Since Forever Ago Read Online Free PDF Page A

plan. “Why don’t you just tell her you like her instead of sending her out on shitty dates?”
    “Oh, Samuel,” Max began with a sigh. “You have much to learn, little one.”
    “I don’t get it,” Sam mumbled under his breath before turning to his two mentors. “How is this working in your favor?”
    “Sammy, just watch and learn,” Evan instructed as he pulled over the whiteboard that they used to strategize plays for flag football games. “If Riley goes on enough terrible dates, she’ll start to hate all guys in general,” Evan began, the dry erase marker squeaking against the plastic surface as he drew out a series of stick figures. To emphasize his point, he scrawled out a giant frown on his cartoon depiction of Riley as Sam reluctantly nodded in agreement. “Besides, she went out with that douchebag, Noah, for, like, a hundred years too, so she really won’t know what a real man’s supposed to be like. No offense, bro, but he’s pretty fucking beta.”
    Max merely shrugged his shoulders, knowing very well that most of his frat brothers didn’t care for Noah and his vast collection of polo shirts and driving loafers. Despite the fact that the two had drifted over the past few years of college, with Max easing into the disheveled lifestyle of a bro and Noah becoming obsessed with gathering elite internships like they were trading cards, they still remained as close as they had been since they were five-year-old benchwarmers in Little League together. This, of course, only made the situation of Max having feelings for his best friend’s ex-girlfriend that much worse.
    “Meanwhile, our man Max here will swoop in and act like the perfect gentleman,” Evan continued, snapping Max back to reality. “Being all nice and supportive and shit, you know? She’ll realize what a great guy he is and then— bam —pound town,” he added with a grin, slapping his hand next to the lewd illustration he had just produced.
    “What?” Max cried, furiously wiping away the amateur pornographic drawing as the tips of his ears grew red. “There won’t be any pound—there isn’t going to be any pounding.”
    “Whaaaat,” Evan whined out, shaking his head in disappointment. “Bro, you have to smash that. She’s hot!”
    “Riley’s not the type of girl you... smash,” Max said, shooting him a glare.
    “Holy shit,” Sam commented, his eyes widened in awe. “You really are in love.”
    “Not love ,” Max quickly blurted out. “Just... I just like her.”
    “Love or like, it doesn’t matter,” Evan pronounced as he turned back to the board, scribbling out the words “girlfriend” and “girl friend” with a flourish. “Because this, my friends,” he began, underlining the wide space he had placed between the words “girl” and “friend”. “This is where Max is stuck. The friend zone ,” he added in an ominous tone.
    “Clever,” Max muttered, an unamused frown on his face.
    “I know, right?” Evan replied, momentarily surveying his handiwork with pride before continuing on. “Anyway, we need to close this gap. And what better way to do that than to send her out on a bunch of shitty dates with shitty guys?”
    “So are you just going to force a bunch of guys to treat her like crap?” Sam asked, cringing as he thought back on his date with their unsuspecting victim. “I felt like total shit the whole time. I wasn’t even sure I would make it to the end of the night!”
    “Fortunately for us, we know plenty of guys who don’t need to be prompted to act like complete tools,” Evan said, grinning at the ingeniousness of their plan. “Not all men are as noble as you, Sammy. We have an entire list of worthy candidates that should last us until graduation.”
    “Plus, I prepped her with all of that terrible advice,” Max added with a shrug. “Add those two together, and her dates should be bad enough for her to swear off guys altogether in no time.”
    “All guys except you, you