AN: Hello, hello all of you fantabulous reviewers! Thanks for the reviews! And yes, I realize that was pretty awkward for Emma to tell her roommate about the whole STD thing (haha, I'm dumb :-p) and to anybody wondering about me being like Lanie (crazy work out monster) the answer is…oh God no, I wouldn't work out if you paid me…I love dancing and I'll do yoga (on occasion) but other than that…HA! Lol jk!

And OMG I am beyond sorry for these long updates, I've been working on this one book with my friend and it's up to page 277 now and I've been way too tangled up in it and have been abandoning this story and I am really sorry about that!

Once again, thanks everybody, I love you all!

Here's Chapter 25, hope you like!

Lotsa love, degrassichick

-x-

Chapter 25

-x-

"I don't know Manny, I just feel like me moving here was completely a mistake." Emma noted a few days later as she watched Lanie jog around outside from the window.

"Maybe she's freaked out a bit." Manny replied.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Why would she be freaked out by me? If anything I'm freaked out by her, which I am, of course."

"You told her you got an STD, she probably thinks that that's slightly just about all that you do."

Emma's eyes widened, "Manny!"

Manny laughed, "Hey, I'm sorry but…you know…it could be true…I mean, you guys have had-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Emma cut her short, "I mean, it's just scary here, she has been waking me up at six o'clock every morning and pressuring me to do Tae-Bo."

"Six AM? That's like…way to early. For anyone. Period."

Emma shrugged, "Yeah, I know."

"At least she's perky."

Emma scoffed, "Yeah, she's got that going for her alright."

"Have you talked to Jay?" Manny questioned.

"I haven't been able to get a hold of him for the past 3 days…" Emma lied.

Manny scoffed, "You liar, you haven't called him."

"I'm scared, Manny."

"Why?" Manny asked confusingly.

"Because every time I talk to him on the phone my world falls apart and I feel like I would give everything I own to be back in Toronto with him."

Manny didn't say anything.

"Manny?" Emma asked confusingly, "Hello, Manny? Manny, are you there?"

"Aww!" Manny squealed excitedly, "That is beyond romantic!"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well it's the truth. Every time I talk to him I just want to go back to Toronto and wish that everything were back to normal, and that I had never went to Montreal. Nothing good in my life has changed, all I'm doing is moping around missing my friends, family, and of course, Jay. It just seems so real when the only way I'm in contact with him is hearing his voice over the phone."

"But it's better than nothing, right?" Manny questioned.

"Way better."

-x-

Jay walked into his bedroom and threw his hat off before falling down onto the bed.

He glanced over at his nightstand and noticed an unfamiliar item sitting there.

A silver picture frame that read 2Gether, 4Ever and had a picture of him and Emma in it, it was the New Year's kiss, and there was another plain silver frame next to it with another picture of the two of them, Jay was sitting on the hood of his car and Emma was standing in front of it, his arms around her waist pulling her towards him, Emma's eyes were drifted down towards the ground and Jay's were staring at the side of Emma's face, both away from the camera, both had smiles on their faces that just signaled that they were in love with each other.

There was a note leaning against one of the picture frames, Jay picked it up:

Hi Jay, it's Manny. I just figured I'd drop these off; I just got off the phone with Emma and decided to bring these to you. I left them with your mom so I'm not sure if she put these in a weird place or what.

Anyways, I'll talk to you later.

Bye!

-Manny

P.S. Emma really misses you.

Jay sighed and sat the note down before glancing over at the pictures of him and Emma.

"Why did you have to go, Em?" Jay asked, to the floor.

Yeah, because it would hold the answer to that question.

Jay glanced back at the pictures once more before glancing at the phone that sat somewhere behind them.

He grabbed it and pressed in the buttons to Emma's apartment number.

-x-

Emma sat in the living room, watching as Lanie jogged in place.

This is a great way to spend summer vacation, don't you think?

Quiet, you.

Just then the phone rang, Emma leapt up to answer it.

She picked it up and glanced down at the Caller ID.

HOGART, J

Emma could feel her heartbeat quickening as she took the phone and hurried into another room, "Jay?" she asked quickly.

"Hey…how's it going up in Montreal, baby?" Jay asked.

Emma sighed and sat down on the foot of her bed, "Its going."

"You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I miss you."

Jay sighed, "I miss you too, Em."

"So how's work?" Emma asked, changing the subject.

"Its fine, I worked on a Ferrari a few days back."

"Are you serious?"

Jay laughed, "No. It was a 1958 Ford pickup, but I figured Ferrari sounded a bit…more exciting."

Emma laughed as well, "Yeah."

"So how's Lanie?" Jay asked.

Suddenly the Twilight Zone theme song popped into Emma's head as well as Lanie's evilly perky face.

She shuddered at the thought, "She's great." She lied.

Jay sighed, "Well I guess that's good."

Yeah, sure.

"So how are you holding up?" Emma asked.

"Doing okay, I guess." Jay shrugged.

Emma smirked, "Well aren't we the talkative one?"

Jay let out a very soft, low chuckle, "I miss you."

