RIVER DANCING
Maryah
River made his way through the groups of gawking girls and greeted me with a haughty smile. “Let’s ditch today.”
“No way. I don’t need another suspension.”
“Fine, Miss Goody-two-shoes.” Once we were in class, he put his arm around the back of my chair. “You weren’t here when we discussed our name assignment, but I researched yours.”
“So you know I’m destined to start my own tuna company?”
River snickered. “You’re a star of the sea, and my name has no hidden meaning. It makes sense.”
“You lost me.”
More of our classmates filtered in and took their seats. River leaned so close to me his lips brushed against my ear. “Every river finds its way to the sea. Maybe you’re the sea I was meant to find.”
I threw my pen at him. “This is no time for jokes. In case you forgot, April challenged me to a boxing match. The last thing I need is people overhearing crap like that and thinking you’re serious.”
I had spent both days of my suspension leaving April voicemails, sending her apology emails, and texting her. She didn’t reply to me at all. Not one word.
Faith poked her head between us. “Guess what I discovered about your name, River?”
He sat back and grinned. “What?”
“Sometimes a river flows directly into the ground and dries up before it reaches a larger body of water.” Faith sounded all cheery like it wasn’t mean, but I shot her a dirty look.
My evil eye must’ve looked like the work of an amateur compared to River’s. The bell rang and Faith danced to her seat.
∞
I didn’t give up on April.
Weeks passed but she didn’t come back to school at all. I still sent texts and emails, I’d even asked her other friends if she was okay, but they told me nothing.
My biggest fear was that her mom may have gotten worse. Every morning I’d look through the obituaries, holding my breath until I confirmed her mom’s name wasn’t printed there. April did call River, but he didn’t answer, or call her back, and I wanted to strangle him for it.
“You could at least find out if she’s okay, if her mom’s okay. Don’t you have a heart?”
He kept bopping his head to the song on the radio as he cut off an SUV. Another reason I wanted to strangle him, he was a careless driver. “No good will come from us talking. She wants me to say I miss her, but I don’t. She’ll just get more depressed.”
I sighed. His logic kind of made sense, but I was so worried about her and no one would tell me anything. Silence was the worst punishment in the world. It was even more torturous because I didn’t do anything wrong. I’d rather April just punch me in the face a few more times, and get out all of her misplaced anger so we could go back to being friends.
River pulled into the lot of Barking Frog restaurant, and I climbed out of the Jag. For the first time since he picked me up, I noticed River’s outfit. Black slacks had replaced his usual dark jeans, and he wore a button down shirt instead of one of his rocker shirts.
“Am I underdressed?” I glanced down at my jeans and sweatshirt.
He held open the front door. “Nah, you’re fine.”
The hostess asked for our name, and River told her we had reservations in front of the fireplace. Unlike our usual hangouts, the scene gave off a creepy romantic vibe.
“What’s going on?” I asked, after the hostess seated us. “This seems a little much.”
He grinned. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.” And what did a holiday about love have to do with River and me?
“I know, but it’s Saturday night, so I figured we’d kick it off now and spend all day together tomorrow.” He set a black velvet box on the table.
I laughed, thinking he was kidding, but he insisted I open it so I did. It was the diamond heart necklace from our shopping trip.
“River, you bought this for April.”
“No, I bought it for you. You assumed it was for April. I wanted to give it to you for Christmas, but figured I’d wait until I gave April the ax.”
I stared at him in shock.
He rocked back on two legs of his chair. “You said you liked it. It’s black and white, so it matches the haunted look you’ve got going on.”
The room was too warm. I felt dizzy. “I don’t understand.”
“Sometimes you are so oblivious. Wait right here.”
He left the dining room and came back a few minutes later carrying a black vase filled with white roses, and his guitar. I just sat there, paralyzed with denial. No way River did all of this for me.
He strummed his guitar while singing about two dark strangers joined by destiny, and how tragic roads led them to each other. It was slow, melodious, and haunting. People sitting at tables all around us stared with big grins, and a group of servers gathered across the room to watch. I was flabbergasted when he sang the last words “please be mine.”
The whole place erupted into applause while River stared at me, waiting for a response. River wanted me to be his ? The heat from the fireplace raised my body temperature a hundred degrees.
“Are you on drugs?” I whispered. It seemed the only rational explanation.
His face flushed and he glanced around the room, but thankfully, most people had returned to their meals or conversations. “Maryah, I like you. I know you feel the same way, so let’s squash this best buddy charade.”
Sweat dripped down my back. Had he lost his mind? Guys didn’t like me that way. No guy had ever liked me that way. We were just friends. He was April’s boyfriend, or had been anyway. I could never do something so cruel to her. “I—I don’t know what to say. I need to go home.”
“Are you kidding me? We haven’t even ordered yet.”
I struggled to swallow. “I just—I need time to—it—I had no idea you felt this way.”
“Seriously?” He looked astonished, genuinely astonished.
“I swear.”
“Wow, you’re more clueless than I thought. I guess it would be overwhelming. It’s not every day a rock star sings a ballad to you.”
I pushed my chair away from the table, away from the seven-hundred-dollar necklace, the song, the roses, and River. All I could do was nod in agreement and bolt for the door. If I opened my mouth I was sure I’d throw up.
