Jody rested her head against the cool back of the bathtub, thinking over Brandon's offer of going to Florida with his family once more. A few years back, she would've jumped at the chance to go to America let alone Florida, the site of the famed theme park she'd envied her childhood friend for going to all those years ago. Why did she have to think about it at all? She should've said yes as soon as Brandon had asked. It wasn't as if Mike and May-Li were going to stop her; after all, they (along with his social worker) had allowed Tyler to go to Vegas just last week. She didn't even have to worry about contributing to the price of her ticket; Brandon's parents were going to pay for everything. She closed her eyes. She could picture it already: her, Brandon, his parents and his little sister all soaking up the sunlight as they hung out on a beach.

Suddenly, the vision, if it could be called such, morphed into one of her and Brandon standing outside a church in wedding attire before moving into a swanky house with a girl and boy who looked like them, respectively, and growing old together. Oh, hell no. She hurriedly sat up, her head having nearly slipped under the water, before wringing the water out of her drenched hair. Where had that silly idea come from, especially the bit about kids? Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined becoming a mother, not even to Tyler's children.

Tyler... What would he think of this offer of Brandon's? Would he be happy for her? Well, not fully happy, of course, never where Brandon was concerned, but enough to encourage her to accept it? A selfish part of her momentarily considered using the trip to force a jealous love confession out of Tyler but she dismissed it almost straight away. While she'd recently figured out that she would always be at least a little in love with him, their friendship was still more important to her than a romantic relationship. She wasn't going to risk it all for a few kisses here and there, no matter how much she wanted to at times; if things didn't work out, she'd lose her best friend. Keeping him as a friend and someone else as a boyfriend and eventual husband was the way to go. At least it had been, up until recently.

Lately, spending time with Brandon outside the gym had become a chore. They hadn't been on a real date in ages and honestly, she felt no desire to go on one, no matter what Candi-Rose drilled into her about the sheer work relationships required. What did Candi-Rose really know anyway? She'd never been in a relationship herself and couldn't even tell that Jody wasn't as interested in Brandon as she and Sasha thought. Whatever. Jody didn't need a pink-clad relationship guru to tell her that Brandon asking her to go away with his family meant he was becoming serious and that he'd eventually expect the entire package from her: kissing, sex, marriage and kids.

Jody's hands stilled as the stark realisation hit her: she didn't even fancy Brandon. She sighed, pulling the plug on the bathtub and watching the water disappear down the plughole. Deep down, she'd known for a while that she'd tricked herself into thinking she liked Brandon in that way but was only now allowing herself to consciously acknowledge it. The harsh truth was that she was just like her mother in using men to get what she wanted; Denise had dated Grant for expensive gifts and the opportunity to get married, whereas Jody had dated Brandon to move on from Tyler (and had failed). Going away to Florida with his family when she knew he would take it to mean that she was serious about him would only complete her journey to becoming exactly like the Jackson matriarch.

She rose from the now empty bathtub, finally knowing what she had to do despite not really wanting to. The selfish part of her didn't want to do right by Brandon, not when it meant letting go of her only safety net against a lifetime of loneliness. She liked him well enough and if she had to pick someone other than Tyler to settle down with, it'd have to be him, even if she'd never love him the way a wife was meant to love her husband. She shook her head. Maybe, one day, she'd find a guy to fill in the spot in her life she couldn't give to Tyler, preferably one who also wanted someone they could never have, but that person wasn't Brandon and never had been.

She needed to let him go.

.:. QK .:.

Ironically, she ended up choosing the park near Gray's house to meet Brandon for the last time as his girlfriend. How fitting that she was about to dump her boyfriend mere roads away from the residence of the man who'd dumped her, albeit in a very different way, for another woman and her daughter. God, seeing Brandon at the gym afterwards was going to be painfully awkward and the daunting thought was almost enough to make her change her mind but she clenched her fists, banishing the weak worries from her mind. Even if she didn't break up with him today, they'd eventually break up one day and she'd still have to face him at the gym. Her resolve strengthened when she saw her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend approach her out of the corner of her eye.