Emma sighed, "We already went over that." She laughed.

"I know. I just really do miss you. I'm not even positive if it has sunk in completely that you're actually gone."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Jay I'm not dead," She was beginning to picture herself as a rotting corpse coming out of the ground…eww, "just away."

"Yeah," Jay scoffed, "in college."

"Well you could come visit." Emma stated firmly.

Jay groaned, "Or you could come visit here, wouldn't that be better? Seeing as you're not in classes."

"I don't have a car to get down there with."

"Get a ride with Lanie."

"Oh yeah, sure." Emma rolled her eyes.

"I hate long distance relationships." Jay muttered to himself, or so he thought.

Emma's eyes widened, "What did you just say?"

"Huh?"

"You hate long distance relationships?"

"No, Em…I didn't mean our relationship, I just meant…you know, long distance relationships in general." Jay stammered.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Well if you hate it so much-"

"I didn't say that!" Jay practically shouted over the phone towards her.

"You pretty much did Jay."

"What is with you!" Jay confusingly demanded.

Emma scoffed, "Me? What about you?"

"There is nothing wrong with me! You're just blowing up at me for no apparent reason!" Jay exclaimed.

"I am not!" Emma snapped.

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"What are we even fighting about?" Emma asked suddenly.

Jay sighed, "I have no idea."

"Oh my God…is this seriously what it'll be like from now on? Us fighting twenty-four seven over nothing?" Emma asked nervously.

"I hope not."

"Maybe long distance relationships really don't work."

"No, Em…I didn't mean that." Jay proclaimed.

"Jay, I think you were right though."

"No…I wasn't right. I was wrong, dead wrong. Okay? I was wrong." Jay pleaded hurriedly, afraid of what might be next.

"I just…maybe it won't…maybe this isn't going to work-"

"It will work Em, we'll make it work!" Jay exclaimed, he could feel those evil tears brimming up in his eyes, prepared for takeoff.

Emma shook her head, "Maybe we should-"

"No!" Jay practically shouted, "Stop. It will work, okay! We'll make it work, I swear to God we will!"

Emma could feel tears beginning to slowly drizzle down her cheeks, "Jay…I'm sorry. I don't want to be fighting all the time with you over nothing."

"We won't be, Em! For God's sake will you give this a chance!"

"Jay…I don't see how it's going to-"

"Yeah, well I do, okay? Don't end our relationship over something as stupid as that!"

"So now you think that this is stupid?" Emma asked.

Jay shook his head even though Emma couldn't see him, "That is not what I said, Em! Why are you putting words into my mouth?"

"See? I told you this isn't going to work."

"Yeah, because you're picking fights with me for no goddamn reason!"

"Well if we can pick fights that easily, than maybe it won't work."

"It will work, I swear it will work, don't give up so easy."

"Jay…"

"Okay? You know what? Seeing as you have your heart set on this, I'll do it okay? It's over." Jay snapped in a very low voice before clicking off his phone.

Emma let out a small gasp and listened to the dial tone going through her ears before dropping the phone, and dropping down onto her bed, bursting into tears.

-x-

"Yeah, here's your receipt. Have a good day." Jay muttered, thrusting a receipt into a customer's hand along with a bag with a few wrenches in it.

"Jay, what is with you?" his co-worker Tony asked, eyeing him confusingly.

"Nothing." Jay mumbled.

Tony rolled his eyes, "I haven't seen you act this bizarre since…well never. You are barely talking."

Jay turned to him boredly, "I barely ever talk anyway? What's the fucking point? Everything I say comes out wrong, so why does it fucking matter?"

Tony shook his head at him, "If I hear that word out of your mouth again…"

Jay shrugged, "Yeah, whatever, sorry."

"Girl trouble, eh?"

Jay nodded slightly, "We broke up."

"You what!" a female voice exclaimed.

Jay turned only to see Manny Santos standing in front of the counter, staring at him in shock.

"What are you doing here, Santos?" Jay asked.

Manny glanced around disgustedly at the dirty auto shop before turning back to him, "I was coming to see if you got my note but…you guys broke up?"

Jay nodded.

"Why?" Manny demanded.

Jay shrugged, "We got into a fight, we said a few things, and it ended."

Manny crossed her arms over her chest, "You're cheating on her, aren't you?"

Jay's mouth formed the shape of an O, "What? No! She started the damn fight, not me!"

Manny rolled her eyes, "Yeah I bet."

"She did, Santos, look…I know that she's your best friend but she was my girlfriend and I never would have dumped her if she hadn't practically forced me into it."

"So you did dump her?" Manny stated.

Jay rolled his eyes, "She practically made me do it! She kept on saying how it wasn't going to work and how could I think it would work and shit like that so I just told her if she wanted it so bad then here you go."

Manny shook her head, "I can't believe you."

"It wasn't my fault!" Jay exclaimed.

Manny sighed, "Long distance relationships are hard."

"Yeah, you're telling me." Jay stated as he ran a bottle of car oil under the scanner.

"Then it wasn't really anybody's fault…it was bound to happen."

Jay nodded, "I didn't want it to."

