IMPORTANT:
This is the sequel to Hey There, Delilah. Make sure to read that first or this won't make sense. :D
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"Hey, is that Deli Sandwich?"
Crap.
"No, you're just seeing things. Keep moving."
"But I really thought I saw--"
"You didn't. Keep walking."
It's not that I didn't want to see them, but it was just that I didn't want them to see me in the store that we were in. Getting a birthday present for your boyfriend, or should I say, fiancé, was a lot tougher than it seemed.
I hid behind racks, hopeful that I wouldn't get caught. I knew that if they caught me, they wouldn't stop making fun of me until I--
"Deli Sandwich!"
"Damn it. I knew I wasn't safe."
I felt arms wrap around my shoulders, squeezing me tightly. I thought my lungs were going to explode as I tried to breathe as the person continued to squeeze me.
"Rex, let me go!" I cried out, trying to squirm from his grasp as quickly as I could. But he only squeezed me tighter, which didn't really surprise me at all. I knew that if I told him to get off, Rex would only hug me tighter. I needed to be careful with what I said around him.
"But I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" he cried, wrapping his arms around me even tighter. Of course he was going to say something like that. He was always known for over exaggerating. I really thought my lungs were going to burst as he only squeezed me tighter.
"It's been two weeks!" I told him, getting more and more exasperated by the second. Couldn't he leave me alone for once, or act like a normal human being? What was his problem?
"That's too long!" he responded like a child, clinging onto me even more.
"Will you just get off me? I'm going to scream!" I threated, elbowing him in the stomach as hard as I could. But, just as I had thought, my elbow was the one that came out hurt. I rolled my eyes, continuing to squirm. I knew I didn't have enough guts to actually scream, and I knew that Rex knew that, too. And that was very unfortunate, because I knew that that meant he wasn't going to let me go.
"Okay, Rex, I think you can stop sexually assaulting my ex-girlfriend now."
My head snapped up, and I smiled gratefully at Seth, ignoring his ex-girlfriend remark. I knew that he was always going to tease me about how we used to go out, even if it was only fake. And even though he had admitted that he had feelings for me, he had a girlfriend that was one of my best friends.
Rex rolled his eyes, dropping his arms from around me. "What are you doing at the mall all by yourself?" he asked, an eyebrow rising on his forehead. I felt heat rise to my cheeks, embarrassed that he had realized that I wasn't with anyone.
"I'm... um... I'm getting a present for River," I mumbled, staring at the carpeted floor instead of up at them. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to get him, and it was pretty obvious since I had been looking around confused just moments before they arrived.
I had looked so out of place all alone, so I was kind of relieved that they were there so I didn't look like a total loner anymore.
"But why do you look so confused?" Rex asked again, both eyebrows raised now.
Of course it was Rex that pointed out the obvious. At least he hadn't shouted it out or anything, like I kind of expected. Rex was annoying in this funny way of his, but I still loved him just as much as I loved Seth, since they were my best friends. They could help me with anything, and they were also River's best friends, and they had known him a lot longer than I had. So I was sure that they could help me.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I admitted sheepishly, looking up at the two of them now. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to get him. It's so much harder than I thought it was going to be! I've been going out with him for almost five months, we're engaged, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to get him!"
I noticed a woman that was passing by give me a strange look, but I only brushed it off. I knew that what I had said was weird, but I didn't think that it was at all. So what if River and I hadn't even known each other for a year and we were going to get married? And so what if we were starting senior year in two weeks? We loved each other, we really did, and those people didn't know what had happened between us.
"People are looking at you funny now," Seth said, shaking his head and pushing me away from the store that we were in front of. "They probably think you're pregnant now because you're so young."
"I don't care what they think," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms over my chest as I continued to let him lead me away, Rex trailing next to us. "They don't know me, or River. They just judge us like they know us or something. So what if I'm seventeen and getting married? We're not going to get married for a while!"
I got another stare, but this time from an old woman with her granddaughter. It wasn't affecting them, so why did they care? River was turning eighteen in only a week, and I would be turning eighteen in February. And we probably weren't going to get married until we were out of college, but definitely not until we were out of high school.
