I Can't Believe, I'm Actually Meant to Be Here!

"I don't know who I believe, Ronnie." I cried. I put my face in my hands, not being able to look at him. "I don't know who to believe."

"I wouldn't cheat!" He sighed.

"But why do you keep going back to her?!" I screamed out of the blue. He stared at me, not saying anything. "Huh? Why?! You know she just wants to tear us apart! And you KNOW how much I despise her, and you tell me you'll stay away from her, but you don't! You keep lying! How am I supposed to believe you when you say you aren't cheating when you keep lying?"

"I don't know, alright?!"

"You must! There has to be a reason!" I yelled. We both stood up at the same time, another fight brewing already.

"She's a friend! I like hanging out with her! That's it!"

"SHE'S TRYING TO BREAK US UP!"

"WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!" I pushed him back as he got in my face. "To stay away from her! I've told you this a million times!

"I can hang out with whoever I want." He growled.

"Oh, so you don't care if you lose me in the process of that, hm?" He laughed, shaking his head at me. "Wow. I can't even hang out with friends anymore-"

"YOU KNOW THAT'S BULLSHIT! You know I like all of your other friends, EXCEPT that little whore! She is the ONLY one I don't like, so don't even try to say that!"

"We don't DO anything together when we hang out! She wants to, but we never do!"

"You don't GET it, Ronnie!" I cried. "If Craig was my fuckbuddy at one time, before you and I started dating, and I still hung out with him while you and I dated, but I was telling you I wasn't, and HE was trying to rip us apart, would you be happy?!" He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. The look on his face told me he knew I was right.

"No. I'd be pissed."

"So it's okay for you to do this. But if I did, what would happen?" I stared at him, waiting for him to make eye contact with me again. "Huh? What would you do?"

"I'd be pissed." He repeated. He stared at me.

"She's ripping us apart, Ronnie," I whispered, wiping at my eyes. "She'll stop at nothing until she has you, and until she knows she ruined a relationship. Look at how much we fight; what's usually the cause of them?"

"I know, I know." He grumbled, sitting back down and putting his head in his hands. I sniffled and stared down at him, my arms still crossed over my chest.

"Did you cheat?" i whispered again. He shook his head, slowly looking up at me.

"I would never do that to you." The way he said it made me know he probably was telling the truth, and the pleading look in his eyes only made that more prominent. But I still wanted to be 100% sure. I need proof.

$$$

I knocked on the door, smiling and laughing slightly when Craig answered and saluted me. "Detective Scarlet."

"Detective Craigafer." I saluted back. He glared playfully as I called him that nickname, but let me in nonetheless.

"Alright, so we gotta do a little sneaky-sneak work, huh?" I nodded, setting my laptop down on the small kitchen table Max had in his and Craig's apartment. I'd called Craig after I told Ronnie I believed him, and told him about everything that happened and how I needed his help. I honestly did think Ronnie was telling me the truth, but I wanted proof.

"I just...need to do this, ya know? Kind of like..."

"Reassurance?" I nodded and smiled. "Well then let's get crackin'!" Craig cracked his knuckles as he said this before sitting down. I giggled and followed suit, opening up my laptop and going onto facebook, finding that picture of Ronnie, Lexus, and those girls.

"Alright, let's see here..." Craig leaned a little closer to the screen, squinting his eyes at the tiny writing in the tags. He clicked a name of, what I'm guessing was, anyways, one of Lexus's friends. He clicked on "Send a message".

"So? What should we say?" I bit my lip, thinking.

"...Do you have a facebook?" He nodded. I gently pushed his arm out of the way and clicked "Log Out". "Use yours and message her." He nodded, signing in and going back to the page we were just on.

"What should I say..." He thought out loud. It took him a minute before he started typing.

hey, um this is random, lol...but uh, did you go out with lexus amanda and ronnie radke like, a week or so ago?

-craig

He clicked "Send". "Well way to just get right to the point." I snickered.

"I couldn't think of anything else." He laughed. "And plus, I've met this girl a few times back when Max and Lexus dated, so she might remember me." I nodded, and surprisingly, we got a response shortly after.

um....yeah. haha isn't this craig?

haha yea. once again, random, but i'm doing this for a friend of mine...did ronnie and lexus seem...flirty? or did they...make out...or fuck...or...anything?

"You're great at wording things." I rolled my eyes, chuckling. He slapped my arm playfully.

depends. who's this friend of yours?

ronnie's girlfriend. which is also max's sister.

they flirted at the bar. idk if they did anything else after they left.

Craig bit his lip while I tried to keep my cool. "Left and went where?" I asked. Craig typed exactly that and sent it.

i think they said they were going to ronnie's place.

"You're shitting me." Craig glanced at me nervously, quickly typing another message.

