Spoilers: None, all speculation.

A/N: I don't especially like James, but when Zoey picks Chase over him (c'mon, we all know she will), he's probably going to be pretty upset that he lost his girlfriend to a guy he doesn't even know.

XXX

Where is she? She's late. Sure, I can never be late, but she can be late whenever she pleases. How fair is-

There she is!

"Hey beautiful," I say as my girlfriend approaches. I had been waiting outside the science building for over twenty minutes, holding two iced coffees that were rapidly becoming warm coffees. I was being the loving and dutiful boyfriend, waiting outside for her to finish her anatomy exam. I had only one more, tomorrow morning, and then the day after it would be summer vacation. As much as I'd enjoyed PCA this semester, I couldn't wait to see my family and friends back home again. And to show my girl around my hometown-

"Hey."

She looks preoccupied, a little nervous, her eyes not meeting mine, her smile not as bright as usual. I figure she's still in test-mode and lean down for a peck. At the last minute she turns her head so I barely get her cheek.

I pull back and scrutinize her, then shrug it off and hand her the coffee. "Sorry it's warm – I thought we were meeting earlier."

"It's fine," she says distractedly, staring at the coffee. It's then that I notice she hadn't come from the science building – she'd come from the exact opposite direction.

"So did your exam get out early or something?"

"Uh, yeah – we all finished early, so Mrs. Palo let us go and then I headed back to my room to drop my books and then I… well, I guess I lost track of time."

Suddenly she has her guilty face on. I don't like the looks of it, but I don't press it.

We begin walking, to where I don't know, but soon we find some space on the lawn, far enough from the kids with the Frisbee that we won't get hit. We sit in silence and she looks out at the water.

I reach out for her hand. She jumps a little when I lace our fingers, then smiles, but it is tinged with sadness.

"Zoey, what's going on?"

She sighs, glances back out at the ocean. Won't meet my gaze.

"Hey, c'mon. We've been together four months. I think by now I know when something is bothering you."

"Four months," she repeats.

"Yup," I say with a grin, but her responding smile is dim and now I know something is up.

She steels herself with another deep breath, and then turns to me, taking my other hand. "Listen, James…"

My stomach drops. "Uh oh. Those words are never the beginning of something good."

Zoey smiles a little at that, almost as if she can't help it, but then she becomes serious again. I can tell she's pained. "James, I… This is hard for me to say to you, but… It isn't fair to you-"

"Zoey, please just tell me what is going on."

"I've had a great time with you since you came to PCA. You've been the best boyfriend a girl could ask for…"

I frown. Crap. "But?"

"The reason I was late… When I went back to my room to drop off my stuff, I ran into Michael and Logan. And Chase."

"Chase? As in, Chase Matthews, the guy I replaced?"

"You didn't re- well, I mean… yes. Chase. He didn't tell anyone he was coming. He wanted it to be a surprise."

"I thought he was at some boarding school in England."

Zoey sighs. "He was. Their break started a few days ago. Look, I never told you why he left PCA."

I drop her hand and cross my arms over my knees defensively. "I thought it was because he wanted to go there."

"Well, that's part of it. But… the reason he wanted to go there… Was because I was going there."

"You went to a boarding school in England?" This is certainly news to me. No one has ever really told me what had gone on before I'd gotten to PCA.

"For like a week, after my parents moved there."

"Then why did Chase follow you there?" I was liking this story less and less.

"Because… because Chase was in love with me, and he wanted to be with me."

My eyes widen. "What? Who does that?"

"Chase does," Zoey replies, and for a moment I think I detect affection in her voice.

Okay, I'm getting kind of pissed.

"So your parents move to England, you go to a British boarding school for like a week, Chase transfers there because he wants to be with you, and then you transfer back to PCA? Why? Because you didn't want to be with him?" Please say yes, please say yes.

She's frowning, big-time. I almost feel bad for her. Except I don't. "No. I came back to PCA because… look, it's all really complicated. I just want to be honest with you."

"If you want to be honest with me, un-complicate it." I try to sound as gentle as possible. It's pretty difficult.

