New Girl ➼ (Nate Archibald) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 42 // "Please don't play a game you can't win."

Chapter forty-two; "Please don't play a game you can't win."
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"Okay, so what? What are we going to do to get Riley away from Chuck?" Dan asked Nate and Mika while they were sitting down at the back of the bus ride home.

"It took some time for her to realize that she didn't like Jacob. I think she only stayed partly because she just felt bad for leaving him," Nate explained, "her empathy happens to get in the way a lot."

"But– Chuck. Bass. That's what I don't get, I–" Dan sat up from his seat with anger, "she hated him. She could write a book about the things she hated about him. Then out of the blue, they're dating? They're kissing?"

"Maybe they're not dating? Maybe.. he's blackmailing her," Mika pitched in an idea, "he's been threatening her, right? Like you said? So he's taking it more seriously."

"Usually, he gets what he wants through convenience. Luck. He deals with what's in the moment," Nate knew his friend the best.

"Then.. Riley might actually like Chuck," Mika clenched her fist at the thought of that.

"And why is that?" Dan furrowed his eyebrows in disgust.

"It's the whole abuse cycle. When Riley was with Kai, she would always forgive him for lashing out once in awhile. At first, she'd get mad. But he'd apologize. Then, everything goes back to normal. He does it again, Riley leaves– each time is just worse and worse."

"Riley knows that he was a terrible person for her, so why'd she want to go back to someone who's the same?"

"Because she was only really in love with him. I mean, Kai was Riley's first love– no matter how different we think of it. And she left Jacob because it wasn't like how it was before," Mika sighed, "she just.. normalizes toxic relationships. So she goes back to them. Which led to Chuck."

"She's just too used to the love she had with him," Nate thought that Mika's explanation made sense. He didn't know too much about abusive relationships, but he understood that Riley was drawn to a familiar sense of "love."

It might be the same reason she kept running from him– maybe.

"So we just tell Riley to break up with Chuck," Dan concluded, "right?"

"If it were that easy. I told her to leave Kai a bunch of times and it didn't work," Mika rolled her eyes at the past, "or she'll listen to Nate.."

"Me?" Nate was taken back at the mention of his name, "why'd she listen to me?" Not like she did it anyways before.

"I dunno, maybe if the guy she used to have a big crush on would tell her something– she'd listen," Mika shrugged her shoulders, "I wish she could listen to me all the time. But that's not the case."