After me and Jake had left my therapist's office we ended up going for ice cream, despite Jake's many requests that we don't.

But now it's friday and I'm pacing my room like a crazy loon.

"You'll be fine." Chloe reminds me for the billionth time tonight she looks at me upside down from my bed where she's laying down, and eating a bag of ketchup chips with one hand and using her phone with the other, no doubt texting Theo.

"Ens you said yourself he's a great guy, and from the pictures I've seen you will be fine and if it isn't, call me or one of the boys." She says, and I realize that she's insisting that Ryver was attractive, which he is.

But does my best friend have to comment on that?

"But isn't it weird? He's Jake's brother." I say taking a seat next to her on my bed, looking at my reflection in the mirror, then standing up again inspecting my choice of outfit one more time.

I was wearing a simple ribbed white tee shirt with a baggy black cardigan on top, paired with simple denim jeans that have the tee shirt tucked into them, and simple lace up chunky black heeled ankle boots, I had rolled up the bottom of the jeans to make it look better.

My outfit wasn't bad considering it's freezing out, and Ryver had said to wear something simple, but that didn't stop the nagging nerves I was feeling.

When the doorbell rang, Chloe wiggled her eyebrows and insisted on opening the door for Ryver, which with my protests she made it to the door before me, saying it's payback for the time I embarrassed her in front of Theo during their earlier days.

I shouldn't have done that, now look where that got me!

When I made it down the stairs I saw a nervous looking Ryver standing in the entrance holding a bouquet of flowers, wearing a white tee shirt with simple black jeans and a black bomber jacket.

He looked so hot, like really hot.

Okay I need to calm down, just a bit.

Chlo was standing still holding the door, staring at him with a wide grin, that was very creepy.

A smile coated Ryver's lips when he saw me. I felt nervous but his smile eased some of my worries.

He handed me the flowers when I came and stood next to him.

"Hi." He says with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Hi." I said back feeling dumb for not knowing what to say.

"You look beautiful." He says, making me blush.

"Thank you." I say. "You don't look too bad yourself."

After a few seconds standing awkwardly just staring at each other, Chloe broke the silence.

"I'm Chloe by the way, sadly I'm friends with Ens over here." She said teasingly. "You hurt my baby and I'll hurt you, my boyfriend knows men who will beat you up pretty bad for the right price."

Ryver stared at her not knowing what to say and then finally said "Im Ryver nice to meet you."

He didn't acknowledge the last part which I feel relieved about.

Like wow Chleo out of all times to mention that you choose now!

"Ready?" He asks, turning to me.

I nod and then Chloes pushes the two of us out the door. "Okay have fun, but not too much fun." I give her a glare, and Ryver blushes?

We walk to his car and he asks how I've been, it's awkward like we both aren't sure how to act, even though we've talked a lot. It feels different.

"Where are we going?" I finally ask when I realize he's been driving for over fifteen minutes.

"A restaurant." He smiles looking over at me for a split second before focusing on the road again.

"And which restaurant is that?" I say.

"A restaurant that serves food." He continues to tease me.

"Fine." I say deciding to just wait.

Which proves to be difficult, but I don't push it.

Ryver already seems nervcous, I don't want to add more to his nerves.

About ten minutes later, we made it to a restaurant called 'Blue Sea'.

Ryver looks at me for my reaction but I'm extremely confused on what the place is so I don't say anything, he opens my door for me then laces his fingers with mine and we begin to walk to the restaurants door.

I feel a sense of happiness that his hand is in mine, and for once I don't overthink it, what happens later happens, for now I will be happy. Because you don't get these moments often.

We walk in and I'm surprised to see that from one wall all the way to the other is filled with water and fish and swimming as if they are in a fish tank, which they kinda are in a way.

"Wow." Is all I can say, as I keep looking at the many fish that are above our heads, the whole place illuminating in hues of blue.

It's such a beautiful sight.

We go to our table which is situated toward the back where not many people are, but it's peaceful and quiet.

"What do you think of the place." Ryver asks, leaning his elbows on the circular table and I sit in front of him.

"Its cool." Looking up again at the fish that surround us, he chuckles and looks back at him. "What?" I ask and can't help but smile.

"Nothing, it's just I like seeing you happy." He says and looks down at the table.

My cheeks flushed. I wasn't used to getting compliments, especially ones like this.

It felt nice.

