Where I'd Gone ⌲ River Phoenix ((COMPLETED))

Long Talks

My stomach churned when I realized River had a girlfriend. I know I basically walked into that one though, we both did. I didn't think River and I would ever date, we were just really good friends. I always had mixed feelings for River, but I had obvious feelings for Max.

I met up with Max at Mel's diner, and I thought over my feelings for him.

"Hey, Chris!" I suddenly didn't like it when he called me Chris... That was River's thing. But I fake smiled.

"Hey, Max." We embraced, but I didn't feel any sparks. I hated myself for thinking that.

"I haven't seen River in a while, looking forward to that," He smiled.

"Me too," I smiled too.

River came out with his arm over a blonde girl who I'm guessing was Martha. She had a small face and short hair. I guess River really missed me because he went in for a hug. "Had fun at the set?" I asked through the hug. He nodded and smirked.

"Hey," Martha semi-smiled over at me. She had a pretty thick New York accent.

"Hi," I smiled back at her.

"Max, how's it going?" River and Max shook hands. 

"Good, man Rio, you're looking sharp."

We walked into the restaurant and sat down at the booth. "So how'd you guys meet?" I asked River and Martha.

They looked at each other and squinted their noses. "Casting," Martha smiled. 

"That one line lured me in you know." River said and they both laughed. What line?

"Enough about us, how'd you guys meet?" Martha asked eagerly. I looked over to Max, who was chomping down some fries.

"Met him through some mutual friends," I said. Martha awkwardly looked away.

"So tell me about yourself," Martha laid her hand on my wrist and gave me a genuine smile.

"I'm 14... and I thought I wanted to be an actress, but deep down I want to be a famous pianist," I spoke sheepishly. I was scared to open up like this to people I had just met. "Tell me about you!" she nodded as she listened.

"Something that I just recently changed about myself is that I'm now adapting to a vegan lifestyle - because our world is inhabited by nature and animals, they're our friends and don't deserve the cruelty," she explained as she looked over at River, who looked like a proud mom. "I actually went out to dinner with Rio and I ordered soft shell crabs... He bolted out of there crying. That's when I realized I needed to change my ways."

The rest of the night was kind of a blur. Max didn't talk much, neither did I. We just left the lovebirds to boast about themselves.

After the double date, I went home for an early sleep. I'm homeschooled for the rest of the year so it's not like I had to get up early.

March 25, 1986

Max asked me to go to a Prince concert with him yesterday, and well I had a lot of fun - like I always do, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. Although, I found it kind of odd that he never touched me, like hugging, or even wrapping his arm around my shoulders. We've been going out for almost a month and it seems like he's never even thought about going to first base. I mean I'm not complaining, I'm really not into that stuff, but I'm starting to think he's slowly losing interest in me.

I wasn't sure how River found my number, but I didn't bother to ask - He probably asked Iris for it. He had been calling me nonstop for the last few days, mostly groaning about his relationship with Martha. I guess you could say they were fighting a lot. Not the physical type, just the arguing type. She was very strong-willed so the arguments seemed to be inevitable.