Page 17 of Another Love, Another Time

Logan and I are sitting at a picnic table, eating some nachos, when I get a notification from Facebook.

Thinking maybe it’s River finally messaging me, I look at it.

It shows she’s updated her profile picture.

Her first profile picture was one of us a few years ago.

She recently changed it to one of her and Logan, which hurt.

I go to give Logan crap about their picture already being replaced, but my words die when I see a picture of her with another guy. A guy I don’t know.

My chest hurts seeing her with someone else, someone who she thought was important enough to put on her Facebook profile picture. He’s got her in a side hug, and they are both smiling at the camera. The only thing that makes me feel better is her smile. I know that smile. It’s not her real one.

“Do you know who this is?” I turn my phone so Logan can see it.

“No. She said something about a guy she was going bowling with. She tagged him in the picture. His name is Liam,” he replies.

“Are they going out?” I question. We didn’t get to talk a whole lot when she was visiting. Almost as soon as we got there, I tried to talk her into hanging out with my friends so she could meet Amber. I’m such an idiot.

“If she is, she didn’t tell me,” he answers.

“I think I’m going to call my mom and have her come pick me up. I’m not feeling like doing this anymore.” I send my mom a text and pocket my phone.

“I think I’m ready to go too. You think she would give me a ride?”

“You know she will.” We live closer to the batting cages, so my mom will get here quicker.

We walk to our bags and start packing up our gear. My phone pings with a message from my mom saying she’s almost here, and since she’s supposed to pick up Logan too, he'd better have his things ready.

We walk towards the entrance, sit on the bench, and wait for her to pull up. A vehicle pulls up, and I see Amber and a few girls get out. Thank God I decided that I was going to leave. I don’t want to have to deal with her tonight.

She walks my way, and I pull out my phone to ignore her. I know she’s already moved on and is dating someone else on the baseball team. I really don’t care. I’m happy for him. Gets her away from me.

“You’re not going to say hi?” she asks.

I look up at her. “No, I’m not. I don’t think there’s much left for us to say.” I shrug.

“So, you are just going to pretend like you don’t know me?” She sounds hurt.

I sigh and rub my hands down my face. “Amber, I don’t want to get into this. I really didn’t want to talk to you at all tonight.”

She leans forward. “Oh, but you wanted to see me when I was jerking you off. Right. I got it.”

“Amber, come on. You’re better than this. I know you’ve started hanging out with Tommy. Why don’t you go keep him company?”

She straightens. “You’ll be back; I know you will.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. I gotta go. My mom just pulled up.” I get up and walk past her towards my mom’s van before she can say anything else. All I want to do is go home and go to bed.

After Mom drops Logan, we head back home. Before I hop in the shower, I send River another message asking if she got my package today and to let her know that I am sorry again. As soon as I hit send, the “read” message appears.

And then, amazingly, she’s Facetiming me. I immediately hit “accept,” not caring one bit how desperate it makes me look.

“Hey, Riv,” I greet.

“Where’s your shirt?” she says, ignoring me.

“I was getting ready to take a shower,” I answer.

“Do I need to let you go?”

I quickly respond, “No. It can wait. I’m glad you called.

I’ve missed you, River, and I’m so sorry for Saturday night.

I promise I’ll never let that happen again.

You’re my number one girl, and you always will be.

” I say it all in one breath, wanting to get it all out just in case she hangs up. I know I screwed up.

Ignoring what I just said, she goes on, “I got your package. The shirt fits perfectly, and I like the personal touch.” She moves the camera to where I signed it under the word “idiot.” She continues softly, “Just so you know, I missed you, too.”

“I really am sorry; I don’t know what I was thinking, but clearly I was an idiot. I never want to make you cry.”

“Logan told you.” She looks away from the camera.

“Yeah, don’t be mad at him. He ripped me a new one, if you know what I mean.”

She chuckles and says, “Yeah, you deserved it.”

“You’re right, I did. I’ll say it as many times as you want me to, but I am really stupid. It probably won’t be the last time I mess up. I just can’t handle you shutting me out. It was the worst week ever.”

“I’m sorry, too. I should have talked to you the next day, but I needed some space. I really never thought through this whole thing. Seeing you with another girl… I guess I thought I wouldn’t have to see or hear about it. It was… really hard.”

“If it’s anything compared to how I felt when I saw the picture of you and that guy tonight, I know how you feel.”

“Who, Liam? We’re just friends. After tonight, we realized there aren’t any romantic feelings there.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Did you kiss him tonight?”

“Yeah, but we both said there wasn’t anything there.”

“I’m mad and happy at the same time. I hate the thought of your lips on anyone’s other than mine.”

She scoffs. “How do you think I felt the whole night, having a front row seat to it?”

“I’m sorry, River. I know this sounds stupid right now, but I wanted to show you how good of a boyfriend I could be. This is such a mess.”

“I know we talked about it, but it’s a lot more difficult to live it versus it being hypothetical, huh?”

“Yeah.” I rub the back of my neck. “All I ask is for patience. I’m trying to do what you ask me, but I’m going to make mistakes—just hopefully never the same mistakes twice. Still best friends?”

She beams, a real smile this time. “Yeah. Best friends. And just so you know, if you ever let one of your girlfriends talk to me like that again, not only will I punch her. I’ll kick you in the balls. Think about that before you let it happen again.” She gives me her evil grin.

“Got it,” I say as I put my hands over my private area in a protective stance.

She sees the movement and falls forward, laughing, and I join her.

I’m so glad to have my best friend back.