ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪᴠᴀʟꜱ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛ - ₀₁₃

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𝘞𝘙𝘌𝘕 𝘑𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘚

WHAT THE FUCK DID I get myself into? How did I get myself into this. Oh, yes I remember. Lex. Lex and her ‘match making’ skills.

Because of her I had sent Rhys Moore, an email telling him to ‘take me out to dinner’. Well I didn’t type it or send it. That was all Lex. I’m currently giving her the silent treatment. But she left butter rolls outside my apartment-so i’ve forgiven her.

I’ve been dressed and ready since eight o’clock this morning, but i’ve been sitting on my couch with Puff for about four hours. I’ve eaten approximately three and a half butter rolls and watched two movies.

It’s a text that breaks me out of my slump.

𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚: 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝
𝙞 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙞𝙯𝙯𝙖

I almost smile at the text.

𝙢𝙚: 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙?
𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚: 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙨𝙚 + 𝙫𝙚𝙜𝙜𝙞𝙚
𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨
𝙢𝙚: 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩

I almost send a ‘:)’ but delete it before I send it. Puff rubs her body on my arm and I have an idea.

𝙢𝙚: 𝙥𝙪𝙛𝙛 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙥𝙞𝙯𝙯𝙖
𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤
𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚: 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙮
𝙢𝙚: 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙪𝙥 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬
𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚: 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚
𝙢𝙚: 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤
𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚
𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚: 𝙞’𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙩
𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙞 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙚
𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘
𝙢𝙚: 𝙥𝙪𝙛𝙛 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠
𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚
𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚: 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩
𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

Just you. I’m welcomed at Rhys Moore’s house.

I turn off my phone and slip on my shoes. I look at the box of butter rolls on the counter and grab them before leaving my apartment.

__________

I’m standing outside his door. I haven’t knocked yet. I don’t want to be weird and knock right at twelve. So I stand around and listen to the noise in the apartment next door. It sounds like someone is yelling.

I look at the time on my phone, it’s twelve-seventeen. So I put away my phone and knock twice on the door. I stand there for a second before the door opens and a man with blonde hair stands in the entryway. Only i’ve seen this man before.

“It’s you. From the bar.” I point at his chest.

“Yeah. You’re Lex’s friend.” He states and I nod. Then he smiles. “I was just heading out, but it’s good to see you, tell uh Lex I said hi.” He scratches the back of his neck, still slightly smiling.

“I will.” I step into the apartment when he steps aside, I forgot his name.

When the door closes behind me, I take in the apartment. And, wow. It’s really nice. The apartment is like one big room. There are large windows acting as a wall, and you can see all of the city. The kitchen is to my left, and the living room in front of that. And floating stairs lead up to where i think are the bedrooms. And it’s so clean.

“Oh, hi.” I look toward the voice to see Rhys walking down the floating stairs. His hair is slightly wet, and he’s wearing a t-shirt and gray sweatpants.

Normal. Normal and very attractive. Of course i’ve noticed his looks-i’m human-, but i’ve never noticed them when he was so normal. He looks like a whole different person. And that’s when I realize how young he is-how young we are. College kid age.

“You’re apartment is nice.” I look around more and see a foosball table and a large gaming console in the corner of the large room.

“Thank you. Um, we can eat now if you want? The pizza’s hot.” Rhys walks over to the kitchen and I follow.

I sit at one of the stools and he grabs me a soda from the fridge. Then he hops up onto a counter in front of the island, his plate of pizza in one hand.

“I don’t see a fluffy cat I need to escort out of the building. Did the cold shoulder work?” Rhys says from behind his pizza slice.

“It did. Puff was very angry. She started throwing vases at a cardboard cut out of your face.” I bite my pizza.

“I would be offended but it makes me quite proud that you have cut outs of my face in your home.” He folds his pizza in half, his eyes bright with amusement.

I shake my head and sip my soda. When I look up, I take in all the pictures on the wall near the fridge. There are pictures of both the blonde and Rhys, some together, some alone. And then there’s a woman.

She’s very pretty. Stunning even. Her smile is so bright it makes me want to smile too. She’s holding a dog and even the dog looks happy to be with her.

“She’s lovely. I love her smile.” I motion towards the picture.

“I love her.” Rhys says.

I look back at Rhys to see him chewing his pizza. He loves her. He is in love. I didn’t know. I mean, not like I know a lot about him, but I didn’t think he had a girlfriend.

“Oh. How long have you uh…”

“My whole life.” Rhys nods and points at another picture.

“That’s us at high school prom.” High school? My God. It’s really serious then.

“Oh and a wedding.”

Wedding?! He’s married. He’s married?! Oh my fucking God. How in the hell didn’t I know. That’s surely something I should have known. I mean, i’ve looked at his hands before and didn’t notice a ring but. Just wow.

“Young love? That’s…great.” I nod and chug my soda. The bubbles scratching the back of my throat.

“What?” Rhys says with a mouthful of pizza. “No. God no. We’re not-that’s not my-. She’s my sister.”

Sister. Sister.

I just made a fool of myself didn’t I? Yeah. I did. Why was that even something I had to bring up? We’re here to discuss work. Not our personal lives.

“Oh. I’m sorry I thought-i’m sorry. Didn’t know.” I chew more pizza, but suddenly loose my appetite

“It’s alright. We don’t look alike. We have different moms.” He explains and I nod.

“I get it. I don’t look like my brother either.”

Rhys furrows his eyebrows. “You have a brother?”

“Yeah but, we don’t talk.” I haven’t spoke to him since I was fifteen. Since he left me alone, with my mom.

“Why’s that?” Rhys asks suddenly, like we’ve been friends for years and talk about our families regularly.

“Uh…” Because he’s selfish, and an incredible liar. Because he told me he’d take me with him, yet I woke up one day and his shit was gone. Because I don’t even know where he is.

“He’s in the marines.”

“Oh, nice.” Rhys places his plate in the sink and opens his laptop.

“So I actually sent a few businesses…” I know I should have been listening, because that’s what I came here to do, but now i’m thinking about my brother.

I haven’t thought about him in years, and I won’t start now. I won’t do it.

____________________

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