lovestruck {F.W}

Chapter 10

RIVERS POV
we're all at millies and no one has commented on Harper's "lunch date" with that guy. millies babbling on to sadie about how ava scraped her eyeshadows out of her pallet and ruined her white overalls. I'm watching Harper carefully, she's been smiling all evening, her cheeks still rosy, she claims it's because she's warm but we all know it's that boy.
"harperr?" sadie calls her, "girl you have to teach me how to curl my hair like that" she holds a curl from the end of her braid in her hand.
"it's natural!" millie exclaims, i don't even know if harpers smile couldn't even get any bigger. she's so happy and it makes me happy. she deserves it.
"girls?" an unfamiliar voice calls us,
"Charlie! This is for girls only!" millie scolds the older boy.
"sorry, i guess I won't ask if you'd like any milk and cookies" he shrugs and walks off very slowly
"no wait yes we do!" millie calls after him
"Charlie! bring them! Im serious Charlie!!" She shuts the door and rolls her eyes, muttering something under her breath.
"if it's a girls night...then can I join?" little Ava comes running in.
"No Ava!"
she huffs and then leaves, stomping her feet for good measure.
there's silence for a few minutes. i can't bear to be quiet any longer
"Harper who was that guy you were with?" i smile at her as her cheeks begin to turn pink making her little freckles stick out more.
"yes tell us!!" sadie squeals and millie, is quiet.
"w-we'll i don't really know" She shuffles on the bed uncomfortably
"Harper friends don't lie" that catches millies full attention
"hey that's my line!" She laughs
i raise an eyebrow at her, "you don't know? that's why you were sitting at what looked like a date, giggling, having a full blown conversation, not even realising we'd called you like 500 times! Harper you don't know who this guy is?" i say sarcastically and she laughs nervously.
"come on harp, we wanna know!" i pretend to pout at her and I watch her smile grow
"okay okay! i really don't know who he is, he just came and sat with me, and we talked for a little and then you came to pick me up. he's really sweet and he listens to me" She gushes, her cheeks getting redder and redder.
"oh. my. gosh." that seems to be millies catchphrase lately.
"wait how old is he? he looked older than you harper about my age" sadie asked, slightly concerned.
"h-he's 15" she says turning her face away from us. "he turned 15 a few days ago!"
we all let out an excited squeal. "you already know his birthday?"
"i think this calls for a celebration"
"he's older than you harp omgg"
"yeah but it's okay, we're just ...friends? maybe. i don't even know if we're friends yet" her face suddenly falls and she looks a little disappointed.
"if you're just friends...then what's on that piece of paper?" i smirk at her and her face lights up again as she turns and pulls the note out of her bag. she smiles at the little note mystery boy gave her.
"what's it sayyy??"
she hands us the note that reads:
autumn girl,
we should hang again, i can get to know you better. im normally hanging in the vintage store. oh and try to keep your wildfire under control :)
love,
josh x
"wildfire?"
"love?! ahhh"
"it's one of the nicknames he gave me, he means my sarcastic-ness, i kinda lost control of my mouth when he asked me if I was from England" She looks embarrassed but laughed anyway.
Sadie, millie and i glance at each other. we jump up on the bed
"HARPERS GOT A CRUSHH HARPERS GOT A CRUSHH" we sing, making her turn even more red.
"shhh stop!!" she pulls us back down and we all erupt into a fit of giggles.

FINNS POV
"dudeeee I'm so boreddddd" nick groans, throwing a ball at the window and catching it again.
"go out then" i roll my eyes at him, "oh I forgot, you can't go if you don't have any friends, ha!" he throws the ball at me but I swiftly dodge it, my eyes glued to the game I was playing.
"no i do have friends but I can't leave you here by yourself. Hey go live!" he snatches my phone off the table before I can protest
"hey nick? yeah I'm 15, 15 I can take care of myself" he starts the live video
"yeah not going to happen"
"hey guys" he waves at the screen. i take a quick look but I see a familiar name pop up. it's river. i start to sweat instantly.
"river? sweet name" he leans over and whispers in my ear, "isn't that the name of the girl that's been cast?"
i nod, "yeah but there are thousands of rivers"
"oh hi Lola"
oh no please no.
"ooo you want me to get finn to call you, sure thing" i burn up, not because of her, because I'm embarrassed.
No no no no no.
"looks like finniboi has a crush am I right?" He nudges me and jokes, but I'm not sure how many people on my live will catch it. he clearly takes my burning up face the wrong way.
i focus on my breathing as I see the comments pour in faster, ignoring nick and the live. if river heard that, she'd think lola and I have a 'thing' and she'll probably hate me. but i don't want her to hate me, i really like her. this is not happening. i swallow thickly and force a smile at the camera. i dash into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, spilling half of it down my shirt. nick do you even realise how many posts they'll be now because of that joke, the whole cast was online. Lola is horrible to all of them and they're gonna hate me too. no no no

after about half an hour, nick ends the live. I'm in my bedroom now, i don't even dare to go back on instagram. I've texted river but she hasn't replied. she hasn't even read it. that's it, game over. great job nick.
"hey kiddo" he calls
"kiddo? you just embarrassed me on a live in front of 50 thousand people nick, that's not cool." i snap at him.
"hey hey calm down, i was joking about Lola I know you don't like her" he raises his voice slightly.
"yeah you may know that, but they probably don't! lola she takes things the wrong way, she'll think we're a thing, River will think w-" i stop, realising what im about to say.
"forget it" i tell him
"wait this river" he screws his face up, "do you like her? is that what all this is about? you don't want her to think you and lola are a thing because you like her!" hes grinning at me now
"will you stop saying that" I glare at him.
"River, she's just my friend, i don't like her like that!" im straight up lying to him now, he's not buying it.
"really? you wouldn't be getting so het up over a joke finn. look I'm sorry, i didn't mean to embarrass you, and this river girl, you really like her?" he asks and sits on the bed next to me.
"well, yes but she probably hates me now" my heart sinks
"if she's really your friend, she'll be happy that you're happy, right? even if i did put it across the wrong way"
he seems genuinely sorry.
"Yeah I guess. and to show me you're really sorry, you have to go buy me ice cream" my normal grin returns on my face.
"come onnn how old are you? 5?" He laughs, "I'll be right back"

RIVERS POV
I'm sitting on millies bed, watching finns live as the girls mess around with makeup and hair.
it's just a normal live until lola joins and comments.
"ooo looks like finniboi has got a crush" nick teases, but finn is bright red. a crush on lola? are they, dating? tears sting at my eyes, and i rip the earbuds from my ears and throw my phone on the bed. it vibrates. from finn. no I'm not answering.
"river! what has that phone ever done to you?" sadie laughs. harper is curling sadies hair, she looks at me, concerned.
"are you okay?" She mouths her brows furrowed, i nod and smile weakly. i really thought he liked me, actually liked me. turns out he was just playing with my emotions? he probably knew how he made me feel and played along with it because he loves the attention. i should've never trusted him. ever. he's just like any other boy. selfish and cruel.

~word count 1538~
dramaaaaa!! plot twist. oh nick, what did you do? this chapter showcases a little more friendship (and the reality of sibling relationship) between them all. also, did river forget her crush is 15? hope you're enjoying,
over and out,
-L💛