All About River

4

It had been more than a week. River was slowly but surely settling into his new lifestyle. It had also been four days since Thea had fully moved in. Coexisting with her was surprisingly easy. They both operated on their own schedules, and occasionally saw each other here and there; River had learned some of Thea's patterns already. She came in quite late almost every night. 3, 4, 5 am the times always differed drastically. It didn't cause much of an inconvenience to River but her footsteps and her running through whatever coming home routine she had would sometimes disturb his sleep. It wasn't too bad though, so he wasn't complaining. By 7:00 am the two would be eating breakfast together at the small dark oak table in the kitchen. By 8:00 River would be on his way to his morning classes. And whenever he came home Thea was almost always never there.

It was a shame sometimes, River was eager to get to know her more or even have more conversations than their light occasional ones. But he figured as the year progressed things might change. It wouldn't be horrible to find a friend in his roommate, as he had no other ones.

Now River laid staring holes into his bedroom ceiling. The room darkened by the lack of sun, yet still bright enough to see the warm coral tones of his walls.  He huffed a loud sigh. It was 2:30 am on the dot. And yet he couldn't close his eyes and sleep for the life of him. He felt particularly restless tonight. Perhaps it was because tomorrow he had a deadline. And to him this deadline meant more than anything in the world. This would be his opportunity to show off his portfolio, in which he spent most of his high school career building.

Sitting up groggily, River gazed out his large window, located to the right of his bed. The scenery would catch anyone's breath. But that could be expected of a high-rise. At a time like this, he longed for the warmth of his longtime friend in Portland. The small Vietnamese girl always knew exactly what to say to ease his nerves. However it was way—-to late at night, and he simply had no urges to disturb her rest.

Huffing once more, River plopped back on his pillows. Arms splayed out by his sides.

That's when he heard the front door open. Turning his head slightly River checked the time on his small alarm clock. It read 2:50am in bold times new roman font. This was odd, Thea usually came home later than that; pushing his thoughts aside River basked in the silence of his bedroom.

Heavy footsteps could be heard from the hallway. Along with whispers...from two different voices. It had just dawned on River that there was someone there other than Thea. Oh man River thought, hoping for anything other than what he guessed was about to happen. But if it was what he thought it was then sadly he'd have to just mind his business.

When he heard the sound of kissing his heart almost skipped a few beats. Low moans hit his ear and his stomach almost bubbled...no, it did bubble. He could recognize that voice now anywhere. That drawl, that tone, that accent.

Fuck, River mumbled, was this wrong that he was listening? Or rather he was trying not to, in fact his only mission for the past hour had been to go to sleep. But he was wide awake and even more so now.  So he couldn't just not hear what was occurring.

30 minutes had passed now, and all River could do was try to hum a song to himself. After the first twenty minutes he spent trying to occupy his time on the phone, he had become uninterested. And in the last ten when he tried to force his sleep, he experienced all but success. So now he laid, clinging on to his pillow. He had heard every last moan, almost every word, almost every sound.

"Ugh, this sucks."