Why'd you have to leave River?

Meeting River

My name is Sarah and I was 8 years old when I first met River Phoenix.
My mom told me that she has some hippie friends with kids who she thought I would get along with. Well she was very right about that.

"Mom I don't wanna go to Florida for the summer and play with other people's kids I don't know." My mom looked at me and said "Honey you'll love them, trust me." I slunched down in my seat and crossed my arms and said "Fine but if I don't like them then I wanna leave." "Deal?" I asked my mom. "Deal." We shook on it and continued driving from Arizona to Florida.
I decided to take a little nap so I layed down and went to sleep. It was our second day on the road and we had stopped in Mississippi to fuel up and take a break and stretch our legs.

"Mom can I get some chips and a soda please?" I begged my mom even though I knew she'd say yes. My mom said "sure sweetie if that's what you want." So I got some Cheetos and can of Pepsi and took it to the register. After my mom paid for everything we got back in the car and back on the road.

"Mom, I have a question." What is your question?" I paused for a minute to think of how to ask her. "Mom, what are your friends' kids names?" My mom kinda chuckled but told me that their names are River, Rain, Joaquin, Liberty and Summer.
I laughed at first and asked my mom "who names their kid River?" To me that name stood out, idk why but eventually I find out later on. My mom told me that they're hippies and that it was the cool thing to do to give your kids different, hippie-like names. I said "Ok, I was just wondering cause they all have weird names."

We were one state away from Florida but it was late and my mom decided to stop at a motel for the night and sleep, so we did just that. After we checked in and got to the room I jumped on the bed and layed down and instantly went to sleep. I woke up to my mom gently shaking me and saying it's time to go. So I get up and head to the car. Checked out of the motel and we were on the road for the third day. To me though it seemed like my mom was on a hurry to get to Florida.

We finally got through Georgia and started seeing signs that said "Welcome to Florida, Home of the Orange state." My mom finally said we're in Florida and we had to drive another 30-45 mins before we were in Gainesville. I was getting a little excite but nervous too. We got to Gainesville and were driving down a dirt path til we got to this house that looked more like a ranch house but I thought it looked cool. My mom said "Honey we're here." All I could do was give her a nervous smile.

We pulled up to see 5 kids and two adult standing outside like they were waiting for us. My mom and I got out and introduced me as her daughter. All the kids gave me a hug and said "Nice to meet you." The blonde haired boy though was kinda cute and he introduced himself as River and I looked into his eyes and got lost in them cause they were the most beautiful bluest eyes I've ever seen.

From that day on I knew that River was gonna be so much more to me than just a friend.

I know this chapter is kinda long but it just came to me and I just thought of writing it. Hope you guys like it. I'll update more soon.