She tossed and turned in her sleep, obviously disturbed by nightmares. If anyone had been watching, they would be able to hear her mumbling seemingly random words. Faint gasps of 'Mason' and 'no, don't leave' escaped her lips as her thrashing became more violent. She awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright with another gasp. She was sweating profusely and breathing raggedly. She reached up to wipe her face with shaky hands. Suddenly, she covered her mouth and made a mad dash for the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before emptying the contents of her stomach. Tears mixed with the sickly green substance as Alex huddled over the porcelain bowl pathetically. Her sobs were repeatedly interrupted by multiple dry heaves, causing her even more pain and discomfort. Eventually, she collapsed to the ground and curled herself into a ball. She no longer felt sick but the tears wouldn't stop coming. She rocked herself back and forth as she sobbed quietly. She knew no one was coming to comfort her.

The minutes turned into hours as Alex lay on the cold, hard floor, unmoving. The crying had stopped long ago and her eyes were a bright, bloodshot red. She felt empty. She felt alone. She felt helpless. It was devastating. She didn't know what to do. She took in a shaky breath and reached out for the toilet, using it as a crutch to help her stand. She let out a yelp of surprise as she fell back onto the floor. Her legs had fallen asleep! She grunted in frustration, trying to work the circulation back into them. After another few minutes, she could properly stand and walk again. She wondered for a moment why she had bothered getting up in the first place. She walked back into her room and looked at the clock.

3:12 AM

She frowned. She felt wide awake and doubted she would be able to get back to sleep anytime soon considering what had just happened. She looked at the door and took a hesitant step towards it. And another. And another. She froze with her hand on the doorknob and shook her head. What was she doing?! She couldn't just wake up Justin at this hour! He had work tomorrow! Well, later today actually… She bit her lip in indecision and slowly turned the knob, stepping quietly into the hall. She closed the door behind her and suddenly everything seemed darker. The door across from her seemed to grow three times its size and loom over her. She swallowed. She cringed as she walked across the squeaky floorboards and reached for his door. It almost seemed like it was moving away from her with each step she took and it felt as though she was walking down an endless hallway. Then her hand connected with the doorknob and everything went back to normal.

The moonlight filtered in through the windows, giving her more than enough light to see by. The door was no longer ominous but just a regular, wooden door. She looked back. She had only taken a few steps. Her own room was right there. She sighed and shook her head with a small, disbelieving smile. What reason did she have to act like a scared little child?

Maybe because that's how everyone sees you.

She ignored that thought, pushing it away angrily and opening Justin's door abruptly. She barely stopped it from hitting the wall, once again freezing in her tracks, afraid she had woken him. Not that it would have mattered because she would be doing that anyway…but she sighed in relief when she heard him continue to snore, blissfully unaware. She smiled slightly at how dorky he was, even in his sleep, and gently closed the door behind her. She walked over to his bed and just stared down at him for a minute. He looked so peaceful. Should she really be doing this? She blushed when she suddenly realized how creepy this looked and quickly reached out to shake him awake.

"Hey, Justin." She said quietly.

He mumbled in his sleep and rolled away from her. She giggled lightly and tried again, pushing him with both hands.

"Five more minutes, Mom…" He complained, pulling the blankets over his head.

Alex laughed more loudly and shook him violently.

"Hey dork, wake up!"

He sat upright with a surprised yelp, nearly hitting his forehead against hers. Fortunately, she had the reflexes necessary to avoid that.

"Alex?" He asked tiredly and clearly confused. "What are you doing up at-"

He glanced at the clock and groaned, sinking back into his bed and covering his face with a pillow.

"Really, Alex?! Three in the morning?!"

She shrugged unapologetically.

"I needed to talk to you."

He sighed and removed the pillow from his face, sitting up once again and giving her a curious look.

"Well, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

She suddenly felt very self-conscious, shuffling her feet nervously and avoiding eye contact. What was wrong with her?!

"Well?" Justin said, crossing his arms.

She blinked and sighed, taking a deep breath.

