well, as usual, i have an excuse for not updating in so long! (waits for the eye rolls to stop) but this time i mean it! updates with the site scare me into not updating my stories because there are ALWAYS bugs at first. see, i have a reason! hey, stop laughing, it is a good reason for once! Would you prefer that i blame it on my vacation from hell (second one in a row!) that ended weeks ago? why am i arguing with you? i cant even talk to you! which reminds me, if you want to talk IM me. its in my bio if you look

Ryo pulled up at Dee's apartment and took out one duffle bag, deciding to leave the rest of his things in there until he was certain that he was staying. He had reminded himself several times what had to be done. He had to tell Dee that it was entirely over, that there was no chance of them being together. He hardly believed it himself, but he had to be able to convince Dee. Although he did not like it, he thought that it was best for the both of them.

Dee heard Ryo knocking and opened the door, not sure how things would play out. He smiled and moved to allow him in, slipping his hand down to take Ryo's bag. Their fingers touched and an electric shock ran through the two of them. They froze, unsure of what was going on. Dee laughed and removed his hand, hoping that he had done nothing wrong.

"Thank you so much for coming here. I hope you know that this isn't some cheep ploy to get you to come back to me. Is there anything that you want to drink?" Dee headed into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "I have water, coke, sprite, and some root beer but no actual beer, Ted drank it all last night."

"Water is fine, and I know that this isn't a ploy, but neither was your visit to me and look how that turned out." Ryo let out a nervous laugh, sitting down on the couch. He had noticed that his apartment was clean and knew better than to think that it was naturally this way.

Dee walked back into the room and handed Ryo his glass of water, taking a sip out of his own drink, and sat down on the couch. "Just so you know, I do want to have some sort of long, in depth conversation with you while your hear, you know, straighten everything out, but I don't want to have it until you are ready."

"Why don't we get it out of the way now, you start first." Ryo bit his lip. He knew that it would be better to get everything out in the open before things went wrong. He knew that if they had talked like this at the beginning of Dee's stay at his house things could have gone much better. He was not willing to make the same mistake twice.

"Ryo, I love you more than anything else. I constantly get the impression that you love me. Tell me what is going on." Dee took a sip of his drink before setting it down on the table to look at Ryo.

"That's because I do, but I cant take it. I worried about you constantly, and about me. I think that I loved you too much. It scares me, I feel like I'm drowning." Ryo looked into Dee's eyes, not knowing what he could do.

"Believe it or not, I actually know what your talking about, except that I kinda like the feeling. I suppose that you like to be more in control, right?" Dee put his left hand on Ryo's arm and stroked it gently.

"I suppose so. It is the same feeling that kept me from going out with you for so long. But I learned to ignore it before, enjoy my time with you and not think about tomorrow. I would like to do that again." Ryo moved closer to Dee. "I have to stay there for at least a little longer, but I don't want to think about tomorrow right now."

"You're just lucky that Bikky isn't home." Dee cupped Ryo's face with his hand and drew him in for a kiss.

Amy yawned and sat down on the bed she shared with Randy (1). It hurt some that he had gone to visit Dee so soon after asking her to marry him, but she was also relieved. It gave her time to decide on the wedding ceremony. Ryo had already told her that she was free to plan the entire thing, he knew that she wanted to. She had forgotten to ask how much money his parents were willing to spend. She thought that it was a little odd how he never talked about them, she didn't even know their names.

She knew that she could hardly plan a wedding without knowing her budget, she had to find out. She had already tried calling Ryo, he hadn't answered. He had probably just gone out somewhere and left his cell phone. He had done it before, it was nothing new. She didn't know Dee's phone number, she had no way of talking to him.

A wild spark came over her. She remembered the shoe box, the one with the memories. There were pictures of Dee, perhaps there was a phone number on the back of one of the pictures. She drew it out from under the bed and began looking through the pictures again, curious about more than just a phone number. She wanted to know everything about his past and now had a reason to snoop. If she was getting married to him she deserved to know about his past girlfriends.

The first few pictures were ones that she had already seen, ones of Drake, JJ, and Ted. Then she found one that worried her. Ryo was sleeping on the floor next to a girl. They didn't look like they had been doing much other than watching some late night TV but it was still suspicious. She flipped the photo over and was relieved at the writing on the back. "Thank you so much for helping me after that fight with my Aunt, your future daughter in law (hopefully!), Carol." It turned out to be purely innocent, just as she had hoped, though it made her jealous to even think of someone touching her Ryo.

She searched the back of all of the photos for any phone numbers that might be Dee's or any trace of a girlfriend, she found none of either. Her eyes fell on a black pouch. She knew that Ryo had been extremely protective of it. There was reason to suspect that she would find links to past girlfriends, though it was also connected to Dee. The odd links only increased her curiosity and she opened it up to look at what was inside.

The first photograph was one of Ryo laying on a bed, hair tangled and a satisfied look on his face. Though it hurt to realize that someone else had caused that look, it also gave her a new theory about the pouch, though unlikely. There would be no reason for him to carry around erotic pictures of himself, unless he had demanded to have them back after he broke up with a girlfriend. "I suppose that I wont see anything this angelic after you are gone. Your face is my favorite thing to see in the morning." The message on the back read. Anger flared up, but she calmed it. She was planning on learning about his past lovers without getting mad. He was hers now and that was what mattered.

She put that picture down and moved on to the next one. Dee was standing behind Ryo, his arms wrapped around him, their faces touching, there was no message on the back. She rationalized it out. The black pouch had pictures of people that he had gotten into fights with. He had gotten in a fight with Dee, taken out everything that Dee had put in the pouch, and given it a new use.

The next picture was not so easily dismissed. Dee was laying on the couch with Ryo curled up half next to him and half on top of him. Their shirts were unbuttoned, flaring out around them, their hair was ruffled, and wide smiles graced their sleeping faces. "I have no idea who took this picture but hell, I'm not complaining!" her heart stopped. There had been something between them, something more than friendship.

She starting looking through other pictures, looking for something saying that it was a joke. She could find no such thing. The one that hurt worst of all was one of them kissing. "I knew that buying a timed camera would come in useful! I love you." It was a different handwriting than before, it was Ryo's. There was writing below that message as well. "I want you to have this photo back. I did make another copy of it, thank you digital photography! It means more to me than you will ever know. I love you now and forever, Dee"

She starting going through the other ones faster. Each new photograph hurt more than the last. After going through all of them she took out her own photo album, looking over her memories with him. He was faking smiles in so many of them, sometimes he would be looking off into the distance. She compared them to the ones with Dee. His attention was always on Dee, he always held him close.

She threw the pictures down in tears. It seemed so obvious now that she knew the truth. The fear of calling Dee, him thinking that it was for the best that she wouldn't be there when he came over. It stung worse when she thought of everything else that had happened, she knew why he had been lying in bed when she came home. Looking back, she realized that it had not started when Dee came to visit. She had watched him have dreams, he was not exactly quiet about them, but when he woke up he would want nothing to do with her. Now she knew why, he wasn't dreaming about her.

She tried to hold back her tears but they would not subside. She looked down at the bed she was curled up on and was disgusted by it. She stood up, she couldn't stand to look at that bed any longer. Everything in her life had come crashing down around her. She had thought that he loved her and no one else. Now he was in the city, visiting the man he loved.

She reached up to wipe a tear away and the ring brushed her face. She looked at it for only a moment before throwing it across the room. She didn't want his love, not if it wasn't true, and she could never marry someone who didn't love her. Everything had been so perfect, she should have known that something would happen. She knew what she had to do.

Tried to score Amy a few pity points there, did it work? i know that she is byond help, but at least i tried.