What Love Entails

ten

sous l’âme || ten

♤

"Looks like someone's in a good mood," Kaden hummed as he walked alongside me.

"How so?" I mused.

"You've been smiling the entire time," his lips morphed into a smirk. "What? Did something happen with loverboy?"

"Loverboy?" I asked, pretending not to know who he was referring to.

"Oh c'mon. Don't act like you don't know who I'm talking about," he teased. "You know it full well that its R- I- V- E-"

With flushed cheeks, I nudged him with my elbow and scowled at him. "Shut up."

He laughed. "Aww, how cute. Look how red you're turning just at the mention of his name."

I could feel myself turning even redder. I turned and gave him my deepest glare. "Piss off, Kaden."

He laughed. "Okay, okay. I'll stop now."

I pouted as I walked ahead. "Wait," Kaden matched my pace. "Are you, Kyla Wilson, actually pouting?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What? I can't?"

He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "How adorable, Kyla."

"Hey!" I smacked his hand away.

When I turned my eyes away from Kaden towards my front, I was surprised to see that River was right in front of me. He gave me a small smile. "Hey, all geared up for the project?"

"Yeah," I smiled back.

"Well then," he shifted his gaze to Kaden and gave him a short nod before turning back to me. "See you in class."

"Right. See you."

"Now that's a great improvement in River's attitude towards you," Kaden whistled after River left. Then as if he just realised what he just said, he clamped a hand over his mouth.

"s**t, I didn't mean to-"

I cut him off. "It's alright, Kaden. River and I are friends now."

"Oh," was his curt and stunned reply.

His surprised expression quickly changed into a teasing one. "So that's why you were so happy, eh?"

"Oh, shut up."

————

River and I did a pretty good job on our presentation, earning even a "good job" from Mr. Smith. Back in our seats, River threw me a grin. "Great work, partner."

"Likewise." As I grinned, I could sense someone staring at us from my peripheral vision. I was surprised when I glanced across me to find Bree looking at us with a grim look on her face. She quickly turned away when I caught her gaze.

Bree must've been surprised to see that River and I were actually being civil. She always did have a crush on River, even back when I used to go out with him, so it was no surprise that she was the one who told River about my miscarriage. I didn't even know how she got to know about it. Neither did I know how she started to date River and why she broke it off with him. It was all a big mystery and I seemed to be getting more and more curious about it.

I glanced back at River who was listening intently to the next presentation. To be honest, it was a bit hard going back to being friends with him. After everything that had happened between us it was quite difficult to pretend that everything was okay and go back to normal. But on the other side, I knew that it was going to be okay. Being people who had been through many phases together, I was sure we could survive another phase.

I would be lying if I said that I was okay with just being friends; I wanted to be more than that. But I didn't know if River wanted the same. He probably didn't. It was actually overwhelming how our relationship had come to this point. From best friends to lovers to strangers to friends again. I smiled as I recalled how we started dating.

"Ahem! Share to care what's got you all smiling there, Kyla?" Mr. Smith's voice interrupted my recalling of the past. Everyone's eyes turned to me, making me blush.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

A soft chuckle emitted from River. "What were you smiling so much for?" He smirked, making my cheeks flush even more.

I scowled at him and showed him my tongue. He laughed. "You're such a little kid!"

"Miss Wilson and Mr. Hayes!"

"Sorry sir!" We both said in unison, chuckling softly as we shared a look.

We were going to be alright after all.

—————

"Hey, you've reached River Hayes. Sorry I'm not available to speak right now. Please leave a message after the beep, if you want to, I mean."

I groaned in frustration. What the hell was up with him? He hadn't been picking up my calls for about a week now nor was he responding to my messages. I huffed as I threw my phone on the bed.

It was summer break now and ever since it had started, River and I had not contacted each other. I mean, I was trying to, but that jackass didn't even bother to. Best friend, my ass.

River had told me on the last day of school before the break that he was going on a camping trip with his friends the very next day for about a week. I hadn't heard from him ever since.

I grabbed my laptop and tried distracting myself by watching Netflix and binge eating junk food. Let's say it was doing a pretty great job until my phone buzzed and I grabbed it absentmindedly with eyes fixed on the screen while laughing with my mouth full of popcorn. However, I immediately stopped everything I was doing when my eyes fell on the text message I had just received.

It was from River.

Sorry, I just reached home from the trip now. I’ll talk to you later.

Ignoring the fact that his message was very brief and uninformative, I jumped out of the bed and changed my soda stained shorts and oversized tee to something neater and ran out of my room. "Mom! Dad!" I yelled as I climbed down the stairs while trying to fix my hair into a bun. "I'm heading to River's place!"

I didn't even wait to hear their reply as I rushed out of the front door. I was that excited to see River. It had been a week since I had seen the face of the boy I liked after all. You couldn't blame a hormonal 14 year old girl pining over her best friend for that.

I rang the doorbell to his house once I basically ran over five blocks to reach his house. The uncontrollable smile on my face vanished when the door opened and I came face to face with a guy I didn't recognise. "Yes?" He asked.

"Is River there?" I asked trying not to sound irritated.

"Yeah, hang on," he went inside and I could hear him shout River's name followed by the sound of approaching footsteps. River smiled as he saw me making my knees go weak. Though I was annoyed at him, I couldn't help smiling as I saw him.

"Hey, Kyles." God, how I missed his voice.

"Hey," I grinned beforing giving him an indifferent look. "Aren't you going to tell me to come in?"

"When did you ever need my permission to?" He chuckled.

I laughed and was about to step inside when he cut me off. "Ah, but.. My friends are over and we're having a football x-box marathon."

