I hope you all enjoy. Disclaimer: I only own Tracey and David.

Alex's POV

"Hey man, where's your head today?" Adam asked after I messed up yet another lyric during our recording session. I looked over and shrugged. I knew the reason my head wasn't in the music today, but I didn't need everyone else knowing my business.

"Sorry, just have a lot on my mind." He took the partial truth and turned back to the board. "I'm just gonna take a quick break." I said walking out of the basement studio and up the stairs to the kitchen. I sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out my cell phone. I noticed I had a new text message waiting for me.

'Do you know how much I HATE formal brunches?' I smiled when I read the message from Tracey.

'I've heard that before. If you hate them so much quit going.' I waited for minute before I got her reply.

'U know I would, but David likes them and he won't go by himself.' Of course he couldn't go by himself…that just wouldn't suit his image of loving fiancée. My mind went back to the conversation with my sister. Maybe she was right.

'Can we hang out 2nite?' I decided to give it a try. The reply was much quicker than the last one.

'Yea, can u come over here around 3?'

'Awesome! C u then!' I waited a few minutes, but got no response back. I went down to the studio and finished the song in plenty of time to make it over to Tracey's house by 3. I didn't want to miss a minute of the time we could hang out and talk.

Tracey's POV

I was excited for Alex to come over. We talked almost every day, but only saw each other once every week and sometimes only once every 2 weeks.

To say I wasn't still in love with Alex would be a complete lie, but he had made it clear that we could only be friends. Now that I was with David, I tried to push the feelings away, but I knew they would never be completely gone. He was my first love, even if he didn't reciprocate that feeling. I heard the doorbell and ran to the door. As soon as I opened it I was pulled into a hug.

"Alex!" I said hugging him back. "It's been a while."

"Yea sorry, I've been pretty busy lately." I pushed away just enough to see his eyes.

"You are a liar. Who is she?" I could always tell when Alex was lying. He wasn't busy, well as busy as he tried making me believe anyway, which could only mean that there was a girl in his life that was taking up his time. It's not like I could be jealous or anything, I had my own fiancée to worry about.

"There isn't another girl in my life. I promise." He wasn't lying. Now I was confused.

"Then why are you avoiding me? We haven't seen each other in 2 weeks and have only talked maybe 3 times."

"I'm not avoiding you Trace."

"Bullshit Alex!" The look of surprise on his face caught me off guard.

"Where'd that come from? You haven't called me out like that for almost a year."

"I'm so sorry Alex. I didn't mean to say that. I'm really sorry." I took a step back. "Excuse me." I said as I ran up the stairs.

Alex's POV

It was one of the strangest things I had witnessed in a long time. I had never seen that much fear in Tracey's eyes before. I had also never seen her back away from me. She hadn't done anything wrong. What was she so afraid of?

I followed her up the stairs to the small room she used for her drawing. I knocked lightly on the partially opened door.

"Come in." I heard the small, soft voice coming from the couch inside the room. I walked in and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry Alex." I could feel her tense up as I moved my arm around her shoulder. There it was again, the feeling that something strange was happening between us.

"You have nothing to apologize for Tracey. You said what you needed to say. The truth is I have been avoiding you, but not because of a girlfriend or you." I felt her relax a little as I squeezed her shoulder gently. "I just can't stand your boyfriend."

"Fiancée…" she whispered the word. I looked around the room quickly. I needed to change the subject before I said something that I would regret later.

"What are you working on for the application? Can I see it?"

"No," I looked at her as soon as the word left her mouth. There wasn't much emotion in her voice. I couldn't even tell what she was feeling. This was not the same bold and truthful girl I had known for the past 15 years.

"Did you already send it in?"

"I'm not sending it in. I'm not going to apply for anymore illustrator positions. I'm done."

"What? Why?" I was shocked. Tracey had wanted to be an illustrator for years. And she was amazing. I had always considered myself a pretty good artist and she was 10 times better than I was.

