Free Since Forever Ago by Olivia Besse Page A

it in her friends’ faces. “What the hell is this?”
    ––––––––
    h pws it feel tp no longfer be myftiend
    I hate yoi
    Only ur mother ciuld love u
    Riley hjates ui too
    I dint even havr the fuckibg flu BY TGE WAY its nit fuckinh flu seasom
    I saw you
    Yiu cant hide
    Fyi I dint have stds no thxz ti you
    ––––––––
    “H oly shit,” Riley whispered, staring down at the string of texts in shock.
    “Wow, your drunken texts are pretty good,” Audrey commented with an encouraging nod. “Mine are terrible . They look like they’re written in Dutch, or hieroglyphics—”
    “What the hell is all of that?” Liz repeated, her face drained of any color.
    “You know what they say,” Audrey began as she shot the two of them a pointed stare. “‘That tequila’s one chatty bitch.’”
    “Tequila changes people,” Riley quietly agreed.
    Liz’s phone vibrated to signal a newly arrived text message, prompting her to look down at it with a pained expression on her face. “He wants to have a talk with me right now,” she told them before letting out a heavy sigh. “What do I even say?”
    “Good riddance?” Riley offered.
    “Yea, weren’t you going to break up with him anyway?” Audrey reminded her. “Now it won’t be as awkward! Or maybe it’ll be more awkward. Or, I don’t know, maybe it—“
    “Ugh!” Liz groaned out, downing the rest of her mimosa before reaching over and finishing Audrey’s glass.
    “You can’t possibly be considering the idea of staying with him,” Riley said with a scoff.
    “You should talk! You want to get back together with Noah too!” Liz cried defensively.
    “That’s different,” Riley insisted, waving her hand dismissively. “We were together for a decade!”
    “For the last time, six years does not equate to a decade, Riley,” Liz said through gritted teeth.
    “Both of you, stop!” Audrey firmly instructed, frowning down at her now-empty glass. “You guys are both better than this! Why would you want to be with losers who cheat on you? You deserve to be happy!”
    Liz and Riley shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Audrey let out another huff of exasperation before continuing. “I might not have the best luck with guys, but I do know that both of you deserve to be with people who appreciate you. So don’t either of you dare think about settling for those two bastards ever again. Got it?”
    Both of them slowly nodded their heads in agreement, embarrassed smiles creeping onto their faces. Audrey was right—why were they crying over two guys who were hardly worth their tears? Noah had completely disregarded her feelings while acting on his own selfish ones, so why was she dedicating 50% of her time to pining over him?
    Ashamed at herself for having taken so long to come to this epiphany, Riley resolutely decided that she would no longer so much as entertain the idea of reuniting with Noah. He was an untrustworthy, self-absorbed, shitty person, and it was finally time for her to accept this fact and move the fuck on.
    Riley half-listened as Audrey proceeded to give Liz a pre-confrontation pep talk that apparently required the mentions of divorce rates, Persian cats and weight gain. Pay attention, Benson! she scolded herself, forcing her ears to take in Audrey’s spiel. You don’t want to end up an overweight, cat-hoarding divorcée either!
    And, as if the universe didn’t seem to already have it out for her, Riley’s own phone let out a ringing noise as Audrey went off an a tangent about meditative yoga. Glancing down, she couldn’t help but feel as if her heart had dropped down into her stomach as her brain processed the string of words displayed on the screen.
    ––––––––
    N oah Cohen
    Hey. Can you talk?

Thirteen
    ––––––––
    “I t’s over,” Liz announced as she dug into her bag and threw her iceberg of a ring onto the table. “He admitted to everything . And then he had the audacity to say that he