Fanfic lover9001 - I'm sorry I made you cry! Yeah I was going in one direction and then kinda…swerved. I deleted the other stuff I wrote in favor of this ending & yes I promise they'll end up together & yes I have been contemplating a rewrite.

N2a0d0i0a - this was my fave review. Thank you! It was the most flattering and the most constructive. Sorry about the ending twist. I agree with the points made here too by the way. Blossom's character is the one I related to the least so I found it harder to…write her or get her right than the other 5 who I could actually consider how their characters would be slightly matured. And as for the pacing I'm glad to hear that it looked pretty together by chapter 13 because I actually lost inspiration for this story halfway through around chapter(s) 8-9 but wanted to push through because I'd already had it mapped out. And now year(s) later re-reading I can also see all the grammar/sentence structure mistakes & am going through it to fix them. Thank you so much!

8660 lover - That's all on you, spoilers are bad for you! No alternate ending but there is a sequel…so there's that.

GingerBeef - Thank you! I promise they'll get a happy ending eventually. Probably. Maybe. With any luck.

Unwritten
Buttercup

"You're pathetic. I could run better than that when I was 2, come on!" my client glared at me, muttering out something under his breath. "What was that then?"

"I said – I forgot – how bitchy you are – when – when there's no tongue down your throat! And even then you were still pretty mean." he growled and came to an abrupt halt bending over to catch his breath. He was panting pretty roughly; it was amusing in a pathetic kind of way.

"Shut up and put your arms up." I smacked Vince on the back of the head. "Hydrate then we can go for our cool down, pussy."

"Do you treat all your clients like this?" He shot me a very sassy look that I didn't appreciate. I snorted. Most of my clients were models and actors just preparing for a role. Vince was one of my only normal, regular clients. Normal meaning that they were just interested in staying fit. Plus he was a friend. It totally justified my being a little tougher on him.

"Only the ones who've earned it." I smiled at him cheekily and jogged away, eliciting a groan from my low-endurance pal. He was much better at strength training than straight cardio. I was glad that we managed to keep our friendship on good grounds, even after everything turned to shit. "So, any new roles lately?"

"Why lookin' to get back in the biz?" He puffed, finally managing to keep pace with me. "The studio offered us that spinoff, y'know."

I rolled my eyes and ignored the burning sensation in my chest. Of course I know what the studio offered. A spinoff featuring Vince, Butch, and I. I was the only main character not to give an actual reason for resignation and, well, my storylines generally included Vince and Butch.

"Oh, come on." Vince drawled. I groaned and prepared myself for what would come next. He'd been trying to play the mediator every chance he got. "It was hard for him too, B!"

"Oh, really, was it now? Good to know he's had someone he would have trusted his life with basically gave up on him and walked away without a single glance back. Fan–fucking–tastic. Brava." I was being unfairly snappy. But what kind of friend was he to keep dredging this up? I didn't need to talk it out or get closure or make my peace with anything. What I needed was for everyone to just let me bury it deep within my subconscious and never think about it again.

"No, but he did get to have someone he's been deeply in love with since forever tear out his heart and eat it for breakfast for a while." Vince shot back automatically. "Getting over someone you are in love with is ten times harder for guys than it is for girls, Buttercup. And Butch didn't only lose the one girl I'm pretty sure he'll ever love, he lost a best friend."

"Session over." My throat felt tight and my heart was clenching painfully in my chest, and it had nothing to do with the running. I sprinted away from Vince at an unforgiving pace, one he surely couldn't catch up to.

I tried to block it all out but he was good. The emotions all felt fresh again. It was like that stupid day all over again. Six months, four days, twelve hours, 20 minutes later and I still feel just as bad. The pain hit me in waves, each more excruciating than the last. The first wave slams into me, hurt. The second washes over me, guilt. The third wave swallows and suffocates me, loss. I'm gasping for breath by the time I reach my gym.

It wasn't like I never tried to reach out to him in the aftermath. Just like I said, he never spared me a final glance; he left and never looked back. He'd turned around and that was it. He'd been hurt and refused to look back even once and I tried to change that but he hadn't wanted to. He'd effectively severed me from being a part of his life. According to Bubbles he was going back to school or something like that. He'd talked to me about it before and I knew it was what he'd wanted for a while. It made me happy to think he was finally chasing after what he wanted in life. I was satisfied knowing that he was happy, even if I couldn't be a part of it.

