Chapter 8

The time said it was 1:15pm when we settled in with Aunt Riley to watch a movie after embarrassing ourselves. We watched the notebook and as I expected James didn't pay attention to the movie. He whispered things to me the entire 2 hours! I tried to laugh as quietly as I could but when I looked at my aunt I laughed big time because she wasn't even paying attention to the movie and she picked it. She was reading a book! James followed my eyes and laughed as well when he saw my aunt reading, Aunt Riley looked up then.

"What? I knew that you guys would talk the entire time so I'm reading." She explained with the expression like "been there, done that" and gave me a wink secretly.

James put in a movie that we would actually relate to while Aunt Riley continued to read. It was… A walk to remember clearly he was joking but he actually watched it. Myself seeing it so many times watched all the way until he finds out that she has leukemia then I fell asleep on James's shoulder. When I woke I was on James's chest and his arm was draped over a blanket laid on my back, He was asleep too. I sat up abruptly breathing heavy from the memories filling my head of him along with that one night at the river back I didn't want to think of him, I try to forget him…the guy who broke my heart. Looking down I hadn't woken up James but I had cause him to shift a little and fall back into his dream, Aunt Riley was gone from the chair and he book took it's place when I realized The house smelled good again.

"She's in the kitchen." I said to myself while getting up and walking to the entranceway to the kitchen leaving a knocked out James on the couch and the movie at the main menu not caring about either…all I wanted was food and a shower.

"Hey, sleepyhead is James still asleep" Aunt Riley asked as I came into view.

"Yeah" I answered half-awake. Aunt Riley only laughed to herself as I sat down at the table. "What are you making? Smells good" I asked.

"Dinner" She replied obviously. That's when I noticed it was dark out and the time above the stove confirmed it reading 6:30pm. "I should probably go wake up James to go home, huh? I asked Aunt Riley.

"Sweetie he lives by himself and sometimes on days like this he sleeps here and leaves in the morning." She explained.

"Oh, well I feel dumb." I said again half-awake.

"I'll wake him for dinner then!" I said with a laugh and walked out the room to wake James. Aunt Riley only laughed to herself behind me in the kitchen.

Waking James is not an easy task to-do.

The strange thing is James looks very sexy when he's asleep. Did I Just say that? I thought to myself. He was softly breathing with a crumbled blanket concealing everything from his chest to his feet. I slowly bent down and leaned in closely to his ear.

"James? Wake up sleepyhead." I said shaking him gently.

"What could you possibly want right now?" he asked, eyes still closed.

"You awake that is what I want. Dinner time" I replied only to receive a half asleep zombie beginning to stir awake.

James and I each stumbled into the kitchen barely awake only to cause Aunt Riley to laugh lightly. Everything was placed on the table: Sweet potatoes, green beans, fresh biscuits, and country fried steak. Plates were loaded already by the time James and I sat down, as always no matter how tired James looked he was still a gentleman and allowed the women of the house to fill their plates first.

"Dinner is amazing Ms. Riley thank you kindly." James noted appreciating it.

"You're quite welcome James, go ahead and eat as much as you like." Aunt Riley replied with her sweet smile.

I on the other hand practically ate a spoonful and was done, James secretly told me to eat but I ignored him. My appetite was gone no matter how nice the food tasted. After dinner, Aunt Riley started immediately on the dishes and James volunteered to help dry them. I walked out onto the porch and sat in one of the chairs staring out into the lavender filled garden. Like always right on time, James appeared shutting the front door behind him.

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" He asked leaning against the railing facing me. "Something is wrong, I can tell. First at the tree house and now at dinner" He added lowering his voice.

I looked away from the garden to James's face.

"I can't tell you here, come on." I said getting up and walking towards the garden with James following. We walked to the center of the garden and sat in a small patch of grass face to face.

"James I don't want to keep this from you anymore. The real reason I had that look on my face at the tree house was…It reminded me of someone who made me believe he loved me but instead he broke my heart. And I didn't eat at dinner because the thought was still in my head and I couldn't let it go." I lied on the last part.