6 Years Earlier, 2018

Diana stands behind me with her hand on my back. She gently rubs up and down as I puke out the contents of my stomach. She has always been the one who has taken care of the group when we get sick. The designated DD. Permanently. 

"Maggie!" 

Briar storms into the bathroom. Her face is red hot and her nostrils flare as she shoves Diana aside. Her fingers lock into the back of my ponytail and yank me away from the toilet. I groan in pain, and my stomach instantly feels nauseated as she slams me against the wall and places her body right in front of me. 

"What the hell, Briar?!" Diana screams trying to get in between us. 

"Back the FUCK up, Diana!" Briar says. She casts a glare at her that has put many in shambles before Diana. Wisely, Diana backs up but stays in the room if she needs to separate the inevitable fight. 

I look at the girl standing in front of me. The ferocity in her eyes is something that I never would have imagined her having four years ago when I met her as a freshman. She was beautiful even back then, but she was quiet and small. She didn't see herself how I saw her. 

She was enormous. Maybe not physically, but she was a star. Someone who was destined for much more than this little town and its drama. 

She is destined for more than Declan. 

The truth was I could have gone to Joel's house and slept over there when my parents were arguing the night we had sex. I could have gone anywhere else really. I'm Maggie Evans. Anybody would have helped me that night. 

I wanted to stop her from making a mistake. She wasn't listening to reason when it came to breaking up with him before. She didn't see what kind of man he was time after time he messed up. Declan was far from perfect. He was not who Briar should end up. My friend deserved better. Deserved more than Grover's best. She deserved the world's best. 

I did what I did to prove to her he wasn't worth it. To be a good friend to her. Granted, I didn't mean to get knocked up, but maybe that's some crazy bad karmic juju coming to bite me in the ass. 

I don't blame my best friend for this reaction. I'd feel the same way given what happened between Declan and me. Her beautiful face is a mix of rage and hurt, and while she's standing in front of me I can see her eyes brimming with tears. 

"How could you?" she asks me.

A weak squeak in her voice was all I needed to hear to know I hurt Briar. Briar never lets her emotions show. She works hard to be a mask. There's only ever been two people that have seen her in this state before. 

Declan and me. 

And both of us are the reason she's like this right now. 

My heart hurts for her. I knew what I did was going to hurt her, but I genuinely didn't think that I was going to hurt her this bad. I just wanted to help her. I didn't want her to get trapped in the small town cycle. 

"I'm assuming he talked to you?" I ask her quietly. 

Briar reaches her hand up and slaps me square across the face. Shock courses through me and my hand instantly travels up to my cheeks. My first reaction to anyone else hitting me would be to deck them straight in the face. This is Briar though, and I lowkey deserve it.  

"No shit he spoke to me, you bitch!" 

"What is going on?" Diana asks from the doorway. The line that formed in the hallway was growing impatient as they banged on the door. Diana slammed the door open and screamed. "We're handling something!" she says as she slams the door back in their face. 

"I need to pee!" shouts a very clearly intoxicated girl. 

Diana turns back to us and crosses her arms. "Tell me what's going on."

"Yes, Maggie!" says Briar with an angry smile. "Please! Tell our dear friend Diana how you fucked my boyfriend!"

Diana gasps and her hand flies over her mouth. "Maggie you didn't." 

"Oh, that's not even the best part!" Briar says with a sarcastic chuckle. She opens up her mouth to say the words that would sink my reputation in an instant but then closes her mouth. She shakes her head angrily as a single tear slides down her face. "You betrayed me. You betrayed me and we have no signal so I can't even call an Uber so you're my ride home!" Briar's falls against the wall and she sinks. She curls her knees up to her chest and places her face in between her knees. Diana walks over and wraps her arm around her shoulders. 

"Bri, I'm so sorry," I say. I sink next to her but Diana holds up her hand in defense of Briar. 

"I think it might be best if you leave her alone for a bit, Maggie," she says softly. 

I nod and get up from the bathroom floor. When I get to the door the last thing I hear is Briar start to sob. 

"What the fuck is going on in there?!" someone asks me as I walk down the hallway. 

"They have a backyard," is all I say as I turn the corner and go back into the noisy party.