𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝑿 𝒀/𝑵 (𝑻𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍)

Chapter 11~ XPLR Buddies

"Hey, so why were you sleeping in the living room last night... Did something happen?" I heard River ask while I was keeping my focus on skating.
To be honest, I completely forgot about the nightmare I had last night...well until just now.
"I think I'd rather tell you once we get to Taco Bell" I quickly glanced over at Riv, who was skating right beside me and gave him a quick smile then put my attention back onto the ground.
"That's cool, you don't need to tell me if you don't want too" he reassured.
I decided to change the topic.
"Hey, I forgot to ask earlier but do you know where Ryan is, I didn't see him at all this morning?" I looked back up at Riv, awaiting for a response.
"Yeah, he's spending the day with Jaide" he replied, keeping his eyes ahead.
"That makes a lot of sense" I thought to myself, glad that I finally got the answer to that question.
Most of the ride there was moderately quiet surprisingly. To be honest I expected River to talk my fucking ear off the whole ride there, considering how excited he seemed to be leaving the house. But thankfully that wasn't the case.
Once we finally arrived at the Taco Bell River's excited came rushing back to him.
"Hey, we're here let's go!" He had the biggest smile on his face as he quickly picked up his skateboard and jogged his way over to the front door. I chuckled to myself admiring his eagerness.
River waited for me, then opened the door for me once I finally caught up.
"Oh, thank you Riv" I gave him a appreciative smile and made my way into the fast food restaurant, river following right behind me.
After we ordered our meals we easily found a table to wait at. And it did not take long for River to start up a conversation.
"Thank you for letting me hangout with you today y/n I really appreciate it" he looked me in the eyes with a sincere smile on his face. His kind mannerism caused my heart to slightly melt I'm not gonna lie.
"Of course Riv, your welcome to anytime" I politely smiled back, trying to match his kindness.
"Did you want to talk about last night?" He changed the conversation, I'm guessing he was referring to me sleeping in the living room last night.
"Oh yeah right" I awkwardly smiled to myself as I remembered last night. Just as I went to start explaining I got cut off.
"Here are your meals, have a lovely day" one of the female workers quickly said with a polite smile then rushed back to work. River and I thanked her as she sped off.
"Uhh where was I?" I turned back to River, trying to recollect my thoughts again.
"The living room last night" he proudly reminded me. I nodded my head in realization and thanked him for reminding me.
"I had a horrible nightmare last night..." I began explaining while slowly picking at my food, River gave me a look as if to say "go on".
"I...I think a SW was trying to get me.." I stuttered, knowing Riv doesn't like when people say the creatures real name out loud so I just call it a SW for short, to save his grief. River seemed to have a hint of worry in his eyes as I told him this, I didn't like that look on him and I hated whenever he or the others got worried.
"And I know it's coincidental having those types of dreams, especially after the Investigation we did last night" I reminded him. River slowly nodded along and waited for me to continue.
"I couldn't move or talk in my dream though... No matter how hard I tried" I looked down at my food, now feeling uneasy having to remind myself what had happened.
"Hey... It's okay it wasn't real and that's all that matters" River softly stated, lowering his head down level to mine, trying to get me to look back up at him. I willingly gave in and looked back at him.
"Yeah, it just felt so real... Thank you for listening Riv" I smiled.
"Anytime" he gave me a satisfying smirk back and continued eating his Taco Bell.

After lunch we left the restaurant, both feeling satisfied.
"So back home now I'm guessing?" I heard Riv ask as I stepped back onto my skateboard, it sounded like there was a hint of disappointment in his voice but maybe I was just overthinking it. I stopped for a moment, thinking of anything else that him and I could possibly do while we're still out and about.
Then a thought came.
"Actually, I have an idea what we could do" I said with a mischievous tone, I could see River looking at me with a concerned expression in the corner of my eye. I tried hiding my smile when I noticed this.
"Just follow me" I advised and quickly started our new journey, heading towards a secret hangout spot of mine.
"Your not planning on murdering me are you y/n?" Riv asked in a uncertain tone as he began following along. I giggled out loud at his crazy assumption.
"Of course not Riv" I answered, keeping my eyes Infront of me.
"We'll see about that" he quietly replied, I wasn't sure if he was expecting me to hear that part or not so I just dismissed it with a evil smirk on my face.

