by Marci Fawn
Faith’s lips are soft and willing under mine, our mouths molding together to create something perfect… and fleeting. Because in the next moment, her slap hits me out of nowhere, so hard it sends my head spinning.
She jumps off the couch and glares at me, breathing heavily. I clutch my burning cheek and stare, just stare at her fury. I don’t fucking care, I needed to do that.
“Baby,” I start, but she grabs a TV guide off the coffee table and throws it at me.
“Fuck off, River!” she yells. “Get lost!”
“Faith!” I say in horror. “I’m sorry, I… I couldn’t stop myself. Didn’t we, you know, yesterday?”
Faith rolls her eyes, crossing her arms defiantly in front of her body. “No, you jackass. You called me, crying about your ex, and I picked you up in a fancy ass hotel with three drunk-as-skunk blondes.”
Fucking hell. Of all the days to reconnect with Faith, I sure picked a good one. Great job, jackass.
“Faith, I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “It… none of that matters. Not the girls, not the booze… Only you.”
“Save it.” She shuts me up right away, her eyes throwing daggers.
“But I’ve been so desperate to see you,” I tell her. “I need to know, Faith, how’ve you been?”
She walks over to me furiously, and sticks her left arm in front of my nose. There’s something huge on it, glinting in the sunlight and almost blinding me in the light of day.
“Very much engaged, you prick,” she hisses at me, and only then do I realize what the object on her hand is.
A fucking diamond ring, as big as a rock.
My Faith, engaged.
But she won’t be the one that got away.
Faith will be mine.
Faith
3 years ago
“Faith! Hey, Faith!”
I look around for the voice calling my name, pushing my glasses up on the bridge of my nose. My hands are full of books and I’m late for debate team. I really don’t have time for idle chit-chat.
My eyes find the source of the voice, and I shiver involuntarily.
River Xavier, the boy next door. He’s been my neighbor since we moved to town when I was four. My first memories include River, and my childhood wouldn’t have been the same without him.
Here’s the thing about me.
I’ve always been the good girl.
The boring, run-of-the-mill next door. The pretty, freckled girl with long brown hair and blue eyes, the one neighbor boys had a crush on when they were eleven, but quickly forgot once they got older.
Now I’m eighteen, and indeed, neighbor boy, River, has forgotten all about me. Last summer, his daddy got him enrolled in a boxing class and found a hidden talent in his son. In the course of a few months, River went from the scrawny boy I knew and had a crush on, to a selfish, muscled prick who only cared about the next piece of ass he could score.
“What do you want?” I scowl at River, who is sitting on the hood of his pickup truck. He’s grinning at me, his handsome face sending my heart rate into overdrive. God freaking damn it, why does he have to have this effect on me? I should be over him by now. Get your act together, Faith!
River mutters something to his jock friends and jumps off the hood of the car. And now he’s walking over to me and my heart will probably burst out of my chest any moment. Oh god, oh god. I haven’t spoken to River in months. After his newfound body and stupid handsome face, River decided I wasn’t good enough for him anymore.
Well… Maybe he tried to talk to me once or twice. Or even more. But by that point, he was so popular, so handsome and so freaking scary that I could only mumble and blush in response. So our friendship had gone down the drain faster than you could say ‘holy mother of God when did you get those abs’. Not for lack of River’ trying, I have to admit. But still, it felt like he’d traded me, his childhood best friend, for the jocks and cheerleaders he now hung out with.
“How you doing, Faith?” River asks me, stopping inches away from my stack of books. My face is getting incredibly hot and I’m sure I look like a lobster.
“Are you alright?” River gives me a weird look.
“Yes!” I bark in response. “Why?”
“Err, your glasses are getting foggy,” he points out and I blush an even deeper shade of crimson. He’s right, of course – the heat from my face is making my glasses fog and I can barely see through the lenses.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” I say in what I like to think is my confident tone. I blow a strand of hair off my face, my hands too full of books. “What do you want, River?”
