Bitter Sweet ➳ River Phoenix

IV

I looked through the menu, trying to decide what to have.
"Please, could you not get anything with meat in it," he asked.

I furrowed my brows, "why?"

"Ok, I'm vegan and it just upsets me to see other people eat it too," he explained.

I raised my brows, slightly surprised, "you're vegan, huh? I never took you as one."

He laughed slightly, "yeah, it surprises a lot of people."

I decided in the end just to order fries and a root beer, it was pretty much all I could afford anyway. We didn't talk much and it was kinda awkward, but I knew if we did get into conversation we'd probably just end up pissing each other off.

"Are you just gonna sit there not saying anything?" River asked.

"I'm eating," I replied, shoving fries in my mouth, "besides, you're not talking either."

He rolled his eyes, putting down his veggie burger, "fine, let's talk."

"Ok. I have a question for you."

"Shoot," he said, picking up his burger again and taking a bite.

"Who do you actually hang out with, other than Wil of course?"

"Christian, Michael, unlike you I don't feel I need a hundred friends to be happy," he said.

"I don't think that," I defended.

"Whatever."

"So you don't have a girlfriend," I said teasingly.

"Nope."

"Ah, maybe that's why you're so invested in my relationship because you don't have one of your own," I smirked.

"That's not true," he said.

"Aww, are you sad 'cos no girls wanna be with you," I teased again, sticking out my bottom lip.

"No, I could get a girlfriend if I wanted, there's tons of girls who wanna be with me," he defended.

"Woah, your heads way up your own ass there," I chuckled slightly.

"Look, I know you hate me, and I hate you. But could we please just try and have a normal conversation for once?" He asked.

"Sure, what'd you want to talk about?" I asked in return.

He shrugged, "I dunno, what'd you enjoy doing?"

I laughed, "that's such a cliché question."

"Yeah but it's good question."

"Ok, well I like writing a lot. Short stories most the time, just shit that comes to my head and I write down. I also enjoy singing too, I love 50s music."

"Writing? That's cool. Yeah I like to sing a lot too, I play the guitar as well," he replied.

"Yeah, I saw your guitars hung up on your wall."

"Music is just an escape for me, it's a way to be creative and get a way from the world for a while," he explained, I smiled softly at what he'd said, I knew exactly what he meant, I guess we were more alike than we thought.

"What the fuck Kayla!" I heard someone say, I looked up to see Kiefer had come through the door and was approaching our booth, he looked really pissed, "I went to your house but you weren't there so I thought you might be here, however, I didn't expect for you to be here with him," he glared at River.

"Kiefer-" I began.

"Save it," he snapped before turning to River, "I'll deal with you another time, Phoenix."

"Chill out, man. I'm not trying to hit it off with your girlfriend," River argued.

"Whatever. come on Kayla," he grabbed my wrist lightly, beginning to pull me away. I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill, tossing it on the table, casting River an apologetic look before Kiefer dragged me out of the diner.

"What the fuck were you doing with him?" Kiefer asked once we had gotten in his car.

"What the fuck were you doing storming in and getting angry like that?" I asked in return.

"You answer my question first," he spat.

"I have to tutor him, remember?"

"Well that looked a lot like tutoring to me," he replied apathetically, drumming his fingers on the wheel.

"No, I was earlier, but there was no food in the house so we went out to eat," I explained, "jeez, you can be such an asshole sometimes."

"Why am I an asshole?"

"Because you don't fucking trust me!"

"When did I say I didn't trust you?"

"Well, with the way you acted back there it sure as hell seems like you don't," I said angrily, folding my arms and looking out the window.

"I thought you hated him," he sighed.

"I do. But if I'm gonna have to do this for three more weeks I may as well try and make it a little enjoyable."

When we arrived at my house, he turned to me, placing one hand on the back of my seat, "Look, I'm sorry Kayla," he smiled softly, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Whatever," I said, opening the door and getting out of the car, slamming the door behind me. I was mad and even worst, this would give River a reason to think Kiefer is an asshole.