It was time.

"Hey," Brandon chirped, sitting on the kiddie swing next to the one she was occupying. A few young parents glared at them, no doubt wanting the swings free for their tots, but she took no notice.

"Hi," she replied nervously, tightly gripping the metal chains of the swing. How did a girl go about breaking up with a decent guy? What was she meant to say? A straight-up 'I wanna break up' or the cliche 'it's not you, it's me'? Both options just sounded wrong, especially as a starting point. Instead, she decided to go for a casual, "How are you doing?"

"Good," he answered, staring straight ahead with a subdued smile on his face. Uh-oh. Was he already down about something? Would dumping him right now be cruel? "You've decided not to come away with us, haven't you?"

"Yeah," she responded sheepishly, only half surprised that he'd guessed correctly. After all, the reticence was probably painted all over her face. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No, it's okay... I kind of got the idea that you weren't interested back when I asked you but I hoped you'd change your mind." He paused, visibly mulling something over, before turning to look at her with sad eyes. "Are you not interested in Florida or are you just not interested in me?"

This was it. He was even giving her an opening. How much better could it get? "I do like you, Brandon," she admitted sincerely, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with him. "It's just, when you asked me to Florida, I—"

"Come on, Jody, something was off between us way before that," he interjected seriously. For the first time since she'd met him, he wasn't even trying to smile, and she felt awful for being the one to make that happen. "Asking you to go on holiday with me and my family just confirmed it. I just don't understand why. Was it something I did?"

"No!" she exclaimed, her voice strained. How odd: she strangely felt emotional. "You're the nicest, sweetest boy I've ever met, and I don't just say that to anyone. I really mean it."

"But?" Ah, the inevitable 'but'.

She sighed. "But... nothing. I can't explain it."

She was lying through her teeth at this point but what the hell was she supposed to say? That she'd been stringing him along since the beginning and only now felt bad about it? Or that she'd only dated him because someone else, the boy he saw as her big brother, had turned her down mere minutes before she'd decided to go out with him?

"Is there someone else?" he asked after a beat. She froze. Did he somehow already know about her and Tyler? Had he always known or had someone at the house clued him in when she wasn't looking? She'd been very careful not to leave him alone with the troublemakers (Floss, Ryan, and Jay) whenever he visited but had she come up short somewhere?

"Uhhh," she let out dumbly, racking her brain for something to say but it was as futile as throwing a stone into an empty well: no words came out.

"Right, I get it," he said, smiling sadly.

Oh God, what did he think of her? That stupid noise she'd let out had probably given him the idea that she'd been cheating on him or something. To be fair, she kind of had, but only in the emotional sense; it wasn't like she'd gone as far as kissing Tyler or anything like that.

"I'm not cheating!" she blurted out, drawing disgusted looks from some of the young parents around her and patronising, almost amused glances from a few others.

Brandon blinked. "I didn't say you were."

She closed her eyes, wishing a hole would open up in the ground and swallow her whole. She probably seemed like even more of a bitch to him now that she'd accused him of accusing her. "It's complicated"—she opened her eyes, looking at him again—"I sort of already liked someone else before you asked me out."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sort of?"

"Yeah..." she trailed off, realising how flakey that sounded. "I mean, I liked him but I decided to forget about him when you asked me out; I never had a chance with him anyway. I know how that sounds but I didn't mean to use you. You just happened to be the first one to ask me out after everything." The first one ever, actually, but he didn't need to know that.

"I think I understand," he stated, "You never really forgot about him and now that you do have a chance with him, you want to grab it with both hands."

"That's not why," she insisted shakily. "I still don't have a chance with him. This"—she gestured between them—"has nothing to do with him. I just think that I'm not the right girl for you."

"Or that I'm not the right guy for you."

Not having the heart to say it, she just nodded mutely. Initiating a break-up was more emotionally draining than she'd expected it to be; she'd always thought that the only person who experienced pain during a break-up was the dumpee. Maybe she would've felt better about the entire thing if Brandon had been a total arse but he wasn't and this was possibly one of the most difficult things she'd ever had to do next to ignoring her family members.