His smile fades a little and I curse myself for being so rude. It just seems impossible for me to act like a normal human when River is around.
“What are you up to tonight?” he asks, crossing his arms in front of his body. My eyes follow the motion and I practically start salivating at the view. His biceps are stretching the sleeves of his leather jacket and he just looks… “Faith?”
I realize I’ve been quiet for a moment too long, and I nervously look back up at him. “Sorry!” I clear my throat, nodding my head towards the stack of books in my arms. “Debate club every Friday, remember?”
“Oh, come on,” River laughs. “I meant tonight. You want to catch a movie or something? For old times’ sake?”
My heart actually skips a beat, but I’m not about to let River see that. I let out a weird sound and blush even more. “Aren’t you going to Becky Sterling’s party tonight?”
River’s my age and so is Becky. Of course, Becky hasn’t invited me. Her parties are famous – every time her parents go out of town, Becky throws a rager. And why would she invite me? I’m a stupid bookworm geek, she probably doesn’t even know I exist.
“Oh, right,” River remembers. He scratches his floppy head of dark hair and throws a charming smile my way. Oh, god, my knees are going weak. “Yeah, I guess I’m going. You should come with me, though. I’m sure your dad would let you, knowing you’re with me.”
He nudges me and winks, and I nearly drop all of my books. I look at the floor.
It’s not the first time River’s invited me to spend some time with him. He’s really a nice guy, and I’ve been avoiding him like the plague for no reason. But a thousand thoughts are racing through my mind right now, like what the fudge would I wear? Would Becky kick me out if I just showed up? Is this just hanging out or could it be… a date?
“Um,” I reply intelligently. “What time?”
River visibly perks up at my words. “You want to come? I could pick you up at eight p.m. at your place, if that works for you.”
Oh my god. Pick me up.
“Okay,” I nod before I can stop myself. “I’ll be waiting. Or you know, doing stuff. Anyway, I’ll be there. As I live there. It’s my house.”
I can’t stop the word vomit coming from my mouth and River is grinning widely at me as I stumble away from him.
“See you, Faith!” he shouts after me, and I wave a distracted hand in the air, almost dropping a book. I can’t believe I just agreed to going out with him. This is going to be disastrous…
“This is going to be freaking amazing!” Sabrina gushes quietly and I try to shush her before Jason spots us mouthing off. He’s the leader of the debate team, and I’ve been crushing on him for months now. At least he’s more attainable than a certain boxer beast.
My eyes follow Jason around the room while Sabrina furiously scribbles on her notepad. Jason’s not bad looking at all. Tall, blond hair and blue eyes. Sure, he wears glasses even thicker than mine, but he’s totally cute. I know quite a few girls – including my best friend who is now passing me her notepad – have raging crushes on him. He’s a couple of years older than we are and already in college. Totally dreamy, if you ask me. He knows the capital of every country in the world plus their currency, he told me once.
I look at the notepad discreetly and my eyes widen in horror. Sabrina’s drawn two crude stick figures and they’re t
otally doing it. Above it, she’s written ‘Faith luvs River’ in huge, ornamented letters.
“Sabrina!” I hiss at her, tearing the paper out. “Are you five years old?”
“Am I interrupting something?”
Jason has walked over to our desk and is staring at me over his glasses. I gulp the lump in my throat and offer an innocent smile. “Nothing, nothing at all Jason.”
“And what have you got there? More interesting than my introduction to the rise of the dollar?”
To my absolute horror, he grabs the piece of paper on my desk and raises it to his eyes. I feel all the blood drain from my face as he takes in the crude drawing.
“Oh,” he says. “Oh, okay.”
A small smile curves up the corner of his mouth and I can only stare in shock as he folds the paper and puts it in his pocket. “I hope your drawing skills are up to par with your debate ones, Faith,” Jason tells and winks. He actually winks!
What’s with all these hot guys winking at me today? I’m on fire!
