My Neighbour

thirty nine

Riley

By this point, it was only the older children still up so it was only James, Henry, Toby, Jessica and I sitting outside just talking
"You know when we arranged this little family gathering, James showing up with a girlfriend was the last thing I thought would happen" Jessica said grabbing everyone's attention
"Literally, he's the one every one thought would be single his entire life" Toby said making me chuckle
"That was his plan" I laughed making everyone look at me before laughing. Well everyone except James
"Alright since when was it be a dick to James night?" James asked pouting, I looked up at him with a small smirk on my lips, James rolled his eyes placing his arm around me pulling my closer to him
"Regardless, it's weird actually seeing you happy" Henry laughed 

"come on Riley, you can't tell us you looked at James and though ah he'd make a good boyfriend" Jess laughed making me laugh
"Nope, I most certainly didn't" I replied making James narrow his eyes at me
"I actually thought you were a dick when I met you" I reminded him causing him to roll his eyes
"Explains why you thought I drugged the muffins" James replied making me chuckle
"Do we even want to know?" Henry asked and both James and I shook our heads
I like our little stories, they are ones we can tell people in the future but for now. They are ours 

"So Riley, tell us about yourself" Toby asked after we had all started talking about random things
"What did you want to know?" I asked and everyone smiled
"Anything" Toby replied
"How did you get into dance?" Jess asked and I smiled
"My Grandma taught me when I was little, it's how my grandparents met. My Dad tried it but he gained my Grandad's two left feet" I smiled again making Jess smile 
"I think that's a beautiful story" She said and I nodded in return
"So that's the story behind the princess then?" James asked and I looked up at him confused
"what do you mean?" I asked 

"When you were cooking the other week, your dad called you princess but in a way that made it clear there was a story behind it" He explained and I couldn't help but smile a little more
"Yeah, I guess it is. He would always call me it and said that Grandma was just preparing me for a ball" I chuckled making everyone around us smile
"It sounds like you have a tight knit family" Toby questioned and I sighed 
"We used to be but things got a little bumpy" I said bowing my head
I didn't want to get onto this topic, I don't even know how we ended up here

"It's okay, you'll all get to meet Riley's Dad on Friday when he joins us" James said intertwining our hands
"Can't wait" Jess said making me smile at her
"Same here" Toby said
"Me too" Henry said making me smile at the again

--

The cousins decided to head to bed leaving James and I alone outside, I guess all the nights we spend up talking comes in handy when it comes to staying up later then everyone
"You okay?" He asked shaking our intertwined hand, I hummed in response before looking up at him
"Yeah I'm okay, are you?" I asked, he chuckled and nodded
"you know you're the first person I've brought here" He said making me chuckle looking at him
"I wouldn't have guessed, your family's kind of gave that away I'm afraid" I chuckled making him smile leaning down to press our lips together again

James got up moments later grabbing me by the hands pulling me up to the my feet
"What are you doing?" I asked looking out into the garden where a gentle rain was falling, we've been sat under the shelter since it hit
"James it's raining" I laughed
"Come on" he whispered spinning me around in the rain
"you're crazy you know that?" I asked and he nodded kissing me
"Crazy about you" He smirked pulling away

I rolled my eyes playfully at him as he dipped me before spinning me out
The longer we danced the close I felt to James, there was something about him that i couldn't quite put my finger on
He's the perfect mix of sensible but crazy, smart but idiotic, caring but protective
I just hope that he never loses this little sense of spontaneity he has