By Chance | Book One |

Chapter Sixteen

River

"You feel okay?" Teddy asked me as he tossed a couple pieces of cold pizza onto some plates.

"Do you?"

"I am great. I get to go cuddle Sasha all night so my nights about to get better." Clearly he was still pretty drunk.

"Will you make it upstairs? I gotta take this call." I said as I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket.

"Course. Just turn out your lights on the way up. Love you." He mumbled as he grabbed a few snacks and the pizza to make his way upstairs.

I smiled to myself before I slipped out into the backyard and answered my phone. "Hey."
"Hey," Melody's soft voice said. "She's awake, she wants to talk to you."

"Has she eaten yet?" I asked as I walked across the lawn, there were empty bottles and cups scattered across the lawn along with quite a few red cups floating in the pool. I sat by the pool house and ran my hand through my hair.

"Yeah. She actually ate the burger you sent over. And the fries."

"I'll talk to her, thanks for helping out tonight."

I heard some shuffling in the background and a door closed before Emily spoke, "Riv?"

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Like I drank enough for the entire football team tonight." She groaned. "Did...did I ruin your night?"

I sat there and didn't say anything for a minute, Emily wouldn't care if she ruined my night or not. She never cared about other people. "No, you didn't. What's up? Why are you-"

"I just had a bad week, River. Please." She said quickly.

"Do you need...to talk about it?" I asked her, and instantly regretted it.

"No. Thank you for bringing me home."

"He isn't in town, is he? Are you and Mel safe?" I dropped my voice, asking her gently.

"No, no. I just wanted to thank you because it's not your responsibility."

"You were my friend before my ex, Em."

"Somehow that seems so distant, like it happened a lifetime ago."

The one thing we could agree on.

When the day of Halloween arrived, the halls of Mount View were plastered with costumes and decorations. Half the students would wear the costumes they wore to the parties over the weekend and half of them would wear at least two new ones today.

Sasha and Teddy were now going as Timmy and Trixie and they were a thousand percent going to have a costume change before the soccer team's Halloween party tonight.

I chose to wear my Batman costume from the party simply because I couldn't be bothered to look for another one. I only hoped Lyra would show up in something other than her Catwoman costume.

I hated myself for thinking she looked good in her costume too. Fuck, it fit her so perfectly, like a glove. She pulled that costume off far better than anyone else could.

When she walked over to us with a hoodie on, I thought for sure I was safe. But she pulled the hoodie off once she got to her locker and she was in that fucking costume. Only her hair was wavy, unlike the other night when it was straight.

"Lyra's here." Sasha practically squealed as she ran over to her, her white boots clicking behind her.

I watched as she hugged Lyra and our gaze met as she whispered something in Sasha's ear.
I tore my eyes from her and looked back at Teddy who was adjusting his pink hat. "What costume are you two doing tonight?" I leaned back against my locker.