"I'm ready to talk about why I'm here."

Justin's demeanor softened in understanding as she sat on the edge of the bed, listening intently as she began her explanation.

"A little over a month ago, I introduced you to my then boyfriend, Mason." She started.

Justin nodded as a way of telling her he remembered.

"Everything went well for a few weeks after that first meeting. But I slowly started to realize something. I might be stupid, Justin, but I'm not that stupid. I could tell you and Mason hated each other. What I didn't understand was why."

Justin had the decency to look apologetic and rub the back of his head sheepishly. Alex just shook her head and chuckled. She couldn't be mad at him for very long.

"So, I was determined to find out. I knew you wouldn't tell me so my only option was to ask Mason. He was…less than pleased. It was made even worse that I kept asking, over and over. 'Why are you so obsessed about this?' he would say. 'Because I know what I see! I'm not blind! Why can't you two just get along?' I would always retort. And we just went around and around, like a broken record. It was bad. Anyway, one day it was the last straw. I was going to get to the bottom of this no matter what. So I planned to ask him after our dinner at my favorite restaurant…imagine my surprise when he asked about you first."

She paused and shook her head at herself, chuckling ruefully.

"I should have known something was up…but I was so happy that he was finally talking about it that I completely forgot what I had come there to do. He asked a few questions about you, how we knew each other, why we were friends, etc. etc. But apparently he didn't like my response. Right after I told him about our dating arrangement in high school- you know, where everyone assumed we were a couple?- he got really angry and he almost seemed jealous. I was about to tell him he had nothing to worry about, that we were just friends but-"

She stopped suddenly, the lump forming in her throat rendering her unable to speak. The tears started flowing again and she instinctively leaned into Justin. He opened his arms without question and simply held her as she cried. Unlike last time, however, she continued to speak.

"He wasn't having any of it. He said 'The worst part is I almost thought I was in love with you' and then he left! Justin, that hurt more than anything I could ever imagine." She sobbed.

Justin rocked back and forth, whispering sweet nothings such as 'it's okay' and 'shh' into her ear until she calmed down. He didn't know if it was working but after a few minutes she seemed calm again, or at the very least she had stopped crying. He never knew Alex as one that would cry or express her emotions like this. She always played the tough girl, the brick wall, someone that never broke down. Everything he was seeing right now was evidence to the contrary. He had never realized how fragile she really was. Maybe it was because of Mason and the heartbreak, maybe she had always been this way. He didn't know. All he did know was that he was going to be there for her, no matter what.

"Can I stay with you tonight?"

Her request shocked him out of his own head and he stared down at her, surprised at the sheer despair in her voice.

"I don't think I can handle being in that room alone. Please…"

He hesitated for only a moment before nodding and muttering his agreement. She sighed and her whole body instantly relaxed. He smiled as all the tension seemed to simply just disappear from her muscles. He hardly noticed as she snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his midsection and burying her head against his chest. He smiled again and pulled the blankets over both of them, wrapping one of his own arms around her waist. She sighed in contentment- although she would later claim it was because she was really tired- and let out a humongous yawn.

"Goodnight Justin." She barely got out the words before she drifted blissfully off into dreamland.

Justin looked down at her for a moment, wondering why Mason would walk out on someone as beautiful, caring, smart, funny… he shook his head, clearing it of those thoughts. No! He didn't think of Alex as a romantic possibility! They were just friends! Best friends. That was his excuse and he was sticking to it. However, he realized as he leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the top of her head, that it felt strangely…right…to hold her like this. He ignored that thought as well, letting out a yawn of his own. He stretched his arm as far as it could go and managed to turn off the light. Alex let out an almost needy whine as her source of warmth moved and she shimmied closer. Justin chuckled tiredly and squeezed lightly, letting her know he wasn't going anywhere. It seemed to work because Alex sighed (again) and fell still and silent. Justin, too, slowly slipped into dreamland. The last thought he had before drifting into unconsciousness was:

How is Alex going to react to this in the morning?