Since Forever Ago (11 page)

“Boys happen to
like
the ‘boho chic’ look, thank you very much,” Riley petulantly replied before pursing her lips in annoyance.

“Are you high?” Taylor asked, letting out a laugh. “You look like an Olsen twin.”

“More fashionable than you, then?” Riley snippily retorted.

“Riley, whatever gave you the idea that boys like the whole ‘I’m-drowning-in-knitwear-and-secondhand-clothing’ look?” Amanda questioned as she leaned over and playfully poked at Riley’s chunky sweater. “I’m pretty sure that you’ve succeeded in packing every single article of clothing that they hate into one outfit.”

“Max told me so,” Riley snapped back, jerking her arm away in annoyance. “And he knows a lot more about what guys like than you two!”

“He did, huh?” Amanda asked with an amused smile on her face as Taylor let out a snort of laughter.

“What!” Riley demanded angrily.

“Why in the world would he tell you that?”

“So that I can make myself more attractive to other boys,” Riley explained as she let out an exasperated sigh. “I can’t just mope over Noah forever, you know! Did you know that he freaking deleted me from Facebook?”

“My dear baby brother is either an idiot or a genius,” Amanda mused, shaking her head slightly as she and Taylor shared another laugh. “I honestly can’t figure out which it is.”

“An idiot,” Riley told her matter-of-factly. “Why do you guys keep looking at each other like that, anyway?”

“Riley, are you in the mood for a little shopping?”

“We’ve been shopping for the past five fucking hours,” Riley groaned out, rolling her eyes theatrically at the back of Taylor’s head in annoyance. “What more could you
possibly
have to buy?”

“Oh, not for us, little one,” Taylor replied, donning a mischievous smile as she glanced back at Riley through the rearview mirror. “Come on. These old ladies will show you how to
really
attract the boys.”

––––––––

“Y
ou never even texted me back. I was, like,
totally
waiting for your call.”

“Oh,” Max mumbled, shooting the doe-eyed girl standing in front of him a weak smile. “Sorry about that. Been busy.”

“It’s okay,” April said with a giggle, furiously batting her eyelashes at him as if she were having an epileptic episode. “As long as we’re together now.”

“Uh-huh,” Max distractedly replied, taking a long swig of his beer and glancing around the room. Where the hell was Riley? She had said that she’d be at his house by eight, hadn’t she?

As April proceeded to regale him with gossip about one of her sorority sisters, all the while performing a carefully choreographed routine of pawing at his bicep and flipping her hair, Max pulled out his phone and checked the time.
It’s a quarter past eight!
he thought to himself with a frown.
Is she stuck in traffic? Did she get distracted by a trashy reality TV show marathon again? Is she sick? Hurt? Oh God, what if she was in an accident?

His brow furrowed in concern, Max surveyed every inch of the room again before his eyes landed on a very distressing sight.
What the hell?
he blurted inwardly as he saw Riley enter through the front door.
Where the fuck are her pants?

Not even bothering to excuse himself from their conversation, Max abandoned April in the corner of the room before stalking towards Riley with a grave look on his face. As her eyes met his, she grinned brightly and began making her way over, though Max merely frowned as he tried his best not to stare at her barely covered body.

“Riley!” he hissed out, shooting a glare at one of his frat brothers for having the audacity to blatantly ogle at the love of his life. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“I know,” Riley groaned, scrunching up her face in embarrassment. “Taylor and Amanda made me go shopping with them, and then they hid my jeans before I came out of the dressing room!”

“What?” Max cried out incredulously, silently swearing revenge on Amanda as he ushered Riley in the direction of the living room. He had always suspected that his older sister had been adopted, but it had never occurred to him that his parents had picked up the evil creature from underneath a bridge.

“Here,” Max muttered as he pulled a ratty blanket out from underneath one of his minions’ asses. “Put this on.”

“Are you serious?” Riley asked, cringing slightly. “I’d rather be overdressed than catch syphilis from touching that dirty rag.”

Despite her protests, however, Max quickly wrapped the musty blanket around Riley’s shoulders, completely shrouding the view of her skimpy dress from the inquisitive eyes of his fraternity brothers.

