Since Forever Ago

by Olivia Besse

  “Maaaax,” the pretty auburn-haired girl whined out in a nasally voice. “Are you trying to start a game of hide-and-go-seek with me?”

  “Hi, April,” he glumly replied, attempting to shrug off her grip to no avail. “I’m kind of in the middle of—”

  “You don’t want to play with me?” she breathily replied. “I want to play with you!”

  At this, her two friends broke out into another frenzy of laughter, though Max didn’t find it funny at all. He looked over at Riley with a pitiful expression, though she merely shrugged her shoulders with an amused look on her face. “Super fun,” she sarcastically mouthed to him before April blocked his view once again.

  “Go play with Evan, or something,” Max muttered in annoyance, trying to pry her hands off of his arm. “I’m having an important conversation with my friend.”

  April turned to give Riley the once-over before shooting Max a puppy dog expression. “Why are you being so mean?” she whimpered flirtatiously, completely ignoring Riley’s existence once again. “I can have important conversations too!”

  Oh my God, please make it stop, Max silently pleaded, staring blankly at April’s pouting face. Make it stop, and I promise I’ll try to be a better person.

  The ditzy sorority girl had caught Max’s heavily inebriated eye that previous Halloween, attracting him with her charming smile and equally charming assets on display in her slutty cat costume. “Don’t do it, bro,” a bear suit-donning Evan had warned when he saw the two headed up the stairs together. “Total Stage Five Clinger. Don’t hit that, trust me.”

  Of course, Max had proceeded to ignore his friend’s sagely advice, choosing instead to begin a short-lived dalliance with the extremely hot sophomore. After a few weeks, he had found himself growing tired of her vacuous comments and incessant texting, and ultimately let her off as gently as he could shortly after finals. April, however, had interpreted this as his playing hard to get, and had been popping up uninvited at events and badgering him ever since.

  “Yea, Max, why are you being so mean?” Riley joined in, raising her eyebrows at him tauntingly.

  “See? Everyone else thinks so too!” April squeaked out, slapping him playfully on the chest.

  “What the fuck?” Max mouthed back at his supposed friend with an incredulous look on his face.

  “Oh my God, I just love your sweater,” April sighed out, smiling brightly at Riley now that she no longer viewed her as the competition. “You look so warm!”

  “And you look... really cold,” Riley offered, glancing down at April’s microscopic dress.

  “I know!” April cried in response before turning her attention back to Max. “I’m super cold. Can we go to your room and get a blanket?”

  “There’s a pile of blankets in the living room,” Max distractedly replied. “Just get one of those.”

  April pressed herself more closely against him, prompting her two friends to exchange a knowing look. “But I want one from your room,” she cooed in a tiny baby voice.

  “Go and get her a blanket, Max,” Riley told him with a smirk, hopping down from the stool and slinging her bag onto her shoulder. “I’ll just see you tomorrow.”

  “No!” Max blurted out, grabbing for Riley’s wrist. As the tips of his fingers grazed her warm skin, however, he immediately felt his cheeks grow warm and quickly let go. “Just... stay and chill for a bit,” he added after awkwardly clearing his throat.

  Riley scrunched her nose at him and shook her head slightly. “I should get going anyway. I have to go wedding dress shopping with my sister in the morning,” she told him.

  “Weddings!” April gushed loudly. “I just love weddings,” she added in a breathy whisper, staring at Max intently.

  “Er... yea,” Riley replied, holding back a snort of laughter. “So, see you tomorrow?”

  No, Max whined to himself as he shot her a pained expression. Don’t leave. Just hang out with me forever.

  “Have fun with your sorostitute,” Riley whispered into his ear as she brushed past, letting out an evil cackle as she walked away.

  Dammit, universe, Max thought bitterly as he scowled at a rapidly blabbering April in distaste. And just when I thought we were going to be cool.

  Fifteen

  “It’s just a stupid dress. Pick one already! Who really gives a shit?”

  “Shut the fuck up, Riley,” her older sister, Taylor, snapped back, adjusting the front of the gown as her friends cooed at her reflection in the floor-length mirrors. “I’ll strip you of the title of Maid of Honor, you know. Don’t think I won’t!”

  “God forbid,” Riley muttered with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

  “For heaven’s sake, will the two of you please stop bickering?” their mother drawled out, taking a long sip from the glass of champagne that was clutched in her hand. “This is supposed to be a pleasant experience.”

  “If Riley would stop being such a pain in the ass, everything would be just peachy,” Taylor hissed out as she turned to glare at her sulky younger sister.

  “Relax your face,” Amanda, Taylor’s best friend and Max’s older sister, instructed in a soothing voice. “You don’t want wrinkles on your wedding day!”

  As Taylor nodded in agreement and began taking deep yoga breaths, Riley let out another frustrated scoff and slumped lower in her seat as everyone proceeded to ignore her once again.

  Why the hell am I here? she groaned inwardly to herself as she gazed around the room. Does she really need emotional support from a room full of girls just to pick out a damn dress? What a fucking poster child for Histrionic Personality Disorder.

