Scandalous Love

7. | Riley

Nothing was more awkward than this. I'd been forced to sit beside a guy who was a year older than me, his chair drawn closely next to mine.

Our parents could try saying they weren't "forcing" us to be together at all but it was clear that was definitely what their intentions were. They wanted Axel and I to get along and become a thing but that's a thing that will never happen. I don't see it happening in a million years.

Even just having us make small talk between each other was awkward enough as it was. I don't see myself being able to commit to a full-blown relationship with this guy - I can barely even talk to him without it being silent for less than two minutes.

Emily should be pleased she isn't the one who has to go through all the dramatics of finding the right person for her.

She can focus on taking Dad's place in the neighbourhood - I'd rather do that and make things right by easing out the tension between North Side and South Side but of course my views and opinions don't matter - they would never matter.

I was the second child. The people's child. Em was the one with the philosophical expectations but I was the one who was expected to be "a lady". I was the remnants of Mum while Emily took Dad's footsteps. Emily was the leader; I was the follower.

"Aren't you hungry?" Axel asks me as our parents continued to chat amongst themselves, his hand moving to place down on top of my thigh, making me instantly shudder. The feel of his hand on my exposed skin made me squirm.

As I look down at his hand below the table, I chew my lip, beginning to pick at my nails out of sight from anyone else.

Axel watches me and nears his head closer to my ear so his voice was nothing but a whisper. "That's a bad habit," he mumbles, making me forcefully swallow.

The food in front of me hardly even looked like food. Don't get me wrong; Matteo was a great cook and his food was delicious, but food as tinily prepared as this wasn't something that particularly satisfied my appetite.

A lot of the time he would end up making a new platter of food for me after we had eaten when no one else around. He treated me as his "special lady" and I was apparently like a daughter to him.

He'd been separated from his own son and daughter when the two towns divided. He had always been a chef on the posh side of town while his wife looked after their baby girl and boy but then the divide was introduced and they were separated. His children must almost be the same age as me right now.

"Can I be excused?" I speak up. All eyes and heads swivel around so they were fixed directly on me and Dad instantly narrows his eyes, nodding his head towards my plate.

I hadn't had a bite of anything, I never normally did anyway so it shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as he was making it seem. But I guess what was bothering him was more so the fact I was "showing myself up" in front of the people who were supposed to be our guests.

I don't bother waiting for a response but instead I stand up after scraping my chair backwards against the marble flooring, causing Axel to remove his hand even despite the clear smirk he had embellished on his face.

Emily rolls her eyes at me from across the table but I try my best to ignore her and even Dad was about to say something and call me back to the table until he was stopped by Ava placing her hand on his shoulder, telling him not to bother.

I was just being dramatic as per usual - that's how they saw it anyway. Why couldn't they just understand that this isn't who I am nor is it who I want to be. I want to have a free choice and live freely in a free world.

But I can't even change or adapt that in any way because it will be Em who will be the one making all the decisions sooner or later. It's just not fair.

As I made my way up to my bedroom, I found Nana already in there, ironing some of my dresses while the window was opened but she wasn't in there alone by herself. Someone else was there too - the one person I ever needed to see when it came to these sort of situations.

"Daniel? What are you doing here?" I breathe out as my eyes land on him before he sends me a reassuring smile. He stands up off of the bed and opens his arms for me, allowing me to walk into them to engulf him in a warm, affectionate and much-needed hug.

"Nancy said you'd need me today," he says into my hair, rubbing my back while my arms flung around his neck, reaching onto my tiptoes to hug him back. "So I'm here."

"I knew today would be hard on you, pea, so who better to have with you than your best friend," Nana speaks up from behind us, making me chuckle before escaping Daniel's arms and touch, standing by his side instead.

Daniel was probably the one and only friend I actually had here.

The two of us are completely inseparable and have been since we were babies, like two peas in a pod - that was where Nana first got her nickname from me to begin with. I was Sweet Pea and Daniel was Salty Pea because I was always smiling and giggling, babbling away while Daniel would either be sleeping, sulking, drooling or spitting.

We were total opposites but I guess that was what drew us together in the first instance. The reason we're even friends now is because Mum was best friends with Daniel's dad when she was a child. Daniel and his parents are like a second family to me.

"Can we go for a walk?" I ask, looking at him, making him smile and nod his head.

"Sure thing Roo," he says, nodding at Nana to let her know we would be leaving.

"Don't be out too long, kids," she calls after us as we make our way out through the back, circling down the winding staircase.

While we were outside, we walked alongside each other as Daniel led us around the fencing of the gates, as far away from the mansion as possible. He knew when I needed my space and time, and he knew that I would only feel free enough to talk when it was just us two with no one else around.

"So, tell me, how's new boy?" he asks, nudging me which makes me roll my eyes at him.

He was trying to tease me at first but the moment he takes in the look on my face, he drops the act and sighs as I begin talking.

"Never met more of a disrespectful guy in my life."

"What about Ezra?" he asks, bringing up the last boy Dad had reckoned with me to meet up with.

I roll my eyes and shake my head. "Okay so Axel's maybe not as bad as Ezra but he's certainly levelling up to it."

He shakes his head in resent, hating those boys almost as much as I did. That was the good thing about him; no matter what he would always be on my side and I'm hoping that will never change.

The further down the sidewalk by the fence we go, the more chatter that fills my ears as he and I continued to talk about the day.

Talking had never been a problem for either of us. If one of us had a problem, we spoke about it and dealt with it head on.

But this time I couldn't help but get a little distracted by the sight of someone else who I noticed was sat on the hill, this time with his group of friends.

James lifts his head up to look at me while his friends surrounding him continued to talk and I look back at him too, giving him a brief smile.

"Okay, what's got you distracted?" Daniel's voice rings in my ear, making me look away from James and his group to look at him instead. "Do you know them?"

"No," I mumble, looking down. "I just thought I saw someone I did know, that's all," I say to him, making him look back at the group before raising an eyebrow.

"Did you?" he asks me, placing his hand on my arm lightly.

I take one look back at James as he looks at me with concern before I shake my head, biting my lip.

"No," I whisper to Daniel. "It was just my eyes playing on me..." I mumble, looking away.