Lovely Bones {Sequel to Skinny Love}

Confrontations

Emma’s POV

“Get your sexy ass back up Damon!” I yell at my television, aware that unfortunately Damon could not hear me. His head was bleeding, but it quickly healed. For the past four hours, I have been watching reruns of The Vampire Diaries. I was lucky to find a marathon of the amazing show.

Voices could be heard from outside my bedroom door. I shove another spoonful of mint ice cream into my mouth. I was going to pay for this later. Alex and Avery had already tried to get me out of my room, but I wasn’t in the mood. I planned on staying in this bed for as long as possible.

The door opens to reveal Riley, a spoon in hand. They must have told him that I’ve locked myself in with ice cream. He plops next to me on my bed—not saying anything—and takes a spoonful of ice cream. We watch the fight between Damon and Elena unfold.

“I want to castrate him.” I say, once the drama is over. Riley chuckles and licks off his spoon.

“Trust me, so does my mother.” I laugh quietly. The ice cream is put onto my side table, and I pause the television.

“Why would he do that?” I ask quietly.

“I honestly don’t know. The Toby I know would never ever do that, especially to you. Maybe it’s Jo, or maybe it’s him just hurting and not knowing how to deal with it.” He replies.

“Yeah, well I’m hurting. Maybe he should get some Ben & Jerry’s and Damon Salvatore, instead of being a jack ass.” I spit out. I cross my arms over my chest, the pressure in my chest making it hard to breathe. Riley sighs from beside me and puts his hand on my knee.

“Why don’t we go for a walk to get your mind off of things?” He suggest.

“Riley, it’s going to take a lot more than a walk to burn off all that ice cream I stuffed down my throat.”

“I’m glad to see you still have use of your sarcasm.” Riley jokes. “Okay, we’ll go for a run. I just have to go get changed before we go.”

I hesitate when he mentions us going back to his house.

“Don’t worry. Toby is out.” I simply nod.

After Riley and I both changed, we started off around Riley’s neighborhood. I had always wondered what it was like to live in a neighborhood like this. Where I grew up, everyone was also so spread apart. To get to my neighbor’s house, you had to walk either on the road for quarter of a mile, or cut through the woods that separated our houses. Sometimes I liked it. I never had to worry about people seeing me in my pajama’s as I took the dogs out, or running in my bathing suit to get to the pool. But then I also wanted that closer sense of community. I wanted a best friend that I could just walk to their house when I needed to talk. I wanted to be able to run around the neighborhood instead of going to the gym every day.

With each step I take, I try to focus on my breathing. In and out. In and out. Then I try to match my steps and breathing with Riley’s. Our arms swung back in forth in the same pattern—we were totally in synch. I think he noticed my glances every now and then, and chuckles to himself.