There's Something About Him (Complete)

Chapter Seven - My Family and Your Family

I shook my head at him as he reached across the cafeteria table and stole one of my potato chips, "No."

"Why? They're just my parents and it's not like we're dating or anything besides you're going to have to meet them eventually so that we can get our English assignment done." The overhead light glinted off his glasses as he happily demolished whatever food he could find on the table.

I groaned and dropped my head onto the table; when we had turned up for our English class, the teacher had casually announced that a large portion of our final grade would depend upon how well we could conduct valued research and write the biography of one of our peers. We had told that we were to choose our own partners since we needed to be able to trust and feel comfortable with the person who would no doubt be invading our homes as we documented each other's lives.

River was the obvious choice for a partner since we had no other friends but I was panicked about the fact that I was going to have to share otherwise unknown parts of myself all for the sake of his grades. I couldn't punish him because I had never wanted anyone to know about my family.

"Why did they have to go and give us such a ridiculous assignment?" I whined, still talking into the wood of the table.

I felt fingers weave through my hair as River gently patted my head, "There, there. You know that you'll love hanging with me outside of school."

I looked up at him and barked out a laugh, "You mean if I even get there! Every girl in the school is hating me right now because they think I'll get to meet your brother before they do."

"Do you have a problem with meeting him?"

I wasn't sure what was in his tone but it had me looking closely at him; in his eyes I saw what I thought might be hurt. I reached across and touched the back of his hand, "Why would I not want to meet him? He's your brother and you're my friend. Surely you don't still think that who and what he is concerns me?"

He glanced away, "You just seem to avoid talking about him altogether whereas I want you to be comfortable since to me he's just my big brother."

"You're right but not because I'm uncomfortable with it but because I don't want you thinking that I'm like everyone else who just wants you because of him."

I saw him shake his head before he smiled, "I am normally pretty good at guessing people's motives and I can honestly say that you are nothing like the rest of them."

I had to look away because my only thought was that he was completely right and I had a feeling that he was going to be utterly pissed off when he found out that the most important parts of my life had been kept a secret.

"I would love to meet your family," I drew a breath, "and I want you to meet mine as well." Before the time came that I introduced him, I would have to sit down and decide whether to tell him everything beforehand or just allow him to find out when he turned up to my parents' three-storey mansion.

He grinned, "I didn't think you'd invite me over regardless of the assignment. You never even mention your family and I haven't heard any rumours about them."

"I never talk about them because I don't want rumours to start," I tapped a finger against my lips as though in thought, "I'm pretty sure I can trust you though and I know that my mother wants to meet you." This time my facial expression, a grimace, was genuine. I had casually mentioned that I had finally found a friend and my mum had nearly burst my ear drums as she screamed and clapped excitedly. She didn't care that he was male or that there was no chance of us becoming romantically involved; I had truly loved her when she chattered on about the fact that she was overjoyed.

My father had been slightly more reserved as I spoke about River over dinner but he also couldn't keep the smile from his face - even as he walked from the room and spoke about using some of his 'contacts' to run a background check on the family and their reasons for moving here.

He had to mention anything and I hadn't wanted to ask because the Daimon family deserved their privacy and I honestly didn't want to know about his so-called 'contacts'.

"I'm sure she does," he fluttered his eyelashes, "who wouldn't want to meet me?"

I giggled, "Really?"

"I am the most awesome person alive!" He pouted.

"You're probably right," I tried to appease him as I started eating once more.

All day, butterflies had been swirling through my stomach; I was used to meeting new people but meeting River's parents and brother was a big deal to me, it was important. I liked having him as a friend since he made me appreciate myself as a person again and I didn't want that all destroyed because of choices that I had made years ago.

"So when exactly am I coming over?" I asked, picking at what was left of my lunch.

He shrugged, "Depends. Do you want to start the assignment or just do dinner or something?"

I tilted my head to the side and thought it over; since we had a few months to complete the assignment, I was happy enough to just spend time getting to know him before we began our formal research.

"I could come over after lunch tomorrow and we could do the afternoon and dinner with your family," I suggested, already knowing that my parents would be happy to see me out of the house and with someone my own age.

He nodded his head and shot me a happy smile, "Sounds great. We could even adventure out to the cinema after dinner. My parents won't mind."

I giggled, "We must seem really sad when all of our parental units are excited about us hanging out."

"Nah, we're just really special and had to wait until we found one another," River's eyes twinkled, "You're my soul mate."

I coughed on a sip of water, "You're what?"

"My soul mate. You complete me!" He insisted, holding a hand to his heart. "I know you love me."

I shook my head slowly, not taking my eyes off his face, "I think that I'm going to discover that you were either spawned or came from a pod since I'm pretty sure that no normal woman would have claimed you."

"That cut me really deep, RiRi. That cut me right through my love muscle," he pretended to wipe a tear away.

I looked up to the ceiling, "Dear God in Heaven, please help me."