No You And Me

Chapter 10

Riley's p.o.v

'Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful, will you still love me when I've got nothing but my aching soul.'

I ignored the sweat pouring down my forehead and the flies buzzing around in my ears as I hammered a nail into the fence. My parents were out which I found strange but I dind't say anything because it very likely that they would be getting back together and my grandma has been nagging me to fix this fence for ages.

'I know you will, I know you will, I know that you will.'

It amazed me how blue and bright the sky looked when it was that early in the morning. The sun was blazing and the sounds of several birds swooping down while singing irritated me. I picked up another nail and began battering the head while shoving it into the wooden fence.

'Will you still love me whenI'm not young and beautiful.'

'Hi!'

'Aaarrgghh' I screamed and jumped back in surprise. Michael stood there leaning against the fence and laughing. I sat on the grass and laughed too.

'What is up with you? You keep sneaking up on me; you tryna stalk me?'

'Maybe,' he laughed again. 'I just wanted to know about your delivery service.'

'Oh,' I sat on my heels and continued hammering in the nails. 'Well, you order a bunch of stuff and we take it to your house for you; it can be for a certain amount of time or a week or weekly or even monthly.'

'Daily?'

'Yeah, we do that too.'

I stopped hammering and looked at him. His eyes were shinning and his face was slightly flushed.

'Is that an excuse to see me everyday Crawford?'

He blushed deeply and looked away. 'No um, my mum wanted to have some fresh groceries and I recommended you; you know for uh business.'

I smiled. 'Thank you. I'll add you to the list.'

'Thanks and uh, I had a great time yesterday.'

***

I stacked all the food and groceries into a basket for my last delivery; Michael. I heard a car horn beep and my father's car rolled up the drive. Both he and my mother came out, their hands were in their pockets and they talked in low voices.

'Hi mum, hi dad.'

'Hey sweetheart,' my dad said.

'How's it goin'?' mum asked

'Where've you been? It's been really weird around here; you hardly ever speak to me both of you.'

'We had to go take care of things with the landlord; don't worry it's fine.' Mum said.

'Whatever.' I walked away from the house and tightened my grip on the basket. I felt even more nervous as I approached the house. There were a few cars parked out front and the garden at the back looked stunning. I decided to take the back.

I stood on the patio and knocked. Michael came out and smiled at me.

'Come in.'

'Whoa,' was the first thing I said. 'Your house is huge.'

'I know.'

'It is so big, I'm sorry but it is.'

He laughed and led me into the kitchen.

'My mum just left; she went into town a few minutes ago.'

I nodded. 'What about your dad?'

'Working.'

'Where?'

He pointed to a large brown door, 'In his study; he spend A LOT of time in there.'

'I see; well he's a writer.'

'Yeah, it gets frustrating sometimes 'cause we never get to see him and all.'

I nodded. 'Maybe after he finishes his book?'

'Nah, he'll just move on to another one.'

'Oh.'

I noticed the sad look in his eyes and gave him a comforting smile.

'So you wanna give me a tour or what?'

'I get the feeling that you'd like to stay here longer than you should.'

I grinned madly again. 'Shut up.'

He led me out to the garden and I marvelled at the colours of the different roses and the marble water fountain in the centre of it.

'I'm impressed.'

'Thanks it was my mom's idea; she spent a lot of time on it.'

'Well she must be real creative.'

He laughed. 'Yeah she is.'

We walked back in and he led me to the living room upstairs. I raised my eyebrow at the sight of the bar and Michael turned around and laughed at me.

'Would you like a drink?'

'Uh, I don't think so man, I don't wanna ruin anything.'

'Ruin anything? Who said you were ruining anything?'

He poured a bottle of coke into two glasses and handed one to me. I took the cup gingerly and sipped; it had been a while since I last tasted coke. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

'Hey guys! I'm back!'

Michael's p.o.v

'Shit,' I whispered.

I didn't expect her to be back so soon.

'Your mum is back?' she asked in a small wavery voice.

I nodded and she let out a weak sigh. 'Oh uh, that's uh...'

'You should probably...'

'Yeah.'

I led her down the stairs and instantly my mother's eyes landed on her. I could see the disgust in her face, the way she scrunched up her nose and ran her eyes all over Riley, I could tell that she was not pleased.

'And who's this?' she asked but her eyes remained on Riley.

'This is uh, Riley; she's my friend.'

'Hi Riley,' she didn't extend her hand so that Riley could shake it, she just kept staring at her. 'Where are you from?'

'Uh, I'm from here actually, I live next door.'

'Next door,' she said with a hint of disgust. 'On the farm or near it?'

'On the farm.'

'Oh,' she finally looked away and shoved her hand into her purse while scanning for something. 'You're the farm girl Michael hasn't been able to shut up about.'

'That- that is not true.'

She shook her head while Riley looked away cautiously. 'So what were you guys uh doing?' she raised her head again and stared at us.

'I was just showing her around the house.'

'Why?' she opened her bag again and fished out a bottle of water.

'It was nice to meet you Mrs. Crawford and by the way I love the garden,' Riley said with a feeble smile.

'Mmmnn. Well bye.'

Riley uncomfortable shuffled out of the door.

'Mum what the hell was that?'

'Excuse me?'

'Why did you have to be so mean?'

'Mean? So I'm mean because I'm trying to keep our house vermin-free?'

'What the hell mum don't say stuff like that!'

'Look Michael as offending as this may sound you need to get it into your system, rich people and poor people don't mix. Writers, business people, students; they don't mix with poor people. It's life honey, deal with it.'