all that glitters » david dobrik au

sixty

"Oh my god, he's fucking cheating on you!"

The words seemed to shock even Todd, the one whose mouth they spewed out of. He started at me with a dropped jaw and eyes widened, waiting for my next move.

"What?" I swallowed thickly, willing myself not to cry. Maybe I heard him wrong. Maybe he didn't mean to say that. Maybe he was only saying it to get his way. Maybe. Maybe.

"I— Mona..."

It was all the confirmation I needed. He didn't have to repeat himself; I knew he wouldn't anyway. It was a last minute blurt, but not an accident. He didn't slip up. I didn't hear him wrong. He was cheating on me. David was cheating on me. I could feel my own heart breaking in my chest. It was a feeling all too familiar to me, but still so raw and real and painful. My heart had been broken time and time again, but something about it made it a pain you never got used to. I would never get used to feeling vulnerable and weak. But instead of crying, I chose logic and asked, "With who?"

"Gabbie," Todd explained. He seemed to cringe as he said it, like he knew just her name would shatter me. In the back of my mind, I knew he'd say Gabbie. I mean, come on, it was the most obvious choice. It didn't stop the stinging, though, and it didn't stop my breath from hitching in my throat. Todd added, after some hesitation, "And Corinna, sometimes. I'm so sorry, Mona."

"Since when?" my voice cracked when I asked. I couldn't find it in me to be embarrassed by it. I was more embarrassed by the fact that I had been manipulated and lied to and made to believe David actually cared about me.

"Since... since forever. Since the lake house. Since New York. Since your birthday party. That's why she started being nice to you, you know. David fucked her like an hour before your birthday party started. He never stopped with them, even when you guys started dating," Todd told me, further shattering me. "I'm so sorry, Mona, seriously. I wanted to tell you sooner, I really did."

And just like that, everything fell into place. The reason Gabbie's attitude had shifted on my birthday wasn't because she realized I wasn't a bad person; it was because David promised her dick no matter what occurred between us. What stung most was the fact that David had the audacity to fuck Gabbie two hours before he took my virginity. Virginity was a social construct used to keep girls down and glorify boys, and I knew that, but it still hurt. It was supposed to be special—sacred, even. It was supposed to mean something when you lost your virginity. Did he have no soul?

It also occurred to me that the day he told me he loved me for the first time, the day I ran away without saying it back, Gabbie was practically offering to go fuck him to make him feel better. Her should one of us go? was not for support or a shoulder to cry on; she was going to fuck the feelings out of him that day, right after David told me he loved me, if Corinna hadn't stopped her.

"And you've known since when?" I frowned, taking deep breaths to avoid the shit show that was only a few seconds from occurring. "Since when, Todd?"

"Since the beginning."

At least he had the decency to look guilty when he said it.

"And all our friends knew too?" I asked, though I knew the answer. He nodded in response. "Everyone at school?"

"Everyone," Todd answered slowly. "Even, uh... your old friends."

For some reason, it shocked me to hear this information. Maybe it was because I expected Liza to want to brag about it, to want to be the first one to tell me that David was never really mine in the first place, but... they didn't. They kept it a secret. That made them even worse than I originally thought.