...did she call or text you the next day and uh...say anything about that?

surprisingly, no...she was actually kind of in a bad mood that day when i saw her later on...so maybe she was trying to hook up with him and he denied her...lmao i really don't know.

alright, well, thanks for the help!

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "So he took her back to our apartment and didn't do anything with her?" I asked skeptically.

"I know..." Craig mumbled. "You know, I still have Lexus's number in my phone..." I snapped my head over to look at him. "You're suggesting we call her and ask?!"

"Well! I mean...well, yeah!" I laughed and shook my head. "You call her and ask, I'm not talking to her."

Craig stared at me for a minute, and it started to creep me out. "Uhhh....Craig?"

"MAX! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" I jumped as he suddenly yelled this. Max trudged out of his bedroom, looking confused and slightly scared. "What's on fire?"

"Nothing. We need you to call Lexus and ask her if she had sex with Ronnie two nights after their fight." He stated, pointing at me. Max stood there, blinking and looking completely lost. "You use phone. Use phone to call Lexus. Ask her question about Ronnie and Lexus. Ask if they-"

"I heard what you said, idiot! I'm not slow!" He groaned. "Oh, and no."

"For me?" I pouted. "Your sister?" He rolled his eyes. "Why do I have to?!"

"Becauseee I feel like she'd be honest with youuu...and stuffff..." Craig explained as he kicked his feet back and forth like a kid. Max sighed and shook his head, sticking his hand in his back pocket and pulling out his phone. He dialed her number and put the phone to his ear, the most bored and unamused expression on his face.

"Hello?...Yes it's me...I need to ask you something...well Craig won't ask because he's too big of a pussy, so-

"HEY!" He yelled. Max rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Did you fuck Radke this past week?...Lexus.....yeah well I can tell when you're lying...well gee you only lied to me and cheated about a half a dozen times when we dated, how would I not know when you're lying?" He said sarcastically. I covered my mouth to keep my laughter quiet.

"Did you or not?....." He bit his lip, staring at me. I gulped. "Lexus, I mean it. .....How come he's freaking out and saying you're a liar, then?!"

"Oh no," I groaned. I felt sick, not knowing who to believe still.

"Yeah, I know that!.....Well you've always liked to do this shit!.....Quit lying!.....Ugh, whatever. I can tell you're fucking lying, you wished you fucked him. Yeah, bye." He hung up and shrugged. "She's lying. I can tell."

"But...she's still saying they.....oh, I don't know who to believe!" I whined.

"Ronnie's telling the truth. I know she's lying." Max stated truthfully. "I wouldn't tell you that if I didn't know it for a fact. You're my sister, I care about you, the last thing I want to see is you getting hurt by a guy; but I know she's lying and I know Ronnie's not."

I leaned back in my chair, looking down at the ground. "He didn't cheat, Scar. He's stupid, but I don't think he's stupid with you. If that makes sense..."

"Yeah he is." I mumbled under my breath. Max and Craig laughed slightly. I smiled as Max crouched in front of me, making me look at him.

"He didn't cheat. I promise."

"I can't take you seriously anymore with no eyebrows." I giggled. Craig started cracking up and Max narrowed his eyes at me. "You know, here I am, for once in my life, trying to be all mushy and nice and caring and shit, and you say that! Unbelievable!" I laughed as he stomped away from me.

"Well, guess I should go and tell Ronnie I.....guess I believe him." I got up, grabbing my laptop and scratching my head. "I guess."

"I think Max is right." Craig smiled softly. I nodded and smiled back. I gave him a quick one armed hug and yelled my goodbyes to Max before walking out of their apartment and to my own.

"Well," I said as I entered. I giggled quietly to myself as I saw Ronnie jump a little from his spot on the couch, not expecting me. "I guess I believe you."

"Huh?" He got up and walked over, looking confused. I shrugged. "I went over to Max and Craig's to do a little...detective work. Long story short, Max called Lexus and asked her if you two had sex, she said yes," His eyes widened and I could tell he was about to start defending himself and say she's lying. "but Max told me he knows she's lying."

".......So, you believe me? You actually believe me?" I set my laptop down on the table and turned back to him. "Why? Should I not? Did you really cheat?"

"NO! No no no, that's not, I-I didn't mean for it to sound like t-t-that!" I laughed and shook my head as he panicked. "I'm kidding."

"I don't wanna fight anymore." He mumbled. I smiled softly. "I don't either. I hate it."

"Me too." He wrapped his arms around my middle, leaning down and resting his head on my shoulder. "But you've gotta be honest with me from now on. Otherwise we'll keep fighting."

"I know." He mumbled again. He lifted his head again. "I swear this time, I'm gonna just tell her to leave me alone. All she does is cause trouble for us, I can't take it."

"You promise?" I asked. He nodded and I smiled slightly. "Alright. I'll believe you. But if I-"

"There will be no ifs, I mean it this time." My smile grew. "I can't lose you."