As the door to River's childhood home opened, I tensed. I knew I shouldn't care what they thought, but I couldn't help it. I was in love with their son.

I had finally accepted that I was in love with River. I had realized the moment he gave me that damn blanket. I had no idea how long I had been in love with him, but I knew it was probably a great deal of time.

I was still gaining the courage to tell him. I knew that it might change everything, but maybe I wanted things to change, and it's not like it would change that much if we started dating. It's basically just a label change since we already sleep together and hang out all the time.

If I wanted to date River, though, it would be easier to have his parents like me.

Once the door was opened, three people stood in the doorway—a man and woman who were much older than us and a girl about River's age.

"Hi guys," River said, hugging his parents. It took him a second, but then he realized the beautiful blonde girl standing there with a massive smile on her face.

"Emma?" River said, letting go of his parents. He quickly moved toward the girl, Emma, and scooped her up into a hug that was way too tight for my liking. I wasn't the jealous type, but I couldn't help how I felt, and I hated it.

"How long has it been?" River said, releasing her but keeping his hands on her waist.

"We haven't seen each other since Freshman year of high school."

"Wow," River said. "How are you?"

"I'm good. My family just moved back in next door, and when I heard you were coming back for the weekend, I needed to stop in and say hello."

"You can stay for dinner. Right?" River asked his parents as I looked at them.

"Of course she can," River's mom smiled.

"Let me introduce you to my friend. This is Alani Davis," River said, pointing toward me. The emphasis on the word friend caused me to cringe. The word echoed inside my head, bouncing around like one of those bouncy balls people got as kids. Is that all he thought of me? After all this time?

"Nice to meet you, Alani," Emma said.

"Hi. Nice to meet you too," I said politely.

Next, I introduced myself to River's parents. They were polite enough, but it was clear they didn't think much of me and thought the world of Emma.

"I can help set up for dinner," Emma said, walking into the kitchen with River's parents, leaving River and me to bring in our bags. We were sleeping in separate rooms since River didn't want to tell his parent's that we were a little more than friends. He thought it would be too confusing. It's not like River's family didn't have the room for us to sleep separately. Their house was huge, so I'm sure they had more than a few guest rooms to spare.

"Who is that?" I asked, dying to know the answer.

"That is my childhood friend, Emma. We were neighbors and friends up until high school when she moved away."

"And you haven't talked to her since then?"

"We tried to stay in touch, but over time, our friendship fizzled. We still follow each other on social media, though. Seeing her was a surprise."

"Okay, well, I'm happy to meet her," I lied.

"Good," River said. "Let's get settled in."

*****

"So, Alani, what's your college major?" River's dad asked as we sat around the table.

"Psychology," I said.

"That's nice. Emma here is studying medicine."

"You are?" River asked, setting down his fork.

"Yeah."

"Wow," River said, raising his eyebrows.

"So, Alani, I haven't seen you on River's Instagram at all," Emma said, catching me off guard.

"Oh, well, I don't post that much," River said, jumping in.

"When we were friends, you posted pictures of us all the time. Times do change," Emma said, laughing.

I had never cared that River never posted pictures of us, but this conversation was making me insecure.

"And how long have you known River?" She asked.

"A few months," I said, fake smiling.

"Wow, I've known River since we were seven," She said, laughing again.

I had had enough of her casually one-upping me.

"Really? He's never talked about you," I said, firing back at her snarky comments.

Her face instantly changed from a smile to one of murder. For the rest of dinner, she spent the entire time glaring at me. I wasn't even paying attention to getting River's parents to like me because I was so focused on Emma not killing me.

When dinner was over, both River's parents got called into work, leaving only Emma, River, and me.

"It was nice meeting you, Alaine," They said before leaving.

"Alani," I corrected, but they didn't turn around.

"So, can I see your room?" I asked River.

"Sure," He said, leading Emma and me upstairs and down the hallway. When I walked into River's room, it was nothing like how I expected. It was a pretty plain room filled with books and not much else.

"I used to read a lot as a kid," He said when he noticed me staring at his bookshelf.

"Oh, look, and there's my room," Emma said, pointing toward the window. When I looked out, I saw that River's room was right next to a pink bedroom that had to be Emma's.

"Oh, yeah," River said, looking into her room.

"We have a lot of memories in these rooms," She said, looking directly at me as she spoke. I could tell she was trying to get a rise out of me, but I wasn't taking the bait. I was wondering if any of those memories included kissing or sex, though. River said they were only friends, so I told myself I didn't need to worry.

"I'm going to go grab my old iPad. We can look through it," River said, going downstairs.

"Are you sleeping with him?" Emma asked as soon as he left.

"Um," I said, unsure whether to lie or not.

"I asked a question," She said after I didn't respond.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I want to know," She said.

"Um, no, we aren't," I lied. I figured if River didn't want his parents to know, I probably shouldn't tell Emma, or it could get back to them.

"Oh," She said as River came back in.

For the next few hours, I had to sit through Emma and River, reminiscing over old times as they looked through his iPad. By the time she left, leaving River and me alone, I was exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

"I'm sorry that we can't sleep in the same bed," He said as I yawned.

"It's cool," I said, heading into my temporary room, which was across the hall from River's. "Good night."

"Good night," He said, shutting the door as I realized Emma was only a window away from him.

I curled up in the blanket River had given me and told myself not to worry.