The next morning the sun woke me up. I got my robe and pink fuzzy slippers and walked downstairs. As I passed by the clock it read 8:40.' Why do I keep waking up so early? It figures, I didn't do it in high school…why now?' As I entered the kitchen I found that I was not the only one awake. Phoebe sat at the table, blue coffee mug in hand, reading the newspaper. When she heard me I smiled and got my own cup of coffee before joining her. "Phoebe, was last night a dream?"

She looked back at the newspaper, pretending to be interested in some article. I pulled the paper away from her.

"No, it wasn't." She said and I felt sick to my stomach. The one time I was hoping it was all in my head and it wasn't. I looked towards my forlorn best friend and said "I'm really sorry Pheebs. I never should have said those things to you." She put her had up. "You didn't do anything. Stop overreacting about me." I took a deep breath and replied with tears in my eyes "I think it's time I went home."

Phoebe grabbed the newspaper and playfully slapped my arm with it. "Oh shut up, you're staying." I gave her an 'are you kidding me?'look. " Pheebs I totally embarrassed myself last night and admitted that I was completely broken without him. It was all a game, the whole entire thing."

Her cell rang and she looked at the caller ID, then she smiled. "I have surprise for you." She ignored the call, grabbed my arm and rushed me towards the door.

I saw a 1952 baby blue mustang parked in front of her house. My cousin and four friends scrambled out of the car as fast as they could hugging me and asking if I was alright.

Then they attacked Phoebe with hugs. Suddenly, a green pickup truck parked behind the mustang. Two guys exited the truck. Mandy said nonchalantly. "Oh…there with us..." Then she looked at Phoebe. "Is that cool?" Phoebe shrugged as she invited them into the kitchen.

She showed the group into the kitchen, snagging a few chairs from the living room. I sat between my cousin Veronica and Phoebe. Mandy introduced the dark brown haired man sitting next to her, Steve. He was wearing a dark red tee shirt and denim jeans. She met him at a club two nights ago and they have been dating ever since…which is about two days. They seemed to have developed what I like to call the… [I can't keep my hands off you, want to be with you all the time] part in the relationship or whatever it was. Looking across the table it seems like cupid has struck again. Sitting next to Steve was a twenty something year old guy named Andrew. He was with Steve when he met Tina. I guess the guys are best friends who went to a club and met both girls. They all seemed so happy.

I sighed, got up and walked toward the refrigerator. I turned towards my friends. "Anyone hungry?" They all nodded and replied in unison "Yes!"

I smiled and put my hands on my hips. "Any requests?"

Veronica spoke up first. "Scrambled eggs with cheese."

"Can you make French toast?" Mandy asked.

"Pancakes for me." Sam said and the other boys said "Me too."

I searched the cabinets and raided the fridge again. "With blueberries or chocolate chips?"

They all smiled "Chocolate chips."

Tina and Lucy made themselves bowls of cereal and joined the others at the table.

I served the French toast and eggs first before making the pancake mix. Pulling the flour and milk and eggs out of the fridge I started to mix the ingredients together.

"One of the best things about Gertie's pancakes are they are home made. Not from a box." Sam said as I added the chocolate chips and the others were talking about what happened over the past couple of days in Hillwood. Apparently Phoebe had explained everything before they left home.

I was right about to serve the last pancake when I heard Gerald's voice in the hall. " Honey, are you in here? Do you know someone who owns a mustang and a pickup truck?" When he walked into the kitchen and saw the group of people eating at the table he nodded. "Hi, were friends of Gertie's." Sam said with a mouthful of pancakes pointing the fork towards me.

Gerald looked at me " Gerald these are my friends from back home." As I pointed to each friend they nodded in recognition. " Tina, Mandy, Lucy, and you met Sammy." He nodded to the others and I shrugged. " Friends of Tina and Mandy. Oh and you remember my cousin Veronica." I nodded towards my cousin and she smiled.

He looked at Phoebe shoving a piece of pancake in her mouth. Once she realized him staring, she giggled. " Do you want one?" I asked. He gave a quick nod" Can I have two?"

" Sure."

