Leviticus: Return back home

Ch.29: Emily's confession

《RIVEN’S POV》

Being coupled up with Nick's girlfriend for an assignment hadn't exactly been on Riven’s wishlist for this ridiculously long school day, but sadly the universe didn't seem to care. 

So here he was, on a rainy Friday afternoon, taking pictures of flowers which desperately needed to be watered in the back of their empty geography classroom.
They were supposed to be taking pictures of nature, but neither of them had felt like walking down three pairs of stairs to go outside, so they opted for this.

“I think that's good,” Emily said. She was standing close to him, watching the screen of the camera. He could smell lilies and roses and other flowers that he was sure were part of the reason Nick obviously couldn't keep his hands off of her. 

“Wait, if you angle it a bit more this way…” 
She pushed the camera a bit more to the left. “Now it really looks like we actually went outside.”
Riven grinned, hoping their biology teacher had never looked inside their geography classroom before. 

“Are you sure pictures of some nearly dried out flowers will work?” he asked. 
Emily shrugged. “Honestly, he should be happy that someone managed to take pictures of some flowers. Why would they make us do this assignment in the first week of March, instead of April or May, when everything is blooming and beautiful?” 

Riven smiled, since he couldn't help but agree. “You're not wrong," he said, “but I guess we're done, now. Let's just hide out in this classroom for now.”

Emily nodded, she had probably realized that it was better if they didn't get caught by their teacher. 
They walked around the room, inspecting all the different materials displayed everywhere, while making small-talk.

They were looking at some stones, when Emily spoke of the unspeakable. 
“So, you and Nick…” 
She didn't finish her sentence. An uncomfortable silence settled, where both of them waited for either or them to continue. 

“Yes?” Riven said, too curious to know what she was about to say to change the subject. 
“You used to be close,” she said, as if that was something Riven wasn't aware of himself.
“Yes,” Riven said again. 

Emily took a deep breath, “I know it's none of my business, but I feel bad. I hate that you guys ended up this way.”
That was news to Riven. He hadn't expected she would feel bad. He had expected her to be rather… excited.

“I know he confessed to you.” 
What. The. Fuck. 
Why would he tell her such a thing? He couldn't envision a universe where any girl would appreciate her boyfriend telling her about his crush on his best friend. Let alone a universe where she would then feel bad about them growing apart. 

“Oh,” he just said. There was nothing else to say. 
But Emily seemed to disagree with him on that. “I hope you don't mind that he told me about that.”
Riven shook his head. He was not the one to mind.

“We just had a conversation about it, since we could relate to one another.” 
Gosh, she really seemed to want to tell this story. And at this point, Riven couldn't help but feel curious.
“What do you mean, you could relate to each other?” he asked. 

Emily zoned out for a moment. “I just, ehm… went through some heartbreak as well recently.” 
Riven frowned. This was getting weird. 
“Oh.”

“You remember Charlotte, right?”
Riven nodded, slowly. The girl who had tried to get with him at Emily's birthday party. He definitely did.
And now he remembered the party and Nick kissing him. Great. 

“We were living together. She has rich parents, you know. So her parents got her an apartment nearby school. And my parents, well, let's just say it's difficult.” 
“So you moved in with her?” Riven asked.