❝What do you mean?

I'm sorry by the way

Never going back now

Be so sweet if things just stayed the same❞

- Harry Styles, Lights Up.

"Renée, you can't be keeping your phone on silent. I was so worried about you," Tanner said the moment I walked into the house.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized tiredly.

"You've never come in this late from work," he stated.

"It's been really busy at the bakery. There's a party there on Saturday," I explained, collapsing in the couch.

He ran a hand down his face, "Yeah, you told me... I forgot."

I smiled, "We're both tired."

"What did you have to do at work?"

"Well, we baked close to sixty five cupcakes today. "

"Uh, wouldn't that spoil before Saturday?"

I chuckled, "No, it won't. We're not putting any frosting on them yet. We just placed them in plastic wraps. That alone will make it last about 2 days at normal temperature... still fresh. We could have put in the frosting and then refrigerated it, but Sky wants us doing that Friday night."

"Look at you knowing a lot about cakes now," Tanner teased. "How did dress hunting go?"

"It was great," I grabbed the dress I got from my backpack, showing it to him.

"It looks good," he took it from me, examining the dress, and I smiled proudly.

"One question, why didn't it come in a bag?"

"I got this really cool sweatshirt for River and I had to leave it in the bag in his car because he didn't know I got it."

"How are you 17 years old? You're doing things 20 year-olds do," Tanner asked, amused.

I moved to hug him, "Remember when you tell me stories of how you took care of me even when you were still so young?"

He nodded, "One of my proudest moments."

I chuckled, "You were mature. I think some maturity has rubbed off on me."

"Undeniably," he threw his arms around me. "I love you. Let's order? I'm too tired to cook, and clearly, you're tired too."

*

"Were you able to find a dress?" Kaleb asked me, taking a bite of his burger.

I nodded excitedly, "It's the most beautiful dress, Kaleb. I was too tired when I got home, if not, I would have taken a picture of it and sent it to you. Hey, you totally should come for the party on Saturday."

"Why should I go for a party of a child I don't know?"

"What child?" I furrowed my eyebrows

"The party on Saturday. Isn't it for a child?"

I laughed, "No, idiot. It's just a party that's being hosted by the bakery. It's for no one in particular."

"Right, right," he nodded, chuckling. "Then, I'm down. Uh, have you seen Harper?"

I chews on my burger, "Nope. I haven't seen her since after our last class together. She texted me to let me know she would be coming for lunch, though."

"Oh, okay," he nodded.

I felt a small smile play on my lips, "Why are you looking for her?"

"Nothing," he shook his head. "It just feels weird not seeing you with her."

"Are you sure that's the reason?" I smiled a teasing smile.

"Yeah. I told you not to assume anything."

"What? I literally just asked if you were sure!" I laughed.

He let out a breath, rolling his eyes, "Okay, I admit it. Harper's really cute, and I've enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with her. I like that I can be myself around her, but I'm wanting to give myself some time, especially after everything that happened with Sydney. I don't mind spending more time with Harper and getting to know her more, though."

I smiled softly at Kaleb, nodding. "And that's fine. You're a great guy, either way. Anyone should feel lucky to have you."

"Aw, stop, my heart's going to explode anytime soon."

I laughed, "Doofus."

Kaleb picked at a fry, putting it in his mouth as he said immediately, "Speaking of Sydney, you wouldn't believe what happened yesterday."

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"She came to meet me. Said she'd been looking for me."

"Oh, yeah, I should have told you she was going to come looking for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was leaving school yesterday when she came to meet me. Then she apologized and stuff like that. Confessed about being the one who had that rumor spread about me like I didn't already know," I chuckled lowly. "She was pretty much telling me irrelevant things, about Uh, how she never started dating you for the wrong reasons. What did she say to you?"

"It was quite a long conversation, but the summary of it all was that she missed me."

"Well... do you think she's being sincere?"

"I honestly don't care. I'm not going back to her or whatever."

"I felt bad for her," I admitted.

"Because you're too nice," he shrugged, smiling as he reached to take a fry off my plate, but I slapped his hand away immediately.

*

"You sneaky little thing!" River attacked me with a hug from behind and repeated kisses on my neck, causing me to laugh.

"River," I laughed hard. "Stop."

"Come on," he turned me around so I was facing him. "Don't act like you don't know what you did."

I remained silent, just smiling at him when he raised a hand to my face, caressing it softly, "It's a really, really cool sweatshirt. I love it. I promise I'll always treasure it."

I pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I'm so glad you like it. The moment I saw It, I knew I had to get it for you."

"You did a pretty good job at hiding it, though."

I chuckled, remembering I'd kept it at the backseat, "How did you find it?"

"It was later that night. I was looking for my camera hand strap and I remembered I kept it in the car. I eventually found it in the backseat. That's where I saw it. Thank you so much, babe. It was a pretty cute thing you did for me."

I smiled teasingly, "I know."

He cupped my face, "Yeah?" He muttered against my lips.

"Mhm," I nodded. "Shouldn't you be with Sky? Finalising things?"

"I should, but I had to see you and I knew you were working here tonight, so I told her I had to pee. "

I chuckled, "And boom, she catches you."

"I'm pretty sure she won't— "

"There you are, River. You told me you had to pee!" Sky came in.

"Busted," River muttered and I burst into laughter. He had spoken too soon.

Sky shook her head and grabbed his wrist, pulling him away, "I'm sorry to interrupt your time with your girlfriend, but we have to get this stuff done by tonight. I won't have your time tomorrow, River."

I smiled at him, giving him a small wave before getting back to what I was doing. Marnie took my spot today at the counter. While Zuri and Nolan were now working on the donuts and brownies, it was my job for now to pack all the cupcakes into plastic wraps and place them on the rack... but now I found myself smiling like an idiot as I worked, thinking of River.

*