𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥

mystery of love

Finding out my dad was going to be a chaperone on the France trip ruined my entire mood. I had this whole plan on how it was going to be like my trip with River to Cali but 10x better. And now that my dad was added to the equation I knew for a fact he would be keeping an eye on us.

River asked if I could hang out with him after school to get his mind off of things which I of course agreed to. We were walking along the path at the park, sharing headphones as "Mystery of Love" by Sufjan Stevens played softly.

It was freezing cold outside, but I felt warm hearing that song. It kind of made me want to cry.

"I think I want to see them again," River suddenly blurted.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded, "Today. Like right now, if you'll come."

He stopped walking and I turned to look at his pleading face. His cheeks were a firing red color from the cold and his lips looked redder than usual, face framed by his crisp golden hair.

"Of course."

***

We drove to quietly as my playlist played on shuffle in the car, with my hand tightly wrapped in his. It didn't take long to arrive to where Michelle was staying.

She lived in a more rural area of Pennsylvania, where all the farms and cottages were. The houses were basically a mile apart, and the acres were filled with cattle or huge gardens. It was always nice passing through when going to New York or New Jersey.

The mountains sat highly behind her home, gates leading up to the main house. It was pretty nice. Once we made our way up the snowy driveway, we saw someone outside checking the mail.

She had blonde hair like River's, and piercing blue eyes.

"River?"
He got out of the car as I followed, but didn't move.

"Sorry for just showing up, but I wanted to see Izzy."

"No, no that's great she'll be happy to see you again, honey," the woman said. I was guessing this was his biological mother, Michelle. "And who is this?"

She looked at me, examining, but not in a rude way. "This is Lia, my girlfriend," River answered. "Well it's nice to meet you Lia," she replied, "She's a very gorgeous girl."

I thanked her before we walked in with her guidance. The house felt comfy, with its wooden floors filled with throw carpets and white walls covered in paintings. She led us towards what seemed to be a living room, with a stone fireplace that had small family photos seated on it. The couch was grey, covered in throw pillows with a little girl seated playing with dolls.

River was right. She did look like a younger him. The big difference about her aside from being a girl, was that she seemed to be more "comfortable". River, being a shy kid, was quiet and I recall him wearing dark colors majority of the time. Izzy seemed to be the opposite, completely. She wore a pink long-sleeved shirt, with a pair of overalls over it that had Piglet painted on the front pouch. And over those overalls sat a pink tutu, topping it off with fluffy Piglet slippers. She looked like a real-life Junie B. Jones or Ramona. I already like her.

She noticed our presence immediately looking up and gasping when she saw River.

"RIV," she dropped her dolls, speeding towards him to which he prepared for, lifting her up onto his side as she squeezed him tightly for a hug. I noticed how happy they both looked, smiling at the sight.

Izzy moved her head to look in my direction, "You're really pretty, are you a model?!"

"No, but thank you you're also really pretty," I smiled.
"This is Lia, River's girlfriend," Michelle stated.
"Ohh, it's nice to meet you. I'm Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy. I like using nicknames, is Lia a nickname?"
"Yes, actually. My whole name is Ophelia."

She smiled, "Like the song!"
"Well I'll let you three get to know each other, I still have work to do," Michelle left as River put Izzy down and she grabbed our hands leading us to another room.

"Since I have unexpected guests today, we can have a TEA PARTY!" We were brought to what seemed to be her bedroom. It was colorful, painted dark blue with colored stars everywhere. There was a full-sized bed with a princess canopy over it and on the wall to the side was a moon carefully painted with the shadows of Peter Pan and the Darling children from the Disney movie. She had small bookshelves with cubbies, and toys of all sorts of genres lying placed away neatly.

A small white table held a nice tea set right next to a small grand piano for children. Luckily the table and chairs were a regular set, so it was comfortable once we were seated. She grabbed a stuffed animal from her bed, seating them in the fourth chair, "This is Ms. Marbles, a respectable longtime customer of the Izzy Bizzy Tea Shop, she'll be with us today."

Kneeling in her seat she leaned forward, blocking her mouth from Ms. Marbles seeing and whispered, "She's a bit rowdy don't mind her. I'll be back" The irony in the name Marbles became obvious.

She skipped away leaving us in her room. River turned to me, laughing, "She's kind of like Rowan when we were kids."

"I know. And her room is so cute, the child in me is screaming."

She came back with a small rolling tray. On it had the teapot with a plate and dish cover. "We were out of peppermint tea so I figured hot chocolate would be nice," she stated in a formal voice.

River grabbed the teapot for her as she carried the tray and sat it gently on the table. Quickly pulling off the cover with a "la vache", showing red velvet cupcakes with icing pipes and sprinkle options.

"Izzy Bizzy Tea Shop is having a special cupcake decorating session today, and you are the lucky customers."

We decorated our cupcakes, talking and laughing as we worked. It was fun. River somehow made small animals out of the icing, helping Izzy and I with ours.