It’s strange without his presence here.I'm on edge, and I don't really know why. I'm lonely and bored and the last four days have left me wordless and anxious.
River doesn't bother me.
He lounges around the house all day, eating apples and listening to music. Today I catch him looking at some of Javi's drawings. Drawings that I have only recently discovered myself. They have the same precision as the ones he used to send me.
I sit down across from River and watch him as he studies the charcoal sketches.
"What do you think they mean?"
River rolls his eyes. Laughs.
"Why does everything have to mean something? Maybe he just likes to draw."
I don't reply.
He's a smart ass. And I don't know why I even thought to bother with him at all.
I stand up. But he stops me again.
"They're tattoos."
"Tattoos?"
River pulls up his sleeve and shows off his own ink. Raises his eyebrows at me like I'm a half-wit.
"I know what tattoos are."
"Congratulations," he replies.
"You're an asshole."
"Never said I wasn't."
We fall silent. Staring at each other. I want to ask him when Javi is going to be back. It's taking too long. And I don't know why it matters, but it just does.
"He draws them," River tells me. "I ink them."
"He has tattoos?"
"You really haven't seen him," he says. "Have you?"
I shake my head. He smiles.
"Won't be long now."
I glare, and he makes a gesture with his hand.
"You can run along now. I'm bored of you."
And so continues the next three days.
River doesn't look at me. Whatever concerns I had in the beginning are long gone now. I know now that he either respects or fears Javi too much to do anything to me.
We are like ghosts in the house, living together, but not really speaking. Until the seventh day. When even he is on edge, and he comes to the conservatory and finds me reading. He walks around the room, taking in the roses and the books while eating his apple.
Quiet.
Too quiet.