swinging back and forth as she watched whatever was going on. Alice was splayed out on Rex’s bed, almost completely dead to the world as she dug her nose deeper into the magazine she was reading.

“Then what’s wrong?” I asked again, taking another step back from Rex.

“Oh, beautiful best friend of mine,” Rex rushed, stepping closer and smiling at me. I shot him a flat look, half understanding now. He always used compliments like this when he wanted something. What did he want now? It better not be money or anything… He was rich!

“His birthday’s next week,” Seth started, rolling his eyes, “and his parents got him two tickets to some monster truck show or whatever so they wouldn’t have to deal with him or something. I don’t want to go, Marnie and Alice don’t want to go, and Rex already knows that River doesn’t want to go after what happened last time they went to go do something alone together. So…”

“Do you want to go with me, beautiful, amazing best friend of mine?” Rex gushed once again, clasping his hands together under his chin as he took another step closer to me. I continued to give him the weird stare that I seemed to only give to him, and I blinked.

“Go with your girlfriend,” I suggested, even though Seth had already said that Alice didn’t want to go. “You should want to spend your birthday with your girlfriend. Come on, Alice, you don’t want to spend your boyfriend’s birthday with him?”

“It’s not that,” she answered, not even looking up from her magazine. “I’m scared of monster trucks.”

“You’re scared of monster trucks?” I blinked in disbelief. Since when was Alice ever afraid of anything? The only thing that she had ever been afraid of was her father, but that was something that she should have been afraid of. But monster trucks?

“My dad used to drive a truck when I was little,” she answered quietly, causing all of us to go silent. She didn’t even look up from the magazine as she continued, “It was huge. Not a monster truck, but big. And I was so little back then, so I used to think that it was a monster truck…”

I turned away, not questioning her anymore. We all knew not to talk about Alice’s dad. None of us wanted to get Alice upset.

“But what about River?” I started again quietly. “What happened last time you two went out together?”

“Something that will never happen again,” River muttered from behind me, plopping down on the chair by the TV. I rolled my eyes at him, turning back toward Rex and waiting for him to answer me. It couldn’t have been that bad, right?

I mean, yeah, Rex could be annoying, but he was hilarious and a good friend. I didn’t think it was possible for him to ever do something really bad.

“They were able to get it out,” Rex pointed out to River, completely ignoring my question as he turned toward River. “It wasn’t even that bad.”

“Able to get what out?” I demanded, stepping in between them so I was the one that they saw. Did River get stabbed? Did Rex someone stab him? With what?

“So they had to cut a little hair off,” Rex shrugged, still ignoring me as he looked over my head at River. “It was a better look for you anyway.”

River’s arms were crossed over his chest, and he continued to glare at Rex from where he was sitting. I thought I was going to explode as I continued to stand in between them. Weren’t they done with keeping secrets from me? What were they talking about?

“Rex and River went to the movies back in seventh grade,” Seth started to explain, causing me to push Rex out of the way so I’d be in front of him. “And Rex had gotten gum. He was chewing on it while the movie was going and turned to say something to River, but when he did something funny was happening on the screen. Rex laughed so hard that the gum shot out of his mouth and into River’s hair.”

I looked over at my blonde best friend, who was smiling sheepishly. I then looked over at my fiancé, who was so red I thought he might explode. But I knew that it wasn’t because he was angry, it was because he was embarrassed.

I knew that he didn’t like to remember his past, and I knew that he didn’t like it even more when I learned about his past. Because he was afraid that I was going to want him to change back.

I then burst out laughing, not able to control myself. I clutched onto my stomach and doubled over, laughing so hard I knew my face was red now.

Marnie was laughing as well, and she almost fell off the desk. Seth caught her before she could, but she still continued to laugh. When I looked over at Alice, I could see that she was laughing pretty hard, too.

“It’s not funny,” River grumbled, turning his head away so we could no longer see his burning red face. “I had to chop off all my hair.”

