"the cost of assumption" by Emily Wolff
They were sat on the couch with a bowl of warm popcorn wedged between their thighs, some old movie playing on the television when Ryan’s cellphone chimed from his pocket, an annoying tone that was very obnoxious. He pulled it out with a furrowed brow to see an unfamiliar number texting him.
"Who is it, babe?" Steph asked, pausing the movie and turning towards the boy unlocking his smart phone with pursed lips.
"Don't know," he mumbled quizzically, opening up the message that read,
Hey Ry great catching up with you today. Maybe we can hang soon? Mads
Ryan immediately recognized the signature at the end of the message. "Oh, it's just Madison." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Madison?" Steph’s lip quirked down in blatant disgust. "As in Madison Ross?"
"Yeah," Ryan said automatically while typing out a sure, I'll let you know when I'm free. Ry. "Ran into her at the gas station today. Exchanged numbers and all that. Did you know she just bought an apartment a few streets down?"
Steph huffed and crossed her arms over her chest like a child. "You know I don't like that girl, Ryan."
"I know, but there's absolutely no reason for you to dislike her. She's a very nice girl." Ryan retorted, relocking his phone and setting it on the cushion beside him.
"Very nice, my ass. Do you not remember what she did?"
Of course Ryan remembers what Madison did, but what's in the past is, well, in the past. And should stay there. "I swear it was just a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Steph gaped. "You call flirting with you relentlessly while we were dating just a misunderstanding? Ry, she threatened me. Do you not remember that?"
"Yes I remember it all, Steph." Ryan sighed. "And if I thought that the threats were anything but empty then I would've done more than tell her to piss off. I mean it's not my fault she was still in love with me. Frankly, I don't blame her, because I did just dump her out of the blue with no explanation whatsoever."
Steph sat back with a smug grin suddenly tugging at her full lips. "And why did you just dump her out of the blue, Ryan?"
Ryan sighed, cocking his head and staring at Steph from the corner of his gaze. "Because I met you, and fell in love because you are the most wonderful, amazing, spectaculacular person I have ever met in the history of my entire existence!" He shouted dramatically, pulling the petite girl onto his lap and leaving sloppy salt and butter-filled kisses all over her face.
"Spectaculacular?" She questioned as she attempted to push Ryan away and wipe at the grease on her lips and cheeks. "Is that even a word?"
"Well it should be, because that's what you are!" Ryan pressed his slick, salt-swollen lips to the column of Steph’s neck while she laughed maniacally under the fervent boys touch.
"You're weird." She screwed her eyes shut as Ryan licked her nose, the warm stench of cheap, store-bought microwaveable popcorn wafting through her nostrils. She could practically feel her nose hairs singeing away under the scent of artificial butter.
"But you love me."
And that she does.
*
It wasn’t too long before the subject of their little grapple on the couch was long forgotten. That is until about a week after The Text Message, as Steph would call it, when the subject herself walked right through the door of the downtown bagel shop.
"Hey, Ryan!" An unmistakable Brooklyn accent shrilled from behind them.
They turned around and was met with none other than the lively face of Madison Ross, long auburn hair astray and flannel pajama bottoms still rumpled with sleep.
Ryan possibly had the biggest look of oh crap to ever cross anyone’s face in that moment as he watched the girl fast approaching. He thought maybe they could turn back to the counter and wait for their orders as if they hadn't heard the bell above the door jingle, but it's too late now because Ryan’s made eye contact for god sakes and Madison’s weaving in and out of other people to get to them and he wants to just jump over the display case of different flavored bagel spreads and flee out the back entrance before she could reach them.
"Saw you from outside! S'great to see you again. Never heard back from you though." The girl pouted as she stopped in front of the couple.
"Yeah, well I just forgot, I guess." Ryan chuffed nervously and peered over his shoulder to where Steph stood behind him with her eyebrows drawn to her eyelashes, jaw clenching and unclenching. If looks could kill, Madison would be a mangled mess on the tiled floor right about now.
"Oh Stephy! Didn't see you back there." She stepped forward and extended a hand, but Steph ignored the gesture and wrapped an arm around Ryan’s waist instead, digging the tips of her fingers into the skin of his side through the thin material of his T-shirt. Madison retracted her arm awkwardly. "Well, hope to hear from you soon, Ry. We need to hang out again and catch up, yeah?"
"Yeah." Ryan replied out of pure politeness as Steph spat out a terse "no".
"Okay," Madison looked a little deflated as she turned back toward the door. "Great seeing you two again, I guess."
Once she left, Ryan turned to Steph, placing his hands on his hips. "Jesus Stephanie, could you be more cold to her?"
Steph just smiled. She smiled. "Teaches her to come around us anymore, hm?"
Ryan groaned and grabbed their order from the countertop. "You're something else, you know that?"
"I know." Steph grinned.
*
Now, she wasn’t exactly worried, per se. she was just…curious. Ryan was never the cheating type, never the one to be unfaithful. Well, she hopes he’s not. But the thing was, Steph left around noon to do some grocery shopping and it’s now five and Ryan isn’t home. Obviously she’s not one of those clingy girlfriends that need to know when where and who their boyfriend is with at all moments. She’s not like that at all.