“I’m not a baby,” Riley whined out, letting the fabric slip off of her shoulders as she placed her hands on her hips. “Stop treating me like one.”

“You’re right, because babies don’t go marching around in their underwear!” Max exclaimed, trying not to let his eyes stray to the very short hem of her skirt.

“Actually, yes, they do, Max,” Riley retorted, rolling her eyes dismissively. “That’s
exactly
what they do.”

Who does she think she is, showing up to my house naked and expecting me to not get mad
? he thought to himself, snarling slightly as he watched her lips move while she lectured him on something or another.
How annoying. Why do you even like her? I bet you don’t even
actually
like her at all! I bet you’re just lonely, and she
—

As Riley shot him a smile, however, Max felt his chest tighten uncomfortably.
Why are you so perfect?
he silently wondered, smiling weakly at her in return.
And why do you smell so good? And how is your hair so shiny? And what
—

Dammit, Fletcher! What the fuck is wrong with you?
All
of them smell good!
All
of them have shiny hair! You act like you’ve never fucking seen a girl before. Calm down, man.

“Max!” Riley called out, bringing him back to reality. “Are you even listening to me?”

“What?”

“You’re even worse than Audrey,” Riley muttered with a shake of her head. “I was
saying
that I need you to come with me to Taylor’s wedding,” she continued. “That is, if I don’t find myself a hot date before then.”

Oh, I wouldn’t count on it,
he thought to himself as he nodded in agreement. “Fine. I guess if you
need
me to go with you, I will,” he drawled out, trying not to break out into a cheesy grin at the prospect of having Riley all to himself for an entire evening.

“Well, aren’t you the gentleman,” she sarcastically muttered in response to his unenthusiastic reaction. “Anyway, come on. I need a drink.”

Max froze slightly, unsure of how to proceed. He didn’t want Riley marching around the house in her tiny dress, but it wasn’t like he could forbid her from doing so.

Or could he?

“Just stay here,” he instructed, picking the blanket off of the floor and wrapping it tightly around her once again. “I’ll go and get some for us,” he added, tucking the corner of the blanket back into itself, effectively entangling Riley in some sort of cotton burrito situation. “And don’t move!”

“Max!” he heard her cry out in exasperation as he began walking away.

As Max dragged his feet to the kitchen, he felt someone slap his back good-naturedly. Looking up, he saw that the perpetrator was none other than Jeremy, the house’s resident douchebag. Jeremy was the kind of guy who loved being in a fraternity, as it all but guaranteed promiscuous extracurricular activities with a different girl every night, especially for a guy as good-looking and charming as he. Flashing his blindingly white teeth at Max, Jeremy flipped his perfectly coiffed sandy blonde hair and leaned in close.

“Max,” he began, a cocky smirk on his face as he glanced in the direction of the living room. “Who’s your friend?”

An unsettling feeling filling his stomach, Max cleared his throat and tried to play it cool. “Who? Riley?”

“Riley, huh?” Jeremy continued in a low voice, nodding in recognition at two giggling girls as they walked past. “Have I met her before?”

Hell fucking no
, Max thought to himself, trying not to roll his eyes in Jeremy’s face. Even if the two
had
met before, it’s not like Jeremy would have remembered. He probably didn’t even remember the name of his conquest from last night.

“I don’t think so,” Max mumbled, avoiding Jeremy’s eyes as he grabbed two beers from the fridge. “She’s not in a sorority or anything.”

Jeremy’s eyes lit up at the prospect of fresh meat being within his immediate reach. “So can you hook it up?”

Max turned to him with an unamused expression, digging his nails into the palm of his hand as he tried his best not to sock Jeremy square in the jaw. “She’s not that type of girl.”

“Bro, I never said I was going to try anything!” Jeremy cried in defense, letting out an obnoxious laugh as he slapped Max on the shoulder again. “I just want to make new friends. Expand my social circle beyond Greek life, you know?”

You seemed perfectly content with Greek life until ten seconds ago
, Max grumbled inwardly as he shot Jeremy a tired frown. “I don’t think so,” he muttered, pushing his way back towards the living room before Jeremy could respond.

