Free Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg Page A

up with me. Please, Macallan.”
    I didn’t like having secrets. Secrets only ended up hurting people.
    She continued to plead. “You’re my best friend. If I can’t trust my best friend, who can I trust?”
    I bet Levi thought the same thing.
    “I’ve known you for forever, we’ve been through so much. Can’t you please forgive me so I can forgive myself?”
    That hit a nerve. I never thought about what Emily was going through, how hard this was for her. Although it was her fault.
    “Please, Macallan, I’m begging. If I was there right now, I’d be on my hands and knees. If that’s what you want, I’ll be there in two minutes to grovel in person.”
    I was so torn. Could I take her word that it would never happen again? I knew the truth would likely crush Levi. Maybe, I figured, it would be best to pretend it had never happened.
    “Okay,” I said quietly.
    There was a pause on the other end. “Really? Oh my goodness, Macallan. Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I’ll make this up to both of you, really.”
    “Please treat Levi well. He deserves it.”
    “I will! I promise! I love you!”
    I should’ve felt relief when I hung up the phone, but all I felt was dread. As much as I wished to erase that night from my mind, I knew that some memories were harder to forget than others.
    Especially the painful ones.

    I’d told myself many lies over the years. The most frequent was “you’ll be fine.”
    Yes, everything was going to be fine.
    You’re going to grow up without a mother, but you’ll be fine.
    You’ll wake up every morning and realize it wasn’t a nightmare, it was real. But you’ll be fine.
    You’ll have to carry around a secret that could destroy your two closest friendships, but you’ll be fine.
    And I thought I was a horrible liar.
    One thing I had become very good at was avoidance. Avoiding Emily and Levi together. Avoiding talking about their relationship with either of them. Avoiding any topics involving parties, Troy, my bedroom, emotional scars, etc.
    I managed to do it for over three months. Three months of not being able to be completely honest and open. Three months of having to watch every word I said, every move I made. Three months of pure, unadulterated torture.
    As the snow melted and hints of sun started poking through the clouds, I thought maybe I would be able to put it completely behind me by the time summer arrived. I even saw a flower start to bloom while I was on my way to lunch in early April. I figured that had to be a positive omen.
    Danielle waved to me from our regular lunch table. “Guess who I ran into last night.”
    “Who?” I pulled out my carrots and homemade hummus.
    “Ian.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
    “Ian?”
    She sighed. “Ian Branigan, from your New Year’s Eve party?”
    Oh. I’d almost forgotten there were other things that had happened that night.
    “Yeah. He seemed very interested in what you were up to these days.”
    “So?”
    “She says ‘so?’ ” Danielle said to nobody in particular.
    “Oh, I’m sorry. He asked about me? Should I get the wedding registry ready?”
    “She mocks.”
    “Yes, she does.”
    Danielle reached across and helped herself to some of my hummus. “I simply thought you’d be interested to know that a very cute boy was interested in you. And I may have mentioned that we were going to go to his track meet this Friday.”
    “We’re going because Levi wants to check it out.”
    “Yes, and while Levi checks out the team he wants to be on next year, you can check out Ian.”
    “He’s a freshman.”
    Danielle tapped her index finger against her lips for a moment. “Good point. What would someone at the bottom of the high school food chain want to do with a gorgeous girl like you?”
    “That’s not what I meant.” I didn’t know what I’d meant exactly.
    “All I’m saying is that he asked about you and that I said we’d be at the meet on Friday. No big deal.”
    “Right.” I was making too big a deal out