The Hidden Gemstone

Chapter: 31

Grandma had been here for two days now, and the tension hadn't left River's body ever since.

When she first arrived, she saw River and thought she was just visiting. It took Xander a long time to explain that River was staying with them, patiently answering every question Grandma threw at him. When she finally understood everything, she wasn't happy.

She was pissed, to say the least.

Of course, she hadn't really said anything out loud about it, but River could see it in the way Grandma looked at her, as though she was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. River noticed it in the way Grandma pointed out the flaws in her appearance and her habits.

Xander had warned River about Grandma beforehand, but she didn't realize it would be like this. She made it hard for River to be around her at all, let alone be comfortable in doing so.

Even now, as River sat beside Xander in the living room, she could feel Grandma's gaze piercing her skin from the other couch. River was grateful for Xander's presence which made the weight of Grandma's gaze easy to ignore.

"Aw, come on!" Xander whined as one of the characters on the TV screen got blasted out of the air. "I was starting to like that guy!"

River looked at Xander, tilting her head. "Haven't you already seen this film?"

He shot her a dark look. "Don't ruin the moment." She shook her head.

They were watching some of Xander's favorite movies because apparently, River needed to 'catch up on the world.'

River knew that was only part of the reason he wanted to watch this movie with her; she had noticed his attempts at trying to distract her, to keep her from thinking too much about the attack in the warehouse. And though he was somewhat succeeding, the thought always existed at the back of her mind.

After Cody left, Xander came to her room to talk her out of her decision. River argued like she never had, but Xander kept countering with facts she couldn't deny. Eventually, River gave in. She agreed to keep their guard up and escape if the man and woman found them, which they hadn't. Yet.

The movie had been going on for an hour now, and River was starting to grow tired. "How long is this?" She asked, yawning and covering her mouth while doing so. Still, the way Grandma's eyes bore into her made River double-check whether yawning was natural or not.

"Are you seriously tired?" Xander asked, annoyed. "We still have like thirty more minutes to go!"

"Can't we watch the rest of it tomorrow?"

"That'll take all the fun out of it!"

River rolled her eyes but didn't complain any further. She sat there, trying her best to keep her eyes open. The movie wasn't boring - it was actually pretty amazing - but River had been up for about eighteen hours, and the lack of sleep was really starting to cling to her now. Still, she sat there with one knee up and pressed against her chest, her chin resting on top of it. She watched as the male lead approached the female protagonist with a somewhat hesitant expression.

"Oh, would you look at that?" Xander whispered in her ear, keeping his voice low enough so Grandma wouldn't overhear. "The little baby's finally gonna have a friend."

River took a moment to register that - and burst out laughing.

The action made her chest feel lighter, relieving her body of the tension trapped in it. The relief, however, was short-lived as Grandma shook her head. "Your laugh is obnoxiously loud."

That shut River up immediately. The tension returned to her body, and she bit her lip, feeling her face suddenly redden. She looked away, keeping her eyes on the screen in front of her.