Lea

         "But I'm not dressed for a party, look!" I argue with River, pointing towards my outfit of dark skinny jeans and a simple t-shirt, with a pair of worn-down trainers, which all originally belonged to Marissa.

         You still need to buy yourself some of your own clothes, Lea.

         "It doesn't matter; you don't need to dress up for these sorts of parties. You look cute anyway," River successfully shuts me up by flattery. 

         "You never mentioned going to a party," I say.

         Should I have said you look cute too? Is that what you're supposed to say? I've never done this dating thing before.

         "I didn't know until now. Lea, would you please stop stressing, it'll be fun. There will be loads of kids from school coming, everyone comes here after exams." His words are meant to reassure me, but they only make me more stressed.

         Nick might be there.

          This sudden realisation makes me fidget in my seat. Knowing that River is right next to me, and I know something that he has yet to tell me himself, makes me feel uncomfortable. Why didn't he explain was Emily's boyfriend?

         The outside world has darkened from the navy blue sky above. However, the streets and sidewalks are alive and illuminated by street lamps and headlights, making Graceland look like a smaller version of New York.

         River pushes against the brakes as we approach a red light, and from the corner of my eye, I sense him turning his head to face me. I face him as well.

         "You'll have fun, I promise." He reassures me again, a warm softness in his eyes.

         "Whatever you say," I roll my eyes at him.

         After peeking at the traffic lights to make sure they aren't changing, he drops one hand from his steering wheel to support his body weight as he leans towards me. I sit completely still. When his nose touches mine, he closes his eyes, and I follow suit. Then the wait begins, the period that involves his head leaning that tiny bit closer until our lips unite. The time in which my heart explodes into a million pieces then tries to solve its way back together again.

         I kiss him back.

         It's not one of those deep, intense kisses, it is more subtle and delicate, yet has the same breathtaking effect on me. He pulls away much to my disappointment, but the look in his eyes is just as thrilling. It's filled with so much joy; I can't believe that I can bring him this sort of happiness. 

         I never thought I'd admit this to my seventeen-year-old self, because I didn't think that these kinds of relationships existed in real life, yet my feelings towards River are much stronger than a simple crush. It's something much deeper than that, which I'm too afraid to confess.

         He opens his mouth to speak, cutting off my thoughts. "Would you get big headed if I said you're beautiful?"

         My breath hitches in my throat.

         "Maybe,"

         This makes him smile, but he soon turns back to concentrating on the road when the traffic lights transition to green and the queue of cars before us start to move forwards. And my heart, like the cars in front of us, resumes to race.

***

         The house is right next to the lake – you can see it winding its way around the edge of the house and into its back garden. The home itself is a detached three story town house, with rectangular windows, a tall door and thick hedges lining the perimeter of the front garden.

         After driving through the open gate and along the driveway that separates the house from the main road, River parks the car to the left, close to a hedge. I look ahead at the rest of the parking spaces before the house. A sleek and expensive-looking car has taken up every single spot.

         "What do you do at these parties? Drink champagne and show off sports cars?" I turn to River, smiling at my joke.

         He gives me frown. "No, you have fun, let loose, you know." River explains, and I laugh.

         "I actually don't know." I reply, "the only other party I've been to was Nick's, and you didn't let me stay there for long."

         At the mention of Nick, River's body tenses. He abruptly cuts the engine and pulls the keys out of the ignition.

         Oh yeah...Nick.

         "Let's go; I promise you you'll have fun." He forces a smile, unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing out of the car.

         After doing the same, he locks the car, and we both make our way to the front door, which is fractionally open. A few boys linger outside with cigarettes in their hands, one of the boys has his arm flung around a wasted girl – she's laughing at his hair, for some reason.

         I feel River's hand intertwine with mine, and I can't help but feel that giddy feeling again. Before we can walk through the front door, the boy linked with the drunken girl shouts towards us.

         "Ay, River! Been a while, mate!" He calls, taking a drag of his cigarette.

         River twists his head to face him, "Hey Mike, how are you?" He says, turning his body, making mine turn as well. You see, his clasp on my hand is quite tight, not that I'm complaining.

         "Not bad man, taking care of Jules, as usual." Mike nods his head towards the poor girl leaning against his shoulder. She's now stroking at his unshaven stubble on the bottom of his chin.

         River laughs. "Hey, Jules."

         "Heeeeeeey dude!" Jules giggles, glancing at River for a split second and then returning to rub Mike's face with her thumb and first finger.