Shifting uncomfortably on the swing, she said, "I'm sorry I didn't say something earlier; I didn't want you to hate me."

"I don't hate you," he assured kindly. "I don't think I could ever hate you and, actually, I still want to be friends."

She smiled weakly. Being friends with an ex was easier said than done and she had a suspect feeling that he'd come to understand that the next time they saw each other but she really hoped they could work it out, if only so that they could continue attending the same gym without having to actively avoid each other. As he made his excuses and pressed a final kiss to her cheek before leaving, she sat numbly on the swing, feeling as if she'd reached another sad milestone in her life.

.:. QK .:.

Over the next couple of days, Jody kept her break-up to herself, artfully changing the subject whenever Brandon was brought up in conversation but when it came time for her to go the gym for the first time since said break-up, she found herself in dire need of female advice. The internet was usually a great source of information but she didn't trust it when it came to dealing with sensitive issues such as this. With her mind made up, she went to Candi-Rose's room only to find Chloe and Ryan huddled together near the former's bed, sharing a pair of earphones and staring at a phone screen.

"Yeah?" Ryan prompted rudely after she knocked, looking at her as if she was the biggest inconvenience known to man.

"I was looking for Candi-Rose," she said, appealing directly to Chloe. "Do you know where she is?"

Ryan rolled his eyes as his sister answered, "I think she's gone out with Bird. She's got this whole list of things she wants to buy for Mike's wedding and now that we've got less than a week to go, she's gone a little nuts."

"Better him than me," Ryan muttered, and Jody took that as her cue to leave.

Walking out of the bedroom, down the narrow hallway and into the lounge, she wondered what to do now that Candi-Rose wasn't available when she walked straight into Tyler. She pulled back and peered up at him, embarrassed about wandering around in a zombie-like state.

"Woah, watch where you're going!" he scolded, though there was no actual heat behind his words. "What's up? You look worried."

She licked her lips, contemplating whether to tell him about the break-up or not. Now that there was no longer a living obstacle (she hated to refer to Brandon as such but she couldn't help it) between them, she had no idea how to behave around him. A lot of the time, she felt like doing something really stupid like grabbing his hand or sitting really close to him like she used to when they were younger but she managed to stop herself. After all, she didn't want to freak him out; just because he had feelings for her, it didn't mean he was interested in being more than friends, and she didn't quite have the guts to make another move on him lest he rejected her yet again. Besides, she didn't think she was ready for another relationship just yet, especially one where she had a lot to lose.

"Jody!" Tyler singsonged, waving his hand in front of her face. She playfully swatted it away, laughter bubbling to her lips as he mock hissed about the supposed pain. "So, you gonna tell me what's going on? Have you got to walk to the gym or something?"

"No; May-Li's giving me a lift in, like, half an hour," she replied, noticing Jay and Floss lurking around in the lobby. Oh, there was no way she was going to risk letting the latter catch wind of her break-up. The girl practically worshipped that Jyler wedding portrait she'd so proudly painted.

Jody refocused her gaze on Tyler, tipping her head in the general direction of the stairs. He followed her without question as she led him up to the attic, a place Floss couldn't get to without giving herself away; the stairs were notoriously squeaky.

"Has Luke done something?" he asked, frowning. "Don't tell me he's cancelled again."

Luke hadn't contacted Simon since last week and had pretty much been out of sight and out of mind. "No, nothing like that. I saw him when you were in Vegas anyway."

He relaxed, clearly relieved, and sat down on one of the two sofas situated opposite each other at the back of the attic. She'd given up trying to keep track of what Mike and May-Li kept up here; the furniture seemed to change every other week. "So?"

"I broke up with Brandon," she stated plainly, carefully watching his reaction.

Sure enough, an undisputed hint of something flashed through his eyes as quick as lightning. "Oh," he uttered in a high pitched voice, ducking his head. "Umm, why?"

