Disclaimer: I don't own (500) Days of Summer, nor do I own the concept for this fic. I believe this is what the film was about and a lot of people just didn't get it.

Just Not Fair

Why? Tom thought to himself as he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. It had been weeks since he'd found out Summer had gotten married, yet somehow he couldn't grasp the concept.

Why would she want to marry that guy, yet she couldn't even commit to me? It just doesn't make any sense.

Then something hit him that he hadn't considered before. Was it me? Did I do something wrong?

Tom spent the next hour or so thinking about what he could have done that turned her off of the idea of dating him. Their entire relationship (he dared not even call it that anymore) was up and down, good and bad, hot then cold. Just when he thought everything was going down the drain, Summer would do something sweet again. She would cuddle up next to him and give him a smile, or she'd compliment him on something he'd never heard complimented before.

Then it would happen the other way around. He'd be floating on a cloud, thinking it's too good to be true, when suddenly it is, and she would tell him he has a weird taste in music, or she'd push him away for no reason.

I don't know what I did to her that could have made her act that way. Why was she so nice, then so cold? Tom pondered over the time they spent together and decided to look at things from Summer's point of view.

Sure, he had feelings for her first, but that didn't mean the ball was completely in her court. It was like he asked her to play tennis, but she was playing golf.

He dreamed of having a relationship where each person had the responsibility of give and take to keep it going. Summer, on the other hand, didn't dream of give and take. She didn't even dream of two people falling in love. All she saw was the chance to hang out, take what they each wanted, and then go their separate ways.

Oh my God, Tom sighed. She didn't even want a relationship. That day at the karaoke bar, she told us that she didn't want anything messy. I expected...

He couldn't bring himself to think it, but at that moment, Tom knew exactly what the problem had been. He heard her say she didn't want a boyfriend, but he thought he could convince her otherwise. He wanted her so badly that he didn't even care what she was feeling. He was at that spot, but Summer was not – and she knew it.

This new discovery had Tom curled up on his side, the pain in his stomach forcing him to hold his breath and hug his knees to his chest. Maybe that would stop the hurting. Not the hurting for what she did to him, but the hurting for what he did to her. Now looking back on it all, he was very embarrassed at the way he treated her.

I yelled at her, forcing her to make a decision about where she wanted to stand with me. Why did I need a label? I could have just sat back and enjoyed the ride like she did... I could have gotten off the ride like she did. Instead I went around and around and let it make me nauseous. What is wrong with me?

But no matter how much Tom thought about how he acted around Summer, it always led back to the same question.

Why was she afraid of commitment until she met that guy? Why was it all of a sudden Summer could get married?

The answer stared him in the face, but he refused to believe it. Perhaps she felt for this new man in her life the way Tom felt about her all along. Perhaps she had finally met someone she could love unconditionally. Perhaps she had fallen in love so easily with this man because she knew love wasn't what she had with Tom.

Whatever, I'm glad she's happy. And he was – he was very glad, in fact.

It wasn't fair of me to hold her back like that. It wasn't fair for me to ask so much of her when she clearly stated she didn't want it to begin with.

And now I have Autumn – a wonderful girl who cares for me just as much as I care for her... and that seems fair.