Sabrina is still snickering as Jason goes back to the front of the classroom, and I nudge her to be quiet. But I can’t deny the grin on my lips. It seems like tonight might be a game changer of a day…
The rest of the meeting passes excruciatingly slowly, and after we’re done, I barely manage to get Sabrina off my back. She’s desperate to help me get ready for my date with River, which she’s now named ‘Faith’s last chance to get it on.’ After telling her I absolutely will shave my legs, I send her home with promises of reporting back as soon as I can.
I head home feeling light-headed. Sabrina has already disappeared behind the corner when someone grabs my arm.
“Hey!” I protest, turning around to face the intruder.
“Sorry, Faith, didn’t mean to scare you.” Jason smiles at me with that sexy grin of his. He may be bookish, but he’s the hottest nerd I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure. “Mind if I walk you home?”
“Oh.” I’m surprised. Jason hasn’t really showed an interest in me, apart from complimenting one of my debates with Sabrina. I’d figured it was only because she forgot the topic and spent twenty minutes comparing George W. Bush to Kim Kardashian.
“Are you sure?” I give him a doubtful look.
“Well, Faith, are you giving me a reason not to do it?” Jason is grinning, and I can feel myself blushing again. “Just come on, walk with me… I’ve been meaning to talk to you. Want me to carry some of your books?”
He points to the large stack of tomes I’ve been carting around all day. I put half of them in his hands gratefully after a moment’s consideration. “Thanks so much. My arms are really starting to hurt,” I mumble, feeling a little embarrassed.
I’m still a little suspicious of this whole thing. I figure he just wants to talk to me about Sabrina. Being a tall, willowy blonde with a C-cup is doing wonders for her popularity. I sigh.
“What’s up?” Jason asks me, looking at me as we start walking towards my place.
“Just tell me what you want to know,” I say tiredly. “This is about Sabrina, right?”
“Huh?” Jason gives me a confused look. “What do you mean?”
I stop in my tracks and look at him like he’s lost his marbles. “Sabrina. You. You liking Sabrina.” I shake my head, realizing I’m saying nonsense. “Anyway, she doesn’t have a boyfriend. I’m sure she’d love to go out on a date with you.”
In fact, I’m more than sure. I’ve listened to Sabrina whine about Jason for weeks now. He’s the only reason she joined the debate team, anyway. She’ll be so thrilled to hear about him wanting to go out with her.
“Faith…” Jason grins, and then starts laughing. I stare at him, feeling more than a little confused. “I’m not interested in Sabrina, Faith,” he finally gets out. “I’m interested in you.”
“What do you mean?” It takes a moment for his words to sink in, and next thing I know, I’m blushing again. It feels like every damn freckle on my face is on fire. And there are quite a few. “Oh. Wait, what?”
Jason steps closer to me and awkwardly reaches for my face, which sends my head spinning. Fortunately, there’s a wall of books separating us and he can’t really get close enough to touch me. We smile nervously at each other.
“Guess that’ll have to wait,” he says shyly. “I just… You seem like a really cool girl, Faith. I really loved hearing your opinion on social media commentary. And you know, you’re pretty… well, you’re beautiful, Faith.”
One more comment like that and I’ll spontaneously combust, I’m absolutely sure of it. And he needs to stop saying my name… It makes me all hot and bothered.
“Thanks,” I reply awkwardly, flashing a weak smile.
“So, d’you want to go out for a movie or something?” Jason is looking at me expectantly.
“Oh, sure.” I nod, finally allowing my smile to grow wider. This is actually happening! Jason Thorne is asking me out. Oh god, Sabrina will probably kill me for this… “When do you want to go?”
“Would tonight work for you?” Jason asks, and I’m about to tell him about my plans, but he’s not done talking. “It’s just, I have to get back home in a few days, and I’ll be really busy for a while. I’ll be back in a month or so. Awkward timing, I know. I guess I just… Couldn’t wait.”
He’s smiling again, and it’s doing things to my insides.
“Well,” I say worriedly, thinking about my plans with River. “I mean, I was going to go to this party tonight.”
