Chapter 21, part 1: Breathe In, Pt.1

I'll breathe in
And taste this sweet disaster

"I should get going." Emma announces out of no where. Jay looks over at her.

"Why?" He asks, hoping she would confide in him.

"I have work tomorrow... it's getting late..." Emma says, lying a bit. She needed to talk about Zack... and she didn't think she should talk about him to Jay.

"Are you sure... you can stay here." Jay hopes he doesn't sound as pathetic as he does in his head.

"Yeah... I'll see you tomorrow." Emma replies softly, picking up the empty container of ice cream the two of them finished off. Throwing it into the trash can as she passed it; Emma gave Jay a slight smile before leaving. After closing the door, she stood against his door, sighing quietly. Slowly, Emma made it inside her own apartment, wanting to go back over to Jay's.

"Did you eat the rest of the ice cream?" Manny asked, making Emma snap out of her silence.

"Sorry." Emma mumbles, her head still cast down. Manny looked at her, knowing something was wrong. Closing the freezer door, Manny made her way to the living room. She had Emma sit down on the couch with her. Manny crossed her legs under her and faced Emma.

"What happened?" Manny queries, thinking maybe she still hadn't been able to talk to Zack.

"We broke up." Emma shrugs, saying it simply.

"You what?" Manny almost stammers. Her mouth opened and she stared at Emma even though Emma was looking down at the couch cushion.

"We broke up." Emma repeats, sounding a bit sadder this time.

"Uh... why... how..." Manny is flustered... Zack was so perfect.

"It all happened so fast..." Emma pauses... "I couldn't handle the secrets anymore... I never heard from him... and I was always worrying." Emma shakes her head, trying to convince herself that they had to break up.

"Aww, Em..." Manny engulfs her best friend in a hug.

"I miss him Manny, he was perfect..." Emma leans into Manny... "Except for the secret relationship... he was perfect."

"I know Em, but this is for the best, you'll see." Manny reassures her. The two break away from each other. Looking at her suspiciously, Manny raises her eyebrow. "Where were you just now?"

"Over at Sean's." Emma tells her, her eyes back down on the couch cushion.

"You mean over at Sean's... with Jay." Manny smirks.

"Yeah, we ate ice cream and watched TV." Emma shrugs her shoulders.

"Is that all you two did?" Manny asks, watching Emma's every move.

"Manny, I just broke up with Zack! Seesh!" Emma states, trying to get Jay off her mind.

"I know, I know... but Jay is still there... even when you were dating Zack, Jay was there." Manny tells her, recalling the small 'thing' Jay and Emma had. Emma sat back on the couch, not verifying her friend's assumption... yeah, Jay's still there.

Chapter 21, part 1: Breathe In, Pt.2

So breathe in
If I'm supposed to feel this

Jay stared at the closed door. What is going on with her... she must have been dating that guy or something. She was upset though, so maybe they broke up. Jay, you shouldn't be happy that Emma's 'relationship' is over... yet I can't help but be happy... but that doesn't mean she'll give me another chance. I wish she would at least talk to me... why won't she talk to me? Is she still angry that I left? I had to... to know that this was right... but apparently Emma moved on. Jay turned around as he heard the door sound. In walked Sean, with a small smile on his face. He spun his key ring around his finger before setting them down on the counter. Sean faced Jay, noting the serious look on his face.

"Don't hurt yourself by thinking so hard." Sean says, his smile becoming bigger.

"Why didn't you tell me Emma had a boyfriend." Jay asks, not even bothering to acknowledge Sean's jab at him.

"I-" Sean is caught off guard. "How did you find out?" Was all Sean could spit out.

"You told me to check on her." Jay reminds him. "When I got back from Todd's I went over there to see if she needed anything. Some guy answered the door."

"What did he look like?" Sean asks, his interested alarmed.

"I don't know, I'm not queer. I wasn't checking him out." Jay rebutted as he turned back around to face the TV. Sean shook his head at Jay, but didn't say anything. He knew Jay was peeved that Emma had a boyfriend... that she didn't wait for him. Sean opened the door, walking next door to check on Emma. Jay ignored Sean slamming the front door closed, not realizing that Sean just let it close and didn't actually slam it. What is this? Am I supposed to be some kind of keeper? I'm not gonna check out some guy just because he was at Emma's. Emma did call him 'hun' though. I should have been a little nicer to him though, so I can get him to tell me what's going on with Emma. Why do I care so much? Jay got up, walking into the fridge to grab a beer. He thought moving back to Toronto would erase the 'miserable' feeling that Greg kept telling him he obtained since going back to Quebec, but part of him couldn't help but to think that Greg was wrong, really wrong. Chugging down the beer, the alcohol didn't help Jay any... except for making him start to feel numb, all it did was add to the three or four he had drank an hour or so ago. Sighing, Jay grabbed another beer from the fridge. Ah, how great it is to be twenty-one.