Page 50 of Don’t Be A Stranger

River finally speaks. “You’ll be too busy living the life of a champion. I highly doubt you’ll want me around.”

“It’s not like I would ever stop being friends with you.”

River lightly flicks water in my direction. “That’s not what I’m saying. I just don’t want you to think that because we’ve known each other for so long that you’re obligated to have me in every aspect of your life.”

There’s no obligation here. I’ve never once pictured my future without River or Lily. I want to grow alongside them.

“Okay, fine.” I blow a few quick bubbles under the water, trying to kill off some of the tension that’s forming for whatever reason. “No country clubs. So then what would you do with money like that?”

River thinks about it for a moment. I expect him to say he’d buy some expensive piece of art or go on a trip somewhere far away. Maybe he’d open his own business like Bora is striving to do or move back to Korea and have his own private practice like Dae.

“I don’t know,” River says genuinely. I’m about to get on him for not having an answer but he continues talking. “I think I’d probably just buy a house out here.”

I wait for him to add on to that. Like maybe adding a crazy theme park in his backyard or hiring a personal chef. But he grows silent.

“That’s it?” I ask.

He nods.

“Oh come on.” I throw my hands up in the air, causing the water to ripple at the surface. “There’s nothing absurd or ridiculous that you want to get or do?”

He hesitates. “Yeah, there’s something like that I want.”

I wait but before I can tell him to spit it out because the anticipation is killing me, a light shines in the distance and the sound of keys jingling quickly pops our bubble.

“Shit,” both of us whisper at the same time.

We remain frozen for half a second before swimming to the edge of the pool and trying to climb out as quietly as we can, but the water dripping on the concrete does us no favors.

We grab our clothes and shoes, hugging them close to our chests. There’s no time to put them back on.

“Were you not aware of security guards?” River whispers.

“Yeah, but I thought they just walked around the perimeter. Not the pool.”

“The pool is part of the perimeter,” River argues and I roll my eyes, tugging him behind a row of lounge chairs.

My knees press into the rough pavement but it beats getting caught. When the flashlight shines in the opposite direction from us, I peek my head out from behind one of the chairs.

I finally breathe. “It’s just Richard. He gets in trouble all the time for half-assing his job, so I think we’re good.”

Just as I was predicting, Richard doesn’t fully scan the pool. He simply shines the light around a few times before walking away, quietly rapping to some song that he either heard on the radio or wrote himself.

I’m never quite sure.

It falls back into silence and for a moment neither River nor I dare to move. When we finally do turn our heads to look at each other, we fall into a fit of quiet laughter.

River falls from his crouched position, landing on his butt. We slap at each other’s hands for trying to cover the other’s mouth.

“I did not want to spend the night in jail,” I wheeze.

“And you think I did?”

Realistically, I’m sure that bribing Richard with twenty bucks would’ve been enough for him to keep his mouth shut, but the idea of him catching us is still funny enough for me to now have the hiccups.

“I think it’s safe to say that we should probably head out.” River wipes tears from his eyes.

He goes to stand and helps me up in the process. We stare at each other, unable to keep our laughter from bubbling.