  After arriving back at home the previous evening, an overwhelming feeling of loneliness had hit Riley like a ton of bricks. Audrey and Liz had stayed behind at the party, so the apartment seemed awfully quiet once she had flipped on the lights in the living room. At least my future apartment will be filled with cats, she had mused miserably to herself while surveying the empty space. Riley Benson and her twenty fucking cats.

  Standing by as random frat boys hit on her roommates and watching on as April climbed all over Max had been surprisingly depressing, and she had honestly wondered if she would ever meet anyone ever again. And, in a moment of weakness, she had broken down and pulled up Noah’s contact information on her phone.

  Fuck other guys, fuck independence and fuck deserving better than this! she had grumbled to herself as she pressed the button to dial his number. Noah’s the only one who’ll ever love me! she had decided, holding her breath as a clicking sound signaled that the call had been initiated. I don’t deserve to find someone new. I deserve Noah!

  Much to her disappointment, the call had ended up going straight to voicemail, leaving her feeling vulnerable and out-of-control. Going against her better judgment, she had then scrambled to check up on him via Facebook, only to find that she was no longer friends with him. He deleted me, she had thought to herself as she surveyed the screen with bleary eyes, her face growing numb in shock. He actually fucking deleted me.

  As a result, the rest of the night had been spent cursing herself for not answering his texts earlier that morning and crying into her already tear-stained pillowcase until she passed out from fatigue. Needless to say, the cranky girl wasn’t in the best mood for an hours-long trip to a frilly bridal boutique with an entire crew of overenthusiastic bridesmaids.

  “I fucking picked one!” Taylor snapped at her younger sister once the unflinching boutique assistant had handed back her credit card. Apparently, expletive-filled screaming sessions were commonplace during bridal fittings at the posh designer showroom. “I picked one, so are you happy now?”

  “Fucking ecstatic!” Riley barked back as she stomped towards the exit.

  “Jesus Christ,” their mother muttered under her breath as she followed after her youngest daughter.

  Once they had bid farewell to their mother and the other members of the bridal party, Taylor and Riley trudged in silence as they made their way to Tayl
or’s car, a confused Amanda in tow.

  “What in the world’s the matter?” Amanda asked, holding back a laugh as she observed Riley’s stony expression. “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”

  “More like woke up on the wrong side of life,” Riley grumbled in response.

  “She and Noah broke up,” Taylor told her in a bored voice, rolling her eyes at Riley’s theatrics.

  “What happened?” Amanda gasped out as she smoothed down Riley’s hair. “You two were so adorable together!”

  “We aren’t hamsters,” Riley brattily replied, snarling at Amanda’s choice of wording. “And Noah is far from adorable. He’s a fucking asshole!”

  “Fair enough,” Amanda replied, an amused smirk on her lips. “So what exactly led you to that grand conclusion?”

  “He cheated on her,” Taylor flatly explained as they reached her car, causing Riley to narrow her eyes once again. “Using that hookup app. You know, the one that Megan used that one night we went downtown?”

  “Oh, God,” Amanda groaned out, patting Riley reassuredly on the shoulder. “He really is an asshole.”

  “He is,” Riley agreed with a nod, angrily flinging open the door to the backseat. “But if a supposedly good boy like Noah turned out to be a serial cheater, then what the fuck am I supposed to do now?”

  “Boys will be boys,” Amanda said with a laugh. “But they get better with age, don’t worry.”

  “Well, I can’t wait to be old like you two, then,” Riley dramatically sighed out, prompting Amanda to wrinkle her nose in distaste.

  “We’re not that old...”

  “And who am I supposed to take to your stupid wedding?” Riley suddenly grunted out at her sister as she climbed in and slammed the door shut. “You’re so selfish, you know that? Why would you plan your wedding for when I’m lonely and single?”

  “Yes, I was desperately hoping that your little shit of an ex-boyfriend would cheat on you and leave you single on the exact date that I’ve had picked out since last September,” Taylor replied dryly. “I am indeed terribly selfish.”

  “You really are,” Riley muttered under her breath.

  “Why don’t you pick someone up using that app?” Taylor sarcastically suggested in a sickly sweet voice.

  “Do you want to have bruises on your wedding day?” Riley seethed back as Amanda blocked her fist from reaching Taylor’s face.

  “Whoa there,” Amanda said with a laugh. “You definitely aren’t a hamster, I’ll give you that.”

  “No need to take your anger out on me,” Taylor huffily remarked as she started the engine. “Besides, you can just come with Max,” she added, exchanging a knowing look with Amanda as she did.

  “What the fuck was that?” Riley demanded as she peered at the two of them suspiciously.

  “What was what?” Amanda innocently asked.

  Riley shot a ferocious glare in their direction, slumping further in her seat as she did.

  “Cheer up, buttercup,” Amanda teased as she shot the grumpy girl another smile. “How about we take you out for a drink? A couple of margaritas should help you take your mind off of it for at least a few hours.”

  “I can’t,” Riley drawled out in response. “I don’t have time to join in on your elderly fun. I happen to have a party to attend.”

  “Dressed as a bag lady?” Taylor asked with a sniff, glancing over her shoulder to observe Riley’s disheveled getup of an oversized cardigan and tattered jeans in disdain.

  “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.”

  Sixteen

  “You 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.