Seth rolled his eyes, continuing to push me along. "Yeah, yeah, we know. You'll wait until college and then you'll get married and blah, blah, blah. We've heard it all already."
"Someone's jealous," Rex whistled from behind us, causing me to roll my eyes. I didn't say anything because Seth had had feelings for me, even though I didn't return them. I didn't know if Seth felt uncomfortable when someone joked about how we used to go out or about how we probably had secret feelings for each other, but it did bother me a little. Even though he had a girlfriend that he loved more than anything, I couldn't help but feel bad for pretty much rejecting him.
"I feel like such a bad girlfriend," I groaned as we sat down in the food court, taking a break from looking for River's present. This was entirely too difficult, and I felt horrible.
"Fiancée," Rex corrected smugly, sticking his tongue out at me. "Did you somehow forget?"
"I can't believe I can't find a present for my fiancé's birthday!" I called out, glaring at him and trying to ignore him. I would always switch from girlfriend to fiancée, since I wasn't exactly used to it yet. But I knew once we were married, I would be able to call him my husband without any problems.
"More people are staring," Seth informed me in a low voice, rolling his eyes as he did so. "I think that it's obvious that you're still in high school, Delilah."
I stared at him flatly. "No freaking duh."
"I know what River would want for his birthday!" Rex grinned, leaning forward over the table so his face would be closer to mine. I leaned closer as well, waiting for him to tell me. Even though Rex was loud, obnoxious, and rarely ever serious, I knew that he would be able to help me.
"Well?" I asked. "What?"
"Sex!"
My cheeks turned bright red and I leaned away from him, looking away as well. I could see a woman scowling at us in disgust, her arms wrapping tighter around the toddler in her arms. I rolled my eyes now, turning back toward my two best friends, who were now both smirking.
"I think it's a good idea," Rex defended, crossing his arms over his chest. "What guy doesn't want birthday sex from his girlfriend? Or in this case, fiancée?"
He had a point. River and I had done it before, a few times, but I didn't feel comfortable talking about it, even with my best friends. Because they were boys. And boys were... well, boys.
"I'm sure River just wants birthday sex," Rex pressed on with a wave of his hand. "He's a guy, and you guys are going to get married. I would be surprised if he didn't want it."
"I'm not only going to give him sex for his birthday," I spat, crossing my arms over my chest now. "You might be okay with that as a gift, and Alice may be okay with giving that as a gift, but I'm not..."
I had actually become good friends with Rex's girlfriend Alice, even though it didn't seem like it was possible when I had first met her. But she was my best friend's girlfriend, so I had to get along with her, didn't I? We had signed up to be roommates together for senior year, and I was sure that it was going to happen.
"Alice doesn't just give me that," Rex told me, shaking his head. "She gave me a watch and sex."
"I'm going to give River something that he can actually unwrap."
"Well, you can unwrap a condom--"
"La, la, la, la, la, I'm not listening!" I shouted like a child, covering my ears with my hands so I wouldn't have to hear anything else that he had to say. But I wondered if River ever talked about what we did together with them, and it made me feel very uncomfortable. Best friends or not, they were still guys.
"What did River do for your birthday?" Seth asked, shooting an amused glance at his best friend. "Maybe you could do something like that."
"He took me to see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway," I pointed out flatly, resting my chin in my palm. "I can't do anything like that. Unlike all of you, I'm not rich. And I don't want to copy his idea."
Seth sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "You're making everything so difficult..."
I gave him a flat look, like I always seemed to do around these boys. "Thanks."
"Why don't you just spend the day with him or something?" Seth now suggested, shrugging as he leaned back in the chair. "River's such a freaking lovesick fool whenever he's around you, I think he'd like to have a day with just the two of you. You guys haven't really been able to be alone for a while now."
"There's a basketball game on River's birthday," Rex informed me. "You could take him there. River loved basketball when we were in middle school, and he'd play all the time. He stopped after he changed, though. Which sucked since he was so good..."
I blinked. I never knew River played basketball. He never even told me. But I wasn't really surprised, because River didn't like talking about his past. He had changed from a total prep and into a total emo for a girl that didn't deserve him. But now she was going out with my ex-boyfriend, and I couldn't really care less.
