* please review! Was she to tough on him?*

Paige had the next day off and Robert knew it. He had woke up with a hang over but he pulled himself together, showered and drove quickly to her place. His head was pounding but he didn't care. He needed to see her, to talk to her. He had started calling her but she wasn't answering and he couldn't leave he anymore voicemail messages. He had texted her telling her he was coming over but still hadn't heard anything from her.

He pulled into her parking lot and saw her car. He ran up the steps and across the porch to her apartment. When he tried to open her door, he found it was lock. Robert knocked on it then rested his arms on the doorframe and put his head down. She called out for him to go away but Robert shook his head. He knocked on the door again.

" Paige, come on! Open the door! Let me explain!" He called out.

" Go away, Robert!" She called out again. She only called him Robert when she was mad at him.

" No, not until you let me explain!" He said. He stood up straight when he heard the lock slide. Tension lifted off his shoulders and he started to smile. If he could just see her face to face, he could explain things to her. When Paige opened the door though, he saw she still had the chain lock in place.

" Who are you living with?" She asked.

" What?" Robert asked as his smile faded.

" Nick kicked you out so who are you living with?" She asked. Robert's face completely fell as he looked at her through the little crack,

" It doesn't matter." Robert said.

" Who are you living with? Where did you go last night?" This time Paige asked him in a slower voice. Robert sighed.

" Mena." He said softly. Paige shook her head then closed the door, sliding the lock back into place. "Paige, come on!" He yelled as he hit her door. " That's not fair!"

" Go away, please!" She whined. Robert rested his head against her door.

" Come on, Babe. Please don't do this. Let me explain." He said. Something went against the doorway then slid down it. He followed her explain and put his back against it and slipped down to the floor. " Please."

" Go away!" She yelled out.

" Come on, I love you, okay? I'm sorry I panicked, I'm sorry I just freaked out but I didn't cheat on you, I swear." He said.

" Robert, please!" She called out and that time he could tell she was crying. " Just go away and leave me alone! I can't do this! I can't hear that!" He leaned his head back and sighed.

" I'm going to leave but this isn't over. I'm going to call you, we are going to talk about this. I'm going to give you some time to calm down. But I did not cheat of you, no matter how it looked. I do love you and I think you're in love with me too." When she didn't say anything Robert sighed again. " Okay baby, I'm gonna go. I'm going to call you in an hour. Please answer so we can talk." With another sigh, Robert pushed himself up and slowly walked away. He knew better than to keep pushing her. He won't win, he'd only piss her off more.

XXXXXX

Paige had went to her couch and laid down after she knew he was gone. She curled up under her blanket and turned her TV on. She wasn't letting anyone come in. She didn't want to see the pity or the I Told You So looks she knew her friends were going to be sporting. She wasn't in the mood for anything. She shook her head as she started to cry and before she knew it, she had fallen back to sleep.

Sometime later, when her phone started to ring, Paige's hand snaked out from under the blankets. She snatched it up from off the coffee table and brought it to her. Without opening her eyes, she answered the phone and brought it to her ear.

" What?" She asked quietly, not knowing who was on the other end.

" Hey, Babe. Are you okay?" Robert asked quietly. Paige frowned and sat up.

" No, I'm not okay, Jackass." She snapped. She grabbed the remote and clicked off the TV.

" I'm sorry. I want to explain." He said.

" Well I don't want to hear it. You know I put everything on the line for you. I went against my gut and against what all our friends were saying and gave you a shot."

" I know you did." He wasn't dumb. He knew what their friends had said to her.

" And look what you did to me? You just slapped me in the fucking face! I thought things with us were different, I thought," to her horror and embarrassment, her voice cracked with tears again. She cleared her throat and tried to toughen up. " I thought I was different because of our past, our friendship."

" Don't cry, Babe. You are different." He said.

" No, I'm not!" Paige yelled. " You treated me just the same as the others. First few months things were great then you fucked up! Well, I'm not like Mena and some of the others. This was it. You had one shot with me and you fucked this up! It doesn't matter what you say, I will not go back to you." She said.

" Paige,"

" No, shut up, Rob." She interrupted him. Robert sighed into the phone.

" So you won't even let me explain?" He asked. A few tears were making their way down her cheeks.

" No. I don't want to hear your excuses. Go have fun with Mena again. Good bye." With that, she hung up on him and deleted his number from her phone. Paige set it back on the coffee table then laid back down. She pulled the blankets over her head and started to cry again.

XXXXXX

Robert set his phone down on Mena's coffee table. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He sighed and shook his head. He had fucked up and he knew it. He had no one but himself to blame. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch with another sigh. She was different on so many different levels. He knew what she was saying was true. She never gave any guy a second chance. She kept her past in her past.

" Here." Mena said as she sat down beside him. He raised his head up and looked at her. She was holding a cup of hot tea and some motrin.

" Thanks." He said when he took them from her. He popped the pills into his mouth and washed them down with the tea.

" You two are meant to be together." Mena said.

" Yeah, right. Tell that to her." He said. Robert leaned forwarded and set the cup on the coffee table. He sighed and leaned back again. " I fucked up, bad this time."

" Yeah you did." Mena said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

" I didn't cheat on her. For once I didn't cheat." He said.

" I know you didn't. I believe you." Mena said.

" For once I was honest with someone and look where it got me. I lost Paige, I'm alone, I lost all my friends because none of them are going to talk to me now, and I'm have no place of my own. What the hell am I going to do now?" He asked.

" Well, you can always stay here, you know that. As far as everything else, you're smart, you'll figure it out." Mena said.