Manic

Chapter 22.

Rivers finds me later that night, curled up in a ball in my bed. He closes the door when he enters, and without saying a word, crawls into the bed beside me. He lays next to me, stroking my hair away from my face and allows the tears to fall from my eyes in silence.

I don't mind the silence anyway. In fact, I preferred it. What could I say, anyway? That I was a freak who heard voices? That I was seventeen with major daddy issues? No, the silence was better.

"What are you doing?" Danny scolds. "You're in New York for christ's sake! You're ruining Rivers vacation."

"Get over yourself, freak." Reid agrees.

I take a shaky breath and face Rivers. "I'm sorry." I say.

"For what?" He asks.

"I'm ruining your vacation."

Rivers laughs, "Ruining it? Elijah, you are doing nothing of the sort. I'm so glad you came with me."

I wipe my eyes and sit up in the bed. "Let's do something."

"Like what?" Rivers says.

"I don't know. Show me your favorite place."

Rivers smiles, "I'm saving that for tomorrow." He says. "Tonight, let us cuddle and watch movies. Sound good?"

A smile comes to my lips, despite the voices in my mind going wild. "Sounds good." I replied.

Rivers wraps his strong arms around me, and lays his head in my lap. I grab the remote and turn on the TV, not even caring what movie came on. I run my hands through Rivers' hair, gently playing with each strand as if trying to memorize them.

We lay like that for hours.

Neither one of us said a word, just focusing on each other's touch as if it were the only thing that mattered. And in that moment, it was.

After the third movie, Rivers sits up and looks at me. His eyes were as captivating as the first time I looked into them.

"Elijah Jude," He says. "Kiss me before I go mad."

I do as I'm told.

Our lips collide, sending sparks of electricity through my entire body. We kiss as if the one thing keeping us grounded to the earth was this kiss, as if the only thing that mattered were our lips pressed upon each other. Rivers slowly maneuvers his body so that he is closer to me. He runs his hands through my hair and my hands sit at his waist. The two of us are completely and utterly entranced by the kiss.

That is, until we were rudely interrupted by Rivers' older brother Arden.

The door swings open and we hear him go, "I have been looking for you for-" He stops mid sentence. "Oh-"

Rivers sits up and looks at me, a smile creeping onto his lips. My heart in my chest is pounding so hard I briefly wonder if it will combust out of my chest entirely.

"Arden," Rivers says in an annoyed tone.

The shock from Arden's face disappears, as if walking in on his brother making out with another boy was a usual occurrence. "Dad wants you." He says, and turns around leaving the door open. I wonder if it was on purpose.

Rivers sighs. He looks back to me and shrugs, "Well." Rivers leans in one more time, our lips connecting for a short moment. "I'll be back." He gets off the bed and heads down the hall and I listen to his footsteps as they trail down the stairs.

I close my eyes and lean my head against the wall.

"Disgusting." Reid says. "I can't believe that just happened."

"Shut up." I reply.