“A party?” Jason looks amused. “A high school party. Haven’t been to one of those in a while.”
“Oh,” I reply stupidly. Is he thinking I just invited him? How the hell do I get in these awkward, uncomfortable situations? I’m supposed to go with River, whether it was a date or not. I’ll have to let Jason down, unfortunately.
“I’ll come pick you up if you want,” he offers. “And don’t worry, Faith… I’ll take care of you. Your dad doesn’t have to worry.”
I give him a long look. He must’ve been listening to me more than I thought, since I don’t recall telling him about my home situation.
“I don’t know, Jason,” I say, but I’m interrupted by Jason stepping closer and pressing a soft, barely there kiss on my cheek. It’s so fleeting I’m sure I imagined it, when I feel his mouth moving closer to mine. I do the Faith thing to do, panic, and move away.
“Oh! I’m sorry, you’re just… You really like me?”
He looks amused. “Yes, Faith. I thought I was being pretty obvious.”
Oh, god. Well… I’m sure River was only doing me a favor anyway. He’s always trying to make me feel accepted, even though we both know his friends will never think of me as an equal. I’m too much of a goody-two-shoes, too geeky and nerdy. Maybe I can hang out with River some other time.
“Okay,” I finally tell Jason with a sigh. “Let’s go to the party together. You know where Abbott Avenue is?”
Jason nods, barely able to hide his smile. “I’ll pick you up at seven thirty, okay?”
I’m nodding back just as we reach my house. Jason hands me the rest of my books along with a doubtful look. “You sure you can take care of those by yourself?” he wants to know.
“Yeah.” I smile, feeling another flush coming on. Except this time, it isn’t unpleasant. In fact, it feels quite nice, creeping down my cheeks to my neck… right along with Jason’s gaze. “I’ll see you in the evening?”
“Yes.” Jason snaps out of it and looks back up. “Say hi to your dad for me, Faith.”
He waves and walks off with his hands in his pockets. I’m left standing on the curb in front of our house, feeling as nervous as I am ecstatic. My first real date! And with Jason, of all people… Sabrina will be so happy for me, right after she bites my head off.
I just hope River won’t mind…
River
Finally, I got her to say yes.
I’ve been trying to reconnect with Faith for months now, and all she’s done is push
me away. I get it, somehow. Things have changed, but that doesn’t mean our relationship has to.
She’s been my best friend since we were toddlers, and I don’t want to lose that. Actually, it’s been about a year since I realized I want something more. Suddenly, Faith wasn’t just the geeky girl next door. It’s not that she had some kind of crazy makeover or anything like that. I guess I just grew up.
And then her glasses weren’t dorky anymore.
And her hair wasn’t something I pulled on jokingly.
Her boobs weren’t the butt of jokes anymore.
And her face… Her face was a permanent fixture in my dreams every single time I closed my eyes.
Except that she wouldn’t have me. Hell, she wouldn’t even talk to me lately, she avoided me like the plague. And I wasn’t having any of it, I wanted my Faith back.
It’s a small miracle she talked to me today in front of the school, and all day, I’m pent up with excitement, knowing I’ll pick her up tonight. I take extra care in my appearance, and even though my dad nearly bursts a coronary, I even skip boxing practice in the afternoon. He knows something is going on, but he’s still pissed.
“I’m heading out now,” I shout towards the kitchen, where mom is feeding the twins. My baby brothers were born when I was sixteen – a surprise for everyone in the family. Lately it seems like our life is all about changing diapers and babysitting. And boxing practice, of course. Never forget that.
“River!” My father storms down the stairs and gives me a stern look. I’m prepared for another lecture about skipping practice when he walks over to me, but instead he surprises me with his next words. “Are you really taking out Faith tonight?”
“Yeah, we’re going to a party.” I’m trying to keep my tone cool, even though my heart is going crazy in my chest. “Why?”
Dad grins and pushes a hundred dollar bill in my hands. Money’s been tight since the twins made an appearance, and I shoot him a surprised look. “What’s this for?”
