AN: Thank you again to everyone who takes the time to review my story! This chapter is going to be a lot shorter than normal – it's basically just a filler between the last chapter and Charliza's trip to Greece, which will definitely be a much longer chapter. I'll hopefully get that one day within the next week!

"Josh kissed you? When?" Maggie sat up a little straighter on the couch, repeating Liza's words back to her. She wasn't surprised – she had seen the way Josh had been looking at her lately. The boy had it bad.

"Last night at the party. I ran into him upstairs and he basically begged me to leave Charles and come back to him. Ugh, Mags, what do I do?" She sighed, flopping her head back onto the couch.

"Did you tell Charles?"

Liza bit her lip and shook her head. She felt guilty that she hadn't told him yet, but she hadn't wanted to spoil the evening, and he had been in such a good mood this morning.

"I have to, don't I. It'll make it worse if I don't and he finds out later, right?"

"How would he possibly find out?"

"I just know he would. And I would feel guilty for not telling him. It's not like I kissed him back, or that I wanted Josh to kiss me. I did nothing wrong."

"If it's bothering you this bad, then maybe you should tell him. You'll give yourself an ulcer worrying about this. I know you. When's he coming over?"

Liza looked at the screen on her phone. "He should be here soon. Caitlin too. You still doing pizza and a movie with us tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll drag Caitlin out to go get the pizza when she gets here so you guys can talk." Maggie stood up and stretched, and Liza reached out to grab her hand.

"You're really amazing, you know that, right? I'm so lucky to have you as my best friend, Maggie."

Maggie shrugged and smirked. "I know. Remember that at Christmas."

"Liza, what's going on? You're acting all, I don't know, twitchy." Charles laughed as he flopped back onto Liza's bed. Liza was pacing back and forth, and had practically pushed him into the room after Caitlin and Maggie left to go get dinner.

"I need to tell you something." She paused, wringing out her hands as she walked back and forth in front of him. Charles propped himself up on his elbows, seeing how edgy she was. He reached out and caught her wrist, pulling her to him so that she stood between his knees.

"Liza, what's going on?" He repeated, sitting up.

"Uhh, okay. Last night at the party, I went upstairs to use the bathroom. And I ran into Josh. And he kissed me. Charles, I'm so sorry. It didn't mean anything, I swear."

"He kissed you."

"Yes. He asked me to leave you. He wants to get back together."

Charles felt the blood rushing to his head as he asked the next question. "Do you want to get back together with him?"

"No!" She knelt down in front of him and grabbed his hands. "I want to be with you. And I told him that. I just wanted you to know. I should have told you last night, but I didn't want to ruin things."

He looked down at her, at the concerned look on her face. Her beautiful brown eyes were full of anxiety. He reached down and rubbed her face with one of his hands. "You don't need to apologize. It wasn't your fault. I mean, I kind of get it. You're pretty damn amazing. I can't imagine seeing you with someone else."

"You won't ever have to worry about that." Liza moved to sit next to him on the bed, and she let out a relieved sigh as she felt his arm snake around her and pull her close. She should have known that he wouldn't be upset, that his trust in her was implicit, but it was taking some getting used to. She had never before dated someone who was so collected, so levelheaded and mature. If Josh had seen her kissing someone else she knew he would have reacted angrily, with hostility. He never fully trusted her after he found out about her lie, even if he swore that he did. With Charles, it was an entirely different story.

"You know what I want?" Caitlin said quietly, a few hours later as the foursome sat on the couch. Caitlin was curled up next to Liza, her head resting on her mom's shoulder. Charles sat on Liza's other side, with Maggie on the end. She was smoking a joint lazily, and Liza had almost choked on her Diet Coke when she offered the half smoked blunt to Charles. That was a true sign of Maggie's approval – when she offered to share her weed, you knew you were in her good graces.

"Hmmmm?" Liza said sleepily.

"Ice cream. Mint chocolate chip. And rocky road."

"Maggie, do we have any ice cream?"

"Nada. We polished it off with Kelsey and Lauren last week, member?"

"Shoot." She looked over at Charles, nudging him with her elbow. "Hey." She put on her best flirtatious smile when he rolled his head towards her, an amused look on his face.

"You don't even have to ask, babe. I'll go." He stood and stretched, the bottom hem of his shirt lifting to reveal an inch of his stomach. Liza could see the edge of his black boxers sticking out of the top of his jeans. She flashed her eyes up at him and licked her lips. She'd reward him later. Maybe she'd even let him lick some ice cream off of her. They both laughed as Maggie lost her balance when he stood, leaning over to fall against Liza. Between the weed and the wine, she was baked.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers before heading to the door. Charles stopped at the front door to turn and look at the three woman on the couch. 6 months ago he never would have imagined that this is how he would be spending his weekend. Relaxing on the couch in his girlfriend's Williamsburg loft, with her 19 year old daughter and her stoned best friend. Life could change so fast, but he couldn't imagine a better one.

He located a corner store a few blocks away that was mercifully stocked with both mint chip and rocky road. He grabbed a few pints of each, a six pack for himself, and a 3 Musketeers bar. They were Liza's favorite. He paid the clerk and headed back down the block, deciding on a whim to take a different route back to the apartment. He paused a block away from the apartment, outside a different building. "Inkburg" He read. Josh's tattoo shop. The sign on the door said closed, but the lights were still on.

Before he could stop himself, he pushed against the door, which opened quietly, a bell tinkling above him.

"Sorry, we're closed. Come back tomorrow." Josh's voice called from the back. Charles didn't say anything, and a moment later Josh emerged from a back room.

"Oh. It's you. What do you want?"

"Excellent customer service. Really. Top notch." He knew he shouldn't provoke this asshole, but he had had enough. Liza telling him what had happened last night had pushed him over the edge.

"Get out of my shop."

"No. I've got something to say to you first. You have some nerve, you know, coming into my house and acting like you did last night."

"I have no clue what you're talking about." The smug look on his face said otherwise, and Charles was tempted to punch it right off his face.

"Liza told me about what happened last night."

"Oh, about how she kissed me?"

"A likely story." Charles hissed, sarcastically. "No, about how you threw yourself at her and kissed her and begged her to take you back. Pathetic, man. Did you think she wouldn't tell me? We tell each other everything."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure. How many times did you sleep with her before she got around to telling you that's she's not a 26 year old?" He crossed his arms over his chest, sure that he was triumphant.

"Not that it's any of your business, but we never crossed that line until I knew everything about her. What Liza and I have is completely different than what you had. Emphasis on that last word, by the way. She's not yours to kiss anymore, Josh. You need to move on."

He turned to leave, but Josh spoke again. "She still loves me, you know."

Charles nodded. "Yeah, she does. But she's not in love with you. She's in love with me. And neither of us plans on changing that anytime soon. Liza broke up with you because she couldn't see a future with you. She has a future with me."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Charles breathed in deeply and crossed the room so that he was standing in front of Josh, towering over him. "Listen, if I find out that you touched Liza again, I promise I will come back here and my next visit will not be as cordial as this one. Get over it, Josh, and move on. You and Liza are over. How many times do we have to tell you that for you to get it? I'm the one with Liza now. I'm the one sleeping with her. The one taking her to Europe in two weeks. The one that is probably going to marry her one day, if that's what she wants. The one that is leaving this crappy little shop and taking pints of ice cream back to Maggie's loft for Liza and Maggie and Caitlin to share. Me. Good night, Josh."

He strode back across the room, making sure to slam the door behind him as he stepped back out into the cool evening. He had done what he had to do. He only hoped that Liza would feel the same way.