I LOVE HIM 'THAT'WAY

8-To Kill A Mockingbird

   The rest of the day went by at a snail's pace. Riley flashed nervous smiled every now and then as a formality. Viola spoke less but gave weird expressions at Judy all day long. Travis avoided eye contact most of the time. Judy on the other hand was hunky dory. She spoke continuously without a hint of awkwardness. Had she had the energy, she'd be dancing around the house too.
     The night fell early for them that day. After dinner each one except Judy found an excuse to rush to sleep. Travis in the room, with slight hint to tears thanked Riley again. "Why do you keep apologising and thanking me? Why are you being so formal? Don't you know formality ended the day we fled away! If you thank me one more time then I'll assume that you are trying to get away from me because you don't want me anymore!" Travis's eyes widened in horror. "WHAT! NO...I LOVE YOU! I SWEAR NO MORE OF IT!" Riley smirked mischievously knowing that his little evil blackmail had worked. He kissed Travis goodnight and closed his eyes.
     Travis was extremely tired but he was scared of the nightmares. So he kept changing his sleeping positions. Riley sensed his uneasiness and went on to cuddle him. Travis smiled in the dark and felt protected and slowly drifted off to sleep.
     The next morning Riley opened his eyes slowly expecting the room to be bright. Instead the room was still dark. He gazed out of the window, early dawn. He slowly moved away from Travis, careful not to wake him up and checked his phone for the time. He squinted his eyes as soon as the screen flashed on. After two minutes of seeing unidentified galaxies he finally rubbed his eyes and saw that it was 6 am.
     He lay back and tried going off to sleep, but he just knew that he was not going to be able to sleep again. He got up noiselessly and went to the washroom to splash some water on his face and clean up. When he came out he saw that Travis was sleeping soundly. So he just opened his bag, took a book out and went downstairs.
     He seated himself comfortably on the sofa and began reading from the page he had bookmarked. He was so engaged in the book that he never realised how an hour had passed. Suddenly he saw a figure moving in the kitchen. He was startled but soon saw Viola emerging from that direction.
   "What are you doing here so early?" She spoke to him normally for the first time. Ever. "Ummm...I ummm...was reading" He said gesturing towards the cover of his book. "You are reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee!" She made her realisation verbal. "Yes. Travis said his dad loved it...."he drifted off suddenly realising that Viola obviously already knew that but her expression stated that she wanted him to continue. "So Travis gave me a copy and urged me to read it. I didn't want to read it at first but once I started it I got addicted. I've read it more than 3 times now. I read it each time I am nervous or have a bad phase in life. I don't know something about this book helps me to calm down."
      Viola there frozen for a minute. Riley went silent too. She then went away from there to her room. She went in and locked herself. She then opened her cupboard and slipped her hand under a pile of clothes and removed an old dusty book. Her copy of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. No wait. VICTOR'S COPY. She ran her hands on the cover bringing back old memories and new tears. She recalled how Victor had described his passion for the book the same way Riley had done. In fact Riley had done the same because Travis told him that VICTOR did the same. Why would Riley do anything that Victor loved? 'Has it ever dawned to you that maybe because he respects Victor?' She told herself. Viola suddenly gasped at the thought and scolded herself for even considering that idea of Riley actually being a genuinely nice boy. But she couldn't help but not ignore the fact. She herself had never cared to read the book but a person who had never even met Victor did so just because the love of his love had told so. She suddenly realised that he was reading the book now which meant that he was having a difficult time. 'And why wouldn't he?'She thought. 'He is having a difficult time but isn't he still here. To support YOUR son?' Viola shook her head and shoved off the thought. She couldn't change her perspective of Riley just because of a book. She kept the book back and closed the cupboard.
     After washing her face in the washroom she decided what to make for breakfast and went out preparing herself for another stressful day.
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