Okay, maybe a little bit.
Dinner should be started anyway, so there’s no reason to wait on someone as unpredictable as Ryan Novak. And there’s no reason to fret. She breaks the handful of spaghetti in half and throws it in a pot of boiling water.
Why didn’t he tell me he was going somewhere?
She turns the heat up on the stovetop.
Not even a simple text message.
A pinch of salt gets thrown into the water with more force than needed.
He’s probably with-
The door opens outside of the kitchen and heavy boots hit the floorboards. “Babe?”
Hm. “In here.” She stirs the pasta around the water with a hand on her hip somewhat nonchalantly.
Ryan enters the kitchen and presses a kiss to her cheek and oh, he smells faintly like liquor. Of course he does. “Where’ve you been?” Steph asks in a light voice.
He sits at the kitchen table and unlaces his Timberlands with a shrug. “Just out.”
Bull.
She says nothing.
*
It’s not even a week later when Steph is blinking awake and Ryan is already slipping out of the bedroom fully clothed. She waits until the front door shuts before sliding out from under the comforter and peering out the window.
And there was Ryan climbing into none other than Madison Ross’s SUV. She wanted to scream because dammit, he has been seeing that girl. Steph reaches beside her to grab the first thing she can find to hurl across the room but her hands curl around Ryan’s cellphone. Curiosity has her unlocking it and going straight for his text messages.
Ryan had sent “Maddie
”, Nervous 
, and she replied with, I'll be waiting in the car park in 10 These messages were exchanged just minutes before Ryan had left the apartment.
Fury courses through Steph’s veins and she’s squeezing the device in her palm tight enough her fingers start to tingle. She relocks the phone and places it back onto the nightstand, crawling back under the covers of the bed and pressing her face into the pillow.
Before she knows it, there’s a dip in the mattress beside her and a whispered, "Sweetheart?" Ryan sits on the edge of the mattress and cards his hand through the girl’s rumpled hair. “C'mon babe, don't want to sleep too long and waste the day.”
"Mm?" Steph moans and blinks open her tired blue eyes. "Oh, morning." When had she fallen back to sleep?
Ryan smiles warmly and pulls the blankets from her body. She looks up and sees the nervous flash in his eyes when his gaze lands on his cellphone sitting on the bedside table. He might as well have the word GUILTY scrawled across his forehead in Sharpie.
Steph just nods and pushes herself up further in the bed until she's sitting flush against the headboard, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "Were you out somewhere? You’re already dressed." She asks innocently through a feigned yawn.
Ryan stands and rounds the bed to grab his phone. "Just went out to get some fresh air and the mail. I'll go make breakfast, okay?" his words come out in a single breath.
"Yeah." Steph agrees, and stands from the bed, Ryan skipping into the kitchen.
She pads out of the bedroom with bare feet without a word and goes to sit on the couch in the living room, clicking the television on. She’ll keep her mouth shut for now, at least.
"Hon? You want syrup?" Ryan asks from the kitchen doorway.
Steph makes an affirmative sound and flips aimlessly through the channels as he joins her on the couch and holds out a plate of pancakes.
"Thank you." She says quietly and reaches for the plate, setting it on her lap.
"You all right, babe?" Ryan asks with a furrowed brow as he switches the television over to Netflix.
Steph just mumbles a, “tired still.” around her fork.
Their breakfast is tense, until both of their plates are empty and they’re watching an episode of some popular paranormal show. Ryan stands abruptly, palming at his jean pocket and scrambling to the bathroom where he shuts and locks the door.
Seconds later his phone chimes on the cushion beside Steph. She picks it up just in time to see a message from Madison. The bathroom door opens back up and Ryan steps out.
“Babe?”
"Are you gonna do it? From Maddie." She reads the message out loud and stands up. "Do what, Ryan?"
"I-"
"Break up with me? Is that what you're gonna do? Break up with me so you can be with her?" Steph practically snarls, tightening her grip on the phone.
Ryan just stands there, head bowed. Why is he just standing there? He really must be ending it all right now.
"I saw you, you know." Her voice cracks mid-sentence, cellphone slipping from her quaking fingers and landing on the hardwood floor. Ryan quarks a brow. "This morning when you were getting out of that tramps car." It’s all out in the air now.
"It's not what it looked like, babe." He tries, but Steph just dismisses him with a shake of his head. Of course he says that.
"Then what was it supposed to look like, Ryan?" She yells, stomping her bare foot. "Because it looked like you snuck out to see her."
"I wasn't! Dammit." He takes a deep breath, the room falling silent as the TV continues to play in the background.
"Well then what the hell, Ryan! Care to tell me why you've been acting so weird since you met back up with Madison?"
"Because she was helping me get up the nerve to do something." He almost mumbles.
"Helping you break up with me?" Steph juts out a hip.
"She’s married!"
