Since Forever Ago
Authors: Olivia Besse
SINCE FOREVER AGO
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Olivia Besse
Copyright © 2013 Wunderland Press
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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W
underland Press
New York, NY 10020
First Edition
14 13 12 11 10 / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Printed in the United States of America
One
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D
on’t do it
, Riley pleaded with herself as she tried to avoid looking in the offending object’s direction.
I repeat, do not do it.
But what if he
is
actually hiding something?
she couldn’t help but wonder, turning her head slightly until she could see Noah’s phone out of the corner of her eye.
Maybe it won’t hurt to just take a peek. He wouldn’t even have to find out!
Just as she was slowly inching her hand across the bed, the sound of a door creaking in the distance prompted Riley to instinctively draw her entire arm close to her chest.
Oh my fuck
, she silently muttered, willing the blood to stop pounding in her ears as she tried to listen for the sound of the shower running.
Oh good, he’s still in there.
I better check this shit quickly before he finishes.
Without so much as a second thought, Riley grabbed for her boyfriend’s phone, quickly tapping away at the locked screen to access the treasure trove of classified information contained within.
Dumbass
, she thought to herself as she unlocked it on the first try after plugging in the digits of his birthday.
It’s as if he’s
asking
me to check his text messages.
Boring, boring, boring
, she bemoaned inwardly as she scrolled through the backlog of text and group messages between him and his friends. Was it normal for boys to message each other so much?
Wait a minute
.
Riley’s eyes quickly scanned the next few rows of texts, none of the names ringing a bell as she scrolled down the list.
Female
names.
Who the fuck is Brittany?
she thought as she clicked the message open, sharply holding in her breath as the words displayed in the bright green bubbles glared back at her.
‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’?
Riley began to read in her head, feeling herself get dizzy as she registered what this person named Brittany could have possibly been suggesting.
Show him your what? SHOW HIM YOUR WHAT?
Fucking slut!
she groaned to herself as she clicked on the next culprit’s name.
Who is this Allison bitch, and why is she typing out ‘hehehe’?!
Riley angrily wondered, narrowing her eyes at the screen.
Who the hell over the age of six says ‘hehehe’?
Amber? Mikayla? Natalia?
Riley repeated in her head as she snarled in disgust. Why the hell was Noah talking to girls with names like that? No male in his right mind would
ever
trust a girl named fucking
Natalia
. Didn’t Noah know that names like that just spelled trouble?
Oh God,
Riley moaned to herself as she came to the realization of what was happening, the phone slipping from her limp fingers and landing on the floor with a dull thud.
He’s cheating on me, isn’t he?
He’s. Fucking. Cheating. On. Me.
“Riley?”
Letting out an odd yelping noise, Riley spun around to face a shirtless Noah, who was peering at her with an amused expression on his face.
“What are you doing just standing there? You look like you saw a ghost,” he commented as he rubbed at his wet hair with a towel.
“Not a ghost,” Riley began, shooting him a suspicious glare. “But I did see something pretty
fucking
scary!”
“Why are you cursing at me?” he asked with a frown. “You know I don’t like it when—”
“Who the hell is Brittany?” she cut him off angrily. “AND WHAT THE FUCK DOES SHE WANT TO SHOW YOU?”
All of the color immediately drained from Noah’s face, and he stared back at her with a bug-like expression. “What?”
“Did you show her yours?” Riley barked back. “Did you?!”
“Were you looking through my e-mails?”
“They’re in your e-mails too?” she bellowed in response, her brown eyes widening in fury.
“Look, I—”
“Why would you have secret e-mails from a girl named Brittany?” Riley demanded at the top of her lungs.
“Riley, keep your voice down,” Noah hissed as he looked around the room uncomfortably. “Listen, I don’t know what you heard, but—”
“Are you cheating on me?” Riley squeaked out, staring at him in dismay.
“I...”
“Are you?” she repeated in a tiny voice, dropping her eyes to the floor as a sinking feeling filled her stomach.
“Riley...”
“Just tell me the truth,” she pleaded in a barely audible whisper.
“Yea,” Noah admitted before letting out a tired sigh. “Yea, I am.”
“What?”
“I... I don’t know what I’m doing,” he began, pacing the room as he ran a hand through his damp hair. “I mean, I don’t know what I want. We’re graduating in a few months, and I’m not even sure what I’m going to do once we’re done with school. I’m just confused. About everything.”
Riley barely heard any of the words that were coming out of his mouth, listlessly staring at the carpet until it appeared to be moving. He had been cheating on her? Noah? The picture perfect boyfriend that she’d been with since they were sixteen years old?
Noah, with his perfect black hair and perfect green eyes and perfect white teeth, had been cheating on her with girls who typed out giggles and sent lewd selfies via e-mail? Boys like Noah Cohen didn’t cheat—they bought flowers and remembered anniversaries and sent holiday cards to their girlfriends’ parents. Even with all of the evidence splayed out in front of her, Riley still couldn’t believe it.
