Reece Winston

When I'm done telling her everything, I watch the look on her face. Her face brightens instantly as she bounces in her seat like a child. She tucks her black hair behind her ears before leaning forward.

"So you're dating," she concludes.

I shake my head quickly, "no, we're not."

"He literally said you were his," Riley rolls her eyes, "and he's too damn gorgeous to reject."

"Gorgeous or not, he's probably dangerous," I mutter and play with my now empty cup.

"That's even hotter," she fans herself and I chuckle lightly.

"I don't think I should get involved with him," I tell her honestly even though there is nagging on the other side of my brain.

He was attractive, anyone with eyes would agree. Not only that but he was extremely tempting, the very apple your parents tell you not to touch. Let's not even forget that his kisses...they feel good. I blush, what am I even thinking?

Sometimes I didn't even know what I was becoming. I would've dismissed him entirely but now my brain decided to start making up reasons why it wouldn't be that bad to be around him but I couldn't help it. He was like a drug and at first little dosages are satisfying but as the days roll out, you begin to crave more.

That's why this situation was becoming bad. He was a drug I shouldn't be taking and I should really cut it off before the addiction begins to creep in but I knew when I saw him again, when I looked into those eyes of his I'd be sucked back in even deeper than before.

"You're life is so boring, Reece. The only thing you do for any type of excitement is play chess—"

"Chess is exhilarating!" I defend myself with narrowed eyes.

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, "what I'm trying to say is this guy will give your life the spice it needs."

"I don't need spice in my life," I mumbled.

"Do you, Reece but don't be petty or bitter when you're forty and look back to your youth only to realize you didn't do shit," she says bluntly and doesn't give me room to say anything which meant the conversation was over.

She stands and grabs her cup as well as mine to throw away. I hated when she'd do this because it made me believe that she was right even though there was this nagging feeling that ate up at me. I hardly knew Greed so what made it safe to even be involved with him?

There was no answer to that and it was a scary thing to get involved with someone who you knew nothing about. It was an even scarier thing to begin to crave being around someone and enjoy their company to the point where you develop feelings. I didn't want that and I knew that's exactly what Greed brought to the table.

Wet cloth touches my hand and I jolt a bit in surprise.

"Sorry," a male voice says.

I look up and I see Ethan who is spending his time wiping the table with the, most likely, sanitized dish cloth. I tell him it's fine and watch as he continues to wipe of the table and focuses on a spot that was already clean but I didn't want to point that out to him and embarrass him.

"Ethan," I say and he stops what he's doing to look at me, "how did you make that drink? You know, the one you gave me?"

"Why?" He asks and slowly wipes the table even though it was getting way too wet now and the smell of sanitizer and bleach was strong now.

"It was really good, probably the best thing I've ever drank except for water," I sheepishly scratch the back of my neck.

To my surprise, Ethan smiles but he doesn't look at me while he does it. When he looks at me, his smile is gone which I found to be even more weird but Ethan was pretty strange in general.

"I can't tell you," he replies.

I blink.

"Why not?" I ask him.

"It's my secret recipe," he says and grabs the cloth in his hand, he chews on his bottom lip before saying, "if you want it you have to come in and ask me for it."

"But–"

I wanted to reply to what he said but he was already beginning to walk away. Riley comes back just as Ethan goes behind the counter.

She stretches her arms and yawns in tiredness.

"Get up hoe, I gotta take a nap," she tells me and begins to walk away.

I stand and jog to catch up to her as she pushes open the door and begins to walk down the sidewalk. We walk past stores just as before but this time we walk down into the large parking lot and begin our search for Riley's car because for some reason, we always tend to lose her car in the sea of other cars.

We finally find it and I hop into the passenger side as Riley enters through the drivers side. In the corner of my eye I see a figure. I try to look closer by squinting but I'm interrupted when Riley elbows my arm. I look at her.

"Seatbelt, I'm not getting a ticket," she tells me.

I do as she says and look back at that spot but whatever I saw wasn't there anymore. I nibble on my lower lip, maybe I was seeing things like I always do. I wouldn't be surprised if what I saw was literally just a street animal or something like that.

The engine comes to laugh and Riley begins to pull out of the parking space and maneuvers through cars so she can pull out of the parking lot and into the Main Street with other cars.

Riley blasts music that I don't like but I don't say anything because knowing her, she'd just increase the volume to drown out my complaining because that's what she always did.

Since I lived awfully close to the coffee shop and the shopping center in general, it wasn't a surprise that my neighborhood was approaching.

She made a turn and entered my neighborhood that was a circle of houses with cars parked on nearly every single driveway. She pulls up to the front of my house and I take off my seatbelt.

"Thanks," I say as I push the door open and step out.

"Text me," she tells me.

I roll my eyes, "like you even respond."

She blows a kiss and I can't help but chuckle. I shut her door and she speeds down the street and back out onto the main road.

I walk up the driveway and jog up the stairs to porch. I pull the key out of my back pocket and insert it into the keyhole, twisting it and opening the door.

I enter and shut the door, locking it for safety reasons.

My sister Rae peaks out of the kitchen with my mother.

"Hey, love," my mom greets.

"Hey, ugly," my sister says before disappearing back into the kitchen, my mom follows suit.

Feeling the love.

Merry Christmas lovelies <3
~xoxo, Babybird