Andrew and Steve jumped up and motioned for Gerald to take their seat. " We gotta get going. Thank you for breakfast. And it was very nice to meet all of you." With that they began walking toward the door. Mandy and Tina jumped up and said " Wait!" They both walked over to me and gave me hugs. " It was really good seeing you hun but…" They had a matching pair of goofy grins. "We gotta get going too."

We said our goodbyes and they left. Everyone else left soon after and I promised to call about any other 'upcoming details.' Two hours, ten dishes and three bowls of pancake mix later… there was a knock at the door. I didn't hear it because I was washing dishes. I heard a lot of yelling and after drying my hands I swiftly ran to the door. Glancing outside I saw Gerald talking to him. No not him…them.

Checking the side walk Mike's car was in front of the house. Damn. Quickly tiptoeing to the stairs, I was spotted immediately. "Gertie honey, where are you going?" I was going to ignore it and go upstairs. I sighed 'fuck it.' I threw the robe to the ground and kicked off the slippers. That's when but then realized that I'm wearing the same shorts and tee from last night. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a small smirk from Pheebs. I turned on my heels and walked outside, tousling my hair before I reached the stoop.

Mike, Gerald and Arnold stopped arguing and paused to stare at me. Arnold and Mike looked me up and down like a piece of meat. Gerald stood in front of them, like he was trying to protect me.

After shooing Gerald back inside I turned towards both of them, flowers in both hands. Mike handed me a dozen pink calla lilies. It was the same type of flower he gave me on our first date.

Arnold handed me a dozen light pink roses with white tips. They were much prettier than Mike's and it looked almost the same color as the bow use to have. ' Again with you and the old sentimental thoughts. He's changed don't forget it.'

Then I looked up, into Arnold's eyes and he looked into mine. It was like there were no words that needed to be said, and I fell all over again. 'Damn it!'

Mike cleared his throat which broke the trance.

"Well…" He asked "Can we come in?"

I felt like I lost my voice. I couldn't even whisper so I looked at him, nodding and stepping aside to let both guys in. Phoebe gave a dirty look as they both sat down in the living room. Mike turned to face her smiling as he said "Hello Phoebe, how have you been?"

She didn't say a word just acknowledged the question and turned her head towards me. Gerald walked in carrying five soda's. He handed them out one by one. As nice as the thought was I really didn't feel like soda so I put mine on the table next to me. All three guys opened the cans, sat back and sighed in unison. 'Weird.'

"So Mike." Pheebs started to say. " What exactly brings you here?"

He took a swig of soda and said " My buttercup." then gave me the smile that I fell in love with. It felt different than it had before. Pain more than anything.

I stood up and pointed my finger at him. " I am NOT you're buttercup anymore."

He stood up " Listen, love why don't we go back home and work this out?"

I put my hands on my hips and yelled " ARE YOU KIDDING ME NOW?"

He shrugged looking confused " What are you talking about?"

I turned from him, trying to keep my cool and not completely freak out on him.

Taking a deep breath I said "First you dump me because you don't trust me. Then I find out that you slept with what's her name while we were dating. You think I'm going to take you back? You've gotta be kidding me Mike. What kind of drugs are you on anyways?"

He looked taken aback. " You know she didn't mean anything to me Helga. It's always been you."

" Bullshit!" I screamed at him. " You knew exactly what you were doing! You knew I hated her and I didn't trust her. The whole time when you yes'd me you were screwing her."

He walked towards me " You know I never meant it. I never wanted to hurt you."

I pushed him away and said " Yes you did. You just didn't want to get caught." He took another step forward so that he was inches from my face.

" Gertie…I'm sorry honey. I love you." He said cupping my cheek with his hand, which I slapped away immediately. "Don't you dare touch me, you pig."

He put his hands on my hips " Honey, we can work this out." I pushed him again " I told you not to touch me!" He walked up close to me again, when I was shoved against the couch. I heard a very angry, deep voice. "She told you not to touch her." I saw Arnold inches away from Mike. He was clenching his fists so tight they started turning white.

"It's none of your business man" Mike said.