         "Oh, yeah." River coughs, smiling at Jules' response. "This is Lea, my girlfriend."

         And at that sentence, I think my heart just stopped beating, and my stomach fell to the ground, and my brain stopped functioning, and I bit my tongue, and I squeezed River's hand extra tight when I wasn't meant to. Oh damn.

         Girlfriend.

         I snap out of my bizarre trail of thoughts and focus my attention on Mike, who has already greeted me and is waiting patiently for a response. I observe the boys behind him directing their attention to us and are ogling at me.

         "Hey, Mike." I smile awkwardly at him, and nervously at River beside me.

         "Well, I'll chat to you later man, we're both starving." We're not hungry, we just ate, but River thankfully and quickly changes the subject, noticing the looks the creepy cigarette-dragging boys are giving me.

         Before I can properly say goodbye to Mike - who seems nice enough to say farewell to – River drags me away from them, and into the house. It's only when we walk into the hallway that we can hear the music. It's loud enough to be enjoyable but not so loud that you have to shout over it to be heard. It's not mainstream music either, the voices singing aren't ones I recognise from the average radio station.

         The house is crowded with people. Most of them hold some sort of drink in their hands as they dance and sway to the music, while the rest are either making out or chatting amongst themselves. After wriggling past a few individuals, River gently pulls me into what seems to be the living room. He then detaches his hand from mine, and instead loops his arm around my waist, bringing me closer to him.

         "Sorry about those boys outside, they don't have much decency." River calls into my ear. "Well, neither did I but let's not go there, I'm a changed man." He laughs, making me shake my head in amusement.

         I wrap my arm around his back too. "Mike was nice," I reply.

         "That's because Mike has a girlfriend." He smirks, and recall back to the drunken Jules girl. "But you're my girl, I won't let another guy eye you up like that." He says rather seriously now, and gives me a delicate kiss on the forehead.

         As if I'm not blushing enough as it is, there is a great big flash and the sound of the click of a camera. Both River and I look startled at the short girl to the side of us, who is holding a digital camera in her hands, its lens points at us. The ginger, frizzy-haired girl brings the camera away from her face to reveal her identity – it's Martha Bea from the year below, wearing a giant smug smile on her face.

         "Well look at you two love birds, this is news." She comments, clicking away at the camera with her hands to search for the picture.

         I peek over to see the image on the screen – the perfect shot of River's lips against my forehead, and a blush boiling in my cheeks.

         "Martha, really?" River says, going for the camera in her hands.

         She quickly darts back, holding the camera as far away from his hands as possible and sticks out her tongue. "Nope, no, no, no. It's a cute picture!"

         "I can always take that camera back, you know." River warns, raising his eyebrow.

         Martha huffs, pushing some of her ginger strands of hair behind her ear.

         "You can't take presents back, that's just rude." She pouts, still a small indication of a smile evident in her eyes.

         His fingers trail up and down my waist, making me shiver. "Whatever," he tells Martha jokingly, before turning to me. "Do you want her to delete it?"

         "No, it's fine." I shrug, trying my utmost hardest to sound normal. I actually want the photo; it looks cute.

         The grin on Martha's face widens as her eyes look from mine to Rivers. "Hey! She's nice!" She tells him excitedly, like I'm not even there. Her head turns to face mine again. "Sorry you had to end up with him," she bobs her head at River. "He's a bit of a handful, I know. But you'll get used to it."

         "Martha!" River presses with a worried look.

         I look up at him, smiling slightly at the tint of pink developing under his cheeks.

         Martha holds up her hands in surrender, allowing the camera to hang from the strap around her neck. "Okay, okay. I'll leave you two love birds to it then." She says, starting to walk away. However, I catch her little gesture – it's a wink, directed at me.

         Noting the few people who have their eyes trained on us, River tightens his hold on my waist and pulls me closer to his side.

         "You know Martha?" I ask, grinning at the way he holds me.

         "Yeah, I'm her mentor," he clarifies. 

         "What? You're a mentor?" 

         "Yeah, you didn't know? It's good to put on your university application. You should do it." His grin widens to match my surprised one.

         "No thanks, don't want to be breaking up arguments over who gets the best lockers." I snort, making him laugh. 

        "Yeah, that part sucks. But helping out some of the kids, like Martha, it makes you feel good." Glimpsing around the room at the growing amount of eyes which are watching our every move, he speaks again. "Let's go outside." He says, and I nod.