"He's right," Rex agreed, nodding his head in excitement. "The way you affect River is kind of scary. Before you came last year, he barely ever spoke to anyone besides us, and he was usually always unhappy. And then you came and, well, he's happy now."
"That's because Bekka was a bitch to him," I grumbled, pulling one of my knees up to my chest. "And a bunch of people at Bentwood would make fun of him for the way he looked. I still think I should have kicked them all in the nuts..."
"You let Paul have it pretty good, though," Rex said, leaning back in his chair and placing his arms behind his head, smirking at the memory. "That was hilarious."
I found myself smiling. "Yeah... it was."
"Well, you should go to the basketball game with River, spend the day with him, and then you should--" Rex started, until I clasped my hands over my ears once again.
"I know where you're going with that, and I don't want to hear it. It's none of your business, anyway."
Rex's eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey! I know what you can give River!"
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I had no idea what I was supposed to wear.
We were going to a basketball game, but then we were going out to dinner right after. I didn't know what would happen after all of that, but I wasn't about to think of that right then.
Since I lived across the country, River had me stay at his apartment two weeks before school started. His parents were paying for it, and he lived alone. His parents wanted him out of the house and away from them that badly. But after River had punched his father in front of his entire family, I didn't really blame them. Even though River's dad deserved it.
Even though his apartment wasn't very far away, River was still going to dorm at Arkwright for the year. He said it was only because he wanted to, but Seth had told me that River told him that it was because he wanted to be closer to me.
My brother wasn't exactly the happiest person when I told him that I'd be staying with River for a few weeks, all alone with only the two of us in his apartment. I was used to him being overprotective, so that was why I was scared about telling him that River and I were going to get married.
We had waited a few days before telling everyone, since I wanted to tell my mother along with everyone else and she was off on her honeymoon. I expected her to be angry or upset, but she did cry. But they weren't sad tears, like I had thought they were, they were happy ones. She was actually excited that her seventeen-year-old daughter was already planning on getting married.
But Jake... not so much.
He looked majorly pissed off. He didn't even like the idea of me having a boyfriend, let alone a fiancé. It wasn't like River and I were going to run off and get married immediately; we were going to wait for a few years. Because we were way too young to get married now.
Jake looked like he could have ripped River's head off if he didn't see how happy and excited my mother and I were. Nick, my mother's new husband, was happy for us as well. Rex and Seth already knew that River was planning on proposing, so they didn't look very surprised at all.
I was excited that I was going to marry River, and I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it for me. Not Arianna, not Bekka, not everyone. I had already let Arianna ruin most of my high school years, and I wasn't going to let her ruin my life anymore.
As I continued to shuffle through my closet for something to wear, my arm knocked into something, causing it to come crashing onto the floor. Papers flew out of the box and all over the floor, causing me to let out a long sigh as I crouched down to pick them up.
I felt myself freeze when I saw what these papers were. Notes. Hundreds of notes. Don't ask me why I kept them, because I don't even know why myself. Anyone who was smart would throw them away, but I just couldn't. I had the real notes in there, and then the fake ones as well. River didn't know that I had kept them; no one did, so I had to make sure to clean them up quickly.
"Are you ready yet?" I heard from the other side of the door, causing me to snap my head up and hit it against my desk. Cursing quietly, I shook my head.
Realizing that he couldn't see me, I bit my tongue lightly before calling out, "Not yet."
"Can I come in?"
"No!"
I didn't mean to sound as urgent as I had been, but I didn't want him seeing these notes. I was almost done cleaning them up, and then he could come in. I wanted what I wore to be a surprise, but since I had no idea what to wear, I guessed he could help.
"If you're half-dressed or something, it doesn't matter. I've seen you naked before."
I felt heat rush to my cheeks, but I didn't say anything as I shoved the last note into the box before stuffing it away back into the closet. River and I were sharing a room, but he usually used the dresser while I used to closet. And it was in the way back behind various items of clothing.
"You can come in now," I sighed, standing up from the ground and moving hair out of my face. "I'm dressed."