Her eyes are a little watery. I'm not sure how it makes me feel.

"It was my second day in England. Quinn set up this webcam thing so we all could talk while I was gone. Well… Logan and Michael cornered Chase in their room, and the webcam was on, and I heard Chase say he was in love with me. That he'd been in love with me since we'd met. And I… I was shocked."

She was looking out at the water again. I just stare at her. Why is she telling me this after all this time?

"And I knew I had to go back to PCA."

"Because you were in love with him too," I interrupt, my voice as neutral as possible. It's sort of unnerving to hear your own girlfriend talk about another guy being in love with her.

"No. Well, maybe… that was why I came back. I wanted to… to find out. But when I got back, Chase wasn't here, and they told me… he'd transferred to London."

I'm quiet for a while. She doesn't say anything else so I wonder if she is done. What else has she withheld from me?

"So what happened?" I ask. I have to know.

She seems less guilt-ridden, which is good for her, I guess, but not so good for me. "We talked on the webcam. We decided to… to see how things went. That we'd put us on hold. That we could see other people." At that she glances at me, as if that's supposed to make me feel better about all of this.

"So have you two spoken since then? Before today, obviously." That last part I say sarcastically; I can't help it.

Guilt-face again. "Once."

"Do you love him?"

She looks surprised that I actually have the guts to ask the question we've both been thinking. I'm not going to waste my time beating around the bush – I want this whole thing out in the open. Now.

"I… I don't know how to answer that. Chase is my best friend."

"Best friend? How can he be your best friend when you haven't spoken in months? How can he be your best friend, and you can't even tell me that? How can he be your best friend when you never talk about him?" I shake my head.

"I don't know. He just is," she says, a little offended that I'm bringing up all these points she obviously didn't think I would.

"It's probably because he isn't just your best friend."

"James-"

"No, Zoey. Don't lie to me anymore."

She has no response, which I guess I understand. She isn't used to people standing up to her and calling her out on her crap like this.

"So why did you go out with me in the first place? To get over Chase? Or maybe just for kicks."

She's getting defensive. "No, James. That isn't it at all. I went out with you in the first place because I liked you."

"Oh. Okay."

It's awkward. Really, really awkward. The kids with the Frisbee noticed our progressing argument and are stealing looks our way, trying to eavesdrop.

"I'm sorry," she finally says.

Now I'm the one who can't make eye contact. I kind of ignore her apology. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty bummed right now.

"He's coming back to PCA next year. He's transferring back in; that's why he's here." Her words are cold. She's pissed at me, why? Who knows.

"Well then let me save you the breath. We should break up." I can hear four months going down the drain as I say it. I can be just as cold as her, though.

I stand. She stands. The Frisbee kids pretend they weren't listening.

"That's why you told me all this in the first place, right? To give an explanation before you broke up with me," I say.

She doesn't respond because it's true and we both know it.

I stick my hands in my pockets. "Well, I had fun these last few months, Zoey. Thanks for… welcoming me to PCA, I guess."

She's on the verge of tears again. Girls. "I didn't want it to end this way. I am sorry, James. It's just… with Chase coming back… I feel like he and I need to at least try-"

"You don't need to explain it to me, Zoey, I'm a big boy." I smile in an ironic, bitter, just-broke-up-with-my-girlfriend sort of way. "How can I get in the middle of your epic love story with Chase?"

There are the tears. I feel a little choked up myself, but I try to hide it.

"Can we at least be friends, James?"

I sigh, shade my eyes, look around a little. "Not for a while. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to stomach seeing you and Chase together when you were my girlfriend for the past four months." I imagine punching the goofy, bushy-haired guy I see in all of my new friends' pictures in the face when I meet him. "Guess it's a good thing summer vacation is in a few days."

"Yeah."

That's all she can say.

There's nothing else to do now except walk away. So I turn, and she turns, and we go in our separate directions. I'm sure after she goes back to her room and cries over me a little with Lola and Quinn, she'll head over to my room to see my roommates and the guy I replaced. Though I guess I never really replaced him after all.

After all, how can I compete with history?

XXX

End.