The conversation flowed well from there, we talked about anything and everything.

I ordered chicken parmesan, and Ryver ordered some sort of pasta with a complicated name.

Now we sit in his car as he drives me back. He said he wants to take me to one more place, but again doesn't tell me where.

He's annoying.

Okay I'm lying, he's far from annoying.

"So where are your parents? They never seem to be around." He asked, staring at the road ahead my body stiffened. But I decided to be somewhat honest.

"Um they passed away a few years ago, I live with my aunt though she works a lot." I say my voice quivering.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He does not seem to know what to say.

"It's not a big deal, I've moved on from it." I say attempting a smile, it comes out forced.

"Yeah," then he switched the subject, and it eased my nerves knowing he could tell that it caused me discomfort.

I was scared. Scared because I was letting Ryver in piece by piece of information, and I was worried. Worried that I was talking about the mistakes of my past.

But even with a billion thoughts nagging me to tell him I can't do this.

I didn't say anything because for once in a long time, I was feeling happy.

Without alcohol or drugs, or anything except Ryver's presence, and I knew I couldn't let go of it.

*~*~*~*~*

R y v e r s P O V

I felt like an ass when I asked Ensleey about her parents. I could see the shift in her, even when she tried to act indifferent to the question, so I switched the subject straight away, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

This was probably the best night I've ever had, I liked being the reason for the smile on Ensleey's face, it made me happy to see her happy and carefree.

So I relished every laugh and smile she offered me, and I hoped I'll always be the person, reason for such a simple thing, that always seemed difficult for her to find.

Of course every good thing, must come to an end and that why, I'm now I've stopped my car in front Ensleey's house after I took her to an ice cream parlor that has been around for so long, it's one of the places I love so much.

It was incredible to be able to experience it with Ensleey.

I don't know if I should kiss her, but she's here sitting in the passenger seat of my car, looking beautiful, with a gleam in her eyes I've never seen before.

She looks so happy and at ease.

Fuck it.

I lean in across the council, her breath hitched, and she doesn't make a move to stop me, so I take that as an invitation, and cup her cheek with one of my hands, her soft skin against my rough palms, feels so right and perfect.

I finally lean in, and I press my lips softly to hers for a split second before caressing her mouth with mine.

We kissed for a long minute, and I've never felt so much in one kiss. Her hands are touching my shoulder, and I'm still cupping her cheek.

When suddenly the sound of her phone ringing interrupts us.

She laughs a breathless laugh, looking down at her phone which is in her lap, I see Jake's name on the screen.

"It's fine answer it." I say softly.

She picks up the phone and after a few beats her voice sounds angry.

"What the hell do you mean you went there alone." She says. "Shit are you fucking high?"

It's odd to see her swear, even though I have seen her swear it's just something it didn't really expect from her, but why does she care if Jakes high?

Or is she just concerned, I'm guessing that's all there is to it.

"I'm coming to get you, stay where you-- like I care!" She says. "I'm hanging up."

And she did, she stared at the screen then looked up at me.

"I have to go." She says her voice sounds apologetic.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"Yeah Jake saw Rachel and you know how it is." She says like I'm supposed to get what she means.

How what is?

"You mean the break up?" I ask.

"You know how different she's been since the accident, and the whole thing." She says placing her phone in her purse, getting ready to leave,

she now seems in a rush barely paying attention.

"Why would she be different?" I'm confused but she doesn't really notice, since she's looking for something in her purse, when she finally finds what she's looking for she turns to me, it turns out to be her keys.

"She lost her memory Ryver of course she's going to be different." She says.

I stare at her confused, I remember after the accident Jake said Rachel decided it's best if they take a break, I never heard anything else on the I just thought they broke up.

I never expected to hear that the reason Jake fell down a dark path is because Rachel had lost her memory.

But I guess things aren't what we always expect them to be, that just how things are sometimes.

Everything always seems to be easy and flawless on the surface, except that's not how it ever really is.

"She lost her memory?" I say, feeling pieces of a picture I didn't know were missing started to come to me.

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Ensleey says, seeming to be the one confused now.

"No." I say my voice coming out smaller than I attended it to.

I didn't know the real reason why my brother and his long time girlfriend broke up. What else could I not know about?

~~~~~

A u t h o r s N o t e

Thank you so much for reading!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter,

also please vote and comment.

-R.E