Fall Forever (Fall For Me) by Melanie Marks Read Free Book Online Page A

always carries around is green …”
    “Okay, okay.” He put back the
sweater he chose and grabbed one in teal.
    “Dude, green!” I said.
    But in the end, he chose some weird
sweater with a dog on it.
    “What? She likes animals,” he
explained when I just stared at him, baffled by his inability to get his
girlfriend something she would actually like.
    The sweater was … hideous.
    Later that day—after hours of
trying to talk myself out of it—I’d ridden my bike back to the mall and
got Zoey the green sweater. The one I knew she’d like. It was for her birthday
after all … and I knew she’d love the sweater. (The whole time I was getting it
I’d grumbled at Finn in my head—the loser Lover-boy who was unable to
truly grasp his own girlfriend. The girl who worshipped and adored him.)
    I just needed to somehow get the
sweater to her without her knowing it was from me. (Since, yeah, she was my
best friend’s girlfriend. Not mine.)
    So I wrapped the sweater, but
didn’t sign the card. It just said “Happy Birthday, Zoey.” That way she would
definitely know it wasn’t from me—since I never called her Zoey. Also,
she thought I hated her. So, no problem. She’d never
suspect it was from me.
    But then, of course, when she
unwrapped the “anonymous” gift she thought it was from Finn. And he’d been more
than willing to take the credit for it.
    The funny thing was though, he never suspected the gift was from me either. I
loved him like a brother. I did. But man, he was clueless when it came to Zoey.

 
 
 
    CHAPTER 13

 
 
    Zoey
    Tingles raced through my body when
Riley told me he’d given me the sweater. With all of my heart I wanted to throw
my arms around him and explain that I didn’t want to talk to Finn. I wasn’t
going to take him back. Wasn’t going to forgive him. And I didn’t need closure.
All I needed was him —Riley.
    But as soon as he had sweetly
confessed that he had given me the sweater—at the exact moment I was
going to throw myself at him—he got a text message on his cell phone. I
knew exactly who the text was from by the noise the
text ringer made—Ava.
    Riley heard it, and I swear , he winced like he was in pain. Only, it was probably
actually guilt—guilt that he wanted to leave me right that second to read
her sexy message in private.
    “I’ll see you, Jones,” he said
huskily, and then he escaped out of my house as though he couldn’t get away
from me fast enough. But at his car he turned back to me, still not reading the
message. “Talk to Finn.”
    Then he was gone. He got into his
bright shiny red car and drove off. Probably to Ava.

 
 
 
    CHAPTER 14

 
 
    Finally, I decided to do what Riley
said—talk to Finn. After all, Finn was begging—and now so was his
mom. And I just wanted to get it over with—the actual break-up. Though it
kind of seemed unnecessary. I mean, what with my kissing Riley, and Finn doing
whatever he did to Bianca. Multiple times. If that didn’t scream, “We’re over!”
it didn’t seem anything would.
    But people talk about “closure.”
And how it’s necessary. And blah, blah, blah. Really,
I just wanted to have it out with Finn so he would stop calling and I would
never have to hear his lying, cheating voice again. Maybe years from now I
would look back and remember our past with fondness and feel some sort of warm
and toasty peace. But right now it just made me want to scream and throw things. The guy had lied to me. Over and over.
    I gave Finn’s parents their week of
letting their son “heal” (grrr!) , then I drove the
forty minutes to Blanket Grove Mental Hospital.
    When I got to the “guest area” Finn
was already there in the room, waiting for me. He had his back against the
wall, thumbing through a magazine. I just stood in the doorway, not able to
walk over to him. My mind was filled with a jumble of emotions. There he was,
the boy I had loved for years. He had cheated on me. Lied to me.
    It all