"Right back from the camping trip?" I knit my eyebrows together, disappointment evident in my tone.

He rubbed his neck. "Sorry, we had it planned out."

I huffed. "Alright. I'm leaving then."

He nodded and I could see that he felt guilty for sending me back. "I'll call you. Bye."

——

"I'll call you," I mocked. "Or so he said."

It had already been two days since my so called best friend said that he would 'call' me and did he? Nope. All thoughts of restraining myself and not seeming desperate went out the window as I snatched my phone and dialled River's number. And guess what? It went to voicemail yet again. I rolled my eyes. Of course.

Something snapped in me as my thoughts started controlling my mind. Was he actually trying to ignore me? If so, why? I pursed my lips as I wondered if I did anything to piss him off. As far as I could remember, I hadn't. Genius me figured it would be best to just march over to his place and demand answers from the devil himself.

However, as I stood in front of his house at the door facing River, all my determination and anger seemed to have faded. Instead they seemed to have been replaced by a weak and warm feeling accompanied by a racing heart. River looked so damn attractive, just like he always did.

"Oh hey Kyla," River spoke, breaking me out of my trance.

"Hey," I chewed on my bottom lip. "You never called."

"Sorry, I was really busy," he smiled though it did not reach his eyes.

"Well then, uh, can I come in?"

"Ah-" he was interrupted by a soft feminine voice.

"River, can I get some food from the kitchen?" A petite pretty girl appeared behind River. She had long brown curly waves and a small face with rosy lips and dazzling blue eyes. She gave me a small smile.

"Yeah," River looked smiled at the girl warmly. "Help yourself."

"Thanks," she smiled and disappeared into the kitchen.

Before I could ask who she was, River cut me to it. "Actually, Kyla," he shifted his gaze uncomfortably. "Today's not a good time."

I froze as I realised that he was, in fact, trying to avoid me after all. I bit my lower lip. "And when is a 'good time' actually?"

River looked up at me with a surprised expression. "What do you-"

"You're avoiding me, aren't you?" I clenched my jaw, hating the way the words sounded as it came out of my mouth.

He blinked. "You haven't bothered to return my calls or messages for the past week, River! And now it seems like you just don't want me around. Did I do something wrong? Anything to piss you off?" I was practically shouting right now.

River shook his head. "It's not like that Kyla-"

"Then what is it?" I asked, feeling my eyes turn moist. "Because everything seems to indicate that you are in fact avoiding me."

He remained silent. I clenched my fists, waiting for an answer. When I couldn't take the pain anymore, I turned around and started walking. He didn't try to stop me. "Goodbye, River," the words left a bitter taste in my mouth. Only then did I let a tear roll down my cheeks.

————

I was having a pity party for myself, eating buckets of ice cream and binge watching action movies. "Yeah! That's right! Beat that jackass up!" I shouted at the screen as I stuffed my face with potato crackers.

It had been three days since I walked out on River and not once did he make any attempts to contact me. I didn't either; I still had my pride to hold on to. I cried that day as I wondered why he was avoiding me. Was I a nuisance for him? Did he think I was ruining his reputation or something? Or was he tired of me? At the end of the day, I cursed him for being a jerk and decided to have a movie marathon.

A part of me was disappointed and hurt that River made no efforts to contact me at all after how I left his house. I was his best friend, wasn't I? Didn't he miss me? I did. A lot in fact.

Tears started invading my eyes as I cursed. "s**t! Stop crying!" I rubbed my eyes vigorously. He's not worth it, I tried saying to myself.

I sniffled and turned my attention back to the movie when the door to my room flew open. "Mom! How many times do I have to tell you to knock?" I yelled without tearing my eyes away from the movie.

"Do I look like your mom to you?"

I snapped my head towards the source of the voice. River. I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Look, Kyla. I'm really sorry."

"So you admit that you were avoiding me."

He let out a deep breath before meeting my eyes. "Yeah.."

"And what made you change your mind now?" There was malice in my tone.

"I just needed some space, Kyla," my stomach churned as he spoke. "I needed to figure some things out."

"Like what?" I pressed.

River stared at me for a while before his lips curled into a smile. "You won't let me get away without telling, won't you?"

"That's right," I placed my hands on my hips. "So the sooner you spill the beans, the better."

He stared at the ground for a while. "You know Danielle Seers?"

I nodded. How could I not? I was insanely jealous of her. "Your ex girlfriend."

"We broke up last week when I was still over at the camping trip. She dumped me actually," his voice was steady and I felt slightly annoyed that it was more or less because of his ex-girlfriend that he had been ignoring me. But I was also concerned about the break up.

"Why?"

His eyes met mine in a burning intensity. My breathing hitched. "She thought I was in love with you."

I froze. My heart immediately started racing as I struggled not to break my gaze away from him. I could feel my knees going weak under his intense gaze.

"I wanted to figure out if I really did," he spoke as his eyes never left mine.

I bit my lip and swallowed nervously. "And?"

"She was right."

I suddenly found him leaning closer towards me, making my heart beat against my ribcage even faster. Once our faces were just a centimetre away from each other's, I let out a staggered breath and laughed weakly as I placed a hand over his chest. "You're being crazy, River."

His hazel orbs held me captive as he proceeded to cup my cheeks and lean in even closer. "I'm crazy for you, Kyla," he whispered huskily as his lips touched mine.

——————

Heyy everyone! please continue to support my story and follow it! There would be about 3 to 5 chapters before sous l’âme ends and another part begins! Looking forward to it! I hope you guys are as well.