Her eyes widen. "Oh, so you're like her-her mistress or something?" Mantress? Whatever.
Ryan clenches his jaw, reaching for his phone on the floor and reading the message over silently to himself before looking back up. “Do-”
“Get out.” She spits.
His shoulders drop. “What?”
“I want you out of here.”
“Where am supposed to go?” he cries.
She thinks for a moment. “I don’t care, just pack a bag and get out of here.’ Steph turns away from him, staring out the window with her fist brought to her mouth. It’s like a soap opera unfolding before her.
She waits until the front door creaks open and she turns around to fine Ryan standing in the doorway, duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a pleading look in his eyes.
“Go!” she yells, running towards the door and slamming it after him. Unfortunately, she was almost expecting this. She was expecting something to stir up between her boyfriend and his ex as soon as he had told her that they met up, but god does it still hurt.
Steph’s sitting on the floor now, eyes burning and chest tight. She just kicked out the one person she loves the most in the world for something that probably looked worse than it actually was. God she was so stupid. So jealous and so stupid. She hates herself, she hates this. She kinda hates Ryan, but that’s just ridiculous. This whole situation was absolutely asinine.
She doesn’t even know what makes her get up from the cold hardwood floor, but she does, and it’s almost an hour since Ryan’s left. How had it been that long? She feels awful, and standing in the middle of their apartment in pajamas and the television playing softly behind her pushes her further to pull on a pair of sandals and lock the door after her.
Obviously she has no clue where Ryan is, but he couldn’t have gotten far. So she drives until she spots his blue Sedan parked in the driveway of a quaint one story house. She was afraid to get out of the car, but determined altogether.
She pressed her thumb into the doorbell and-
Madison answers the door
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She said breathlessly. She was beating herself up over being wrong about the whole situation for nothing. Because she was right all along.
Steph turns on her heel to storm away when a hand latches onto her elbow. Ryan stands behind her.
“Steph, what,” he swallows, a hopeful look in his hazel eyes. “Babe, what are you doing here?”
She yanks her arm from his grip. “Obviously making a mistake.”
“Don’t go, please. Why won’t you just let me explain?” he pleads.
She shuts her eyes for a moment, breathing in deeply. “Because what is there to explain? I know what I’m looking at, Ryan.”
“Well you’re wrong. You’re so far from the truth right now.”
Her heart starts to hammer against her chest. I was wrong, I knew it. God, I am such an idiot.
"Do you really want to know what I was going to do this morning?" His hands are shaking at his sides.
"I'd love to know." She tries so hard to keep her tone icy, but she knows she’s made a fool of herself already, so it’s pointless.
Ryan sticks his hand into his pocket and drops to one knee on the asphalt, pulling out a small velvet box and holding it clutched against his palm. "I was getting up the nerve to do this." He flips the box open and Steph slips to the ground in front of him. Her knees sting against the pavement, but she doesn’t care.
"Ryan..."
"Stephanie." He cuts off sharply. "I would never, ever cheat on you. And it hurts to know that you think I'd stoop that low."
"I'm sorry." She whispers, though she knows it’s useless.
"Please," Ryan pleads, voice catching in his throat. "Please just let me explain." He shuts his eyes momentarily. "I know, I know you don’t like Maddie, and I met up with her last week with the full intention to tell her to leave us alone, but she told me something. You know what she told me, Steph?"
She shakes her head, hands cupping around her mouth and vision blurry.
"She said that she was sorry. And that she went out and found herself someone. She’s married. To Tristen Jacobs. She’s happy, Steph." Ryan shifts to his other knee.
"But-"
"Wait. I'm not done. Last night I met up with her, as I've been doing all week. And before you yell at me anymore, I apologize for sneaking out without your consent. But last night she asked me why I haven't proposed to you yet."
At this point Steph was full-on crying, wiping her eyes on the back of her hands.
Ryan continued. "So I thought to myself, why haven't I proposed to Stephanie yet? And this morning, Madison drove me over to the jewelry place downtown, and I found this," He raised the ring box a little higher, and Steph choked out a sob.
"I'm sorry." She was so, so wrong.
"Babe," Ryan interrupted. "I love you so much. And I'm sorry it took sneaking out every night for drinks with Madison to make me realize that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So," he pulls the ring from its small box. "Stephanie Collins, will you do me the honors of being my wife?"
Steph nods her head, wiping the tears from her face and extending a trembling left hand. "Yes, oh god."
Ryan pushes the ring onto her dainty finger and pulls the shaking girl onto his lap. "Shh baby, it's alright."
"I'm sorry I assumed." Steph hiccups into his chest. "I'm sorry I was jumping to conclusions."
Ryan shakes his head. "No, it's not your fault. I would've told you everything from the beginning, but it would've given it all away."
Steph pulls back and kisses him, hands tightening on his cheeks. He holds onto her waist as he rocks them back and forth in the middle of the driveway until Madison starts clapping from the doorway of the house.
Steph pulls away from her fiancé and smiles at the woman. “Hey Maddie…would you like to be my maid of honor?”
