The Boy Next Door Is Not What He Seems

Chapter Six: He Gave Me Cooties

Chapter Six: He Gave Me Cooties

•.⌯.•River's POV•.⌯.•
I stood in front of the Matthews front door, anxiousness very evident in my stance. My hands were clammy and my hands were were trembling each time it hovered over the Charlie's front door. Several times before this, I had attempted to knock to announce my presence, but to no avail. I could hear their mumbled voices right through the walls of the house and it made me even more anxiety ridden than I already was.

I didn't know what came over me, but from the time in between our lunch and to right now, I had built up apprehension towards this very moment and conversation. It was as if I was going up to present in front of a class without really knowing the details of the assignment at hand and I just couldn't take it.

Many thoughts were sifting through my head as I contemplated walking the short distance back to my house and hide in the confines of my room. However, I knew that Charlie would be the first to come find me. I would have to come up with a lame excuse as to why I didn't want to show my face and I knew in my heart he would take none of it. I mean, this conversation had to happen if we wanted it to work, right? Especially with them being a tight-knit friend group.

Shaking off the anxiousness I was feeling, I clenched my hand into a fist before knocking on the door three times. It wasn't long before I was met by Charlie's presence. His stance was very much indifferent and relaxed. He showed no sign of stress and it almost eased my anxiety a bit, "You good, Grey?" He asked to which I nodded stiffly and stepped into his house.

Better now than never.

Putting on the best calm facade I could, we both walked side-by-side into the kitchen. Almost immediately, the sound of teasing and whoops of mockery were heard when we entered, "You guys don't even have to do anything and y'all are too cute already." Elliot cooed. She went up to Charlie pinching his cheeks as he swatted her hands away.

I gave a small smile as I came to realize that Elliot was definitely my favorite among the group, maybe even beating out Ryan from the top spot. From her presence alone, I could tell we were going to get along just fine.

After swatting away her hand, Charlie took a seat at the table, "So what did you guys wanna tell us?" Arden asked as he looked at Charlie pointedly.

Looking up at Charlie, he kept his eyes from glancing down at me. With a sigh, he breathed out: "We're. Not. Dating."

There was silence then suddenly groan of disappointment coming from Spencer and Elliot and a happy hurray from Arden, "You guys owe me 20 dollars." He chirps as he high-fives Ryan, "It couldn't have been a thing. He would've been talking about it for weeks especially since its River!"

"Arden." Charlie says threateningly, to which I raise an eyebrow at his sudden change of tone.

"Fine." He mumbled, rolling his eyes prior to looking at Elliot and Spencer, "You guys still owe me twenty dollars."

"Anyway!" Charlie says trying to steer the conversation back on track, "River and I are faking a relationship."

"So you're saying that I was rooting for the two of you for nothing?" Elliot bursted from her seat on the kitchen counter.

"Elly, we're only going to be boyfriend and girlfriend so Evan can finally get off my back." He explained as he ran a hand through his messy hair.

"And River agreed?" Spencer asked raising an eyebrow.

All eyes shifted onto me as I flushed red from his question, "Kind of?" I said in more of an unsure tone.

Upon seeing my red cheeks, Charlie began speaking again, "We just wanted you guys to know because we don't want to lie or let you get any ideas about this whole ordeal."