I make it out of the doors in time to see Riley approaching his car.
"Riley! Wait!" At the sound of my voice, he stopped walking, but didn't turn around. I jogged the rest of the distance that was between us and finally caught up to him. Not quite sure how to start the conversation, I say, "I have your hoodie."
Slowly, he turned around and met my gaze. He had an expression that I've never seen before when he's looked at me. It was a mix of hurt, sadness, and anger. I didn't like what I was seeing.
"Adeline, that's not why I wanted to talk to you." I took off the hoodie anyway and held it out to him. He stared at my outstretched hand for a moment before taking his hoodie back.
"I know, but I know how much it means to you." A beat of silence passed, and then another. His gaze remained on the ground near his feet. Eventually, I had to break the silence. "Riley, we really need to talk about the kiss."
His eyes shot up to mine and he said, "So you remember?"
"Yes, but-"
"I'm really glad you remember, I was hoping you would." His face had visibly brightened from his previous expression.
"Why?" Riley took a step closer to me and reached for my hand. I don't know how to react so his hand is still holding mine and I don't pull back.
"Because that means you must remember what happened after. What I asked you and what you said back." I looked at him with confusion clear on my face and his face dropped slightly. "Or are you really back with Noah?"
"Wait, what do you mean? All I remember is you telling me you love me and then us... kissing."
From behind me, a voice said, "You guys kissed?" Noah. I looked down and realized that Riley still had my hand in his. I immediately pulled it out and turned to Noah.
"Noah, what are you doing out here," I asked him.
"I came to check on you, you seemed tense when you left. But I see you got... caught up," he said slowly.
"Noah, the kiss meant nothing. I was drunk and I didn't even remember until now." Noah looked from me and then back to Riley. "In fact, I don't remember anything else. Riley was just about to tell me what happened." I turned back to face him.
Riley took a step back to where he originally stood and shifted uncomfortably. "I, um... I asked you if you wanted to be with me and you said okay." Upon hearing this, my mouth dropped open and I didn't have anything to say. After a moment, Riley says, "So you and I are together. Or so I thought, until I saw you two back together." His eyes shot to Noah standing behind me. I turned to the side so I was facing both of them, with each of them standing on either side of me.
I looked from Noah to Riley, and then back to Noah. "Noah, I was drunk. I really, honestly don't remember any of that."
Noah ignored what I said and took a step towards Riley. "So let me get this straight. You asked my girlfriend to be with you AND you kissed her?"
Riley straightened his posture and said, "You guys were broken up." I could see that Riley had been gathering courage to argue against Noah.
"For not even a day. And she was drunk!" Noah's voice had risen a bit in volume and I could see anger beginning to cloud his eyes. I looked to Riley and could see that he was getting flustered as well.
"Well she kissed me back. And she agreed to being with me, and we all know that there's truth in drunk words." There was a hardness in his voice that I've never heard before. With this statement Noah took another step forward, so he was only a few inches away from Riley.
I got in between the two and pushed Noah back. I still had a hand on his chest when I turned to Riley and shook my head at him. Before I could open my mouth to speak, Noah says directly to Riley, "You need to leave. Now." At this point, Noah's fists are both clenched and his knuckles were turning white.
Riley's eyes flickered to mine and I could see that there was pleading in his eyes. "Adeline?"
I sucked in a breath and then lowered my eyes to the ground. "You should go," I say quietly. I looked back up after a moment had passed when he didn't say anything. His entire body had stiffened and his mouth was pressed into a hard line. Without saying anything else, Riley turned to his car and got in, started the engine, and drove out of the parking lot without looking back.
I looked back at Noah and took my hand off his chest. "Noah, I'm sorry, I-"
"Adeline, it's fine. I know that you were drunk and weren't thinking clearly." His fists were still clenched at his side. "But he's right, there is some truth behind drunk words. Do you like him?"
"Of course, as a friend. He's my best friend. But I would NEVER do something like that to you. I love you, Noah." I looked down at his hands and watched them relax a little bit. I looked back up into his eyes to see that the anger had been replaced with what seemed like sadness. I put my hand up to the side of has face and said, "I love you, and only you. Please believe me."
Noah brought his hand up to mine and closed his eyes. "Okay, Adeline. I believe you." He opened his eyes and brought me into a hug. "But I need you to do something for me."
"Anything," I said into his chest.
"I need you to not talk to Riley anymore." I took a step back and searched his eyes to find that he was being serious.
"Noah, I-"
"Please? At least for now. I just need to think about things and while I'm doing that, I need to know that he isn't around you." I thought about it for a moment. What he was saying made sense, but also Riley was my best friend. However, Riley and Noah are friends too and I imagine that having your friend betray you like that must be hard, and I don't want to make this situation any harder than it is.
"Okay." Noah gave me a small smile and leaned forward to kiss my forehead.
"Now we should probably get back to the movie." I nodded and Noah reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers together and we walked back into the building and back to his classroom.
As we sat down to finish the movie, I could feel Delilah staring at me so I looked over. She mouthed, "What happened?" I nodded toward the paper that we had been passing notes on and she slid it towards me.
Me: A lot happened, I'll explain later. Riley and Noah are upset at each other.
Delilah: what are you going to do??
Me: I don't know
I really don't know what I'm going to do now that I can't talk to my best friend. Should we even be friends anymore after what happened? Like Noah said, I just need to think about things. A lot.
