The next morning Jesse woke up sprawled out across Cassie's bedroom floor. He sat up slowly then looked around. The world blurred in and out of focus as he tried to find something familiar about his surroundings. The 7 or so shots of vodka from the night before had left him disoriented and hung over, and as he pieced together the fragments of what might have happened between him and Cassie the more anxious he became. His fears were confirmed when he looked and saw Cassie sleeping peacefully on her bed above him.

"Oh no..." He whispered to himself.

"What did I do…" he said as he buried his face in his hands. He was waiting for someone… anyone to pinch him and wake him up from the nightmare that he had involuntarily thrown himself into. He thought for a moment. Maybe they hadn't done anything serious. Maybe he had just crashed at Cassie's place until he was sober enough to go home. And maybe the open condom wrapper on the floor next to him wasn't his…Jesse looked around for his wallet and found it in a pile of Cassie's lingerie near her bed. He frantically skimmed through the each section until he reached the smallest compartment where his condom had been. Surely enough it was gone. He started to panic. Not only had he gotten drunk, but he hadn't gone home, and…apparently had slept with Cassie. The truth echoed loudly in his ears and no matter how hard he tried to ignore it the sound of his conscious deafening. His head was throbbing and the world around him began to spin. Jesse tightly closed his eyes and tried to regain his composure but it was no use. He stood up and stumbled towards the Cassie's bathroom just before the after effects of seven shots of absolute had their way with him.

Cassie woke up not to long afterwards and made her way over to her dresser. She slipped into something less revealing and more comfortable just before she rounded the corner to her bathroom. She was not surprised to find Jesse sitting on the floor moaning. She briefly enjoyed how vulnerable he looked sitting there in a child like position, but then swallowed her pride and went to get him a change of clothes.

"Here…" Cassie said as she handed Jesse a clean t-shirt that he guessed belonged to Trevor. He feebly reached out and took it from her, then slowly stood up and headed out of the bathroom.

" I…I need to get outta here…" he said hoarsely. Cassie reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't wanna wait a few hours its only 7:00 and I'm sure Tanner won't be awake till later, we can get you back before then and..." Jesse cut her off.

"…I need talk to you Cass…not just about last night but everything…" she looked up at him with a shocked expression.

"W-What are you talking abou.." Jesse interrupted her again.

"…the day I left for California, I never got to tell you how I felt about you…" he began. Cassie was silent.

"…I never meant to hurt you the way I did…we got together and then I just left…I didn't say a word …I just ran away from everything…even you…and that was wrong…I was scared and I didn't know how to deal with what I did…with what we did…but I did care about you…regardless of the circumstances you were my close friend…and I shouldn't have treated you that way…" Cassie was speechless, after all this time he finally was telling her the truth. She swallowed hard.

"So you never…saw me as anything more than a hook up…" Cassie whispered.

"No you meant a lot to me…more then I let on…but only as a friend…I was never in…" Cassie stopped him.

"…love with me…" she said softly as bittersweet tears rolled down the sides of her face. "…you know…its taken me a longtime to…come to terms with this…I loved you then Jesse… but when you left without saying anything I thought it was your way of telling me that I didn't mean anything to you…and that hurt…probably worse then the thought of you leaving…so when I came out here, and did this I…wasn't thinking…I was too caught up in finding someway to ease the pain that I…did something like this…just to get back at you…and now… I don't even know how to say I'm sorry…" Jesse walked over to the window and looked out over the ocean.

"Cassie….I understand just how far being hurt by someone or something can push you…trust me I've been there…but….you took something very important away from me last night…and I know we've gotten together in the past…but Cassie…this time…I'm in love with someone else…and they're the only reason why I'm here at all…they've given me a reason to keep going…even after everything my friends, my family, and I have been through…I'm still here…and the truth is that nobody I've ever met has ever really made me feel like this…I'm just sorry I couldn't feel this way about you…" Cassie smiled through her tears.

"Listen…last night we did something that neither of us really wanted…and I wish there was a way I could apologize but I know saying sorry at this point isn't anywhere near enough…" Jesse's eyes turned grayish green in color as tears began to form.

"Its my fault too….I just…don't know how I'm gunna tell her…there's nothing I can say….I…" he stopped and sank to his knees crying. At that moment, she saw something in him that hadn't been there in the 16 years she'd known him. Even when they were together just a few months before she'd never seen him like this, and that's when she truly realized the extent of the pain her actions had caused him.

"I'm going to lose her Cassie…I can't…I love her…" he sobbed.

"Just tell her the truth Jess…she sounds like she's really special, and I know she'll find it in her heart to forgive us…I'm so sorry…" she said sincerely then helped him to his feet. He walked over to the door and briefly stopped and stood feebly in the hallway.

"What am I going to do?" he said while trying to wipe the tears from his eyes.

"I've betrayed her…" he said weakly as he slowly descended the stairs.