"Tell me everything that's happened in the past 6 years."
We were sitting on the couch in River and Joaquin's shared apartment. The ceremony was over and River had offered me a ride back to my hotel, I guess he decided to take a detour and pop by his place on the way through.
Joaquin walked over, balancing 3 mugs and a plate of cookies. He set them down on the tiny coffee table and took a seat next to Riv. I took a sip of my burning hot tea, trying to brush away the steam that was hovering around my face.
"Well," I said, nibbling at a cookie.
"Just school, work and stuff. Nothing interesting." I explained.
"You?"
"Pretty much the same here." He said, peering into his tea, a look of disgust appearing across his face.
"I think there's something in my tea, I'll be right back." He said, getting up and waking into another room.
"He talks about you a lot." Joaquin said. I felt my cheeks turning bright red.
"It's actually kind of annoying." He added, smirking. I giggled and shook my head. Joaquin had always had that cheeky vibe about him, ever since I first met him and River, 13 years ago.
"You're the best thing that has ever happened to him, Sidney." Joaquin finalised, picking up a motor magazine and flipping through the pages. My cheeks widened, forming into a huge, inevitable grin. It was an amazing feeling to know that someone really cared about you, even when you hadn't seen them in years.
River re-entered the room, his blond hair flopping over his face. He brushed it back, looking up and smiling at me. God, his smile was so cute.
He sat back down, this time a little closer to me. Neither of us said anything for at least a minute, we just looked awkwardly at each other, then down at the ground.
You know when you don't see someone in forever and you kind of don't know what to say to them because you just don't know where to start? That's what it was like. Mind you, I was perfectly fine with just looking at him in awe, his beautiful features glowing with the afternoon sunlight beaming through the windows.
"Who are you staying with?" River asked, breaking the awkward silence.
I shrugged and said,
"No one."
"Why don't you stay here with us?" He suggested, his eyes widening, hopeful I might say yes.
"I-I can't." I stuttered. I really, really wanted to say with River and Joaquin. But I just couldn't. It wouldn't be right.
"Why not?" He asked, saddened.
I hadn't actually thought of 'why not'. I had to come up with an excuse fast.
"I've already payed for my hotel room." I blurted. I mentally slapped myself in the face. Was that really the best excuse I could come up with, Sidney?
River hopped down in front of me, onto his knees.
"I'll pay for your hotel room." He pleaded. He playfully begged with me, his puppy dog eyes soon getting the best of me.
"Alright, I guess." I sighed. River jumped up in excitement, punching his fist in the air. He lost his balance and stumbled over backwards, falling onto his butt. I giggled, his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. He stood up awkwardly, running his fingers back through his hair, trying to act all macho in front of me. I laughed, it was so adorable watching him trying to impress me.
Trying to gain back my respect, he reached for a bright yellow hat sitting in the couch, putting it on and started doing a sort of funky jig. I started laughing uncontrollably, he looked like a little leprechaun prancing around like that. Joaquin looked up to see what all the commotion was about, he rolled his eyes when he saw his dorky older brother dancing around the living room wearing a brightly coloured fedora. My stomach hurt from laughing so much. River dived into the couch, pulling me into a huge bear hug on top of him. I looked up at him, his face slightly sweaty. He wrapped his arms around my neck and under my chin, hugging me tight.
"I forgot how unbelievably goofy you can be" I grinned. He playfully messed up my hair, gently massaging my scalp. I put my hands on top of his and pulled them off of my head, placing them around my neck, how they were before. It felt nice and comforting.
"I've missed you." He said.
"Me too." I thought.
YOU ARE READING
diamonds | river phoenix
Romance"But all good things have to come to an end, right?" 6 years ago they thought they'd never see each other again. 6 years later they realised they were wrong. She was a girl who knew where she was going. He was a boy who didn't.
