River's p.o.v
Shadow storms off to the living room, leaving me sitting in the kitchen, breathing heavily from my sudden outburst. How can he say that? How can he say that my life is perfect when it's far from it?
I look down and realise that I am gripping my mug too tightly. My knuckles have turned pale white and are shaking. Looking up, I notice Eileen and Alec are starting at me, shocked. Their faces are so similar, you can easily tell they are related. Alec has his mum's pointy nose and long eyelashes, but his dimples are definitely from his father...
I shake my head. Now is certainly not the time to be thinking about these things, River!
Slowly, I get up from my chair and face Eileen.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, especially after what you told me. I just don't know what came over me, I'm so sorry. " I apologise.
Eileen stares at me for a while before saying, " I understand River, don't worry. But I don't think it's me that you should be apologizing to. You should go and sort things out with Shadow.". She smiles sympathetically at me.
"But not now of course. I think Shadow needs to calm down, and so do you River. Why don't you come with me?" Alec offers. I turn to him and nod. Alec leads me to the front door and starts to put on his shoes.
"Wait, we're going somewhere?" I raise my eyebrows in surprise.
"Well duh, you don't want to stay in this boring place while Shadow's here, do you?", he says in a 'matter of fact' tone, smirking.
"Oh yes, of course. Hang on though, I just need to go and change my clothes", I say, pointing at the huge t-shirt and shorts.
"Okay, I'll wait just here". Alec replies, but I notice that like Shadow, he is staring down at my bare legs. What is it with these boys? Suddenly feeling self conscious, I speed walk to the guest room, shutting the door firmly behind me.
After quickly changing into same clothes that I wore yesterday, I attempt to fix my hair. It's wild and knotted, so I rake my fingers through it, however, I fail. Sighing irritably, I decide to forget about my messy appearance and just leave the room. I slip on my shoes and follow Alec out the front door. As soon as I step out, a huge gust of wind hits my face, and I shiver. Wow. Today is cold, I hope Alec is taking us somewhere indoors. I glance sideways at him. He's humming softly himself and staring at the ground.
"So," I ask. "Where exactly are we going?" I ask.
"Well, seeing as you and Shadow's argument ruined breakfast, I'm taking you to this cafe just round the corner, the food there is amazing."
I feel my cheeks turning red. "Oh, I'm sorry I ruined breakfast for you."
Surprisingly, Alec grins at me. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm actually quite glad you two decided to have that argument before breakfast."
I squint at him. "Glad? Why?"
"Because Mum's pancakes are horrible. She might make good coffee, but her pancakes will make you sick. I don't know what she does to them, but sometimes I think she wants to poison me. It's quite disturbing really." Alec grimaces at the thought of Eileen's pancakes.
This causes me to burst out laughing, and after a short while, Alec joins in too.
"Oh, come on, they can't be that bad!" I say once I've caught my breath.
"Yes they can, look, if you want, I can take you back home and I can get Mum to bake some especially for you!"
My eyes widen. "Uh, well, maybe not, how about we just go to that cafe you want to go to?" I stutter, the more I think of those pancakes, the less appealing they seem to me.
Alec snorts in laughter at my reply. "Thought so!".
I smile sheepishly, suddenly feeling a lot more happier then I was. I realise that Alec has helped me cool down and forget about the argument I just had with Shadow.
"Ahhh, here we are! Welcome to Rainbow Cafe, River.
I stare up at the small cafe in front of me. The window is full of different pieces of stained glass, all in order of the colours of the rainbow. The door is also painted in rainbow stripes. I peer in and realise that all the tables are rainbow coloured, as well as the chairs, wallpaper, even the floor. This is by far the most colourful place I have ever seen in my life. Alec holds the door for me as I step inside, his eyes are bright and shining with excitement. He honestly looks like a little kid. "What do you think River! Do you like it?" Even his voice is going high-pitched like a little girl's.
I giggle. "Yes Alec, it's very..." I put my finger on my chin as if very deep in thought. "Rainbowish!" I exclaim.
Alec chuckles softly. "Is that the best word you've got?" He teases.
"What do you mean? I think it's quite an interesting word!" I frown playfully at him.
"Okay then, if you say so, come on lets get some food. I don't know about you, but I'm starving!"
I nod in agreement and we sit down at a table, picking up our menus. Without any thought, we both decide on a slice of rainbow cake each and rainbow smoothies, whatever those are. Our orders are taken by a young, blond waitress in (surprise,surprise) a rainbow apron, who continuously bats her long lashes at Alec. Alec, however, doesn't notice and just babbles on about how amazing the cafe is. Silly boy.
When our food, which should really be breakfast arrives, we both dig in and I must agree, this rainbow cake is delicious! After stuffing our faces like pigs, Alec suggests we head back to his. "I'm sure Shadow has calmed down now. You guys can sort things out and we can all live happily ever after!" Alec says in a girly voice.
I snort unattractively. Yeah right. Happily ever after doesn't exist!
"Thanks for this Alec, by the way. I had a fun morning."
"No problem, anyway, I'd been craving that rainbow cake for ages so I'm glad I had someone to go with." He shrugs his shoulders, putting his hands in his pockets.
The short journey back to the apartment is silent, thank God for that. Alec talks too much, I guess he just ran out of things to say. I wonder how Shadow puts up with him.
Oh. My thoughts trail back to Shadow. My heart begins to race as I think about what I'm going to say to him. Should I apologise? Or just listen to what he has to say? Millions of thoughts swirl through my mind, and before I know it, we have arrived at the apartment. Alec fumbles in his pocket for the key and places it into the lock.
I take a deep breath. What's going to happen now? I guess there's only one way to find out...