Arnold yelled. "I'm making it my business!"

I ran up and tried to break the two apart. "Guys...stop it." They ignored me and were staring eye to eye.

"Why's that, what makes you so goddamn special?" Mike asked.

"Nothing, she doesn't want to be with you so why don't you just leave."

"Are you going to make me?" Mike asked and laughed

Arnold scowled and said "Yeah. You got a problem with th-"

I finally pushed them apart and grabbed both boys left ears in my two hands. I dragged both of them out to the front stoop. The walk from the living room to the stoop wasn't too far but it was filled with apologizes, moaning and wailing.

I let go and they both rubbed their ears. Mike was about to say something but I stopped him. "Both of you are acting like children. No rough housing in the house." I said with my hands on my hips and turned to Mike. "I'm not going to take you back. Not now or ever. Please move on and forget me."

He shook his head. "I can't… I love you." I shrugged.

" I'm sorry. You will love again one day but just not with me." I reached my hand out. " Mikey, good luck with everything and good bye."

He stood for a few minutes, ignoring my hand, trying to let it all sink in. He headed back to his car and left without turning back once.

I knew that, that was the last time I would ever see Mike. I felt a hand on my back. I turned to look up at green eyes. "You ok?" He asked. Nodding I replied. "You know what? I think so."

His hand was comforting at first but as we continued to stare into each other's eyes it felt like something else. I felt his fingers go from mid back down to my tailbone and back up. A shiver shot through my body. I did everything I could to muster up the energy to keep composed. As his fingers continued to stroke up and down my back, it was hard to breathe.

After taking a deep breath I whispered. " Thank you."

"Anything for a damsel in distress" He smiled and winked.I could feel my heart beat faster and I felt his palms get damp from sweat and he was slowly lean in towards me. I pulled away.

I didn't want to but I knew on so many levels it wasn't right. I live five hours away, he have both changed so much and don't really know each other. But one of the major things about it was he was in a relationship. It feels too shitting to be with someone knowing they have someone else.

He gave me a hurt and confused look. I took both his hands in mine as we walked back into the house.

Phoebe and Gerald couldn't pretend like they weren't watching everything going on outside. They can't act that well. They were both on the couch pretending to read, attempting to hide the smirks behind the pages.

The phone rang and Pheebs immediately answered. " Hi Patty." She said smiling. " Caller ID….Oh, that's too bad…it's alright, no worries… we can do it some other time. Bye hun." After hanging up she looks at me. "Patty's not coming over today. Something came up."

"So, what should we do now?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Pheebs replied. I shrugged. "I mean our plans for tonight. What do you guys feel like doing?" Pheebs looked at everyone for some type of response before saying. "Maybe we should have a quiet night in?"

I laughed "Phoebe, it' only half past two."

"That's true." She replied.

"I'm hungry..." Arnold stated and Gerald joined in " Yeah, me too. Wanna get pizza?"

"Or we can go to the beach."Arnold asked.

"Or go bowling" Gerald replied.

"Or w-" Phoebe was about to suggest something when we heard a loud rock song. Arnold pulled his phone out of his denim jeans. His face turned sour as he looked at the caller ID.

"I'll be right back." He said before walking into the other room. After he left Phoebe and Gerald were still thinking of things to do. Being the nosy person that I am, I made the attempt to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"You're home?" He asked. "Yeah…I know…I'm busy today…hanging out with friends…Gerald and Phoebe…yes she's here too."

There was a lot of screaming on the other line, so loud I could hear it . Lila. Arnold put the phone away from his ear until the noise level was lower.

"What do you mean you think I'm cheating on you?...yeah that did happen…yeah that did too…but what about Stephen, Jeffrey, Billy, David, Alex, John and I don't know how many others? And I know something happened between you and Sid."

There was more screaming on the line. He sighed. "Look, we were together all through grade school and it was great. But let's be honest with each other. Was it just because of our popularity status? If you love someone you don't hurt them and we have more times than I can count…I've seen what it can do…it doesn't matter if we both do it…I've realized something over the past couple days. I don't talk with my friends anymore, just you. Gerald and I hardly spoke throughout high school. That never should have happened. I never should have gotten sucked into it being all about you…it has nothing to do with her…but I hardly know her…how could you think that?...It's totally off the point.."

