A Twist of Fate (Complete)

Ch. 2 - Extinguishing Old Flames & Lighting New Ones

"Well," Everly said hesitating. It hurt to talk about him but may be it would make her feel better. "Brad is my next door neighbor. We moved in when I was seven and me and him became best friends right away, but not just regular best friends. I think people call it kindred spirits. I could see him across a crowded room and just from one look I would know exactly what he was thinking. We've always had this connection that's indescribable. We finish each other's sentences and tell each other things that no one else knows," Everly said sadly, looking down at her hands as her eyes started to water. "It's always been me and him against the world," she sniffled.

"I had the biggest crush on him all through elementary and middle school and then Freshman year of high school he finally asked me out and that was the happiest day of my life. We've been together ever since, until two days ago," she said quietly.

"If you guys are so close why the hell did he cheat on you?" Monroe asked, looking confused. "You're a knockout. If you can't keep a man, there's no hope for the rest of us."

Everly gave her a pained smile and wiped away a tear. "Well, he had been getting really aggravated with me lately, because he's been begging me for years to sleep with him and I wouldn't because I didn't want to risk losing my dream of going to NYU by getting pregnant in high school and getting stuck in that town forever. I also thought waiting for our wedding night would be romantic."

"So that's why he cheated? Because you wouldn't sleep with him?"

"The night he cheated, we had gotten into a huge blowout fight about college. We've never had a fight like that before. It was ugly. He's a prodigy when it comes to baseball so a lot of colleges had been trying to recruit him, but UCLA has the best college baseball team in the country so that's where he wanted to go. He begged me to go there with him, but there was no way I could give up my own dream and throw away a full-ride to NYU, especially since my family couldn't afford to send me to college without it."

"Well yeah. That makes sense."

"When I refused to give up NYU and go to UCLA with him, he was furious. I've never seen him so mad. His face turned all red, and he balled his fists up and shouted, 'I can't take this anymore! I've been waiting for you for four fucking years and you're going to go to a college across the country and throw our relationship away, like I mean nothing to you? That's it! We're DONE!' and then he stormed out of my bedroom and wouldn't answer my calls or texts."

"Oh wow. He sounds like a real asshole," Monroe said, shaking her head. "And then he slept with your best friend?"

"Yeah. I found out the next day that he had sex with my other best friend Amber after he left my house that night after our argument. Amber grew up across the street from me and we've been friends since we were seven years old. We were in dance and girl scouts together, spent the night at each other's houses at least three times a week and sometimes we even spent holidays together. She's more like a sister than a friend, so when I found out she had sex with Brad I was crushed. The two most important people in my life completely betrayed me."

Everly couldn't hold back the tears any more and started crying into her pillow."

"Oh wow. I'm so sorry," Monroe said as she walked over and sat on the edge of her bed rubbing her back to comfort her. "You deserve better than both of them."

"Thank you," Everly sniffled. It was nice to feel like she had a friend to talk to in New York already.

Monroe looked at her phone and said, "Ugh, I'm so sorry. I have to run because my gig is starting soon but I promise we'll talk more about this later," giving her shoulder a squeeze with a sympathetic look before grabbing her stuff and heading out the door.