- Arriving at mysterious destination -

Once all of the changing scenery started looking very familiar to me again, I knew we had finally made it to the destination. I carefully hopped off my board and slowly looked around my surroundings, admiring all of the land around me as I usually do when I come here.
This is my favorite place to come to on my bad days. And to be completely honest I have never told anyone about this place, I guess River was the lucky one to find out about it.
"Are we here?" I heard Rivers voice, causing me to snap out of my admiration. I silently nodded my head.
"Follow me" I told him as I already started making my way through the enormous bushes and trees that were blocking my secret hideout.
"Okay..." I heard River reply, he seemed quite confused about what was going on right now but that didn't stop him from following my league. I made my way through the maze like track with no issues what so ever, but River on the other hand. Most of the walk there was filled with "ows" and "jeez" coming from Riv. It was a challenge trying not to laugh the entire walk there.
I thought it was kind of cute how River didn't like saying the word "shit" he chooses to replace it with "shot" most of the time, although in some situations he does unintentionally say shit, but that's mostly on Investigations.
I guess the only reason I wasn't struggling so much is because I come here quite often, I know my way around this area pretty well. I can't say that I didn't reacted the same way Riv is right now when I first came here. After some visits here you kinda get use to the spikey walk way.
I watched as the old bushes and trees began lessening the further we ventured on, meaning that we were very close by.
"How close are we now?" River asked from behind.
"We're here..." I happily smiled to myself as I could now see the abandoned building within view.
"Thank God" River let out a relieving sigh, making me chuckle at his exaggeration.
"It's not funny I nearly died back there!" He dramatically replied causing me to only laugh at him even more.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry" I replied, covering my mouth with one of my hands in attempt to stop laughing.
I continued on leading River towards the abandoned house.
"Is this it?" River asked from behind me, finally noticing the broken down house.
"It sure is..." I answered, smiling to myself.
River and I both walked up to the tall abandoned house. We stood there for a moment just admiring the style of the building. All the memories of me coming here on my bad days in the past came racing back to me. I didn't realize that I was zoning out until I heard what sounded like a phone camera click.
I intentionally turned to my left, expecting River to still be there, but he wasn't. I quickly turned around and saw River from a far with his phone in his hand. He gradually made his way back up to me, placing his phone back in his jacket pocket.
"Sorry I thought it would of made a sick photo" he innocently shrugged and gave me a shy smile.
Aw that's sweet of him to do that, I thought.
"I bet it did" I smiled back.
"Do you want me to send it to you?" He went to grab his phone out again but this time I stopped him by going up to him and grabbing his wrist.
"Don't worry about it you can do it after" I softly told him, carefully letting go of his wrist.
River watched with a surprised look on his face as my hand moved away from him. He definitely didn't expect me to do that so rapidly. But I only did it because I just wanted to hurry up and get inside. He looked back up at me, which made me realize just how close I accidentally got to him.
We were now only inches away from one other, it felt like a repeat from last night's investigation. I cautiously looked into his eyes, which he seemed to already be doing back.
Everything just felt so...odd. It was like time had stopped completely, and suddenly all of my surroundings became vacant to me. I had no idea what the hell was going on with me right now.
I found myself admiring River's dominant icy blue eyes again. I felt so lost in them, it was like I was zoning out of reality again, but this time I knew I wasn't. This was a unusual feeling for me. An overwhelming feeling.
I notice River's eyes depart from mine and slowly make their way to my lips. I instantly felt my heart drop and my pulse increase. I looked down at his lips also, somehow thinking that this would calm me down, well I was a fucking idiot for thinking that.
This was an intimidating situation for me to be in, and I needed to evacuate... immediately.
I decided to step away from him, which caused him to quickly look away. I noticed his face was slightly red after my action.
Well now isn't this awkward...
"Let's go inside..." I kindly smiled at him and tried to giggle the situation away.
"Ladies first" he lifted his arm up in the direction of the entry and gave me an anxious look.