The Truth about Heather (gxg)

2 💕

Once I got in through the front door, after saying goodbye to Drew, I knew there was one person that I needed to talk to. Sure, he might not be able to help me out with this but Riley was the one person I knew who knew, well, almost everything there was to know about me. I hadn't told him about my feelings for Drew outright, but he had sort of figured that one out by himself. 

I soon found him in his room working on some mathematics homework. That much didn't surprise me, my brother wanted to do really well in elementary school so that he could get a head start in middle school. It seemed slightly ridiculous but I believed he knew what he was doing. 

I had never been much of an academic person but I did want to start my own jewellery business one day. I would probably get some tips from my parents at some point- the two of them were business owners. My mother specialised in clothing while my father sold electric toothbrushes. While they were completely separate, my parents had met in business school and proceeded to fall in love there. Perhaps there would be hope for me, too. 

"Why the long face?" Riley asked me, as I sat down on the chair next to him. 

"I'm sad," I said. 

"Why are you sad?" Riley asked me, as the corner of his lips twitched up slightlly. 

"You know why," I said. 

Riley's eyes flickered with some recognition then, before he responded to that comment. 

"I don't think it's good for you to keep all of these feelings to yourself," he told me. 

"Trust me, Riles, if I knew that there was a certainty that I could tell Drew about my feelings and it wouldn't ruin everything between the two of us, then I would. I don't know that, though, and so I can't do that," I told him. 

Riley looked tempted to pinch the bridge of his nose and I honestly couldn't blame him for that. 

"Alright, so what are you going to do now?" he asked me. 

"Try to move on," I said. 

Riley raised an eyebrow at me. 

"What?" I asked him. 

"I'm just thinking that this isn't the first time that you've told me of your brilliant plans to move on," Riley stated. 

"Well, I need to," I said. 

Riley frowned. 

"I know, I know. I'm being temperamental again. Get used to it. I'm a teenager. I have hormones and that crap to figure out," I said, as I crossed my arms in front of my chest. 

"You're sensitive," Riley said. 

I shrugged my shoulders. 

"Maybe," I said. 

"If this is bothering you as much as it is, though, I'll help you," Riley said, as he adjusted the glasses on the end of his nose. I could always rely on him to have some kind of plan, even if I didn't end up agreeing with it, it was always nice to hear my brother's advice. 

I moved some hair over my shoulder and found myself curious as to what his master plan would involve this time around. 

"What's the plan?" I asked him. 

"You need to focus on your school work," he said, "Just like me!" he added, as he showed me his notebook full of sticky notes and coloured writing. 

"You're ridiculous. How much is there to learn in the...fourth grade?" I asked him. 

"There's a lot. I need to get into a good middle school," he said. 

"You're going to go to the same one that I went to," I said. 

Riley's eyes widened. 

"Exactly. I'll go there if I don't study really hard to get into a different school," he said. 

I felt my eyebrows crease together at that statement. 

"Gee, thanks. We can't all be smart like you, Riles," I told him. 

Riley's expression became thoughtful momentarily before he spoke again. 

"You're smart, too. You just don't have much common sense. You can't drive very well and your handwriting is atrocious," he told me. 

"Hey!" I said, feeling about ready to protest. 

"But, you are smart and capable enough to get through this year without worrying about all of these feelings that you have about Drew," he told me. 

I felt tempted to sigh. 

"You're good enough on your own, Zoe," he told me. 

For an eight year old, he was surprisingly wise. 

"You'll study hard, go to Harvard or something along those lines and then you won't have to worry about all of this anymore!" Riley told me. 

"You're such an idealist," I replied. 

Riley shrugged in response to that. 

"It's good to have dreams," he told me, "Now, I must return to my work. Close the door on your way out, please. Mother is cooking up garlic pasta and the smell tends to waft," he told me. 

I gave a slight shake of my head, as I felt myself smirk, but left my brother's room. I closed the door behind me and then decided that it was about time for me to go and investigate what was going on downstairs. 

 Life was about adaptation. I was going to have to get used to things changing, especially if Drew did as Wesley had suggested and ended up talking more to Heather... 

What did she have that I didn't? 

Either way, it didn't matter. 

The over-boiling pasta led me to quickly leave my thoughts behind. 

"Do you want some help?" I asked my mother. 

"Sure," she replied, as she gave me a kind smile in return for my kind offer. 

Even the thought of food wasn't helping me to feel better about the fact that I would be starting school again, imminently. 

That was simply something that I knew I was going to have to get used to, though. 

Life was different now. Drew and I weren't going to be the same people forever, especially not when he made his way off to college. That was just something I was going to have to learn to deal with. 

So, as I tried to not think about it all, I continued to stir the pasta in the saucepan, until it was time for dinner to be served.