He sighed again and leaned against the railing. "I just can't be with you anymore. The summer has just started and I think we should make a clean break before fall." There was more screaming on the phone and he held it out again till it stopped. "Don't worry, knowing you, you'll bounce back in a day or so…whatever." He said sarcastically before hanging up.

I turned all of my attention to the conversation in the living room. Gerald and Phoebe had their eyes glued on the TV screen flipping through channels. I quickly sat next to Phoebe and pretended like I hadn't heard what had just happened. 'Well he just broke up with Lila. Uh-Duh.' When he returned to the living room I was the only one to acknowledge him. The other two didn't even realize I was there, never mind him. He motioned for me to follow him which I did. We walked into the kitchen and he sat at the table, his head in his hands. Trying to pretend like I didn't know what was going on I asked.

"So, you still hungry?"

He glanced up. "Not as much as before."

I walked over, and leaned against the chair across from him and said "I can make you something."

He looked up at me with red rimmed eyes. "Like what?" He asked innocently.

I smiled and placed my hand on top of his. "Anything you want."

A small smile crept on his face. "Can I just have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

I nodded and got a small plate. " I broke up with Lila." I heard him say as I grabbed the loaf of bread.

As I untied the string I said. " I'm sorry."

I heard a sarcastic laugh and him reply " I'm not."

After placing the two pieces of bread on the plate, I got the peanut butter and Jelly out of the cabinet.

" Well…what happened?" I asked opening the peanut butter jar.

" What do you mean?" He asked.

I spread some on one slice and closed the jar. " Why did you break up?" I asked opening the raspberry jelly jar.

" Well…too many reasons. I didn't like the person that I've become. I didn't like the fact that I stopped talking to my best friend. I don't know why I never realized it." I spread the jelly on the other slice, closed them both and cut it in half.

" But why now? I mean what made you finally do it?" I asked.

" You." I heard him say and I stopped moving. 'Is it a trick? How do you know? If he plays games why did he break up with her? How do you know it's really her? Why am I freaking out so much?'

Pretending that five minutes didn't go by I grabbed a cup, got the milk out of the fridge. After putting the cup and milk on the table I turned around to get the sandwich when I heard him say. "You ok?"

I put the sandwich on the table and sat across from him. "What do you mean me?"

He had a confused look on his face. " I just asked if you were ok…"

I shook my head. " I meant you said that I was the reason you broke up with her. Geez football head get with the program." I said smiling and he laughed. " I don't know what it is. I can't explain it. It's like everything started becoming clearer. Then when Mike showed up, it got me mad."

He quickly scowled when he said the name. " I saw how he treated you. I saw how it hurt you. I thought about how it must be on the other side. To have the pain of hearing that the person you cared for cheated. The fact that Lila had no remorse over cheating on me, or vice versa had never been clearer than this afternoon. If she felt no pain then she never really loved me. You have morals, values and goals. She doesn't care about college, her only goal is to be randomly 'discovered' and be rich overnight. I have to think about my future. High school was fun and college will be too but I don't want to miss any opportunities in life. So I said I can't do this anymore." He said taking a bite of the sandwich.

" Good for you."

He laughed " You'll never believe it but she thought that you and I were…thinking I was fooling around with you."

My smile faded. "That's funny…why?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked genuinely concerned.

" The thought of fucking me is funny?" I asked and he replied. " No…I mean, it was funny because you're not that type of woman."

I took a deep breath and stared at my hands in silence. He continued." You're the type of woman that any guy wants to be with. Not just looks but personality too. You're intelligent, funny, artistic, down to earth, and very cool to hang out with type of woman. You could never be a wham bam thank you ma'am."

I felt his index finger under my chin and I looked up. "I know you must have heard things about me, things that I have done. But I really want to get to know you. I can't say I don't want you….because I do. But I think we should just try to stay friends for now."

As I sat there, I thought 'I wonder how long right now is?'