This is a canon divergence taking place during/after the episode of 'Young and Coachella', in which is is rewritten that Gabi chooses Jake over Josh. This is a oneshot for now, but may become a multi-chapter fic if enough people are interest.

This will not include Josh/Gabi, and is fairly critical of them. You've been warned.

"I-I'm sorry Josh... It is too late. I chose Jake."

Those words that had come from Gabi's beautiful mouth were stuck in Josh's head. No matter what he did to get them out, he couldn't. In reality, he could understand why she would chose Jake. The two of them, Jake and Gabi, had far less problems than Josh and her. They were somehow more stable, despite the fact his brother had always been the least stable person in the entire world...

Well, to Josh anyway...

Either way, it hurt. Oh wow, it hurt like all hell.

"Come on, let's just, go back home...to your beautiful penthouse." Sofia said as she walked slowly beside him, "...maybe order some chili cheese fries from that place..."

"Eddies?" Josh blinked, his eyes flickering over to the short woman beside him.

"Yes, Eddies." she smiled softly at him, though her eyes were also sad. They were both in fairly shitty situations.

Josh nodded a bit, and continued walking beside her to the car. Part of him wanted to look back, and the other part of him wanted to run back. Get down on his knees and beg Gabi with his entire heart.

Before his mind could rationalize, he did a full turn on his heel to walk back to the food truck half a mile back.

"Woah, hey there big boy!" Sofia said quickly grabbing his arm at his elbow and whipping herself in front of him, "Where do you think you're going?"

"To beg Gabi to be with me." Josh said in a huff, his eyes filled with that fimilar desperate look.

Sofia sighed, letting go of his arm, and stepped out of his way, shaking her head as she stood behind him looking at the broad back of his shoulders as he took a step forward.

"You're pathetic." She told him a breathless cold monotone.

Josh stopped in tracks and turned around to face her.

"Excuse me?" He questioned her.

"You're pathetic. Gabi has repeatedly chose something, or someone over you, and yet you still...you still chase after her." Sofia said wrinkles forming on her forehead.

"I love her, Sofia. That's why, maybe you just can't see what actual love is; but, I can see why you'd be on her side. You're her best friend after all." Josh laughed breathlessly, lifting his arms and giving her a frustrated look.

Sofia shook her head again, taking a deep breath, "I'm your friend too, Josh. Honestly, I'm saying this because I'm on your side." she stepped closer to him, "Maybe I'm saying this because, I know how to feels to chose someone else over your own sanity, over your own mental...emotional health. I know what it's like to feel so crazy about someone what you would literally do anything for them; but, Josh...Gabi made her choice. Loving her is not more important than loving yourself."

It was silent for a few moments as Josh looked at her, then looked away from her, unable to look into her eyes, and convince himself she was just wrong and didn't understand how he felt. No words seemed to want to form in his head, and his urge to crawl back to the food truck was fading. So, he simply started to walk forwards, and when Sofia realized he was walking to the car, she followed him - straying several feet behind him.

Twenty minutes later, they were in the car, driving down one of the dark roads back to Josh's place. The windows were rolled down, tossing Sofia's hair around, sounding in both their ears louder than the song on the radio.

"Can you close the windows." Sofia asked, but her voice was drowned out. She reached over and hit Josh gently on his arm.

He looked over at her as if to ask 'What now?'

"The windows!" she asked loudly, and he blinked, and his mouth formed an O for a second.

Josh rolled the windows up, seeing the goose bumps on Sofia's arms. He reached into the back seat where she tossed her jacket earlier, and handing it to her with his eyes still on the road.

"Thank you." she said queitly, pulling her jacket on.

After several more minutes of silence, Sofia turned slightly in her seat, and looked over at Josh through the dimness. She reached over to turn the radio down, and pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry I called you pathetic." Sofia said slowly, with a slightly ashamed look on her face.

Josh let his gaze slip over to her for just a moment before speaking, "Maybe I am."

"No...You're not..." she frowned, "I get it, you care about her."

"I do; but, you were right." Josh told her, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, "It's time for me to move on. I've put women and relationships ahead of myself my entire life. For the longest time I couldn't even breath without being afraid Caroline would dump me, then I fell so hard for Gabi, and...couldn't really make up my mind, then when I did, it was like everything was pointing towards...don't."

Sofia frowned softly, but nodding in understanding, watching as Josh moved his right hand onto the rest inbetween the seats.

"It's not that love, isn't important; but, you were right, I chose such toxicity..." he sighed, and tapped his fingers on the armrest, "I need to chose myself."

"I think a lot of us need to chose ourselves." Sofia chuckled weakly, "I jumped right back into Rubens arms without a thought... He was gone quicker than he arrived."

Josh looked over when he heard a slight sniffle, and saw Sofia wiping tears from her cheeks. He'd never seen her cry before. Though, he had never been there for her through very much. They were friends, but, they weren't nearly as good of friends as they could be.

"Hey..." he said quickly, pulling a tissue out of seemingly nowhere and handing it to her.

"W-We'll both be okay." Sofia said taking a deep breath, "We're strong as fuck."

Josh chuckled lightly.

"We're strong as fuck, hot as fuck...you're smart as fuck." she added before blowing her nose in the tissue.

"You're smart as fuck too Sofia." Josh told her, looking at her with sincerity.

Sofia shoved the tissue in her jacket pocket, and looked over at Josh. His eyes held pain, but they also held comfort. The same comfort that her eyes held for him. It was almost insane that they weren't as good of friends after an entire year. Josh had been so focused on Caroline, then Gabi. Sofia had been so focused on mainly Josh and Gabi, along with her own struggles to get a job at one point... They had never actually gotten together to get to know each other on a level that wasn't just about Gabi.

"You know, I'll always be here for you. I mean...I think you're insane most of the time, but...lil so-so's got ya back." Sofia smiled softly at Josh, reaching a hand over and placing her hand over his hand on the arm rest.

His eyes shifted over to hers again, and he nodded with a small smile, flipping his hand to hold hers, squeezing it softly.

"Kick-Ass Kaminski's got your back too."