“There you are,” Riley groaned out as she looked up from her phone screen, the blanket nowhere in sight. “I thought you ditched me!”

“Never,” Max quietly replied, shooting her a weak smile before handing over one of the beers in his hands.

“Beer?” Riley whined out, staring at the bottle in her hand in distaste. “Don’t you guys have vodka? Or tequila, even?”

“Tequila?” a voice rang out from behind them. “Sure, I’ve got tequila. Here, we can go get some together.”

Max could see Riley’s eyes widen in interest before he turned around to glare viciously at Jeremy.
Fuck, fuck, fuck,
he silently screamed, closing his eyes tightly as he heard Jeremy introduce himself.
He’s the
worst
possible person that Riley could meet right now. No, fuck that. He’s just the worst in general.

As Jeremy complimented Riley on her dress, Max rolled his eyes so fiercely that, for a moment, he worried that he’d torn his extraocular muscles. When Riley proceeded to giggle like some sort of deranged woodland critter from an animated movie, Max found it difficult not to scoff too loudly. And, when Jeremy gestured for Riley to follow him into the kitchen so as to indulge in the aforementioned tequila, Max made sure that he was within arm’s reach of her with every step that she took.

“Why didn’t you just introduce me to
him
from the beginning?” Riley hissed to him under her breath, staring ahead at the back of Jeremy’s head with what might as well have been cartoon hearts in her eyes.

“No way,” Max dismissively replied. “Jeremy’s the
last
thing you need right now. He’s just going to try to get into your pants and then conveniently ‘lose’ your number the next day!”

“That’s kind of
exactly
what I need right now, Max.”

“What?” Max blurted out in surprise as they reached the kitchen counter.

“I... well, um,” Riley mumbled, her cheeks turning pink. “I have... needs too, you know.”

Before Max could respond, Jeremy had returned with the bottle of tequila he had promised. “And here we go,” he charmingly announced, presenting Riley with a shot glass as one would an engagement ring. “For the beautiful lady.”

As Riley began to giggle like an idiot once again, Max could feel his face begin to harden. There was no way he was going to leave her alone with Jeremy, no matter how many looks of “get lost” or “go the fuck away” either of them shot in his direction. Max Fletcher had never been a fan of the delicate art of cockblocking, but he knew very well that today was the day that he would begin exercising his appreciation.

“What about me?” Max asked in a flat voice, staring down at the glass in Riley’s hand before looking up at Jeremy again.

“Uh, sure,” Jeremy replied, a puzzled frown forming on his face as he turned back around to fetch one for his intrusive friend.

“What are you doing?” Riley asked as she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. “You hate tequila.”

“What are you talking about?” Max replied with a scoff. “Who told you that?”

“You did,” she stated, sharing a look with Jeremy as he returned.

“You must’ve heard
wrong
,” Max began, eagerly holding his glass out so as if to make a point. “Because I just so happen to
love
tequila.”

Fuck, I hate tequila
, he groaned to himself once he had tossed back the stinging liquid, fighting back a gag as he did.
I
really
fucking hate tequila.

But as he saw Riley holding her glass out for another pour, he found that his hand followed suit, thrusting his own glass in Jeremy’s direction.
Arm, what are you doing? You don’t want to be doing that,
trust
me.

Despite the fact that Max wanted to curl up and die every time that the bitter fumes hit his nose, he matched Riley and Jeremy shot for shot until the three of them were very, very drunk.
The things I do for you
, he silently grumbled as he watched Riley laugh at Jeremy’s lame jokes.
And you don’t even care.

As Max continued on with his muted, one-sided conversation with an oblivious Riley, a high-pitched squeal could be heard, its owner headed in their direction like a heat-seeking missile.

“Max!” April cried out, clinging to him like a baby koala would its mother. “I’ve been looking
everywhere
for you. Where’d you run off to earlier?”

Max could hardly stand the girl when he was sober, and he was even less capable of being nice to her when he was drunk. Letting out a shaky breath, he turned to April with a tired frown. “Go away, April,” he mumbled out, though she merely giggled uproariously at his “joke”, slapping him on the arm with an overjoyed smile on her face.