“It’s just... we’ve been together for
so
long,” Noah was saying as she turned her attention back to his distraught face. “And—”
“You make it sound like it was such a terrible experience for you,” she muttered bitterly.
“No, Riley, it’s not that,” he assured her in a strained voice. “I just don’t know if it... if
we’re
what I want.”
“What?”
Take that back
, she heard a quiet voice inside of her head say.
Tell me you didn’t mean it, and I’ll pretend that none of this ever happened.
“I don’t know what I want,” Noah told her as he let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t know about anything.”
Don’t say things like that. Just tell me you’re sorry and everything can go back to the way it was. We can just forget that you ever said any of this and brush it off as if it were no big deal.
“I think I just need some time off to think everything through.”
“You need
time off
to
consider
being in a relationship with me?” Riley repeated slowly.
“I just need to clear my head,” he explained, bringing his hand to his forehead while bearing a tired expression.
“By sleeping with a bunch of other girls,” Riley sarcastically suggested.
“No, you know that’s not it.”
Take it all back,
the tiny voice pleaded as a clawing feeling filled her chest.
Just say you’re sor
—
Shut the
fuck
up, voice,
Riley screamed inwardly as she glared daggers at Noah’s stressed out face.
“Did everyone know but me?”
“Just a few of the guys,” Noah replied with a sigh, nodding his head ever so lightly. “I didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand.”
“I can’t believe you’d do this to me,” she said as she let out an incredulous scoff.
“You know none of it meant anything,” he told her in a desperate voice. “I just—”
“Where did you even meet all of these girls? Did you just hit up bars every single night, collecting numbers behind my back?”
“There’s an app,” Noah distractedly replied. “But it’s—”
“An app?” Riley repeated through gritted teeth. “You chose to screw over our entire relationship by using a fucking
app
?”
“Riley—”
“Fuck you,” Riley spit out as she lunged for his phone and marched towards the front door.
“Riley, what are you doing?” Noah demanded as he followed her out into the open air hallway, nervously eyeing the phone in her hand. “Don’t do anything crazy.”
“
Fuck
you,” Riley repeated as she clenched the electronic infidelity-promoting device between her fingertips. “
Fuck
your cardigans.
Fuck
your boat shoes. And
fuck
your stupid
fucking
app!” she screamed, hurling her now ex-boyfriend’s beloved iPhone into the apartment complex’s bright blue swimming pool before storming off in the other direction, a satisfying splashing sound filling the air as she did.
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“M
AXIMILLIAN FLETCHER!”
“Oh, fuck.”
“MAXIMILLIAN! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!”
“Why are you calling me that?” Max asked with an annoyed grimace as he barreled down the stairs, shooting a few of his fraternity brothers an apologetic smile as they shuffled away uncomfortably. “You know my full name is just Max.”
“Did you know that Noah’s been cheating on me?”
“Uh... no?”
“Lie or no lie?” Riley demanded through clenched teeth, narrowing her eyes in an accusatory manner, just as she had been doing since they were five years old.
“Are you really asking that? We’re not little kids anymore.”
“LIE OR NO LIE?” Riley asked again, a bit too loudly.
Max shot her a nervous half-smile before letting out a tired sigh. “Lie,” he admitted, his shoulders drooping in defeat.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me that Noah was hooking up with random girls every weekend?” Riley yelped out as she paced the length of the hallway. “Why?!”
“Er...”
“And by using a fucking app? What is wrong with you people?”
“It was none of my business!” Max groaned out in exasperation, quickly dropping his gaze to the floor as Riley threw a ferocious glare in his direction.
“None of your business?” Riley spit out. “NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS?”
“What do you want me to say?” Max asked with a tired expression on his face. “I just didn’t want to get involved.”
“Didn’t want to get involved?” Riley shrieked. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?
I
would have told
you
! How could you have thought it was okay not to say anything? I’m one of your best friends!”
“‘Best’ is a strong word...”
“We grew up together! I’ve known you almost as long as I’ve known my own sister!” she continued without even stopping for a breath. “We had chicken pox together! We’ve broken our legs together! We’re both named after dogs together!”
“Huh?”
“Now what am I supposed to do?” Riley whined out. “I’m single! SINGLE! I haven’t been single in almost a decade!”
“You guys only went out for six years,” Max muttered after counting how many years had passed since their junior year of high school.
“It’s called rounding up, Max,” Riley hissed back. “That’s how arithmetic works.”
“I apologize for not being more of a mathematician, then,” Max replied with an amused smirk as he plopped himself down onto the sofa.
“Are you really cracking jokes right now?” Riley asked as she shot him a wide-eyed stare. “Is the fact that I’m going to die alone funny to you?”
“You’re not going to die alone, Riley. Stop being so dramatic.”
“Of course I’m going to die alone!” she insisted, settling onto the other end of the couch and hugging her knees to her chest. “I’ll probably turn into one of those crazy old cat ladies. And then I’m going to die and no one will find my body for months until it’s too late and the cats have eaten my face!”