Lucky's Real Life Romance Novel

Chapter 12

Saturday rolled around faster than I was expecting. By then, Trevor and Aiden knew about Melanie coming, but I hadn't told them about Mia or River yet. My plan was to just show up with them and explain later. We parked at the mall and I held Mia's hand as River followed behind us. I didn't explain anything to anyone, so I couldn't only hope everything would just work itself out. I saw Trevor, Aiden, and Melanie waiting in the center of the mall near the mall map. I walked over with a nervous smile.

"Hey guys," I greeted them. They greeted me back before glancing at the two people who came with me.

"This is Mia, and I'm sure you all already know River," I tried my best to say nonchalantly.

"Know him? The question is, you know him?" Melanie asked.

"We're neighbors," River answered for me with his politician's smile. Melanie gave me a face while Aiden decided to ignore him completely.

"Let's get your glasses first, hm?" Aiden said to me. Trevor quickly agreed as they decided to sandwich me in between them. I ended up picking Mia up so she wouldn't have to run to keep up with their pace. It was like they were running from River. We went to the glasses store first and looked around. Trevor and Aiden were trying to shop seriously, but I picked the first, cheapest pair I could find and set them at the register much to their disappointment. After setting them aside to get the prescription, we went to get Mia clothes next. I set Mia down to let her look around herself and pick things. She was having fun. I found a cute sparkly shirt I thought she would look cute in.

"Really?" River asked as he looked over my shoulder.

"She's a little girl, Riv. She's going to want something cute and girly.

"It's way too girly," he argued.

"Says the guy who just brushed her hair and thinks it's fine," I reminded him. He snatched the shirt from me and held it away from me.

"No way," he protested.

"You're not the one getting her dressed in the morning," I reminded him as I reached for the shirt. He held my waist to keep me at arms length as he kept it away from me. It almost looked like we were hugging as he kept the shirt away from me, using his height against me. I would've just grabbed another shirt but it was the only one I found. I sighed and stopped trying to grab it from him. I didn't want to accidentally hurt his ribs in the process. He still had a firm hold on my waist as he held me at his side.

"Fine. How about this? Show the shirt to Mia, and let her decide whether or not she wants to get it," I offered. He finally let go of me as his arm went back to his side.

"Fine," he agreed. We found Mia and showed her my choice. She was over the moon when she saw it. She thought it was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen. Needless to say, I won. I was all too happy to rub it in River's face.

"I told you so," I said smugly as I checked out the shirt along with a bunch of other clothes we found for her.

"Yeah well, she likes you more anyway, so she'll always agree with whatever you say," he made up an excuse.

"We didn't tell her I picked the shirt so you can't use that this time," I reminded him. He bumped my hip with his before snatching the bag off the counter. When we turned away from the register, Melanie, Trevor, and Aiden were staring at us like we had two heads. I almost forgot they were here.

"Mia!" I called to distract myself. She hopped into our line of sight and held my hand as I smiled awkwardly.

"All done here, what's next," I tried to gloss over what just happened. We went to the next store, Bath & Body Works with none of them saying anything. Mia stayed with River while I shopped with Melanie.

"You and River... you guys didn't just happen upon each other today, did you? You two seem close," she approached the topic hesitantly.

"I mean... I never said we ran into each other by coincidence today, but us knowing each other was a coincidence," I tried to give her the roundabout. She wasn't buying it.

"I've never seen River... so relaxed," she said, chosing her words carefully.

"He's like that all the time," I tried to brush it off. Melanie shook her head.

"Maybe around you, but not around the majority. He teased you, Lucky. I've never seen him tease anyone... ever," she responded. I smelled a lotion and tried to pretend it was just par for the course.

"What's so weird about it. He's a human being, not a robot," I muttered.

"And there's another thing I'm confused about. Is Mia your little sister, or River's?" She asked. It was the question I was dreading. I told Aiden and Trevor that she was my little sister, but earlier, only Melanie caught Mia calling River her brother.

"She's River's sister, but don't tell Trevor and Aiden. I kinda lied and said she was my little sister," I admitted.

"Why did you do that?" Melanie asked. I shrugged.

"I panicked, okay? I had plans with Aiden one weekend but ended up babysitting Mia because of an emergency, but my knowing River was kind of a secret at the time so I said she was my sister," I explained.

"Why are you keeping your friendship with River a secret? It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Unless... it's more than a friendship?" Melanie pried.

"It's not. It's just... it's complicated, and let's leave it at that," I gave up.

"You've been talking to him since study mode. You have something on him, don't you?" She said in realization. I shook my head.

"I don't have anything on him, I just... don't want all the attention that comes with being River North's friend," I said, remembering his excuse from earlier.

"Lu!" I heard River call me. I was grateful for the excuse to walk away from this conversation.