The not-so girl next door

Chapter seven

River comes back with a comforter and a pillow, she smiles at me as she comes and sits back down. She holds her hand out and shows me some pills. "Pain killers. For your face. It probably hurts." I smirk and put the ice pack down.

"Thank you," I say. I put the pills in my mouth and she hands me a water bottle I swollow and look down. She then puts the ice pack back on my face. I could see the worry in her eyes but I just smile. "For everything."

"It really isn't a problem. I just... " she doesn't finish her sentence before I pull her into my arm.

"My dad.. he has been doing this for years, I take the hits so my mom and brothers don't have to." I was tearing up, she just hugged me back tightly not saying a word. She finally pulls away and looks up at me. She wipes a tear off my cheek.

"He can't keep doing this." She says holding my cheek. I close my eyes.

"There is nothing I can do right now, my mom won't leave him. If I call the cops she won't do anything other than send them away." I was crying now. She held me with my head on her shoulder, she leaned her head against mine.

"We will figure this out," she says and kisses the side of my head. I move so I can look at her. She was beautiful, I was able to see every detail of her face even down to the light freckles on her cheeks. I can't help but smile, there was so much of her to see and every time I looked I found something new. "What?" she says blushing.

I blush back, "I'm sorry I didn't realize I was staring."

"It's okay," she slowly puts a stand of her  hair behind her ear, "Well I think we should be getting some sleep." I nod as she slowly got up and went to her bed. I sigh as I lay down under the blanket she had brought me, I lean the ice pack on my face as I slowly float off to sleep.

The next morning I was disoriented, I didn't know where I was. The house was so silent I was confused, this can't be my house. I then remember what happened the night before and I sit up slowly seeing her still in bed. I flop back down on her floor and look at the ceiling.

I actually stayed the night at her house. I run a hand through my hair and sigh. I should get up and leave before River's parents wake up but as I sit there in the dark I can hear people walking around and lightly talking. I look back over at River's sleeping form and smile. She seemed so peaceful while she slept, I never thought someone could look so beautiful without trying.

"Fuck," I whisper to myself. I leave my hands over my eyes. I hear River rustling on her bed, most likely rolling over. I look back over at her and see that now her back was to me. I wanted to crawl up into the bed next to her so I could hold her tight. I shake my head to get rid of that thought. Why am I being so weird?

I hear River yawn and sit up. She looks over at me and gives a small smile "Hey, how'd you sleep?" She rubs her eyes and yawns. I yawn after her, she lightly laughs at me.

"I slept fine. How about you River?" I reply to her. She crawls down to the floor and comes over to me.

"I slept okay." She says looking at my face. She takes it within her hands and looks at my nose and eyebrow. "Your face is looking better."

"Thanks to you," I say smiling at her. Her hands were so soft. She smiles back at me.

"I'm going to go check for my parents and I'll bring you something to eat." She says before walking out of her room. She closes the door behind her. I grab my phone and see all the messages from my mother and my friends. I answer a few of my friends but ignore my mom. I'd be home soon enough, she can yell at me in person.

River comes back with two bagels. She smiles at me and sits down in front of me. I take one of the bagels from her and we eat in silence. I could hear a car start outside and leave. River goes to the window and looks out.

"Looks like your parents are gone. Might be safe now for you to go home," She looks over at me with a smile on her face. "My dad already left."

"Okay cool. Thank you again for helping me out" I say slowly standing up. I walk over to her. I look down at her with a smile. She smiles back with a nod.

"Of course," she says. I finally give in to my urges and wrap my arms around her waist. I can see her blushing, which causes me to blush. She wraps her arms around my neck. I lightly place my lips on her forehead before pulling away, still holding her.

"I'm sorry" I say remembering she wanted to take things slow.

"What did I tell you about those words."