Devil's Pawn (Completed)

19.

After the party River called his mom. I had Leslie to call Chloe and tell her to tell my mom I fell asleep there. Chloe actually liked Leslie...if she was even capable of that.

"You never cease to amaze me with your beauty Joe." I smiled at her compliment as I climbed into the car.

"Thank you Mrs.Dallas." I replied scooting the left so River could climb in behind me.

"You have my son opening doors for you. I am shocked. Who knew he could be such a gentleman?" I laughed at River's dad.

"Nice night kids?" I nodded.

"Yea." River said distant. I looked up at him and then at his mom whose smile disappeared as soon as she saw River disinterest in her comments. She turned around in her seat and started a conversation with her husband.

I reached my hand over and grabbed River's giving it a squeeze. He looked at me and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He lifted my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly, never once breaking eye contact with me. Romance.

"Keep it PG. I hear kissing." I laughed out loud at Roger's teasing and even River chuckled at his dad. His family was cool.

We arrived at the beautiful Notebook house in little under twenty minutes. The car ride wasn't as awkward as it started, but the tension was edible.

"Will I be needing to deliver condoms to your room boy?" I pretended to not hear Roger whispering to River. He snorted and shook his head. "Of course not. I forgot, savin yourself." he walked away from us and grabbed his wife's hand. She turned and looked at me as she smiled.

River looked at me flustered, "Well shall I finally show you my room?" I nodded. He led the way up the spiral staircase until he got to a room with a black door.

"Poetic." I noted. I waited for him to open the door but instead he put a finger to his mouth to silence me. He put his ear to the door. He turned slowly and opened it.

"AH!" I jumped at the little toddler who had just burst from the room. "Aw man! You didn't even flinch! I've been here an hour tryna scare you." he crossed his arms over his small chest and sighed.

River bent down to his height and ruffled his dark hair. "Well on the bright side...you scared the shit out of Joey." he threw his thumb back in my direction. The little toddler finally brought his gaze to me. He shamelessly looked me over and smiled.

"Joey?" he asked River. "Is she the one you told dad you wanted to-"

"Invite over." River said covering his mouth as he glared. "Yes." He stood back up with the little boy in his arms. "Riley," he started. "This is my- This is Jolie Mitchell."

Riley smirked at me and put his hand out. I gave him my own thinking he would shake it but instead he brought it to his lips and kissed me hand. "I'm Riley. I'm the cute brother. When you get done playing with this kid, and you wanna man...call me. My room is down the hall."

I stifled to keep the laugh inside of my mouth and not kill the little kid's pride. He was most definitely River's little brother. A future playboy in the making.

"Hey!" River scowled. "No making moves on my girl." he put Riley on the ground. "Bed time." River said frowning.

"Yeah Yeah." Riley said walking away in his Lightening Mcqueen boxers. "Night Joey Pooh." he blew me a kiss as he ran down the hall away from his brother's glare.

That ladies and gentlemen...was Riley Dallas

I looked back up at River with my eyebrows raised. "He's a charmer." He laughed at me joke sarcastically and rolled his eyes. He seemed...jealous.

"Oh don't tell me you're jealous of a baby." I teased following him into the black door.

"He's five." he scoffed. I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior. River's room was junky. My eyes widened and I felt the OCD shoot up my body like an alarm telling me the place was on fire.

"River!" I scowled. "You have maids. How on earth is your room this horrible?" He looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"It's not even that bad." he waved me off with his hand like I was overreacting. If anything River was under-reacting. His room did not match anything of his house. His home was beautiful and orderly. This was a...teenage boy's room. How did I expect anything less?

"You're right," I muttered. He turned to him in an "I told you so" manner, "It's worse." I finished. "If I'm supposed to be sleeping here then we're gonna be cleaning and organizing all night."

"You can't be serious." he said staring at me with his eyes wide.

"Oh but I am." I put a hand on my hip. "Go get a broom, mop, and some cleaning supplies." He turned to the door mumbling. "Control issues."

"Oh, I forgot. Remember to get a huge trash bag."

"You're not throwing my things away." he said seriously.

"Only trash" I said eyeing the floor which only had a path from the bed to the door cleared to see the hardwood underneath.

"There isn't any trash here." I raised an eyebrow and bent down picking up an empty bag of Hot Cheetos discarded among the other filth that lie there.

"Really."

He sighed, "Point proven."

I took the time it took for River to go find the supplies to separate trash and clothing and papers on his floor. I assumed all the clothes were dirty so I just threw everything from the bed and put all the clothes on it. I threw everything off of his desk and sat his laptop up stacking all pencils, headphones, and papers I found on top. When I looked down I saw empty beer bottles coming from under the bed. I bent down the pick them up, curiously I began to count them, though after 20 I stopped. I sat down and continued scraping the bottles from under the bed when I saw a square piece of parchment. I picked up the Polaroid and turned it over.

It was a picture of River, maybe three or four years ago, he looked so young and carefree with a boy about his age hanging onto his arm. On the side of him was a slightly older looking girl laughing at the two boys who were putting up funny signs with their hands. Jesse.They looked so happy.

"Where'd you find that?" River asked staring at me.

"I wasn't snooping. I just saw it under the bed. I was getting trash." River stopped my rambling as he snatched the picture and stared at it. He smiled softly before he put it on a shelf. A shelf I hadn't even noticed. It was the cleanest thing in his room.

"Who is he?" I asked crossing my legs. He sat next to me and shrugged. "He was my best friend." I wanted to push him into telling more about him. I hadn't seen him around school so I was wondering where he is. Did he move? Did he know about me? And could I meet him? I guess he knew my plans because as soon as I opened my mouth to ask, River opened his laughing.

"I guess I really drink a lot." I eyed the assortment of different brands of beer and grimaced. "Like a fish."

He smirked. "As long as I'm Nemo."