The door opened, and my handsome fiancé stepped in, looking even more handsome, if that was possible. I told him that it didn't matter what he wore, since it was a surprise and everything, and he was just wearing grey skinny jeans with a white shirt. He had stopped wearing all black after a while, but he still did once in a while.
His hair was the same, still black and hanging in front of his bright blue eyes. I was hoping that that would never change, because I loved it so much.
I smiled slightly when I saw that he was wearing short sleeves. Now that his scars were starting to go away, he was wearing short sleeves a lot more. He hadn't cut himself since the time I had slapped him to stop him, and he would always tell me that I was the reason why he stopped.
"You haven't found anything yet?" he asked, an eyebrow rising. He should have been used to this. I was never able to find anything to wear. The night of the dance at Bentwood, I practically buried myself in my closet for hours looking for the right dress. And I had found it, apparently, because River said I looked amazing in it.
"Just wear something casual," he suggested, leaning up against the wall. "You don't have to wear anything special or fancy. It's just my birthday."
"Just your birthday?" I asked in disbelief, looking at him as if he was crazy. River always spoke poorly of himself, and he never thought he was good enough for anything or anyone. But he was; he was amazing. "River, this is the anniversary of your birth! This was the day you were born eighteen years ago, the day I'm so thankful for! You have no idea how glad I am that you were born!"
River stared at me in surprise, obviously not expecting me to say this. I rolled my eyes, walking closer to him and pecking him lightly on the lips. "I love you, you idiot," I smiled, stroking his cheek lightly. "And happy birthday. This is your day, okay? Remember that. You're always doing things for me, but today I'm going to do things for you. And you can't complain about it."
He rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at me, pushing me away and going toward the closet. "Well, we're going to be late to wherever you're taking me if you don't hurry up and change. I wouldn't really mind, though. Because, as cheesy as this sounds, I'm perfectly fine as long as I'm with you. But I don't want you wasting your money."
"Well, I need help finding something to wear," I told him truthfully, shuffling through more dresses. "I don't know if I should wear a dress or just casual clothing."
River chuckled. "You know where we're going. I had no idea, and I got dressed in thirty seconds."
I gave him a flat look. "But you're a guy."
"True."
I rolled my eyes and smiled, turning back toward the closet. I was the one who knew where we were going, not River. And when the roles had been switched, River told me what I had to wear, so I didn't stress then. But now I had no idea what I was supposed to wear, and River couldn't help me.
"Well, I'm not going to wear a dress..." I said, turning away from them. "That wouldn't really work out..."
It would for the dinner, but for a basketball game? I didn't think so. I'd have to wear heals with a dress, and I would just end up tripping over myself.
I glanced at the clock and felt my blood go cold when I saw that we had five minutes before we had to go. I was happy that I did my hair and makeup before, and now all I had to do was get changed quickly.
Plan for the future: pick the outfit the day before.
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"I hate basketball," I muttered as River and I sat down at our table for dinner. River smirked at me, holding onto my hand on the table.
"I could see that," he smirked in amusement, stroking the back of my hand. "You looked like you were bored out of your mind."
"I was," I told him truthfully, leaning forward in my seat a little. Even though I hated it, River seemed to enjoy it, and that was all that mattered. I wanted him to have a nice time, and he did. Even though pretty much the entire time I had no idea what was going on, he still had a nice time.
It seems so easy for guys to get presents for girls. Either jewelry or some stuffed animal would be good, maybe even clothes. But I had no idea what I was supposed to get River until Seth and Rex showed up. And the present that I was going to give him wasn't even bought at the mall.
"Here, I have your gift," I told him, picking up my purse from the ground and pulling his gift out. It was pretty big, but small enough to fit in my purse.
"You didn't have to get me anything, Delilah," he told me, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Just spending the day with you is enough."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Not for me."
He rolled his eyes, taking the gift from me and unwrapping it quickly. I felt myself smiling when he finally got to the gift, and I smiled even more when I saw the confused way he was looking at it.
"Open it, silly," I pressed, leaning over the table and playing with the side of it. "It's no fun if you just stare at the cover all day long."