Really? That was all he had to say? Why? Maybe it'd been foolish of her but she'd hoped for some sort of sign that he was pleased by her actions, even though she hadn't broken up with Brandon for him.

"It just... didn't work out," she answered truthfully, sitting down right in the middle of the other sofa. "Today's the first time I'm seeing him since the break-up."

He instantly leaned forward, his eyebrows knotting together in confusion. "Wait. When exactly did you break up with him?"

"Sunday."

His eyebrows nearly flew up into his hairline, and he sat back again. "So you're nervous about seeing him again, is that it?" He licked his lip, looking almost shy as he regarded her with half-lidded eyes. "Do you regret it?"

"No," she replied firmly, a smile tugging at her lips. "He wasn't right for me at all. I think I always knew that"—she held his gaze—"but I pushed on because..." Because you gave me no choice, she wanted to say, but she didn't want to start a fight, not when they'd been getting along so well recently. "Anyway, I just want to be able to see him at the gym without feeling guilty or something."

Just then, she spotted a slither of a smile on his face: the corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly. She pressed her own lips together tightly in an effort to prevent herself from smiling. Even though she'd never had feelings for him, smiling while talking about breaking up with Brandon seemed cold.

"Well, I don't think you should worry about it too much," he finally spoke, a ghost of a grin gracing his face. Oh God, he truly was awful at hiding his emotions. He resembled the cheeky youngster who'd tried to look sorry after splatting Electra in the face with a water balloon. At least some things besides the chores never changed around here. "I mean, you did tell him why you were breaking up with him, right?"

"Yeah," she responded before blowing out her cheeks. "What was it like when you broke things off with Hannah? You two weren't awkward at all when we ran into her at the pictures."

He actually chuckled. "Things were never serious between us. I just didn't ask her out on a third date and she got the message. She's cool like that."

"Cool like me?" she questioned, irrational jealousy churning in her gut.

"No, not as cool as you," he answered smoothly, winking, and most of the tension in the room evaporated just then. "I've never met a girl cooler than you."

She finally cracked a smile, unable to help herself. She'd missed flirty, carefree Tyler more than she'd initially realised. Why hadn't she broken up with Brandon sooner? She would've traded all of the fancy dates in the world for just one more moment like this during the last six months of pain and confusion.

As she sat there and gave Tyler the eye, the truth hit her in the face like a ton of bricks: she never wanted to be in a meaningless relationship again. She didn't want to be like her mother, settling for any old guy, even one as nice as Grant, just to gain stability in life and a ring on her finger. When she married someone, she wanted it to be forever, and she wasn't going to get that from some guy she had no real, tangible feelings for.

When she married, she'd marry someone she loved, and right now, that was the boy sitting right in front of her.

A/N: Eek, those last paragraphs are as cheesy af and I'll probably come back and edit them a million times but the general theme/idea of it will remain the same because by the end of No Escaping, Jody had pretty much decided to marry Tyler. Some of you might be thinking 'no way, Jody wouldn't think like that, she ain't a girly girl' but the evidence is right there in the episode! I know it's a little different in this chapter in that she's basically thinking about marrying him without him confessing his feelings first but, honestly, if you've really been reading this, you'll know that she already knows how he feels about her.

Speaking of No Escaping, that's the next episode in my TDG marathon. Regarding Faker, which my brothers and I watched a couple of days ago, can I just say that I was pissed off when I saw comments claiming that Kamal was acting not-brotherly with his sister? I've seen men pick their cute little grandmas up and spin them around like that. Not too weird a thing to do to your little sister either. Also, I call my brothers babe/baby (they are literally my babies) as well. Totally normal for me and no one besides my immature and dirty minded young cousin has ever batted an eyelid at it, and even he's over it now.

Thanks to Charlie for the review. That sentence makes total sense, at least to me, so don't worry. I totally forgot to mention in my review on your fic that Sally offering to pay for Tyler to bring a friend over to the wedding is incredibly kind. I'm wondering why I didn't think of that, lol.