Still laughing, I stumbled over to him and plopped down onto his lap. I could still hear Marnie and Alice laughing from behind me. My movement surprised him, because his head snapped back toward me with a look of shock on his face. I leaned forward, pressing my lips to his quickly.  

“Don’t be embarrassed,” I giggled, brushing some of his hair out of his face. He only swooped it over his eyes again, hopeful to cover his burning face. “I love hearing stories about your past.”

“Well I don’t,” he huffed, looking down at my lap. I rolled my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer.

“You’re such a baby sometimes. But I love you for it.”

I pressed my lips to his again, completely forgetting that we were surrounded by our four other friends, who apparently liked to be very creepy and watch while their two friends made out.

The clearing of a throat was what made us stop. “As much as I’d love to see you two lock lips all day,” Seth started, actually looking uncomfortable, as if something was bothering him. Though he did well at hiding it, I could see right through it.

Ever since what had happened under the bridge the day he made Avery break up with me, I was able to see the real Seth Haven. “Could you both stop before I puke up my lunch?”

I stuck my tongue out at him before getting off of River’s lap and turning toward Rex.

“I would go with you, but I don’t feel like calming back with half my head shaved.”

“You’d come back with all your hair!”

“Why don’t you just forget the monster trucks and go on a date with your girlfriend?” I suggested again, pointing over toward Alice, who still stayed splayed across his bed. She was now reading a brand new magazine, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. That girl and her magazines…

“Why can’t we just go one a best friend date?” Rex suggested back, causing me to shoot him a flat look. Before I could say anything back to him, my wrist was getting grabbed and I was falling onto River’s lap, sitting on him once again.

“Mine,” he said playfully, sticking his tongue out at his best friend before kissing my cheek.

Rex rolled his eyes. “I can’t go by myself! Who am I supposed to take if all of my friends don’t want to go?”

“I heard Trevor Endpound is available,” I informed him cheekily, bursting out into laughter once I saw the look on his face. “He seems to not be having any luck either!”

“Trevor’s lusting after River,” Rex grinned, causing River to stop laughing now. “Looks like you have some serious competition, Delilah. You better watch out, or Trevor’s going to steal your man. Maybe Trevor can help him out of the closet!”

“Rex, I’m not gay!”

“Sure you are.”

“I’m straight!”

“Straight as a circle.”

I burst out laughing once again, wrapping my arms around my fiancé’s shoulders and hugging him tightly. Of course he wasn’t gay, we all knew that he wasn’t, but it was just so much fun to tease him. He was just so cute. He definitely wasn’t gay, unless he secretly thought I was a guy or something.

… So he wasn’t gay.

But I loved how frustrated and worked up he got over Rex’s jokes. It was just so cute. And even though I couldn’t tell him that, he was definitely cute.

I didn’t get why he treated being called cute as an insult. It was definitely a compliment, no matter what he thought. I guess after being abused and teased, almost everything felt like an insult. And if it didn’t sound like an insult, he didn’t believe it.

I glanced over at Seth to see that he was frowning at me. Marnie was in his lap, his arms wrapped around her waist, but he was frowning sadly at me. I quickly turned away, for some reason not able to look at him, as Rex and River started to bicker again.

“No, I won’t go with you,” River spat at him.

“Come on! Unless you want me to go on a date with your fiancé, I think you should go!”

“You’re not going on a date with her. If she goes with you, it’ll be a friendly outing. That’s all,” River stated back, his grip on my waist tightening. I knew that he didn’t think of Rex as a threat or anything, but River always did easily jealous all the time.

“Like that friendly outing at the park last April?” Rex remembered flatly, placing his hands on his hips as he stared down at us. It was almost scary how he looked from this far down. “That resulted in you beating the crap out of Avery and almost killing him. Remember?”

River didn’t say anything, but I didn’t really blame him. He didn’t almost kill him; he only punched him in the face. And he deserved it, too. But we definitely didn’t want to remember anything about Avery. Especially the fact that I used to go out with him.

