Renee's River | √

40. more invitations & morning rides

❝Nights on nights on nights
Days on days on days
Clock work, night work, homework
We don't take no breaks❞
-PRETTYMUCH, 10,000 Hours.

"So, I've been thinking of what to do for Riley's birthday, and I got it."

River looked away from his camera, and dropped his gaze on me, "What?"

I smiled proudly, "I'll bake her some cupcakes!"

River went back to taking pictures of random things without a word and I frowned, "I know I can't bake, but I spoke to Sky when working today and she doesn't mind teaching me how to. She said learning how to bake simple cupcakes is quite easy and I'm pretty sure I can learn fast."

River sighed and looked away from his camera again, "You know you don't have to, right?"

"I want to, though. I know Riley will probably have lots of cakes but I want to do something for her."

"Well, that's thoughtful of you."

I smiled to myself but then, I felt a flash on my face. I immediately looked at River who had a smile on his face, "Did you just-"

"Yep. And you look really good," he winked , sitting beside me on the ground. "Want to see it?"

"Yeah," I shyly nodded.

He moved closer to me, close enough for me to take in most of his scent. "Look at that face," he said, his eyes on the camera as he showed it to me.

"Stop," I laughed.

"I'm not teasing, I promise," he chuckled, keeping his camera away. "But tell me, how was school today?"

I let out a breath, "You have no idea how lucky you are, waking up every morning but not having to go to school or deal with people or teachers."

"Is everything okay at school?"

I shrugged. "I just miss Kaleb, I guess."

"Are you guys okay?"

"I don't think so."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I just feel like we're drifting apart. I mean, of course I didn't expect that I'd be stuck with him forever, but I met Kaleb in 6th grade. Some guys Mason and Drew dared him to steal my lunch."

Beside me River chuckled so I continued, "He was successful, though. At the time, I'd gone to grab some juice and I got back to my table and I didn't see my food. Then, I saw him laughing with Mason and Drew, so I angrily marched up to them and asked for my food, and he gave it back."

"I'm surprised he gave it back," River said.

"He looked really sorry, though, and all the anger I felt just went away. He apologized after lunch and I don't know, we just clicked. We became tight friends after that day," I paused. "When he started dating Sydney earlier this year, I knew Sydney didn't like me and that was fine, because I don't like her either, but I knew that at some point it'll cause problems between me and Kaleb, and maybe I just expected him to handle things better. I miss him is all. I miss hanging out after school or later in the day, binge watching an entire series on Netflix, sending each other stupid memes we both relate to or grabbing breakfast on our way to school," It was now I realized how much I missed him. "We don't even go to school together anymore. Today, he got to school late. Said he overslept."

"How did you get to school then?"

"The bus," I answered.

"You like the bus? I always hated the bus."