Swallow

Chapter 1.40:

"Can you grab me those little plates from the cabinet? I can't reach them without climbing on the counter." Riley asked me as she danced in front of one of the open doors on her tiptoes.

It was the first words she had uttered directly to me all night. We had been clearing the table in silence for the last ten minutes while everyone else went to relax in the living room. I was surprised she finally officially acknowledged my existence.  It didn't matter to me that it was only because she needed something.  It was a step in the right direction, which meant she was moving towards me and away from Aiden.

She kept reaching up impatiently even though she had just asked me to help her. It was a wasted effort; there was no way she was going to grab them. She wasn't even close to tall enough.

She stepped out of the way for me when I walked over and stood next to her. The plates were easily within my reach and I didn't even have to strain to reach them. 

"You know, you are incredibly short." The stack clanked my hands as I looked down at the stubborn girl who was giving me dirty looks.

"Not everyone can be as freakishly tall as you." She rolled her eyes and snatched them out of my hands without saying thank you.

Riley placed the stack next to her and grabbed a large knife on the counter.  She drove the tip of the knife into the pan a little too aggressively. My hands flew over my pants involuntarily to act as a shield in case she got carried away and went after me instead.

She cut a chunk of brownie, placed it on a plate, and repeated the action until there was a whole counter filled with perfectly proportionate pieces.  I grabbed a few of them and a couple of forks to take them out to the living room. 

Everyone was sitting in front of the television, watching some terrible movie.  It had to be something Mark picked out because it had way too inappropriate content to watch with parents.  Mark was trying to explain what was happening to a very disinterested Mr. Davis, who was yawning like he was about to fall asleep. I walked over and shoved one of the brownies in front of Mark's face first to shut him up.

Brynn smiled and winked at me when I gave her the other plate in my hand like I had done something special for her.  She was just the nearest person to Mark when I walked into the room. 

I went back and forth from the kitchen to the living room two more times until everyone had a plate in their hand. When I came back in from my last trip, Riley had started running water to scrub a few dishes in the sink. She was standing in front of it with her back turned to me and a scrub brush gripped tightly in her hand. She was assaulting the dishes like they had done something wrong.

I reached down and pressed the latch to lower the door to the dishwasher door for her. I sat back against the counter and watched her alternate between attacking the dishes with soap and placing them gently in the machine like she was piecing a fragile puzzle together. 

I noticed when she went to put the silverware in, she carefully sorted out each type into their own separate bin. When one of the forks decided it wanted to be a spoon too, Riley snarled at it and pulled all of the silverware back out to begin again.  She resorted every single piece until they were in their proper place. 

She was a peculiar one.

"So..." I said, not knowing what to say to her.

My plan hadn't developed past the finding a way to get her alone stage.  I was too busy running back and forth between rooms to have time to think it through.

"So," She hissed back while looking up at me, waiting for a response. Riley had disdain for me written all over her face.

The words I wanted to say were stuck in the bottom of my throat.  I tried to tell her that she dominated my every thought, both waking and asleep. No other girl I had ever encountered before had ever pissed me off, confused me, and made me feel anything close to the way she did.