Just a quick thank you to those of you that followed, favourited, PM'd or left comments, each one was appreciated and made me more excited to post this, I just haven't had a moment away from work until now, so enjoy!
Chapter Three
Another two weeks had passed since River got paired with Paul in their history assignment. Since Skylar spent the night. Since they started officially... dating? It was strange to say the least. They hadn't been on too many actual dates, but River wasn't entirely sure what she thought of their situation. Until then, they had both said that they didn't have time for dating during their senior years, so what had changed? Nothing.
To put it simply, she was exhausted. Skylar wasn't demanding or anything like that, but they talked a lot more. They texted during school now, they hung out around work, Skylar had even invited River to a party. It was a graduation party to be exact, being held at the Cullen house.
Like a dutiful girlfriend, River had attended Skylar's graduation ceremony. It had been uncomfortable to say the least, sitting with her girlfriend's parents who she knew for a fact didn't like her one bit. All the same, she stood and clapped when Skylar accepted her diploma, realising that in one short year, that would be her. She and Skylar, in spite of only being a couple of months apart in age, was in different years. River was one of the eldest in her year and Skylar one of the youngest in hers.
Somehow, through it all, her mind had ended up on Paul again. What was the point of their little project if they were so far from graduating? Was it going to count towards their grade? Gods, she hoped not.
All the same, as she found herself lying back on Skylar's bed, assuring the blonde that whatever she wanted to wear to the party was fine, she realised that she was bored out of her mind. She tried to think positively most of the time, but why did makeup take so long? She glanced up, barely lifting her head, looking Skylar up and down to see that she was still in her underwear, sitting on a small stool in front of a vanity, doing something or other to her eyes
A brief thought shot through her head telling her that if she was dating a guy she wouldn't have to deal with this.
She quickly slammed her head back down. How had she made this about Paul again? Wait, no, she'd thought of a guy, any guy, not specifically Paul, right? Dammit, she'd still managed to make it about him though.
To give him his due, he actually seemed to be putting effort into their history project. He wasn't rude to her either. Granted, he seemed to get mad at irrational things at times, but not at her. He did accidentally snap a pencil upon realising he'd written a wrong word, but seemed mildly embarrassed by it afterward. River couldn't put a finger on it, but he seemed entirely different.
As Skylar finished getting ready, River did her best to not think about Paul, but she still found herself baffled.
Once she was ready, Skylar drove them both to the party. River had to admit, she looked nothing short of stunning, but something still felt off. She didn't want to say anything. Tonight was, after all, meant to be a celebration, but she felt bad about it. She knew that she shouldn't have had someone else on her mind while she had a girlfriend, but she couldn't help it.
The party itself, however, was a welcome distraction. She'd never seen so many pale faces in a single room. Truly, it was astounding. There were almost as many kids graduating from Forks as were in her entire school. Even then she knew that Forks was considered a small school, so what did that make the res?
Once inside, River was introduced to Skylar's friends. One girl, Angela, seemed sweet, but other than her she could feel their eyes picking away at her every second that she stood near them. She had no reason to believe that it was a cultural or racial thing, they were just judgy kids. In the case of one kid named Mike, it was clear that he actually just had a crush on any pretty girl, so River couldn't help but smirk a little and hold Skylar closer, but the rest of the kids didn't seem to care at all.
She briefly saw the Cullen kids practically floating around. She felt immediately rude for not having brought any food or drink, but Skylar had assured her that everything had been taken care of.
Before she left the house, her parents had pulled her to one side. She had half expected her dad to give her some jokey sex talk, but instead they lectured her on drinking. Her dad even went as far as to tell her to call him if she saw so much as a single beer, but even her mom scoffed at that, telling him to find something else to do while she finished the talk. She was then given a curfew, money for a cab and told to have a fun, safe time. Her parents really were great.
Naturally, there was nothing but drinking at the party. River wasn't sure who had brought the booze, but she knew that Skylar was bringing her beer after crappy beer, happily downing them with her as they danced the night away. It wasn't until later on in the night that, as they danced, holding one another close enough for their beer breath to mingle, that a noticeable shiver ripped up River's spine to the point the Skylar gave her a quizzical look through drunk, hooded eyes.
River, knowing that feeling all too well, ignored her and tried to subtly look around. It was then that she spotted him across the room. Paul. Paul Lahote, standing with Jacob Black, Sam Uley and a couple of other kids from the res. It was that small group of friends but River was honestly a little too tipsy to try to figure out who was who. All that she knew was that Paul was looking right at her, watching her drunkenly swaying with Skylar. Why did she feel guilty? Worst of all, why was it Paul that she felt like she was betraying, not her actual girlfriend?
"Want another drink?" She then asked Skylar, spying that Paul and the others were near the kitchen.
Skylar, as bad as River, simply grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "I'm go... gonna go sit with the girls." She mangled the words a little but River knew what she meant.
