He's probably thinking about Tiffany.
I shook my head. He made love to me. Without a condom. He said that he loved me out loud, even if he thought I was asleep when he had said it. But did he only realize he loved me because he had slept with someone else? A person he thought was worthy of five sex stars? That wasn't a good reason to tell someone you loved them.
I looked down at his phone. I didn't care that I was invading his privacy or betraying his trust. If I didn't see the rest of that text, I might murder him in his sleep. And murder was definitely worse than spying. I picked his phone back up and slid my finger across the screen.
An icon popped up asking me for his password. I tried his birthday first, but that wasn't it. Maybe it was for the best. It was a bad idea anyway. I shouldn't read his texts.
I'm really glad you called...
Fuck it. I'll try one more thing. If my next try didn't work I'd stop trying. One more shot. I looked down at Rory. What would a single guy who slept with tons of women and never wanted to commit to anyone make his password?
Of course. He wouldn't be worried about anyone seeing his texts and phone calls. I typed in "password" and his phone unlocked. I took a deep breath and pressed on the text from Tiffany Five Stars.
"I'm really glad you called me last night. Your girlfriend is definitely going to freak. Stop by tonight too because I think Jamie might actually have what you're looking for. She's so much better than I am! You're going to love her."
There was a smiley face emoji at the end of the text. I felt like I was in shock. I read the text again. He did sleep with her. And Tiffany wasn't even enough for him. He needed to fuck Jamie too? Emily was right. He wasn't perfect. He was a cheating asshole. Why did I always fall for such jerks?
I wanted to text Tiffany back: "Damn right I was going to freak out when I found out that he slept with you, you slut!" But I didn't. I just stared at the message. Could that possibly mean something else? I bit my lip. Maybe if I read more of their conversation. I scrolled up to the start of it from yesterday. I didn't want to see their exchanges before that. Nothing mattered before we had started dating. And I definitely didn't want to know anything about what they did before we started dating. I already knew it was just tons of sex. Hopefully meaningless sex, but sex none the less.
Rory had texted her first: "Hey, Tiffany. Sorry it's been so long. Are you free tonight?"
It was a few hours after he had left our apartment. A few hours was enough to sober up. He knew what he was doing. He wanted to sleep with Tiffany. It wasn't even just a drunken mistake. Maybe I could have forgiven a drunken mistake. But it seemed like he missed her. I wasn't enough for him.
Tiffany: "I'm at work right now. But we can definitely meet up later, babe."
Babe? Gross.
Rory: "Can I just come there?"
Tiffany: "I can definitely make you come here. We're not busy and I'm closing up tonight. We'll have the whole place to ourselves."
There was another smiley face emoji. I wanted to throw up. Instead, I kept reading.
Rory had texted her a few hours after that. Just a little after midnight. "Thanks for working late tonight, Tiff. You know I appreciate the special treatment."
Winky face emoji? I threw the phone down onto the bed, just missing hitting Rory. The special treatment? Ew! I couldn't even look at him. He cheated on me and he joked around with her about it? He was disgusting. I felt tears stinging my eyes. I quickly got dressed and slipped out of his room.
I didn't know what to do. My answer always seemed to be to run over to Emily's house. I really wanted to run. How could I love and hate someone so much at the same time? I wanted to remember how he looked at me a few hours ago when he had finally come home. Like he had missed me. I didn't want that feeling to be gone so soon.
But this couldn't wait. I needed to confront him about this now. I was so sick of always running from my problems. And he wasn't just my boyfriend. He was my roommate. Boyfriend. That word didn't seem to mean anything. I felt so nauseous. Maybe the article I had written was right after all. Maybe we were just friends with benefits. He'd never get another benefit from me, though, that was for sure.
My chest started to hurt as I began to pace around the living room. Fuck him. Why would he do that with me this morning? Make love to me like that, right after he fucked Tiffany? He was such a pig.
I picked up one of the Nerf guns off the floor and aimed it at the dartboard on the wall. I cocked it and pulled the trigger, hitting one of the outside circles. I cocked it again and placed a shot a little closer to the center. I pretended it was Rory's face and continued to shoot round after round, hitting the last three foam darts right in the middle of the target. It was weird how good that felt. I grabbed the darts that were scattered around the floor and reloaded the gun. I cocked it again and shot another dart. Bullseye.
"You're pretty good at that."
His words were like ice in my veins. I turned around and kept my finger on the trigger.
"Whoa." He put his hands up in the air. "I surrender." He gave me one of his charming smiles. I looked down and saw the outline of his phone in his shorts pocket.
Without thinking, I pulled the trigger and shot him right in the groin.
"Fuck!" Rory put his hand over his dick. "What the hell, Keira?" His face was a grimace. "Shit that hurts."
"What were you doing last night?"
"I told you. I was just sobering up. I was hanging out with Connor and Jackson."
"You're lying."
"I'm not lying." He laughed and stepped toward me.
I raised the Nerf gun. "Don't."
"Keira." His smile was gone. "I promise that I was just with Connor and Jackson. You can even call them. They'll tell you. Whatever it is you think I did, I didn't do it."
"I bet they will lie for you. That's what friends do, right?" I shot him in the stomach.
"Ow. What do you think I was doing?"
Why isn't he just admitting it? Him pretending to be innocent made me even more upset. "Tiffany Five Stars texted you. She was so happy you called last night, you asshole."
His eyes got wide. "Wait, did you read my texts?"
"Who's password is 'password'?"
"Shit." He scratched the back of his neck. "What else did she say?"
Why did he care more about what she revealed than confessing the truth to me? "You don't want to just tell me what you were doing with her?"
"So she didn't say anything?"
"What is wrong with you? Yes, she did. I was just hoping you'd man up and tell me. That slut made it very clear that you two fucked last night."
"Whoa, what? I didn't sleep with Tiffany. Yeah, I've slept with her before. But I didn't last night, I swear." He lifted his hand off his penis.
I immediately shot him again.
"Jesus Christ, Keira! That fucking hurts!" He knelt down on the ground, holding himself in his hands again.
"She calls you babe? And jokes about making you come? You're disgusting."
"She just misunderstood why I was texting her."
"Bullshit, Rory. You were playing along. And then you thanked her for working late. And her special treatment. Of your penis."