It had been almost a week since I last saw River, and I was really starting to miss him.

"I still can't believe you guys did that!" Nadia said for about the tenth time that week.

"I can't believe we did that either."

"And he really said that it was a one-time thing?"

"Nadia, I've told you the story a thousand times."

"I just can't believe it."

"What's so hard to believe?"

"That River wouldn't want more of you."

"Thank you, I guess," I said as I put away my schoolwork. I was finished for the night and ready to watch some Netflix. Right as I got out my laptop, my phone dinged. The only people that actually texted me were my parents, Nadia and River. It was too late for my parents, and Nadia was sitting right next to me, so it had to be River. My heart fluttered at the thought.

He hadn't texted me all week. I promised him that I would call him, but I never did. I was too scared and embarrassed to face him. River didn't try to contact me either, which made me kind of mad, even though I had no right to be.

I picked up my phone and saw a text from River waiting for me.

River: Can we talk?

"Who is it?" Nadia said, looking up from her laptop.

"River," I said, feeling conflicted on if I should respond or not.

"What did he say?" Nadia exclaimed impatiently.

"He wants to talk."

"Well, text him back," Nadia said as my fingers hovered above the keyboard. There was so much that I wanted to say but couldn't.

I ultimately decided to ignore it and hope that he would take the hint that I didn't want to see him anytime soon.

My plan did not work. A few minutes later, my phone lit up with another message.

River: Please?

Sighing, I decided to move my fingers and type a message.

Alani: When?

River responded almost immediately.

River: Tonight

Alani: It's late

River ignored me and texted me an address that I didn't recognize. I wasn't about to go to some sketchy address, which was thirty minutes away from me.

River: Trust me

Groaning, I told him I would meet him there.

*****

This couldn't be the place River wanted to meet. The building looked run down and beat up. I looked down at my phone and then at the address on the building and sighed. This was the place.

I cautiously stepped into the building and was met with an empty lobby with mailboxes lining the walls.

I looked around, and that was when I saw him. River was standing there, looking at his phone with a worried expression.

I cleared my throat, and he looked up. We locked eyes, and the memories from our camping trip came flooding back to me.

"I wasn't sure you were going to come," He said.

"I wasn't either. Why are we meeting here?"

"I live here," He said, confusing me.

"What about the house?"

"I moved out."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to live with Daniel," He said as I remembered what Daniel was telling everybody. Did River really move out of his house for me?

"Oh."

"Come up," He said, motioning for me to follow him upstairs. I trailed after him until we had climbed three sets of stairs. We stopped at a door, and River put his key in and twisted. The door opened up to a one-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and not much else. The view was of a brick wall, and I swear there was more dust in there than I had ever seen.

"It's all I could afford with the money I had saved up."

"River-"

"No, let me talk first."

"Okay."

"I'm sorry about what happened after our night together. I want you to know that it was one of the best nights of my life," He said, causing me to blush. Was it really one of the best nights of his life? "I didn't want to hurt our friendship Alani."

"But you already did."

"I know, and that's not what I meant to do."

"Why didn't you text me earlier?"

"I didn't think you wanted to hear from me," He said. It was true. I didn't want to hear from him.

"You can always text me, River," I said, softening my face.

"I guess that I just wanted to say that I value our friendship so much, and I want everything to go back to the way it was before."

I thought about his words for a minute. I was thrilled that he was talking to me again but sad because he just wanted to be friends. I wanted more than that, and I was still stuck on him saying that the camping trip was one of the best nights of his life. 

"Okay," I said.

"Okay?"

"Okay. We can go back to being friends."

"Thank you," He said, running up and squeezing me. His massive arms wrapped around my figure, once again reminding me of the camping trip.

The hug lasted a lot longer than it should have, but I didn't care. River stroked my hair, and I placed my hands around his neck. While I was in his arms, feeling close to him, it was then that I realized I was falling in love with him.

I didn't want to be friends. I wanted to be so much more than that, so I decided to take a chance. As River let go of me slowly, our faces brushed against each other, and we looked at each other.

After staring for a moment, I kissed him.

I was the one doing all the work while River stood still like a statue. I quickly pulled away once I realized that he wasn't reciprocating the kiss.

"Alani," He whispered as our foreheads touched, and right as I began to walk away, thinking that kissing him was a stupid idea, he pulled me closer and crashed his lips back onto mine.

We kissed passionately with so much built-up anger, longing, and lust from the past week apart. River's mouth was warm against mine as our lips danced together.

"River?" I said, pulling away.

"Yeah?" He whispered as I felt his breath on my cheek.

"I want to have sex," I said.