Sometimes I wish I could be more of an evil shrew and barge back into his life and demand that he look me in the eye and help me fix us. But for now I was still heartbroken with my tail between my legs. Just as I reached the gym I'd bought soon after leaving the show my phone started to buzz Bubbles' ringtone. I groaned inwardly. I was very tempted to hit the red ignore button. My angelic little sister had jumped straight from a promising acting career to a thriving modeling career. She was always jetting from place to place, landing top jobs everywhere she deigned to go. That said, she was always on my case whenever she came to NY. She was always worried about me for no reason. I think she was just trying to deflect her attention from her problems with Boomer onto what happened between Butch and me. She'd pretend she needed my help slimming down or bulking up for different shoots as a cover for butting into my personal life. Regretting my decision already, I tapped the green circle and answered her call.

"How did training with Vince go?" she asked, forgoing a proper greeting. He'd eventually made his way back to the gym but instead of pushing me more he'd settled for ruffling my hair before he hit the showers.

"Maybe." She giggled. "Or maybe you're just being paranoid and I was asking a normal sisterly question about your day."

"In that case it was fine. He's getting better, his stamina's definitely up. What's up on your end, blue?"

"I have a shoot for VS Friday. Guess where?"

I could tell from her voice that she was about to burst from excitement so it could only really be one of two places. Here, in NY, or London, her favorite major city in the world. I'm tempted to go with, for my sake, the better of the two but my hopes are dashed. Really, I should be excited. I love my sister to pieces, meaning that a visit from her should lift my spirits. But after everything that happened we didn't really have an easygoing relationship anymore. While we were both living out our dreams there were always clouds hanging just above our heads to put a damper on any semblance of enjoyment we get out of each other's company. Whether it was Bubbles concerned for me, me being concerned for her, or the two of us concerned for Blossom it was always something.

Speaking of Blossom, it was my turn to call her to make sure she was still a properly functioning human being…or as much as she could be when she was with Dexter anyway. If someone were to tell the three of us to pick our poison I'd pick exercise, Bubbles would pick travelling, and she'd choose Dexter. He was fucking toxic and unfortunately her drug of choice. Bubbles and I took turns calling in to check on her and to try our hand at breaking up her engagement. Luckily the impending doomsday of a wedding was put on hold until after her freshman year of college was over so we had 8 months left to do it. I'd call her when I got home. I only had two more clients left to attend to.

"See you at my place or do you want me to pick you up from the airport?" I guzzle some water from my camelbak and wave to Vince, who gives me the finger, as he leaves.

"No need, I'm already on my way to your job." She said breezily, making me wonder why she waited so long to tell me. If she was planning on surprising me she wouldn't have called at all. I put her on speaker to send a quick text to Ms. Abrams and cancel our session so I could squeeze in Bubbles. "I've got good news and bad news."

"Crap. Are you going to give me a choice?"

"Nope. Good news: I was just in LA with Bloss. I think She may finally be responding to some of our pushing. Bad news: Dexter was being a troll even with me there. It was bad. He was mad at her over some media snub or something? I can't remember properly. She was very mum about the whole thing. What I do remember clearly though is that it involved Brick."

"Double crap. Alright fine. We'll talk about it when you get here or something."

I locked my phone and shoved it into my nike bag. It was good that Bubbles had been there. Blossom was always more responsive to our efforts when we were actually present and not just droning at her from an electronic device that she could easily mute without us knowing. But Dexter had always played the normal boyfriend in front of others. If it involved Brick and he was willing to be a dick even in front of Bubbles then it was bad. I didn't even want to think the next thing that I thought so I shoved it to the back of my mind in favor of meeting my next client in the yoga room.

She'd already worked up a light sheen in the sauna and was currently doing basic beginner level stretches to loosen herself up. By the end of our session I'd offered her a free makeup appointment. While I guided her through her usual routine and stepped it up slowly I'd also possibly not have even focused on her like I normally do. I was too busy sweating out all my thoughts and taking out all my anger on the punching bag in the next room. Luckily she caught that I was having a personal problem and stated my regular conduct as reason enough to not seek out a different trainer after one bad session. By the time Bubbles came in I had just enough left in me to