"I'm done." I could tell she was fighting tears, but she continued anyway. "Drawing will never be more than a dream job…more dream than anything. I'm not any good."

"Where is this coming from?" It was hard to believe I was hearing those words coming from her mouth. The last time I had talked to her she was so excited for the opportunity to get her art out there. What had changed? "Where is the drawing for the application?"

"It was awful so I threw it away." Her voice was broken. Before either of us could say anything else we heard a car door slam. "You need to leave." She got up and walked out of the room. I looked at the garbage to see the balled up paper still sitting on the floor. I started smoothing it out when David charged into the room. I quickly folded the paper before shoving it in my back pocket.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He yelled loud enough to wake a sleeping giant. I saw Tracey flinch slightly behind him.

"Tracey said I could borrow some oils. I was just going to grab them and leave, but I can't find them." David grabbed something off the stool next to him and threw it at me. "These are charcoals, I can't use them." I said setting them on the table.

"Get him the damn oils he needs so he can get the hell out!" He said turning towards Tracey.

"You don't need…"

"It's fine Alex. I can get them for you." I tried to hide the shock I felt, but I wasn't sure if I did. I wasn't going to say anything about her having to get the oils for me. I actually knew where they were. I was going to tell David that he couldn't talk to her that way. She grabbed he oils and handed them to me.

"Thanks." I said leaning closer for a hug. But she backed away and walked back behind David.

"You got what you came for now get the hell out." If Tracey's eyes hadn't looked so nervous I would have punched the ass out. Instead I walked past giving Tracey a small smile.

I let myself out, but a part of me wanted to run back up the stairs and carry Tracey away from the jerk she called her fiancée. I drove away feeling like a horrible friend. I should have said something more to David, but I just couldn't get over the look of fear in Tracey's eyes.

When I got home I took out the picture and studied it. It was amazing…beyond amazing really. I wasn't sure what Tracey had been talking about. This was one of, if not the best drawings she had ever done. I grabbed my phone and found her name.

'Thanks for the oils. I'll get them back to you as soon as I can. I also think you should send in the drawing. It's amazing!' I hit the send button and waited for the reply. 5 minutes passed by and I didn't get any response. I thought about sending another message or even calling when my front door opened. A part of me hoped it was Tracey. I got up just in time to see Chris walking in.

"Hey Chris," I said sitting back down.

"Hey, how's Tracey?" I shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I'm actually pretty confused."

"Why?"

"She asked why I was avoiding her. I lied and said I wasn't. Then she said I and quote 'Bullshit Alex!' with a don't lie-to-me tone. And I was impressed. She hadn't talked to me like that for a while. You know as well as I do that she never took crap from anyone and always said what was on her mind."

"That's true. Remember that day she told us one of our moves wouldn't work or even look right, but we tried it anyway?" I laughed as the memory came flooding back.

"Yea, she laughed so hard when you fell on your face. And then told us we were dumbasses for even trying the move."

"Obviously we should have listened."

"Yea," I paused remembering how the girl we were talking about was not the same one I had just talked to. "After I asked about her calling me out she freaked and started apologizing. She even backed away like I was going to hit her or something."

"Seriously?" I nodded not quite sure what else to say. "Did you ask her about it?"

"No, she wasn't comfortable talking about it. Maybe I'll bring it up a different day." I paused and pointed to the picture. "What do you think?"

"Wow! That is amazing Alex. When did you…"

"It wasn't me. Tracey was drawing it to send in with an application."

"Why was?"

"She told me it was horrible and she's not going to persue her dream anymore." Chris was as shocked as I was. "I am thinking of just sending it in for her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea," I paused to take a breath. I needed the words to come out exactly right. "She sounded so broken…almost like she was having a hard time believing anything she was saying."

"Talk to her about it again. Maybe she really has changed her mind."

"You're right. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"Good…" he paused. "You wanna play some MarioKart?" I smiled as Chris handed me a controller.