Lea
Looking through the clothes that Marissa gave me, I chew on the inside of my mouth, having difficulty deciding which outfit to wear. Grabbing and changing into skinny jeans and a simple top, I eye myself in the mirror. My dark blonde hair tied neatly into a bun and I'm wearing nothing on my face except the dark grey bags beneath my eyes. Something I would've covered up with concealer if I had my makeup with me.
Pushing the discontent to the back of my mind, I glance at the clock above the messily made bed and see that the second hand indicates it's half past one, realising that I've kept River waiting almost half an hour to get ready.
Opening the door and walking towards the stairs, I see him climbing up the first few steps only to stop when he sees me. "Your parents are home, come down," he tells me.
Nodding my head, he turns around and I follow in his footsteps to the bottom floor and towards the living room door. Bobbing his head in the direction of the wide open door, I turn from him to see my parents sat on the plush sofa around the square coffee table.
"They want to speak to you," he says. "I'll be in the kitchen." He finishes, giving me a friendly smile, which I return, before moving around me and heading to the kitchen.
Watching my parents from this distance - their slump postures and serious demeanours - it's easy to guess what they have to say is not good news. I walk slowly into the room, rounding the coffee table before making my way to the sofa directly in front of them.
"Hey," I speak. "What's going on?" Now that I'm seated before them, I can make out their distress more clearly. For my father, it's his sunken eyes that look as if they've seen little sleep for the past couple of days.
"Lea..." My mother starts, but doesn't continue. Instead, she turns to my father.
"What's going on?" I ask again, glancing from my mother to my father anxiously.
"Lea...we visited the house this morning..." My father says.
"And?" I say, nodding my head slowly and gesturing for them to continue with my hand. I knew this was coming.
"The builders said they couldn't retrieve much," Mum informs me. "Most of the upstairs furniture was broken, and during the collapse, some of the pipes had been broken and there was a leakage, so a lot of things were destroyed and not worth bringing out."
"They said as they tidy it up, they'll give us what they can recover. But I don't think there will be much," My father finishes, his voice weak.
It must be hard for him. The house for which he's been slaving away at work for, trying to pay off the mortgage, along with his possessions, are all gone.
"But what about the house? Are they going to rebuild it." I question.
"Yes, the insurance company said it would cover the cost of rebuilding. It will take a while, though." He responds. At least that's some good news.
I look down at my hands, watching how my fingers intertwine and squeeze together tightly, turning the skin yellow. It's something I do when I'm stressed. Sighing gently to myself, I think of all my belongings in my house. My clothes, my shoes, my makeup, my laptop, and phone. They're all very materialistic things, but it's still hard to know that your possessions are pretty much gone. Some of them, like the personal photographs or the priceless gifts, cannot be replaced. It sucks.
You could have it worse, Lea.
"So, what now?" I finally inquire after my parents give me a few minutes to comprehend the situation.
"Well, I'm going to have to work hard and earn enough money to rent out a small place," he says, taking a deep breath. "In the meantime, I've discussed it with Malcolm and Brenda, and they're happy for us to stay here."
His last sentence uplifts me. The Parker's house is magnificent, and for them to let us stay here is beyond courteous. Of course, Malcolm knows my father, but he doesn't know my mother nor I, and so him and Brenda allowing us to stay here, free of charge, is so kind.
Leaving my parents to their discussion, I stand from my seat and make my way to the kitchen where River said he would be. Finding him sat atop the countertop, sight set on the blindingly green grass outside of the large window, I make my presence known with a small "hey."
Immediately twisting his head in my direction, he jumps down from the countertop and moves a few steps towards me. "Hey, everything okay?" His calm voice evokes a small tingling in my chest.
"Yeah, everything's fine," I lie; it's not, but I can't do anything about it. "Where's Jake and Ky?"
"The wood house," he answers rushedly. "Are you sure you're okay, Lea?"
Maybe the blow of the news of my home is apparent on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm gonna have to bail on lunch though."
At this, his brows crease in what I can only assume is disappointment. He doesn't do much to hide it either. "Why?"
"I'm just not in the mood right now," I reply, hoping he'll understand.
After being quiet for a moment, he finally nods his head. "Do you still want a lift?"
