What Love Entails

six

sous l’âme || six

♤

I sulked as I skimmed over the pages of my book. River and I had a plan to go to the beach and surf but he ditched me in the last minute to go on a date with the new girl in our school. Needless to say, I was bored out of my brains.

The door to my room suddenly opened, revealing a grinning and energetic River. "Kyless!"

I quickly hid my surprised expression and gave him a look of annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

He jumped on my bed, plopping down next to me. "I'm here to spend time with my favourite girl."

My lips twitched up at the words 'favourite girl'. I rolled my eyes. "I thought you ditched your 'favourite girl' to go make out with some girl."

I avoided his gaze and kept my glare focused. After a moment of silence, River spoke. "Kyla," his eyes were glinting with amusement as he half smirked and half grinned. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

I felt my cheeks turning warm. "Jealous?" I scoffed. "What's there to be jealous about?"

He smirked, clearly not believing me. "Have you even seen me? I'm hot."

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "You're such a conceited pig."

He grinned. "But you still love me."

My heart skipped a beat. "Right," I rolled my eyes. I pursed my lips as I thought back to when he had kissed me a month ago. After what happened, none of us ever talked about it. That really annoyed me. But I guess there was nothing to talk about, seeing as River kept going out with girls even after that. What an asshole.

"What happened to your date with the new girl?" I asked nonchalantly trying to hide my jealousy.

"I bailed," he grinned lazily, making my insides churn.

"Why?" I raised my brow.

"It wasn't fair for me to ditch you right at the last minute," his bright eyes held mine. "And I'd honestly rather spend my time with you."

My heart thumped furiously against my chest and I felt myself melt. "Why's that?"

His lips curled up into a bright grin. "You're my number one after all."

———————

River went to open the door and I stayed rooted to my seat in the couch a feeling of nervousness and anxiousness erupting in my gut. I prayed to God not to let Bree see me here at River's place. If she did, who knew what she would think.

I heard the door being shut and footsteps enclosing in. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding when I saw that it was only River. He had a bag full of things in his hands which he placed at the far corner. "She's gone."

"Right," I muttered.

"Let's continue," he scuffled back to his seat and eyed our almost forgotten project work.

I hesitated. "Are you sure?" I asked cautiously. "You seem really exhausted. I think you should rest."

He stayed silent for some time before letting out a ragged sigh. "I guess I should."

"We just need one more day to work on it and we'll be done," I smiled reassuringly. "I'll be heading out then. Please take care."

As I took a step forward, River's deep voice stopped me. "Kyla."

I felt a strong myriad of emotions as he said my name. It had been so long, too long since I heard my name from the tip of his tongue.

I slowly turned to face him. "Yeah?" My voice was just about audible.

"I-" his voice was cut off by the sound of the front door opening. Mr. Hayes walked in, calling out for River at the same time. "I'm back, River."

When he noticed me, his face immediately broke into a huge smile. "Kyla! What a great surprise!"

I couldn't help but share the same smile as he did. It had been so long since we had seen each other after all. "How are you, Mr. Hayes? It's been quite a while."

"Quite too much, I think," he laughed. "I'm fine, dear. How about you? I'm so glad to see you again. Oh, you must stay over for dinner tonight."

"I would love to," I smiled. "But I can't tonight. I have some other plans. Maybe next time."

I was lying. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't intrude their family dinner on the anniversary of Mrs. Hayes's death.

"Well," I quickly started. "I better get going now."

"Bye, dear. Do stop by again."

"Sure," I glanced at River, who had his eyes averted towards the carpet. "Bye."

————

My heart stopped in its tracks.

This couldn’t be happening.

My mind started swirling as I double checked it. I bit my lip hard, the taste of blood slipping into my mouth.

No, no, no.

It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t.

_______

It was Saturday evening. I glanced at my watch.

3:30 pm.

It was almost time. I buried my face in my hands and let out a sigh before getting up to get ready.

"Honey," my mom peeked in through the door. "Are you ready?"

I nodded. "Great," she smiled. "Let's go."

I got into the passenger seat of the car as my mom took the driver's seat. She started the engine and started driving. "I just want to know if these sessions are helping you."

I pondered for a second. "I honestly don't know, mom."

She gave me a reassuring smile. "You know your dad and I are always here too if you want to talk to us."

I smiled. "Of course mom."

We reached our destination and I got out of the car. "Don't stress too much," my mom showed concern as I bid her bye.

I entered the small building and walked to the reception. The receptionist noticed me and smiled. "You can go in now."

I nodded and smiled thankfully before walking up to the small door frame and knocking. “Come in," her usual calming voice called from inside.

I smiled as I entered the room and took a seat in the couch in front of her. "So Kyla," she smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I smiled.

"So how are things going?"

"To be honest, I think it's getting better bit by bit."

My counsellor grinned. "That's great to hear."

"So what do you want to talk about today?" She looked at me eagerly. "Feel free to discuss whatever you want with me. That's what you're here for after all."

I had been attending sessions with her for about a month now. My parents couldn't stand seeing me so depressed after all that went down, so they figured it would help me if I saw a counsellor. However, though I did share some of my little problems with her, I hadn't told her the most important one- the cause of everything going downhill in my life. I had decided to spill the beans to her and to say that I was extremely nervous was an understatement.

"I wanted to tell you something," my voice came out breathy.

"Anything," her smile reassured me. "I'm here to listen."

"I-" I began, but the words got caught up in my throat. A lump began to form in my throat as my eyes started feeling moist.

My counsellor gently took my hand and squeezed it. "Don't pressure yourself. You can tell me when you're ready."

I shook my head. I wanted to let this out- I had to. She smiled at me. "Take as much time you want. I'm here."

It felt like a ton of weight had been lifted off of me when I uttered the words, and with it came out spilling the tears.

"I had a miscarriage."

And then everything enclosed in on me.

————

Sooo..... Were you guys expecting that? What do you think? Leave comments below!

As usual, please click the follow button and share this story with your friends and families and on social platforms! Thank you!