for, lover (Completed; editing)

Chapter 9

Maddy wakes up a quarter after 10 with what she swears is the worst hangover she's ever had.

"Well I'm not surprised, you seemed pretty wasted when you came in last night." I tell her and set a bowl of soup in her lap after she manages to get herself in bed.

"I don't remember anything at all. Did Ben bring me home?"

I nod and reach for the TV remote.

"He left last night? Did he go home?" She asks me.

"Yeah, he said he had to go."

"Oh." She mutters and leans her head back.

I climb on the bed next to her and pull the blanket over both of our legs. Maddy makes an attempt to start on the soup but doesn't get very far.

"I'm sorry for how things have been." She says and shifts her gaze from the bowl to me.

"Me too."

"You don't have to be sorry. I was being inconsiderate to your feelings when all you've done was help me with mine."

I nod slightly and hang my head down.

"I was just a little worried. Your mom called me to talk about you and she got it in my head about some things..."

"She called you?" I cut her off. "When did she call you?"

She blinks a few times, trying to recall the recent interaction I'm assuming.

"The day you saw Levi. Before she called you,
I think. She said she was going to talk to you."

"Yeah, she did. That didn't end so well. She showed up at the apartment and I kicked her out."

Maddy throws her head back and laughs.

"You're savage, damn."

"She pisses me off! I love her but she's trying to put herself so far up my ass that I can't even see."

"She's worried too." She defends.

I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest.

"I don't care. She's basing all of her opinions off of rumors."

"You're still sure they were just rumors?"

No, not at all. I just can't admit that yet.

"I need to talk to him." I whisper and stare up at the ceiling.

"Do you have any idea where he could be?"

"His old boss said he went to Tennessee with his friends whenever he left last time."

She raises her eyebrows.

"What's in Tennessee?" She asks.

"I have no idea. I don't even know if that's where he is now."

I grab my phone from the nightstand and pull up Miles' Facebook page again.

"Levi sent me a link to his Facebook." I tell her.

"Really?" She exclaims and snatches the phone from my hands to start scrolling through it. "Wow and he hasn't posted anything in 8 years."

"I know." I mumble. "It's mostly his mom tagging him in memories."

She taps on one of the many memories Lauren had shared. It's captioned Senior Year and has a photo of buzzcut Miles with three other boys standing in front of a black Jeep wearing or holding onto backpacks.

"Any of these guys look familiar?"

I lean over and take a closer look at the photo. I don't recognize any of these boys. We didn't go to the same high school so of course I probably wouldn't.

"Not at all. None of them are Levi."

She taps the photo to reveal the tags of each one. Miles' page is tagged as well as two other boys. The taller one to the left of Miles is Trent Hall. The guy to the left of Trent is tagged as Reed Bennett. The last guy to the right of Miles isn't tagged at all.

"Has Miles ever talked about these guys?"

"Not at all. He never told me any of his friends names. He just said they used to work at the state fair together."

She clicks on Reed's page and waits for it to navigate over. This guy posts even less than Miles. The last thing he shared was some event happening downtown back in 2016.

"No fuckin' way." Maddy blurts.

"What?"

She points at the screen with her free hand.

"That's the party Selena went to in Charlotte 5 years ago."

I stare blankly at the screen. I didn't know there was actually events happening that night. I thought she just went to one of the bars to drink.

"You're sure?" I ask her.

"Yes! Char Lottes-Of-Liquor. She invited us to go but I think you were with Ben and I was with my grandparents for the weekend."

I hate when these memories come back. They never come back in whole but instead minuscule pieces that I have to put together myself over time.

However, this specific memory comes in all at once. 

"Bree, answer your fucking phone or I'm throwing it out the window." Ben groans and pulls away from me.

It has been ringing on and off for the past thirty minutes. I was hoping the person calling would've given up by now.

Ben climbs under the covers and pulls the covers over his body. I lean over the side of the bed and grab my phone from the pocket of my shorts laying on the floor. Selena's name flashes over the screen once again.

"It's just Selena." I say and go to put it on the nightstand.

"Answer it. Please. If she keeps calling I'm not getting back into this."

I laugh and pick up the call, lifting the phone to my ear when I could've just put it on speaker.

"BREE!" She yells in my ear and I flinch causing Ben to jolt with concern. "You and Maddy are literally dead to me. I have been calling you bitches forever. What are you guys doing?"

I glance over at Ben whose face is plastered with his usual cunning grin and laugh to myself.

"I've been busy. What's up?"

"You know the guy I've been seeing? He invited me to this party thing tonight that his uncle is throwing downtown, Char Lotte's-Of-Liquor! He said if we go that he'll hook us up with drinks. I figured it would be a great start to the full college experience."

I hate drinking. Maddy and Selena are all about it and I feel left out any time they want to because it doesn't satisfy me at all. Besides, the risk of being caught underage isn't worth it to me especially if it involves having to trust some sleaze-ball one of my best friends is with at the time.

"As lovely as that sounds, I think I'll pass." I say.

"Oh my god, why? It would be fun!"

We have different interpretations of fun. I'm having plenty of fun right now.

"I've got a lot to do today. We can definitely hang out later though. See if Maddy wants to go!"

"I think she's with her grandma or something. Ugh, you guys suck. I'll drink for ya then. Bye!"

She hangs up the phone before I could say goodbye.

I never got to say goodbye.