Still not having broken eye contact, River quickly kissed the side of her head before setting off for the kitchen. As she moved, Paul seemed to move with her, stepping between his friends until he stood solidly in the doorway. A couple of months ago, she would have shoved him out of the way, shouldered him, maybe kneed his groin if he'd tried blocking her, but now? Well, now she felt naught but excitement as she drew near to him.
"You following me now, Lahote?" She grumbled as she neared, somehow knowing that he could hear her over the noise.
Seemingly amused, he smirked a little, looking her up and down as if he was waiting to devour her. It was actually kind of hot. "You make me sound like a creep." He replied, seemingly unaware of the fact that his friends seemed way too interested in what was going on.
Scoffing, River made to walk through the doorway, wedging herself between him and the doorway long enough to shock a few sober seconds into her. She found herself at a loss for words with the hard doorframe digging into her back, Paul's strong chest basically at her head height. If he were to lean down, they could have easily kissed. She knew that much. She also knew that she stood there a second too long before finally pushing past him, careful to not actually shove him as she did.
She felt him slip into the room behind her, following her over to the kitchen island that was full of solo cups. She grabbed two and turned around with the intention of heading straight back to Skylar but, as anyone watching would have expected, crashed into Paul. Luckily, his hands came up to steady her own just in time to stop the two beers from spilling everywhere.
Upon their skin touching, she couldn't help but let her eyes flit back up to meet his again, this time seeing a darker look coming back down to meet her. For a long second, he didn't let go. Part of her wished that he never would. "Careful." He practically growled, his voice playing some kind of game with her insides.
If it wasn't crazy, she would have sworn that he knew. She also would have sworn that she'd noticed his breath hitch, but that would have been insane, right?
She noticed, in that second, that his lips were so very close to her own. Close enough that she could just tilt her head, lean up and feel them against her own. She wondered how that would feel. She wondered if she would feel the fire that she and Skylar were so clearly missing right now. Gods, she wanted to kiss him so badly. She wanted to feel more of his skin on hers. She wanted to hear the noises that she knew would fall from his chest in the throes of passion.
Then, all too quickly, he stepped back, swallowing hard. "You should get back your- uh..."
"Girlfriend." River croaked, nodding softly. What the hell had she been thinking? Fuck.
She dropped his gaze, feeling a hole inside her. She tried to ignore it as she brushed past him, desperately trying to find Skylar, but it grew with each step that she took to get further from him. When she spotted the blonde across the room, drunkenly laughing with her friends, she didn't know whether she wanted to fuck her or dump her. She knew that she owed Skylar the truth, she owed her a clean breakup, but fuck, she wanted something and that's what their relationship had been before now, right?
Upon reaching her, trying to forget about Paul, she gave the excited blonde her drink, gulping her own before leaning into her neck, ignoring the looks she knew they would get. "Wanna get out of here?" She rasped into the shell of the other girl's ear, feeling the delighted shiver that she was met with, then a small nod as Skylar turned her head and, unashamed, caught River's lips gently with her own.
Thankfully, her friends were too drunk to be offended and giggled together rather than judged.
They wasted little time in staying after that. River tried her best to not spare Paul another thought, but as she and Skylar practically fell over one another, she couldn't help but catch his eye in a long mirror on the way out of the house. He looked so very pained by what he was seeing and River couldn't help but feel her heart break just a little. Still, she and Skylar continued, stumbling out of the Cullen house, leaving Paul and his friends to the party.
They stumbled through the woods together for what felt like hours before they finally found a road. River knew that she had money for a cab, but upon feeling her pockets she couldn't for the life of her find her cell, so they opted to walk to Skylar's house instead.
On the way, they took the opportunity to make out against random object, sloppy in their drunken haze. Trees. Bushes. A car. Nothing was spared.
It didn't take them long to reach the Monroe house, but both girls were significantly less drunk by the time they softly pushed the door open. Skylar's house, unlike River's, was a different kind of beautiful. It was incredibly uniform with its deep, red brickwork, the small porch out front, even the treehouse outside. It was clearly the home of a well off family, that much was made clear by the three stories.
Try as she might, River couldn't help but feel out of place.
They didn't have sex that night. By the time they made it up the stairs and into Skylar's room, they were exhausted. River was silently glad of the fact. They barely managed to undress as they clambered into the bed, leaving Skylar in her panties and a full face of makeup and River in a sports bra and boxer briefs, draped across one another.
Into the night, as they both found sleep, the two girls let different truths fall from their lips, though only River heard them both.
"I think I've fallen for you." Skylar grumbled, promptly losing consciousness.
"I think I'm falling for Paul Lahote." River muttered, scared by her own confession even as it fell on deaf ears.
Is that what she was feeling? Was she falling for him? Surely not, right?
I really hope you've enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to get the next one up within the next couple of days. Don't be scared to share any thoughts and feelings with me, I live for that shit!