He texted her the next day and they clicked pretty fast. Their conversations were constant, even if they didn't have much substance to them. Boston was a nice boy who wanted to get a girlfriend, and Riley was the young girl who misjudged her infatuation with being noticed as a crush. She began to think he was the most attractive person, and that he could do no wrong. Riley was happy. She was talking to a boy, and she was happy. Boston got made fun of a lot, and she was the source of the judgement that was thrown at him, but he didn't give up.

Their first date was a basketball game for their school's team. It was only five minutes away and there were a lot of people, so maybe not the most romantic setting, but it was their first date. The two stood in the student section and cheered on their team. Riley was awkward to say the least. She couldn't help but glance at Liam a few times from her high up spot in the stands.

"That was literally so fun," Boston said as they walked out to his car.

"Yeah, it was," Riley responded, lacking the same enthusiasm as her date had.

Boston got in the red Mustang and started it up as he waited for Riley to join him. She was taking her time because she wasn't looking forward to the tense, unpleasant drive home. She couldn't help but think that it was going to be the same forced conversation as it was on the way here. Really, she was grateful that one of her other friends, Abby, had been at the game. Riley didn't have to only focus on Boston the whole game.

After another moment, she got in the car and he drove her home.

Boston spoke as he began driving and said, "Riley, do you wanna do get some food or something?"

"I actually can't, my mom told me to come home after the game," she answers smoothly. It wasn't a lie, but she did have permission to get some food from the drive-through.

"Oh, that's alright, we can go out to eat next time."

Riley smiles slightly at the lack of push that he gave her, "Yeah, next time."

The rest of the drive was pretty relaxed, most of the nervous energy from the way here having faded off with the team's win at the game.

Riley remembered that Mrs. Davis had scheduled a Saturday rehearsal for that weekend and she forgot what time it was. There wasn't a paper calendar or anything for her to look at, so she texted a couple of people: Faith, who didn't answer, Savanna, who didn't know, and then Liam.

Riley: Hey, this is weird lol, but do you remember what time the rehearsal is this weekend?

Liam: Uh, yeah it starts at ten and goes to one.

Riley: Okay, thanks. Sorry again.

She frowned when she sent the last message, because it seemed like a finite ending to their conversation. When her phone pinged again signalling another message, her heart started racing. She wanted to open it immediately and see what he said, but she didn't, instead opting to calm herself down and not look too eager.

Liam: No, it's fine. How are you?

"Oh my God? He continued it. He continued the conversation!"

Riley waits a moment and then types her response, thumbs going at the speed of light.

Riley: Oh I'm okay, I'm pretty bored lol. How are you?

Liam: I'm good, thanks.

Her expression dropped as his response came through, it seemed very final and she didn't want to be the weird, annoying girl who wouldn't leave him alone. Riley goes back to texting Boston then, and the attention from him filled the void that she had for the most part. She just wished that she could have placed her finger on why there even was a void.

For a month after that night at the basketball game, things had been going pretty well for Riley and Boston. Aside from the fact that Riley basically refused to talk to Boston at school because she was worried about embarrassing herself in front of his friends. The fact that Liam was in the group affected things for her as well. Something about him made her shy around people. Riley has never been shy a day in her life, but something makes her want to impress him.

A week later after a basketball game, Boston was walking with Riley towards the cafeteria. They saw Liam and Kayla walking towards them and Liam seemed very inclined to get her away from the two of them. Kayla had that look in her eyes though, and Riley wasn't sure what to expect. Liam got the hell out of dodge when she walked up to Riley and bunkered down in the cafeteria again. As soon as she got within conversation distance, Kayla was yelling hysterical sentences at Riley.

"Does Boston know you texted my boyfriend on Thursday?" Her voice was threatening as if she had something on the shorter girl. Riley wasn't sure how to react. She felt Boston turning towards her and she racked her brain for what Kayla was talking about.

"Oh! About play? Yeah I just asked him when the weekend rehearsal was-"

"No! About how you're 'so bored'. Are you serious?!" Kayla was getting legitimately angry about this information-seeking text, and honestly? Riley didn't know how to handle it. "Riley, you need to stay away from Liam," she continued, stepping a bit closer to the girl she was addressing, "Or we're going to have some problems."

Boston stepped forward then to line up with Riley and said, "Kayla, let's just calm down. Talk about it? What's the big deal?"

"The big deal... is that this little kid is texting MY boyfriend!" She had gotten progressively louder with each word, but now the tone was harsh to go with it. And the glare was prominent on her face.

"Okay, Kayla. I guess, my bad," Riley speaks as Boston jogged into the cafeteria to talk to Liam. She watched him leave and backed up a step.

"You can stay back there and have a conversation with me if you'd like, but if not, then I'm going to go back in and watch the varsity game, okay?"

"No. We're not done with this, Riley," Kayla started again, not willing to let the conversation drop just yet.

"Yes, Kayla, we are. What else do you have to say? I didn't mean anything by it when I texted him, and I won't do it again."

At this point, Riley just wanted the conversation to be over with. She didn't feel like she deserved to be attacked for talking to someone, but if it bothered his girlfriend, then she wouldn't text him anymore. Kayla must have been satisfied with that answer, because she turned and strutted out of the hallway and back to where the guys had been waiting.

Riley heard her say one more thing on her way out though, "Boston, you need to control your girlfriend. Liam, we're leaving."

Riley waited for Boston to catch up with her in the hallway and he gave her a big hug. She smiled up at him slightly and shrugged her shoulders when he asked what happened. Boston had tried backing out of the complicated relationship a few times after that, and each time, Riley would talk to him and they'd figure things out. This happened twice, and both times, Boston's excuse was that it was too hard. Adding to that fact that they didn't really talk during school, and their relationship was solely online, what happened next really didn't seem so impossible.

Boston cheated.

Well, if you can even call it that. Riley and Boston weren't officially dating, but they were in that talking stage, and it was clear to everyone that it was going somewhere. Either way, Riley found out at basketball practice one night. The Monday before Valentine's day, which was a Friday that year.

She was joking around and said, "I'm going to be all lonely and stuff on Friday unless Boston asks me to the dance."

"Oh, so he did tell you then?" One of the girls on the team piped up as we started practice. "You and Boston broke up?"

"Wait, what?" Riley didn't know what she was talking about, but at that point they had already begun a drill, so she just needed to wait for a moment where she could talk to Sophie about what she'd said.

After a few rounds of the layup drill, she was behind Sophie in line and said, "Soph, what were you talking about? What happened?"

"I don't know if I should say anything... Ask Brooklyn?" Sophie mentions Boston's sister.

"No. Sophie, tell me what you meant," Riley spoke quietly, not wanting to draw attention to anything, "Please?"

Eventually, Sophie caved and told Riley what had happened over the weekend. It was after one of her and Boston's episodes where he didn't know if she was worth his effort. Apparently, he went to a college party on a nearby campus and got wasted. He didn't tell Riley that he was going to this party, instead just said that he was going to be busy for a couple of hours. This was during one of the times where they weren't 'a thing' anymore. And when Boston was at that party, he and some girl named Jocelyn hooked up.