To Find the Lie, We Must Discard the Truth

The guys decided to have a Friday the Thirteenth party since that’s what today is. They also chose to have the party at my house instead of, you know, any of theirs.

“I still can’t believe you practically kicked my fiancé out of her own house.” I tell the guys as they cue up the movie.

“kicking out implies that we didn’t give her a choice.” Blake argues, “we specifically said that we’d be watching Friday the Thirteenth and she chose to go out with her friends.”

“whatever. let’s get this over with.” I don’t know what gave them the idea that they could just walk into my house.

“aw, is Ryan mad at us?” Nate teases.

“as a matter of fact, yes. Just because I live on my own doesn’t mean y’all can come over whenever you want.”

“dude chill, it’s just a movie night with the guys. Veronica really didn’t seem to mind at all.”

“I don’t care if she minds, I mind.”

The movie gets to the main menu and I grab the remote to press play. “hold it.” Blake takes the remote from me. “What’s really going on?”

“you guys-”

“no, no. I know you Ryan and usually you’re more thankful to have a guys night then be stuck here. No matter how much you care about Veronica, you still like having time away from her.” Damn Blake knows me too well, “so I repeat, what’s really going on?”

“tomorrow’s Valentines day.” I mumble. They all look around at each other and then back at me, waiting for me to continue. “I got Sky a computer last year for Christmas so that we could stay in touch while I was off at school. I had set it up with all the latest stuff and for Valentines day I made it so that his video would pop up when she turned on the computer.” The group aw’s and I through a pillow at them. “now though, I have no idea what to do for Veronica.”

“well…” Nate lists out exactly what to do and instead of watching a horror film that night we plan the best Valentines day.



I woke up early the next day and started making breakfast. This part was Eli’s idea mainly because he was hungry at the time, but still breakfast in bed is always romantic. There was also the upside that I now knew how to cook a lot better than I had before.

When I finished making the pancakes and everything I put it on a tray. It was about nine then so she should be up.

I knock lightly on the door and open it. The sight in front of me wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. Veronica was sitting up in bed with her computer open, tears running down her face. When she saw me she quickly shut the computer and attempted to clean up her face.

“what happened?”

Veronica ignored my question, “you made breakfast.”

“yeah…um, happy valentines day.” She smiles and quickly gives me a kiss. I set the tray down next to her and then take a seat. “now, tell me what’s wrong.”

She takes a breath, “my ex, he just sent me an email.” a short laugh escapes her lips, “I guess I wasn’t as over him as I said I was.”

“don’t worry about it.” I kiss her forehead, “now eat before your food gets cold. Then we’ll-”

“then we’ll what? Didn’t I tell you Ryan?”

“tell me what?” I never did like it when people forgot to tell me important stuff, like I’m sure Veronica was just about to do.

“I have a big Chemistry midterm on Monday. A group of us are studying like all day today.”

“on valentines day?”

Veronica gives me an ‘I’m sorry’ look, “most of the group is single or had plans for tonight. If I had known you were going to plan something…”

“It’s fine.”

“no it’s not. but I really need to get a good grade on this.” She pauses, “is there something planned for tonight?”

“yes.”

“well then when should I be home by?”

“five I guess.”

“m’kay. And what time is it now?”

“just after nine.”

She leans over and kisses me, “I’ve got ten minutes,” she says and kisses me again. Though there was nothing I wanted more than to just sit there and kiss her, I knew I should pull back.

“you need to eat.” I lift the fork up to her

Veronica laughs and takes the utensil from me, “you’re the only boyfriend who would rather me eat for ten minutes than make-out with me.”

I roll my eyes, “trust me, I’d much rather be making out with you.” with that, I got up and left the room to go stop some of the plans for today.

After Veronica left for the library I figured I better start up on my homework as well. I don’t want to say I’ve been ignoring the work, but I’ve definitely not been doing as much of it. There are too many distractions going on at the moment to get me to focus on some simple math problems.

As I typed out the hundreds of numbers, an instant messaging screen popped up. It was Nate, asking how the date had been going.

RR: It’s not.

Nate: :( you guys can’t exactly break-up…

RR: no, nothing like that. She forgot to tell me she had a study group today.

Nate: phew, had me worried there. Well, it’s still on for tonight though, right?

RR: of course. And breakfast was nice. For being a bunch of jocks, y’all really do know how to plan something romantic.

Nate: say romantic one more time and I may just have to come over there and beat your ass up.

My mind instantly went back to when Sky had told me I was romantic after dress-shopping.

Nate: dude, you there?

RR: yeah, I was just remembering something

Nate: Sky still on the mind, eh?

RR: I’ve seriously tried so hard to just forget about her…

Nate: No one can ever fully forget a first love Ryan, or any love at that matter. It’s more about not forgetting about them but accepting they aren’t around.

RR: romantic.

Nate: shut-up

RR: I better get back to my homework. Unlike you, I need straight A’s

Nate: why? My B’s aren’t anything bad.

RR: I’ve always gotten A’s

Nate: except for that D

This once again brought me back to Sky, to the day that changed everything.

Nate: sorry, just realized that was going to hurt. Anyways, I’ll let you go do your math or whatever. remember to take breaks every once in awhile.

I laugh and minimize that page, getting back to my math homework. When I finished I decided to find what to wear tonight now rather than later. That would be a nice break between homework.

While shuffling through the closet, I came upon one of many bags that Veronica owned. Tossing it aside, I didn’t expect anything to come out of it. After a thud sound was made when it hit the floor, I turned my attention back to the brown fabric. What did she have in there?

Further into investigation, I found it to be her wallet, or one of her wallets. Who really knows how many of what the girl owns. That’s something I loved about Sky, she was so simple with everything. She didn’t need ten of the same items but in a different color. Instead, she’d just choose a color.

I open up the wallet to make sure she had the essentials with her, like her license. I sigh, relieved that it wasn’t in this one. Hopefully that meant it was with her.

Before I closed it though, I noticed a picture in another pocket. It was of her and me during Christmas, before the small fight. We were dancing and laughing. I feel more pictures behind it and pull them out, looking through all of them. Besides the one of us, there was a picture of Sydney and then one of Charlie. This surprised me more than anything.

It’s not that Veronica is bad with kids, or hates them. I’m sure that’s not it. But she also doesn’t exactly play with them that often, not the way Sky used to. I know it’s not something we’re planning anytime soon, but shouldn’t it be a conversation at some point? I mean, I love kids, I want kids. Veronica though, doesn’t seem like she feels that way. So, having pictures of my niece and nephew in one of her wallets just doesn’t make sense.

My computer beeped again, informing me that I got another instant message. I put back the bag and walk over to my laptop once again. The name on the screen shocked me more than anything in my life. Tears came to my eyes without me realizing it, and I couldn't tell if they were happy or sad; good or bad. But they were there, they existed. It's probably not even her. I’m positive she wouldn’t contact me, not now.