white boys (river phoenix)

37

Chapter Thirty Seven

The next two or so weeks had passed by quickly, and it would be Halloween on Thursday, which was only one day away. It was now Wednesday, and again, River was walking Robin home before she went to work. They had been talking about doing matching costumes, like maybe Dorothy and The Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz since Monday, and Robin got her costume on Tuesday. She was originally planning on just going as a cat or a vampire or something she already had the materials for, but when River brought up the idea she was actually glad to take it. Some part of her felt like her last year dressing up for Halloween as a high schooler should be different, and Dorothy had a simple costume that was easy to find anyway.

"You know, you make a really good scarecrow," Robin said as they walked along the sidewalk.

"Do I?" River chimed.

"Mhm," she nodded eagerly. "Yeah, and I think I make a good Dorothy, don't I?"

"We'd make a perfect pair," River mentioned, and Robin sniffled.

"Sure," she nodded.

They stopped outside of her house, and Robin grinned,

"Well, bye. See you on Halloween, spooky."

"Wait, Robin," River said.

"Yeah?" Robin replied, raising a brow at the sudden urgency in his tone.

He looked down at the ground,
"Well, I kinda had something to say."

"Oh... well do you wanna come inside for a bit? It's kinda chilly," Robin shivered.

She was only offering that he come inside because her parents weren't home. The both of them were at work for a Halloween party they wouldn't be home from until late, maybe even midnight. But she didn't bring up the fact, because then River would start asking questions about her parents and Robin didn't want to have to dodge telling him the truth once again. He still didn't know that she wasn't allowed to date white boys or hang out with them, and she wasn't going to be telling that to him anytime soon.

"Oh..." River blinked, surprised that she was offering him to come inside. "Sure."

He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and followed her up to the door, where she pulled her keys out of her pockets and opened the door.

"Hi," she cooed to her dogs who were panting at the door as soon as she walked in.

River smiled, remembering her dogs from last time he'd seen them, mostly because they were jumping on him and licking him nonstop.

"Hi doggies."

He bent down to pet them and Robin began to put her stuff away. He watched her and the dogs while she put her jacket on the coat rack, put her purse full of school supplies on the couch (she had given up backpacks a while ago), and turned up the heat. Before he knew it she was back to him again, full attention.

"So! What did you wanna tell me?" she asked, standing in front of him.

"Uh... oh... you might wanna sit down," River said cautiously, slowing down his words a bit as he was wary as to how she would react.

Part of him was eager to jump at the question he was about to ask her, and the rest of him was telling him frantically to take a step back, to disregard it completely. But he had done that the last time, and the words were choking him now.

She made a confused face at him but laughed it off anyway. "Okay?"

They traveled to the couch and Robin sat at the head of the couch, resting her back on