River glanced up at me for a moment, but then looked quickly back down at the photo album. He frowned when he saw the pictures on the first page, which were all from when he was little. His older brother Tanner had given them to me, and I even drove to his house to get some from his mother. I made sure to stay clear of his dad, but he was luckily at work when I had come.
I peeked over to look at the photos, even though I had seen them already. River was so cute when he was little, with his light brown hair that was so different from what had had now. His eyes were the same, the same piercing blue that stared up from the photographs, and I was glad that that didn't change.
There were pictures of him with Tanner, his mother, his father, and other members of his family. Obviously not wanting to see this anymore, he turned the page and frowned even more when he saw the pictures that were on this page.
The photos on this page were from when they were in middle school, mostly eighth grade. Rex let me use the photos that I had seen fall out of his yearbook when I was in the hospital so many months before, since he was planning on getting rid of them anyway. And then some of them were Seth's, which he had found and was planning on throwing away.
River looked different in the pictures, and I knew that it bothered him. But it didn't bother me at all. I didn't want him to change back, and I had already told him that. I wondered if he didn't believe me or not. He seemed to when I told him that...
I even included the picture of him and Bekka, except she had a giant red X over her face, courtesy of me, of course. River smirked at this, shaking his head as he turned the page, obviously wanting to get rid of those memories. I didn't blame him, since I knew how much he hated what had happened in his past. But I had added that in because that was a part of his life, and it didn't even matter now.
He smirked now when he saw pictures from his freshman and sophomore year at Bentwood. There were a few pictures of River, Seth, and Rex at an amusement park when they were sophomores, and River looked unhappy in all of them, except for one. He had his tongue stuck out while he stood in between Rex and Seth, who were making crazy faces as well. This wasn't surprising for Rex, but it sure was for Seth and River.
River turned the page and smiled when he saw photos of me, on my first day at Bentwood. Someone from the newspaper class had taken a picture of Rex and Paul fighting, and I was in the background watching, looking scared. I didn't even know that the kid had taken the picture until Rex had given it to me, along with a bunch of other ones from the newspaper kids.
Apparently I was having my picture taken pretty much everywhere I was in Bentwood, because the boys wanted to make an article about me. But they were planning on publishing it at the end of the year, after they got enough good pictures, but since I left before the school year ended, they weren't able to do it.
I had had my picture taken without my knowledge before, but it was a lot creepier than the newspaper boys. None of them were obsessed with me or tried to kill the love of my life. They just wanted a good article.
And it actually came in handy now.
But there was one creepy part of them taking pictures of me. They didn't take pictures of me in the shower or anything, but they managed to take a few pictures of when Seth and I had made out in the pool. I didn't even know that anyone was there, besides Mrs. Dents, who had caught us.
I made sure to keep those photos out of the album, since River didn't know that that kiss ever happened. Even if it was before we were together, I didn't want him finding out that I had made out with Seth willingly. He knew that I had kissed Seth before, but nothing like what happened in the pool.
When Rex saw those photos, his eyes pretty much bugged out of his head and he wouldn't stop bothering Seth and me about it. We understood that it was a mistake, but it was before River and I were together and before Seth and Marnie were together as well.
He flipped the page and smiled when he saw the pictures from the photo booth at the amusement park Arianna had pretty much forced us to when we were visiting. Half the photos were of us kissing, and one or two of them were just of my back, since it was covering the camera as I was on top of River.
Before he could look at the rest of the photos, a waiter came to take our orders. After he left, River put the album away, telling me that he'd look at the rest of it once we went back to his apartment.
Not if we weren't busy doing something else...
Okay, so Rex was right. I was planning on... uh... doing it with River. I shouldn't have been nervous, since we had done it a bunch of times before, but it was so awkward to talk about and so weird to think about. River never turned me down before, so I was sure that he wasn't going to tonight, on his birthday.
When we finally got our food, the two people I really didn't want to see that night had entered the restaurant. I was used to luck not being on my side, so I wasn't as surprised as I should have been. They spotted us almost immediately, as if they were looking for us.
I swallowed my spaghetti and stared flatly at my plate. This wasn't going to be fun.
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