Dragon Rider

Chapter 15

"Hi River, I am sorry for not responding to your message before now," I tiredly say into the video message to my wonderful boyfriend. "I have been so exhausted by the time I arrive at the rest quarters at 11 p.m."

Sighing softly before continuing to speak to him again; "I miss you so damn much, and I hate not being able to see you as much as I would like. I know I need to finish my Internship before I can arrive home for the four weeks before school starts again, but I want to come home now. I am sorry for being such a cry baby."

Wiping away the tears with my shirt sleeve, I take a deep, shuddering breath. I hate feeling so out of control with my emotions.

Focusing my attention back on River's video message; "I will talk to you soon. I love you, River, and I know it is probably too early to say and feel this, but it is how I feel. I will talk to you soon."

Ending the video message, I send the video to River's device, and that is when I let the tears freely fall. I do not know why I thought of starting a relationship with River when I did when I was going to be gone for eight weeks with Internships. I really do love him, but I should have asked him to wait to start our relationship when I was done with my Internships.

"Larken, you have a visitor," Warrior Stevens states after knocking on my open rest quarters door.

"Thank you, Sir," I instantly reply, wiping away the tears to follow him to the entrance of the dorm building in confusion as to who would be here to visit me.

"River?" I question in confusion when I see his backside facing toward me, and I abruptly stop walking.

River turns to face me with a bright smile, opening his arms wide, and I run over to him, and into his arms, breaking down into another fit of tears. We tightly wrap our arms around each other's waists while I dig my face into his neck where I softly sob.

"Let it all out, baby," he murmurs into my hair, giving me a tight hug. "It is okay to cry, I promise."

"I miss you so damn much," I sob, stepping further into his body even though there is really no space between us already. "I am so sorry for being so emotional and needy. I know it might be too early to say this, but I love you."

"I love you, too, baby," he murmurs into my hair. "If you know you love someone, it does not matter how long you are with someone. Also, I am fine with you being emotional or needy, even though you are not being either. I have missed you, too."

Sniffling into his neck, feeling a little better at his reassurance.

"Can we go to your rest quarters for a little while, or is that not allowed?" River asks quietly into my hair.

"We can go to my quarters as long as you do not mind my roommate being there, too?" I mumble, feeling tired from all of the crying I have done tonight.

"That is fine by me, my love," he murmurs with a small squeeze of my waist. "Let's go, okay?"

When we arrive at my rest quarters, I place my left palm on the scanner to let us inside the room when the door slides open. Leading us into the room, River looks around, softly complimenting the appearance of the room.

"Thanks, the room came decorated like this," I mumble with a light pink blush coating my cheeks.

"Hey Larken, who is your friend?" Carson, my roommate asks, looking River up and down with much too much interest in my mind.

"Stop looking at my boyfriend like he is a piece of meat," I grumble as I pull River by the hand over my bed to sit us down with our backs against the headboard.

"Oh, so this is River who you are always talking about," Carson says, like he is trying to embarrass me by telling River this information. "I am Carson White, this lovable guy's roommate while he is here."

"Nice to meet you, Carson," River politely replies to him while wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me even tighter into his side.

"Thank you for coming to visit me, and I am sorry for bothering you with my video message earlier," I murmur, playing with the fingers on his right hand. "How long can you stay tonight?"

"You are welcome, love," he murmurs, kissing my temple softly. "Never be sorry for expressing how you feel to me, or expressing your needs to me. I can stay as long as you need me, or I have to leave because of the curfew here."

"There is no curfew here," I murmur with a tiny smile toward him. "But you can stay however long you wish."

"Can I stay the night with you, and then I can leave in the morning when you need to start your day?" he replies with a smile at me before kissing the tip of my nose making me scrunch my nose at the feeling.

River softly chuckles at my facial expression, and I decide to cross my eyes at him, and I earn a bark of laughter from River.

"You are silly, my love, and I love that about you," he murmurs with another chuckle.

"Well, that is a good thing because I can be very silly when I want to be," I giggle, poking him lightly in the belly with my left fingers.

We settle down on the bed with River on his back, and I am on my side with my head resting on his chest under his chin with my leg thrown between his legs. River wraps his arm around my back to lightly grip my hip while running the tips of his fingers over me from my fingers to my shoulder, lulling me into a deep, peaceful sleep.