Dance With Me (Rich Kids, Book One)

Sixteen: River

Li

"Do you want Doritos?" Rhys yelled from the aisle to my right.

"Uh, sure," I responded.

But River also replied, "Depends what flavor."

"Oh. I probably should've clarified who I was talking to. Riv, do you want Doritos?" Rhys continued.

"I already told you my conclusion."

"Cool ranch?"

"Yes."

"Family size?" Rhys asked. I rested my head on my hand as the two of them yelled back and forth in the middle of our local grocery store.

"Yes."

"I assume you also want Pringles?"

"I've said yes too many times."

"Then that's a correct?"

I could almost hear Riv's sigh, even though he was too far away for me to. "Yes."

"Sweet. Li, salsa to go with your tortilla chips?"

"Medium spice, please," I answered.

A few seconds later, and the iconic duo came into my aisle. Rhys hauled a way overfilled basket to me, set it down, and said, "You work out. Hold this for me, I'll take yours."

I chuckled and shook my head, trading baskets with him. "You did volleyball for what, four years? Seems you should have at least a little muscle."

"But I don't."

"I can see that."

Rhys called me and River at 7:00pm that night, begging us to go to the grocery store with him. He said we'd get snacks and go to his house to watch a movie. Well, Riv and I are gullible and give into things way too easily, so we agreed. That's how we ended up hollering to each other what kind of Oreos to get. Yes, we're that pathetic.

"I'm immensely tempted to discharge the encrusted chocolate discs directly within my nourishment consuming area," Riv casually commented, staring right into my eyes.

"Must you invariably speak in the manner of an 1800s gentleman?" I teased. "And please pay for the M&Ms before eating them."

"I barely understood your sentence," Rhys said to Riv, leaning past him and grabbing a can of pizza sauce. "We can make pizzas if you two want them."

I shrugged. "Okay. We need olives and onions then." I started heading towards the produce section.

River and Rhys quickly caught up to me. Rhys was the first to talk about what I had been dreading. "So...you kissed Randy?"

"Appears that way, doesn't it?" I grumbled, not wanting to have that conversation.

Riv laughed. "Leave them alone, Rhys. They're seventeen, I believe they can successfully make their own decisions. However, one thing I would love to inquire about is; Li, that picture that you sent us, of you in the skirt, how much courage did that take? Because I'm really fucking proud of you."

And then the tears came on. "What?"

"I'm proud of you. My cousin is trans and she went through hell before she felt entirely comfortable wearing feminine clothes and showing people. Remember her? Allie?"

"Yeah."

"Took her a year. Took you three weeks. That's impressive, Li," he replied.

Rhys nodded. "It is. I may be cis, but if I were genderfluid or trans or something, I would be making plans to put a restaurant in the closet, because I'd be there for a while. Preferably, they'd serve steak, maybe a nice burger, and alcohol."