I glanced at Alice to see how she would react to her cousin being brought up, but she didn’t even look away from the magazine. Her nose was wrinkled, but she didn’t even glance away from whatever was in the magazine. It made me really curious… What was she reading?

I then glanced at Marnie, since she had a fling with Avery. She was making a face as she sat on Seth’s lap, and I couldn’t help but smile at her.

I then glanced at Seth to see what he was doing. Avery was his old best friend and everything, even if he did steal Marnie from him. But Seth was frowning, like I thought he would, but he was frowning at me. Why was he looking at me that way?

“I don’t want to see big huge trucks smash little cars,” I told him flatly, changing the subject as I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away from Seth, trying to forget what I saw. “And I don’t want to sit around fat, smelly men who drink and yell too much.”

“But that’s the best part!” Rex insisted, throwing his hands up into the air once again. “You sit there, watch small cars get smashed, and then try not to get hit in the head with beer cans! What else could you possibly want?”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “No thank you.”

“Well, I can’t go alone,” Rex huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at all the people in the room, waiting for someone to volunteer. When none of us did, his face fell. “Come on, guys!”

I was kind of starting to feel bad now. It was his birthday, wasn’t it? I didn’t want him to spend his birthday alone…

“Please go with him, River,” I pleaded, biting my lip for extra effect. He always seemed to do whatever I asked him when I bit my lip, or did something that I couldn’t really do in front of other people…

River looked away from me, obviously knowing that he’d say yes. I cupped his face in my hands and forced him to look at me. Even though he was now facing me, his eyes were looking off to the right.

“Please, please go with him,” I continued. “Please, River? Please?”

I couldn’t remember a time when I had ever begged River for anything, but right then seemed like the appropriate time. I really, really wanted him to go with Rex so he wouldn’t be alone on his birthday. I would die if I had to go to a monster truck show.

“Fine,” River sighed, defeated. “Just stop biting your lip.”

I giggled. Ew, just like Kendra. “Thanks, River!”

Rex fist bumped the air, laughing. “Yeah, this is great! I won’t have to go alone!”

“It can be a date,” I teased, causing River to make a face and shake his head.

“Ew, don’t even joke about that.”

I stuck my tongue out at him now, laughing after I had done so. It was always so much fun teasing him. Even though he knew it was a joke, he always got so frustrated and embarrassed. And that was always so cute.

“You’re so cute, River,” I informed him, seriously not even meaning to. I bit my tongue, as if I was afraid that he’d hit me or something. But really, I bit my tongue to stop myself from laughing.

“I’m not cute,” he denied stubbornly.

“Yes you are,” I insisted, smiling brightly at his childish stubbornness. What was wrong with being called cute? Did guys not like being called cute? Did they want to be hot, or sexy, or handsome? What was wrong with cute? Just because I was calling him cute didn’t mean that he wasn’t any of the other things.

“Rex, you’re cute,” I said flatly, turning and looking at him. He burst out laughing, plopping down on his bed next to Alice. He obviously didn’t have a problem with it. I then turned toward Seth. “Seth, you’re cute, too.”

He looked almost uncomfortable, somehow crossing his legs with Marnie on his lap. She let out a giggle, but I couldn’t help but feel that something was off with Seth. What was with those looks he was giving me? It was the same look that he had given me when they all had walked in on us earlier. He was going to say something, but quickly changed and said something else.

What was wrong with Seth?

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So I was going through old papers, and I found a piece of paper that I used to plan out Hey There, Delilah way before I knew what was even going to happen, but I ended up shoving under my bed before I started writing it.

It seems that Bentwood's name was originally going to Bentlywood... And then, for some reason, Rex's name and the words "monster truck" were written together. Having no idea what it was for, I came up with this. xD

And then I had a dream with Gabe in it last night. o.o He was the second to last one to finish a test (I was the last one) and yet the teacher got angry at him and ended up yelling at the whole class. Classic Gabe...

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D