Forbidden

~Chapter Three~

Thanks for reading, everyone! Thank you so much for keeping up with the story! I hope you're enjoying it so far!

Picture is of Ross Lynch, who I chose to play Griffin.

***

~Chapter Three~

Meaghan rolled over under her covers. She sighed, content, and opened her eyes. They were met with a wonderful sight: River lay beside her, still asleep. He looked like an angel, with his dark hair drooping across his face and his eyelashes grazing his skin. Meaghan’s lips parted. She could barely contain an outright laugh. How ironic, she thought bitterly.

            Cautiously and subconsciously, Meaghan reached out a hand to lightly caress River’s cheek. His skin was so soft, like an infant’s. Her heart skipped a beat. Oh, how she loved him. It was painful to see him think of her as irritating, annoying, and oblivious. If only he knew what she was capable of.

            Meaghan replayed the scene of last night in her head, her hand still touching River’s cheek.

            The rain had beat down mercilessly, increasing to a roar with every passing minute. Meaghan had been upstairs, finishing her English assignment, when a knock on the door had brought her out of her trance. She had groaned, knowing that she would have to exit her nice, warm, comfortable room to answer it. Ron and Michelle were both gone on business trips. Although, to be truthful, Meaghan knew that they were both cheating on each other: it was blatantly obvious.

            She had stomped down the stairs, frustrated, and flung open the door. The rude “What?” had faded on her lips when she had seen who it was.

            A drenched, shivering River had stood before her, biting his bottom lip. “Hey, Meaghan,” he had said, almost in a whisper.

            “River!” Meaghan had cried. “Come in! It’s freezing out there!”

            The rest was fairly self-explanatory. Meaghan had lied to River that her parents were asleep and that the guest room was being remodeled, so he would have to sleep with her. And here she was, lying next to her love and wishing that he knew it.

            Meaghan sighed, stretching and standing up. Birds were singing pleasantly outside her window, and as she headed to the shower, she sent a message to Hayley and Jenna: I want him. So badly. Tell Ari.

***

I stepped out of the Burkes’ house, thankful to finally be escaping the place. “Bye, River!” Meaghan said cheerily, planting a kiss on my cheek. I visibly winced, willing her to go away. “See you Monday!”

            “Bye,” I replied, anxious to leave. “Thanks again.”

            “No prob,” she told me. “Anytime.” My breath caught. There she went again, flashing that irresistible grin. I was beginning to have a love/hate relationship with Meaghan: I loved her because…well…I thought I was beginning to fall for her, but I hated her because of that magnetism, her annoying way of following me around, and because she completely contradicted the voice.

            Why I cared about that last reason aggravated me. In the course of two days, the voice was taking control of my life. My life, the one that I’m supposed to be living. I couldn’t understand why listening to the voice meant life or death to me. I needed to get a grip on my mind: it was going places that didn’t make sense. I had tried to convince myself, last night, that it was my conscience or something that my brain was doing to make me feel better about myself. Nothing worked. I couldn’t figure out a logical explanation for all this, no matter how hard I tried.