The Plan| Reddie

That's One Way to Come Out

River laughs the next week as she watches Ivy and Quinn over dramatically sing The Thrill of First Love from Falsettos. Wren smiles over at his girlfriend. He loves her laugh. It was high pitched and very contagious. She snorts, which makes her giggle and then they all applaud the girls with smiles on their faces.

"Okay, Wren and River-Cecelia, what have you two been working on?" Mr Rowan asks. River and Wren smile and then he sits at the piano as she grabs her ukulele.

"Ready?" She asks Wren.

"Whenever you are." He responds and then they nods to eachother as they begin to play Only Us from Dear Evan Hansen. They'd been working on it for a few weeks now.

River loves Dear Evan Hansen. It's one of her favourite musicals and she's loving singing it with Wren. They're voices blend well together, the harmonies going perfectly. Richie enters the room toward the end and he watches with a proud smile on his face. The two finish singing and everyone applauds, including Richie.

"Yes, Mr Tozier?" Mr Rowan asks. Richie smiles as his daughter walks past him to put away her ukulele.

"Uh, do you have a whiteboard pen I can borrow?" Richie asks and Mr Rowan smiles, going off to find one. Richie just stands in the doorway with an awkward grin on his face." Cece."

"Yeah?" River asks, stopping her conversation with Wren and turning to her dad. He beckons her over and so she obeys.

"So, it's Nathan's birthday on Saturday and your mom wants you this weekend." Richie explains and River sighs." I know you don't like going but he is your brother."

"He's a little shit." River mumbles, staring at her shoes. Richie sighs and places his hands on either of her shoulders. She looks up at him.

"I'm only a phone call away, bubba. You know that." He states and River forces a grin." It's only one weekend."

"Here you are." Mr Rowans says, passing Richie the pen, who takes it with a grateful smile. Mr Rowan smiles back and walks off to help a student. Richie turns back to his daughter, who was now wearing a glum expression on her face.

"She never lets me do what I want. She picks out my outfits. She tells me off for things Nathan does when she knows it Nathan. I want to stay with you." She explains and Richie pulls her into the hug, not caring if she was in the middle of class and he was supposed to be teaching one. It was his juniors and he trusted them.

"I'm sorry. It's one weekend, honey. You're gonna have to be patient." Richie says, kissing her forehead and letting go of her. He cups her cheeks and lifts her head up so she's forced to make eye contact. He grins goofily and she rolls her eyes before smiling." Theres that beautiful smile!"

"Dad." River whines with embarrassment. Richie chuckles and goes to leave to head back to his class." Wait, dad, Quinn said her mom is inviting us over for dinner tonight."

River can't see but in that moment, Richie's eyes go wide and panic sets in. Had she found out about his and Eddie's arrangement? Why did she want to have dinner with them?

"W-why?" Richie asks, trying not to let his panic seep into his voice. He turns back around and River just shrugs.

"I think it's probably something to do with me telling her that she needed to get to know you before judging you so...it's really fucking petty." She replies and Richie nods." So am I telling Quinn we'll be over or?"

"Yeah. Yeah sure." Richie says with a sigh. River notices his odd behaviour but shrugs it off. Richie smiles at her and heads back to his classroom, River walking over to Quinn.