[Teen and New Adult Romance]
"Life as a trailer trash kid is nothing short of shitty, especially when the love of my life pretends that I don't exist."
River wants two things: to get out of Gladstone and to be with the boy from her childhood. With h...
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I woke up to the smell of bacon as I thought about the night before. Falling asleep with Kaleb next to me felt like a dream. He'd even held me like he did when we were younger inside his family's dock apartment. He didn't try to kiss me, but he'd held me tighter than ever.
"River?" Kaleb leaned down and shook my shoulder.
Prying my tired eyes open, I grinned at Kaleb.
"Food's ready," Kaleb smoothed a stray hair out of my eyes.
"I smell bacon." I yawned.
"I went to the store and got us some stuff. Come on. We have a long day ahead of us." Kaleb was fully dressed and ready to get going.
"Really? What did you buy?" Hopping out of bed, I hurried to see what he got at the store.
"So full of energy this morning." Kaleb laughed, and it was a nice sound.
"You got all this today? How?" I glanced around at the brand-new boxes of dishes, pots, pans, towels, and even a new vacuum. "It's like the Christmas I never had."
"I actually got most of this last night during the party. I left early and told Maryanne I would be back, but I just blew her off. Those parties are boring." He said as he opened a box of silverware.
"Thank you." I pulled a colossal towel out of a bag and hugged it. These were the nice big ones.
"Maybe we could have a party here one night," I suggested.
Kaleb's eyebrows instantly bunched. "No. This place is our secret, and I don't know how I feel about you bringing Travis here. You guys were texting about the game last night. Is he going to come over?"
"How'd you know that I was texting him? Did you go through my phone?" I said, surprised, knowing I would never go through his phone.
"Yeah, I was making sure Vinny didn't text anything fucked up. I'm trying to build a case against him. I hate that guy. You have no idea how many times I've wanted to kill him."
Not knowing what to say to that, I nodded. "Just ask me first next time."
"So, back to what I was asking. Did you invite Travis over?" Kaleb took two plates out of a box.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I did tell him he could pick me up here for the movie."
"Fuck, I know I have to be with Maryanne, but I don't want you here alone with Travis. Just ask him to pick you up at the Truck Stop." Kaleb said.
I sat down at the kitchen table, trying to wake up. "Why are we still playing these games, Kaleb? Why can't you tell your mom we're not together, and then we'll just be together?"
"You don't even care if my mom accepts you anymore?" He asked as he dished some scrambled eggs and bacon onto a plate.
"No, I've grown out of that. I want to be with you, though, and if you decide to break up with Maryanne soon, I can break things off with Travis before whatever we have goes any further. But if we do get together, Kaleb, I want us to be together everywhere we go." I said in a sad tone. I was so sick of seeing him with other girls when I knew he wanted me.
