Page 86 of Breaking the Habit

LEVI: You’re the fucking best.

Riley smiled as she prepared a quick snack for herself, hummus on pita with arugula and feta, like a pizza, but rolled up like a burrito, with no filling to speak of. It was her favorite snack. She didn’t care that it broke all the rules.

The front door opened as Riley settled on the couch to turn on the TV. Nikki came in a moment later, backpack slung over her shoulder.

“Hey, girl.” Riley twisted, brows knitting when she noticed how grim Nikki looked. “Is everything okay?”

Nikki nibbled on her bottom lip, just staring. And then she sighed and climbed onto the couch next to Riley, boots and all.

“I don’t want to have to be the one to tell you this,” she said in a low, serious voice. “Like, seriously? This is the last thing I wanted to have to do.” She unzipped her backpack and brought out her laptop.

“Nikki, I don’t like this.”

“Yeah, me neither.” She scowled, pulling up a web browser. “I found out today while I was at a casting call. Somehow the conversation turned to Levi—” Riley’s heart sank to her toes. “And everyone had something to say. Like seeing him out, getting drunk, and…” Nikki shook her head, scrolling through a page. “And of course, I wanted to wait until I saw you to tell you in person. This isn’t the sort of thing you text someone about.”

Riley opened her mouth to ask what on earth it was when Nikki turned around her laptop, shoving it toward her. A photo of Levi filled the screen. Shot at night, his brown hair wavy and messy, someone’s hand clasped in his as he stepped down off a sidewalk.

Riley stared at the picture for a long time, blinking and trying to understand and blinking some more.

“It’s Levi,” Nikki said after a while.

“Yeah, I see that,” Riley said. “But—”

“Scroll down,” Nikki said, frowning. She reached around to tap the scroll button on the keyboard. “Hun…this isyou.”

A three-picture panel popped up—a tightly cropped photo of Levi looking worriedly somewhere, a smug shot of Titi, and then…her. Riley. Scowling at something in the distance.

The panel told a clear story. This was a love triangle, and Riley was the one on the outside.

She just wasn’t sure how she’d gotten involved. Or why the whole world knew about it except her.Again.

“Wh—” she tried again.

“It’s from two nights ago. He’s with this girl. This…model.” Nikki scoffed, turning the laptop back around so she could see the article. “Titi LaCrap or whatever.”

It was the name Titi that made all the disjointed information finally click together. The model that she herself had taken photos of, weeks earlier. The model who seemed to skulk around every practice Levi had at the gym these days. The model who had her own trail of photogs, her own fame, her own celebrity pull.

Thoughts collided painfully in Riley’s head, leading her to a truth that she didn’t want to accept.

A truth that didn’t make sense, no matter how much evidence there was.

“Hang on.” Riley grabbed for the laptop, slowly beginning to scroll. “Let me look at this.”

“I wanted it to be fake,” Nikki whispered, “after what you went through with Braden. But there are pictures, Riley. They’re everywhere. It’s trending on Twitter right now. These two are like…dating.”

She rolled her lips in, hearing Nikki but also actively rejecting her words. It couldn’t be true. Not when she and Levi were a thing.

“I don’t understand,” Riley mumbled, flipping through one article after the other. And it was just the tip of the iceberg. There were so many things she didn’t understand.

Like how she hadn’t caught any red flags. Not even a yellow flag.

How glibly and delightedly she’d fallen head over heels for Levi, believing everything he told her. How he’d managed to fool her, when they texted so often. How he could act like things were okay when really he probably had Titi with him at that exact moment. In his arms, while she traced that constellation of freckles with her fingertips like Riley had so many times. In his bed, that slate gray haven that she’d claimed for herself.

Her stomach tightened, almost to the point of nausea. Rationalizations began clicking into place.He didn’t want to see you for the past week because he’s been with her. When he texted you wanting to talk tonight, it was because he was about to tell you himself.

“I don’t understand either,” Nikki said. “I’m so sorry, Riley.”

“But maybe this is—”

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