Mac sat down next to Megan's bed not bothering to look at her afraid she was going to break up with him.

"I have good news." He looked in her eyes searching for an answer. "We can see each other."

"What about your dad?"

"I'm moving out."

"No I'm going to let you ruin your life just so we can see each other. You need your parents; you need to stay with them."

"Will you just let me finish?" She yelled at him causing him to sit down. He nodded telling her to continue. "I'm not going to live on streets, I'm going to live with Ruthie if her parents allowed it."

"I don't know Megan." He scratched his head as if searching for the right words.

"It's not your decision, Mac." She struggled to sit up in bed. Mac rushed to help her but she swatted him away. "I'm not helpless."

"I'm sorry if I care about you." Why was she being so difficult? Why all of a sudden was she getting mad at him for caring?

"Yeah well maybe you should stop caring so much."

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe we need to take a break." Mac's heart fell. He couldn't believe that what he was hearing.

"Why?"

"Just not until I'm better, I mean we both know that my mother will side with me when she gets back. She loves you and knows that you wouldn't do something that would hurt me." She took a deep breath. "So maybe we should just stick to calling each other weekly until Christmas." He could see the hurt in her eyes. It was breaking his heart that she was hurting both mentally and physically.

"Okay." He had no other choice but to agree. What else was there to do?

"You know this is for the best, right?"

"Yeah. I mean I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either. I love you Mac."

"I love you too Megan."

"So I guess I should kiss you goodbye since you probably won't have to time to see me before you leave tomorrow." He kissed her before exiting. As he walked down the hall he could hear her crying. He fought the urge to run back to her and make everything okay but she didn't want him.

Ruthie looked up at Mac and saw how hurt he was. She didn't expect him to be sad when he came out she expected him to be happy.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Did she tell you?"

"Yeah but I think she'll be staying with her parents." He looked as if his dog just died.

"What did you do?" Ruthie yelled at him people around them starred at the two expecting a fight.

"I cared about her." Suddenly everything made sense to Ruthie.

"I'm so sorry Mac." She gave Mac a hug.

"It's okay. We didn't break up we're just taking a break."

"Are you okay?"

"I will be. We're still going to talk just weekly not daily."

"Oh." They got in the car and the ride to Martin's was silent. Ruthie couldn't believe that Megan was capable of hurting someone like she hurt Mac. Ruthie saw Simon's car in the driveway and rushed to her house. She opened the door and flung herself at Simon.

"Simon it's great to see you."

"It's nice to see you too Ruthie." She loved it when her brother was home. Simon smiled down at her sister he couldn't remember when he saw her this happy. "So what's got you in a good mood?"

"Nothing." She smiled her innocent smile.

"Come on that won't work this time."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"But you know you want to." He nudged her in the ribs playfully as Martin and Mac walked in. Ruthie lit up when she saw Martin and Simon instantly knew why Ruthie was so happy. Simon didn't like Martin when they first met because he was dating Cecilia but now that he was dating Ruthie Simon liked him. Maybe it was because Simon still liked Cecilia but he was with Rose now. "It's Martin isn't it?" Ruthie just blushed.

"Hey Simon, how's school?"

"Good and how's baseball?"

"Baseball is good." Ruthie watched as the two guys who she cared so much about made small talk it was quite funny. But then it hit Ruthie that Martin was leaving the next day and she wouldn't see him until Christmas which was almost a month away. She knew that he would have to leave but she didn't think it would come this fast.

"So Ruthie what are you and Martin planning on doing tonight?"

"I don't know."

"I was thinking that we would go out to the mall with Mac and then go out to dinner."

"Doesn't Mac have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah but they're on a break."

"Oh."

"So we should be going." Ruthie literally pushed Martin out of the door. She didn't want Simon knowing everything about Mac when Mac wasn't there to share it. Martin gave Ruthie a weird look. "What?"

"Why did you just push me out of the door?"

"Is it a crime to spend time with my boyfriend who's leaving tomorrow?"

"No it's just that you were kinda of rude back there and you hurt me." He rubbed his shoulder where she pushed him.

"I'm sorry I guess I don't to lose a moment with you before you go."

"No need to be sorry I think it's hot when you're aggressive." He kissed her.

"Shut up." He started the car and made their way to the mall to find Mac. They walked into the food court and found Mac sitting at a table looking very sad drinking a milkshake.

"Can we join you?" Mac looked up and Ruthie saw the hurt in his eyes.

"I guess."

Ruthie knocked on the door early in the morning, she didn't care she wanted to see her best friends before they left. It felt like forever until Martin's dad answered the door.

"Hello Ruthie."

"Hey Mr. Brewer are Martin and Mac up?"

"Yeah they're in Martin's room packing." He motioned her in and shut the door behind her and pointed to Martin's door. Ruthie stopped at the doorway and looked around Martin's room, it was the typical boy's room but she had never seen it.

Martin looked at Ruthie who was admiring his room he didn't want to admit that he was nervous about leaving her but she wouldn't let him stay.

"Enjoying the decorum?" Mac asked acting like his usual self.

"Very funny Mac." Ruthie gave him a hug.

"So he gets a hug before your boyfriend?"

"I can't help it that the ladies love me." They all laughed for the first time since the accident. Ruthie gave Martin a hug and sat down on his bed.

"So can I help with anything?"

"Yeah you can just sit there and grace us with your presence." Mac looked at Ruthie as he said this laughing.

"That was what I was planning on doing anyway." She shot back a victorious smile spread across her face. She leaned against the wall as the two boys packed and laughed at how they were going to explain the changes to their personalities to their friends. When they were all done the trio headed to the airport with Martin and Mac sat in the back leaving Ruthie all alone in the front singing along with Kelly Clarkson.

Ruthie just stood at the gate looking at the ground. She didn't want to say goodbye even if they were going to see each other in a little under a month. Mac was the first to give Ruthie a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Now Mac I would use this time to see if Megan's worth it."

"I think I'll do just that." He left leaving Martin and Ruthie alone with the awkward silence that was setting in.

"I'm gonna miss you." Ruthie blurted out to break the silence.

"I'm gonna miss you too. I'll call you tonight." He kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too." They shared one last kiss and he boarded the plane. Ruthie looked at him one last time before leaving letting the single tear fall down her cheek and she was back to before he came home, praying and hoping for him to call. "Vicious cycle."