         On our way out to the back garden, we both gain the following of more curious eyes. A few people who I recognise from school shout out a greeting to River, such as 'hey mate!' or 'oi River! Where've you been?'

         But the worst is when the flirty girls greet him. It usually follows something along the lines of "hey River; I texted you, didn't you get it?' or 'we should hang out sometime soon, River!'

         Neither greeting is pleasant to my ears.

         Luckily, he wouldn't stop for too long to reply, and when it involved talking to a flirtatious girl, he would hug me even closer to him, and graze my waist with the delicate touch of his fingers.

         You're his girl, he said it himself. 

         After struggling through small spaces and squirming through crowds of unfamiliar faces, we finally manage to reach the back garden. To say the least, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in a long time. To be honest, it even beats River's back garden, and that's saying a lot.

         The lake winds its way diagonally from one corner of the backyard to the other, and there is a bridge hovering over the middle of it – allowing people to pass over to the other side. Under tonight's moonlight, the water is silver and dazzling, making the view of this garden even more picturesque.

         Rubbing his thumb against the skin of my knuckle, River steps forward into the short grass, nearer to the speaker that is playing gentle music. A few couples stand ahead of the deck chairs that line the bank, swaying slowly to the beat.

         Once we're a comfortable distance from them, River stops walking and so do I. Letting go of my hand, he reaches for my waist, pulling me closer to him. Due to my short frame, I have to strain my neck up to look at him, surprised by his gesture.

         "I am not dancing," I state, freezing in my place.

         He lets a low chuckle escape his lips. "Oh come on."

         "No." I shake my head, trying to force myself away from his body.

         "Shush, Lea. Just go with it," he says more delicately, bending his neck, so his lips are closer to my ear as he speaks. 

         "Oh my God, you have to be kidding me," I mumble but stop pushing myself away. His hands caress my waist and the top of my hips, moving up and down with the slow beat.

         "Do you want to put your arms around my neck, or not?" He asks, amused at my awkwardness.

         Huffing through a small smile, I reach my arms up and wrap them around his neck, pulling his head down and closer to my face. After staring at me for a moment, he rests his forehead on mine, never breaking the gaze. His hands travel a little lower down to the small of my back.

         "Would you get annoyed if I kissed you in front of these people?" He whispers, loud enough for me to hear it over the music.

         I shake my head.

         His grin grows as his eyes sparkle in excitement.

         "Well then I might just kiss you," he says, before doing just that.

         His lips brush against mine to start. It's a soft feathery brush. And then, he applies more force to seal our mouths together. I close my eyes and wrap my arms even tighter around his neck, while he mildly grips the fabric of my t-shirt, as well as the skin underneath it.

         We stay like this, locked together and moving in sync until the last thirty seconds of the song goes by, and a more upbeat song starts to play. Pulling away first, he remains close, his nose still touching mine.

         "Do you want a drink?" He asks, looking straight at me.

         I nod and smile. "Yeah, please."

         "Ok," he loosens his grip on my t-shirt. "I'll be back in a minute then." He says, letting go of me completely, flashing another heartwarming smile before vanishing into the house.

         I spin on my heel to face the sparkling lake lined with small lanterns that give the gentle waves of the water a yellow glow. Pacing towards one of the deck chairs on the far right side, I sit myself down. Watching the tiny ripples, I take this quiet moment to smile to myself. 

         I feel so happy right now.

         I'll never get used to this fuzzy feeling growing in side of me, all because of River.

         "Lea," says a husky voice from behind my chair, startling me.

         I rapidly turn my head to face whoever said my name, and I wish I didn't because this is the last person I want to see right now.  "Nick," I reply with a dull tone.

         Knowing what he's responsible for, I don't think I can be my friendly self with him.

         He clears his throat and stands awkwardly for a moment too long, probably realising that I don't want to talk to him.

         "Having fun?" He asks, stepping from behind me, and sitting on the deck chair parallel to mine.

         I keep my eyes focused on the water – now that he's here, I can't enjoy the view as much. "Yes, thanks," I answer.

         We're both quiet; too quiet that it's painfully uncomfortable.

         From the corner of his eye, I see him turn his body towards the lake as well. He rests his elbows on his knees and bows his head down to look at the grass beneath his shoes. I peek sideways at him. As usual, he looks like the handsome boy he's known to be in Colston High. Nonetheless, knowing what he's done, his handsomeness does little to waiver my distaste in him. I avert my eyes back to the water before he can catch me staring.

