diamonds | river phoenix

six

"Get up! Get up!"

I woke up, to see River towering over me, shaking my shoulders gently.

"You're a deep sleeper." He said, letting go of my shoulders and sitting beside me. For the past 7 days I had been living with River and Joaquin, sleeping on their living room couch. Not too much had happened, mainly just catching up on all the news. Today was the day I was supposed to go back home to Canada. I rubbed my eyes and sleepily muttered,

"I know."

"I'm taking you out for breakfast." He said excitedly.

"Where are we going?" I asked, sitting up.

"It's a surprise." He replied, jumping up. He couldn't sit still, he seemed really excited. He got up a little too fast and tripped over his feet, falling backwards. He tried to regain his balance by reaching for the lamp, only ending up on the floor with the lamp on top of him. I laughed, he had a habit of getting a bit over-excited. Riv sat up, ruffled his hair and reached his hands out. I grabbed onto them, yanking him up onto his feet.

"Let's go!" He said, pulling me up and dragging me across the apartment.

"I'm not dressed!" I said, unable to escape his hold. He turned around, looked me up and down and said,

"You don't need to get dressed. You look beautiful anyways."

"That's really sweet River, but I'm getting changed." I giggled. He sighed, then ducked down, wrapping his arms around my legs and pulling me up over his shoulders.

"Put me down!" I laughed, playfully slapping his hands.

"Never!" He laughed back, spinning around in circles. 30 seconds later he collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. I fell on top of him, still laughing.

"Seriously though, I'm getting changed." I stated. River rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Be quick." He said, somersaulting across the carpet. I let out another laugh before digging out a nice top and a pair of shorts from my suitcase. I headed into the bathroom and got changed, River constantly tapping on the door asking when I'll be out.

"I'll take longer if you keep doing that!" I yelled through the door. I smiled to myself in the mirror. He was so adorable, it almost felt unreal. He had not changed at all since I last saw him.

I emerged from the bathroom a minute later.

"How do I look?' I asked, curtsying.

"Beautiful. Now can we go?" I nodded and leapt towards him, he held my hand and skipped out of the building like he was the happiest man alive. He lead me down the street, the warm morning sun hitting my neck. We ended up outside of a small shop, the paint was chipping and it looked kind of dodgy. River walked in, I stopped while I was still on the sidewalk. He motioned for me to go in with him, I shook my head.

"It's fine, I promise." He said, gently kissing my forehead. I knew that I could trust him, so I followed him in.

My jaw dropped and my heart started beating faster. Butterflies were raging around in my stomach. The place that River had lead me to happened to be the place where we had our first ever date; The Tropical Smoothie Bar.

Sweet memories of that day started flowing into my mind. We were both young, 13 at the most. He had asked me out that afternoon at school, behind the canteen. He was shy and nervous, he wouldn't even look me in the eyes. I remember liking him for ages, constantly staring at him and fantasising about what it would be like if we were together. I thought I would never have a chance with him, he was popular and every girl liked him. That day was a dream come true for me. After school we walked to the smoothie bar, and we both ordered a tropical crush smoothie. We talked for hours and it was almost magical. That was the first time that he mentioned my eyes, he told me how they had always stood out to him. He told me that they seemed magical.

"What do you think?" He said proudly. I was speechless. He put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me into him. I looked up at him and said,

"This is amazing. Hasn't changed a bit!"

"I knew you'd like it." He grinned. He motioned for me to sit down in a booth while he went and ordered for us both. I rested my head in my hand. He was such an amazing, thoughtful person. I couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to bump into him.