Renee's River | √

32. bad lies & clueless best friends

❝'Cause I'm up right now, been up, I'll come  when I'm not so high, and life's not so loud❞
- Kehlani, Did I?

I got back home, a lot of things running through my mind. Meeting Zee, hearing about Riley and also hearing that River had ended thing with Chloe.

Did that mean me and River had the chance to be together?

I pushed the thought aside, keeping it in mind that I shouldn't be too excited at the prospect. That was why when River broke the news to me, I kept my expression blank. He'd apologized for not telling me about her sooner, but neither of us talked about any feelings for each other after that. We returned to the bakery and by that time, the place was scanty. I looked for Sky, letting her know I was back into the bakery, but she said I could go home.

Now, here I was.

I pushed the front door open and met an empty living room. Feeling my stomach growl, I decided to go up to my room, change clothes and head to the kitchen, but as I was making my way to the room, I heard Tanner call.

"Renée."

He was seated in the kitchen, his laptop and a pack of Oreo in front of him.

 "Hi," I greeted in a dull tone.

"How was work and school?" He looked up at me.

I thought about my whole day from the posters on the board to my talk with River.

"It was fine."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Mhm."

"Well, you don't exactly look okay. I shouldn't really do this, but I'll take your word for it," he paused. "Want an Oreo?"

"No, I'm okay," I turned to leave.

Tanner sighed, "I'm sorry."

I smiled to myself before turning back to look at him with the blankest expression on my face.

"About the whole Kendall thing, I'm sorry."

"It's whatever," I shrugged.

"No, it's not. You were right. She had no right to call you a brat, and I shouldn't have taken her side on that," he ran his fingers through his hair. "Raising you is one of the things I'll always be proud of, because you grew up to be this great, unproblematic teenager... and I love you."

His words brought a smile to my face and I hugged him, "I love you too."

"Oreo?" He had a light smile on his face when I pulled away.

"Yeah," I nodded, taking the cookie from the packet.

"I knew apologizing would do the trick, but I meant the apology."

I playfully rolled my eyes, then bit my lower lip. Should I tell him I saw Zee today? And not just that, but that we had a long conversation?

I swallowed, "Tanner?"

"Yeah?" He looked at me.

"I-" Just as I was about to say the words, it was like something nudged me and I stopped myself immediately. "- What's actually for dinner?"

He shook his head, "I got back from work not too long ago and I have so much work to do. I should have texted you to probably have dinner at Kaleb's."

"It's fine. We can order something."

"That'll be great if you really don't mind."

*****

The next morning when I woke up, I didn't know why the memory of posters on the wall came to mind. I groaned and buried my head under my pillow. Could I just skip school?