         "I'm sorry about the party, you know." He starts, and this makes my eyes widen with alertness as to what he has to say. "When I invited you, I didn't mean to upset you or...use you in any way. I just simply wanted to invite you; that's all." He glances up at me when he finishes the sentence, and so do I.

         "Why did you want to invite me?" I ask.

         He shakes his head, readjusting his eyes to look at the grass spiking up from the mud. "I don't know, I just..." he shrugs, not bothering to carry on his sentence.

         "I guess..." he rubs his chin, then meets my eyes with his. "You remind me of someone."

         What?

         "What?"

         "You remind me of someone." He repeats hesitantly.

         "Who?" I question.

         At my words, he slowly turns towards me. His eyes narrow as if contemplating what to say. 

         "Emily Collins," he says, and I forget how to breathe. I remind him of Emily? I don't even look like her. What?

         I think he can sense my confusion, "I know you know her, River must have told you by now." 

         Stunned, I don't know how to respond.

         His lips curve up into a sad smile, with no hint of happiness or joy within it. Again, he turns away, locking both hands together and staring at his fingertips. I'm guessing he's thinking about something. 

"Don't ask me why you remind me of her; I have no idea why because you look nothing alike." He breathes, repeating my exact thoughts. Lifting his head to face the lake, he blows out a heavy exhale. "She was in a car accident, one that was my fault. You know, I'm meant to be in prison right now. But my dad got me a lawyer, best in the country. He didn't want me to go to jail." He sighs, wearing a pained expression. "But trust me, I—" 

         "Nick." Says a voice behind me, and I know exactly who is belongs to.

         Nick stands up from the seat and tries to wipe the pained expression from his face to make him look a little tougher. However, it's evident that he's in debt – and will always be in debt – to River.

         I look over my shoulder at River, who keeps his eyes glued to Nick's while he steps forward to be in line with me.

         "I suggest this conversation ends, now." River words pierce the air between us like sharpened daggers. 

         Nick stands still, never breaking the eyes contact with River – probably trying to hold his ground. But, it's blatant that River's won this one because Nick doesn't reply, even when we turn and walk away from him.

         River places his arm around my waist, and I walk closely by his side until we reach the inside of the house. Again, we have to push through the crowds of bodies that are dancing or chatting, before we manage to reach the hallway that leads to the front door. All the while, River is silent beside me – his body is rigid, and his jaw clenched. I want to ask him why he's so tense, but I already know the reason.

         After pulling open the front door, we start to trek to his car, our hands now interlocked.

         "I'm sorry," I say, quietly.

         He squeezes my hand.

         "You have nothing to be sorry about."

         We reach the car, so he pulls out the keys from inside his pocket to unlock it. 

         "I know why me talking to him makes you feel uncomfortable, that's why I'm sorry," I explain. "He was Emily's boyfriend, wasn't he." 

         Pausing still, he looks ahead at the house. "How do you know?" 

        "I figured it out," I tell him. "Why didn't you just say?" 

        Looping his fingers around the steering wheel, he sighs in annoyance. "Because as much as I hate him, I still love him like my brother. We were close before all this happened, I didn't want people to know it was him, I didn't want to ruin his reputation like that." 

         He hangs his head down to face his lap and shuts his eyes. 

         "River?" I ask, my worry grows with every second that passes. Something is wrong. 

         "I got a call." He begins, his voice a little shaky.

         Instead of asking questions, I listen.

         "From Conner." He states, and instantly the memory of Emily's adoptive brother resurfaces in my mind.

         I think I know where he's going with this.

         "Is everything alright with Emily?" I question, trying not to let my heart leap out of my mouth when it opens.

         "She's awake." River says, a blank expression on his face.

         My lips stretch into a grin at the sudden news, and I smile so wide that it starts to hurt my cheeks. However, the smile falls slowly when I realise that River seems to be the complete opposite of happy.

         "What's wrong?" I ask. "She's awake, why aren't you happy? You can go and see her." I tell him.

         His face doesn't change as he stares ahead. It's completely impassive, and the worried itch returns to me.

         "River, what's wrong?"

         Slowly, he turns to me, a flicker of grief flashes in his eyes, and I just about caught it for a split second.

         "She's got memory loss." He says so hurtfully blankly that I'm afraid of what he has to say next. "She doesn't remember anyone, including me."

***