"No, I'm okay," I smile; his politeness is sweet. "Thanks, River."
***
I did nothing for the rest of that weekend and week after it, other than sleep, eat, go to school and finish off any homework I had due. Although my family's situation sucked, I kept convincing myself of the bright side: we're alive, and well, we're currently residing in a mansion, and one day we'll eventually find normalcy again.
Living in this mansion also means I see a lot of River. We often find ourselves bumping into each other around the house. For example, we sometimes coincidentally leave our rooms at the same time and climb down for dinner together, or we reach for the door handle of the fridge simultaneously. When the latter happens, it's often because we both want the milk and have to take it in turns to pour it over our cereal. Once, even Brenda laughed at the sight of me insisting that River uses the milk first, and him refusing, making me use it first.
It's funny now that I think back at it, and what's funnier is that we only seem to bump into each when we want food. Then again I only ever come out of the guestroom to eat.
More often than not, I find myself engrossed in the thought of him. How he carried me through the woods, how he eyed me up, how he bandaged my finger that is still a little sore. I know I shouldn't be thinking about him like that because he has a girlfriend, yet in my attempt of distracting myself with something, my mind always seems to wander back to him.
When the weekdays of the past week rolled around, we travelled to school together in his car. Instead of dropping me a few blocks away like the first time, he parked up in the school parking lot, and we made our way inside the building together. Inevitably, we received many stares when spotted together, but after parting ways to head to our separate classes, the curious eyes lessened.
One morning on our way to school, he said "I'm sorry about your belongings. Your dad told us they couldn't save much."
Facing away from the outside world beyond the window, my eyes met his warm ones. "Yeah, unfortunately. It's alright though."
"If there's anything you need, just ask," he told me, which brought a grateful smile onto my face.
Now, though, it's Saturday. I've gotten into a bad habit of waking up late on the weekends; it's probably the heavenly bed that compels me to keep sleeping. Finally dragging myself up at noon, I make my way down the stairs, disheartened that I don't meet River at the top like I usually do. Rounding my way to the kitchen, I go to reach for the fridge to get the milk, only to find it in River's hands as he goes to pour it in his usual cereal.
"Morning," I say, stopping him in his actions. "Well, it's afternoon, but whatever."
He chuckles, "Good afternoon, cereal too?"
I nod my head, a smile edging onto my lips.
"Good afternoon sleepy birds," Brenda's chirpy voice sounds from behind us.
"Good afternoon," River and I reply simultaneously.
She steps towards River, edging her head forward to see into River's bowl. "You're having cereal for lunch?" She asks him, almost baffled that he would do such a thing. When he opens his mouth to reply, she interjects with "why don't you go out for lunch? Take Lea with you." She gestures towards me, provoking the butterfly flutter in my stomach.
River turns to me, looking for a response. "Do you wanna go out for lunch?"
I did turn him down last week, and the heated feeling cooking in my chest urges me to say yes. Plus it'll be rude to say no in front of his mother. However, I can't quieten the moral voice in the back of my head shouting 'he has a girlfriend!'
It's just lunch; it'll be fine.
"Sure," I say a little too curtly, trying to disguise the nervousness that has suddenly overwhelmed me.
It's just lunch.
"Good, then you two go, I'll let your parents know when they're back," Brenda smiles at me, ushering us out of the kitchen.
Pacing out of the kitchen with River beside me, I look down at my loungewear that I'm wearing, "I'll just quickly go get changed," I tell him, before heading up to the guestroom.
Instead of making River wait a lifetime like last weekend, I grab Georgia's outfit that River had given me, quickly pulling on the clothes and tying my hair up into a messy ponytail. I'm surprised Georgia didn't realise I was wearing them at school last week, but she probably has so many garments that she hardly recognises these. Ignoring my reflection in the mirror because I know I don't look my best, I exit the guestroom and descend the spiral stairs.
River is leant against the round table in the centre of the entryway, just beyond the double doors, with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his grey hoodie. At my footfalls, he lifts his head towards me.
"Ready?" He asks; the smile that spreads on his face makes my heart shake.
"Yes,"
He opens the front door and gestures me out with his hand.
"Ladies first."
***