*Third Person: Gordie's POV*

Gordie heard footsteps passing outside of his door and wasn't at all surprised when neither of his parents stopped to knock and see what was wrong. He thanked God it had been a Friday when Paige broke up with him, so he would have the weekend to put himself back together before everyone saw him at school again. He also thanked God that it was only Sunday so that he would have one more day to said put himself together.

He shifted underneath the blankets, debating whether or not he should peek out to see what time it was. He eventually decided against it, and would rather lie under the covers in darkness and depression forever and ever. Except forever and ever meant the next time he would have to take a shit.

Which meant about twenty more minutes.

Gordie groaned and staggered out of bed, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, just trying to move. He finally reached the bathroom and shoved down his boxers and sat down on the toilet, the sharp cold making him shiver. He buried his head in his hands, wallowing in self-pity.

Paige. Oh God, Paige. How could he have been so stupid? How could he fuck up so royally? How could he lose her?

It was all fucking Teddy's fault. If he hadn't acted so jealous when other guys were around Willow, he wouldn't have caught on and done the same for Paige. Gordie shook his head. No, no, it wasn't Teddy's fault. He was just naturally a jealous psychopath, and Gordie...wasn't. How could he think the whole 'jealous boyfriend' think would work with Paige? It worked with Willow, but...that was Willow. Paige was...sensitive and smart and kind and funny and beautiful... Gordie groaned again and cursed himself for losing her.

If only all the fucking guys at school would stop hitting on her. He would never have acted like a jealous creep if all the guys would just leave her alone. Like Marty. God, what an asshole. Who the hell hits on someone else's girlfriends? Especially if that person is one of your good friends?

If Chris were here, he would accuse him of blaming everyone else instead of putting the blame where it really belonged: on himself.

Gordie sighed. Imaginary Chris was right. It wasn't Teddy's fault and it wasn't Marty's fault. It was his fault. His fault. He acted like a jealous, insane asshole and Paige was right to break up with him. Hell, he was a jealous, insane asshole! He took her virginity from her when she was fourteen! He never deserved her, anyway.

Gordie bit back a strangled sob and reached over for toilet paper to wipe his ass (and his eyes). He remembered the first time he ever saw her...really saw her. He, Chris, Teddy, Vern, and Willow were passing through Willow's house to get something to drink before they went back to the baseball field when Paige was watching TV with a bag of chips next to her. She said hi to them like she always did and then went back to her program.

But as it turned out, Willow's mom went grocery shopping with her hooker money and the gang decided to stick around to eat the good food. God knows their own parents don't feed them anything decent. The show Paige was watching wasn't at all interesting and his friends' conversation wasn't anything he wanted to take part in, so Gordie looked around the room and started to...notice things. Like that Willow's house was even more run-down that he realized. Like that it always had a strange odor attached to it, something that made you want to vomit. Like that there were only one picture of each Willow and Paige around the house. Like that Paige had gotten curves. At first, he was ashamed for noticing such a thing - she was Willow's little sister, for Christ's sake! - but then he started to notice even more things about her. Like that she had grown breasts, too. And that she had a pretty smile. And that Paige looked a lot like Willow, without the red hair and freckles, but in the face. And that he had never noticed before how pretty she was.

It was kind of sad to admit that he had a crush on her ever since then. Which was why he was always happy to include her on the gang's activities. He had crushed on her until he kissed her at that dance. And now... Gordie groaned again and pulled up his boxers and walked back to his bed, happily enveloping himself in the warm covers once again. He would be happy to never leave his bed again.

The door opened and footsteps thudded to the edge of his bed. More than one footstep, to be exact. Puzzled, Gordie wondered if his parents had actually grown a heart and come to check on him. That foolish thought was washed away when someone patted his leg and Chris's voice said, "Come on, man, get out of bed."

Gordie tried to suffocate himself with his pillow, praying that he would die. Just die and all the suffering would stop. "Gordie, come on! We haven't seen you since Friday afternoon! Come to the Blue Point Diner with us!" Vern chirped.

"Will Paige be there?" he grunted. Awkward silence. "Then no."

"Well, at least he's talking," Teddy muttered to Chris and Vern, who nodded in agreement.

"Gord-o, you gotta get your ass up. We're hanging out, just the four of us. No Paige, no Willow, no Jayme. Just us guys," Chris tried to convince him, attempting to pull the covers off the brunette to reveal his face.

"No!" Gordie grunted, wrestling Chris for the covers but his best friend was much stronger than he was and ended up winning the fight.

"Fuck you," he grumbled as Chris threw the blanket on the floor.

"Get dressed," Teddy commanded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now." Gordie opened his mouth to offer a smartass reply but then sighed when he saw the serious look on Teddy's face. He was irritated and not to be messed with. Gordie sighed and walked into the closet to find something to wear, defeated.

He was in for an afternoon of Chris's meaningful pep talks, Vern cheerfully trying to offer him advice, and Teddy rolling his eyes and telling him to suck it up and stop moping. This day was going to be a disaster.