Hey There, Delilah

Hey There, Delilah (23)

"So you go to school with my little brother, I see," Tanner whispered to me as the three boys and I passed him to enter the house. "This is going to be fun."

I did not like the sound of that.

River's house was huge; a lot bigger in the inside than it was on the outside. And that was saying something. I tried to stay as far away from Tanner as I possibly could without it looking like I was trying to, and I was wondering if River noticed or not. Rex was too oblivious to notice anything, and Seth wasn't really paying any attention to me. Not that that surprised me.

"Where're Mom and Dad?" River asked Tanner, who shrugged simply.

"Somewhere, I guess. I bet that they'll be happy to learn that you've gotten a normal girlfriend and not that emo chick that acted like a total bitch to everyone," Tanner replied, causing both River and me to freeze. Seth and Rex didn't know about Bekka.

"You went out with her?" Rex exclaimed, his mouth wide open. "Why didn't you tell us that you went out with that freak?"

"That's exactly why," River snapped, his hair covering his eyes even more. "If you're calling her a freak, you're calling me a freak. We both have the same style now."

"That's why you changed!" Rex exclaimed once again. "You should have told us!"

Seth stayed quiet, his hands in his pockets. I actually wanted him to say something to River; I wanted him to say that he didn't care if he used to go out with Bekka or not. But I could see something in his eyes that I could tell he was trying to see. Sadness? Was he upset that River hadn't told him something?

Hah. How do you like being left out in the darkness, Seth? Not very fun, huh?

River merely turned toward his brother, and I could tell he was glaring, even though his hair was covering his face. "And Delilah isn't my girlfriend. She's just a friend of mine."

I wished that I didn't get a bad feeling in my stomach when he said that. I knew River was just my friend; I was going out with Avery. But why was I getting so upset when he was calling me his friend? Yeah, I liked him, but I was still his friend. It wasn't like I was some insane stalker chick and he just said that he hated me. If that had happened, I would have the right to be upset. But it didn't happen. He called me his friend.

Tanner's eyebrows rose. "Really, now? Then why so protective when I checked her out a few moments ago?"

I couldn't believe that he actually admitted that he had checked me out so easily. Was he really that egotistical? Seriously? I couldn't believe that River was actually related to someone like that. Especially when he never acted like that at all!

Now I realized why I had sort of recognized Tanner in the store. He did look a lot like River, except their hair was different and Tanner was obviously older. Their eyes were almost exactly the same, except River's were brighter than Tanner's. But I still found River a lot more attractive than his brother, and I was sure that a lot of other people would too if River kept his hair out of his eyes.

River unconsciously moved closer to me, as if it was an instinct. Tanner smirked at this, and River noticed what he had done, using his hair to cover his eyes and most of his red cheeks. Tanner continued smirking, and an awkward silence filled the room. But that didn't surprise me very much at all.

"River," a voice said from up the stairs, and I saw a beautiful woman with River's bright blue eyes make her way toward us slowly, like she thought she was going to fall down the stairs if she went too quickly. She had long, dark hair the flowed down her back, almost making me envious at how pretty it was. The woman was very beautiful. But the only problem? She didn't sound happy when she had spoken only moments before.