And I cried for almost an hour over it last night, I'm such a loser.

Manny shook her head, "I don't think she did either."

Jay sighed.

"Well I guess that I'm going to head out…I'll see you around, Jay."

"Later." Jay mumbled as he watched her turn and walk out of the shop.

Tony sighed, "You got dumped."

"I did not get dumped!" Jay exclaimed.

-x-

Emma lay sprawled out on the couch, a bowl full of popcorn next to her and a half-filled can of Pepsi in her hand as she watched a teary romance movie on television.

"Okay…this is the third day I've walked in here and saw you watching these corny movies, what is going on with you?" Lanie asked as she stepped into the living room, wearing a white sports bra with a jacket over it and a pair of track pants, Adidas tennis shoes on her feet.

"If my owly saniharry." Emma tried to speak with a mouth full of popcorn.

Lanie rolled her eyes, "And what is with all of this junk food?" she asked confusingly, kicking aside an empty bag of Doritos and an almost empty bag of Cheeto Puffs.

Emma sighed and just about burst into tears as she watched the couple on screen kiss.

"Are you okay?" Lanie asked nervously, sitting on the edge of the couch beside Emma.

Emma sniffled and turned to her, "I 'onno."

"Okay that's it." Lanie stated firmly and got up from the couch, taking the bowl of popcorn out of Emma's hand.

"WANEY!" Emma exclaimed, her mouth full of another handful of popcorn.

"You can not keep bumming around this apartment, what the hell is going on with you?" she asked, any sign of perkiness in her was officially gone as she rested her hands on her hips and eyed Emma.

Emma began to sniffle as she tossed her head down on the pillows of the couch and broke out into loud, ear piercing sobs.

"Emma!" Lanie exclaimed and ran towards her, plopping down on the floor in front of the couch.

Emma sighed and sat up as Lanie handed her a few Kleenex, Emma blew her nose before turning to Lanie, "Jay and I broke up."

Lanie gulped, "Oh…I'm really sorry, Em."

Emma shrugged, "It's my own fault. I blew up at him."

Lanie sighed, "We all do that sometimes."

Emma eyed her dumbly, "You don't…you're Miss Sunshine."

Lanie rolled her eyes and laughed, "Do I look like Miss Sunshine to you? I barely have a life not dedicated to exercise."

"Then why don't you just do something about it?" Emma asked confusingly, turning towards her.

Lanie sighed, "I used to be overweight, like really overweight. I hated exercising and I always ate junk food. I could barely run during gym and everybody would laugh at me. My mom always pressured me into doing something about it and working out with her and eating healthily, and I didn't want to."

"So what made you change your mind?"

"This one guy, he just made me feel horrible about myself. He made fun of me in the hallway in front of people, embarrassed me, called me names, egged my house…just about anything possibly horrible. And the worst part was that I really had a big crush on him."

Emma sighed and frowned.

"So after graduation, I decided to finally do something about my weight. I went to gyms, I ate healthy, I worked out…and it paid off. And around Christmas of last year…I saw that same guy, and he looked over my way and grinned at me, he walked over to me and asked for my name and I told him and he flat out started apologizing to me."

Emma laughed, "So what did you do?"

"I tossed my bottle of water straight in his face and walked off."

Emma laughed once again, "Go Lanie."

Lanie nodded and laughed before glancing over at a picture on her windowsill, he got up and grabbed it before walking back over towards Emma and handing it to her.

It was of Lanie and a boy with floppy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, her face was turned towards the camera with a big smile on her face while his eyes were shifted at her, a grin on his face.

"You know who that guy is?" Lanie asked.

Emma shook her head.

Lanie smiled as she glanced down at the picture before looking back up at Emma, "That's him."

Emma's eyes widened, "You mean…?"

Lanie nodded, "About a month after that, I got an email from him, he said that he got my address from a friend of mine and then he wrote up a huge list of everything he was sorry for doing to me, that he did it out of peer pressure and that he would love it if I would call him and give him a chance to explain. So I did, and I found out that he is a really great, and slightly misunderstood, guy. We've been dating for four months now."

Emma sighed, "How could you forgive him after that?"

Lanie sighed, "It's something that love does to you, I really couldn't stand him at first but pretty soon I was really starting to fall for him again, and I was looking past everything he ever did to me and finding the true him, and I'm glad I did. I love Eric."

"So how does this help me any?" Emma asked confusingly.

Lanie shrugged, "All I'm saying is that maybe you should look past that fight or whatever caused you to break up, I mean, if he cheated on you then that's a different story, but I know that you really love him and I'm seriously betting that he loves you too."

Emma sighed, "He said he hated long distance relationships."

Lanie rolled her eyes, "Who doesn't?"

"Well I guess I did kind of pick the fight between us…" Emma stated nervously.

Lanie sighed and patted Emma on the arm, "Just give him a call or something, Em."

Emma smiled a teary smile towards Lanie and nodded, "I might just have to."

Lanie grinned, "But first, let's get this mess cleaned up, copeesh?"

Emma smiled, "Copeesh."

-x-

Once again, so sorry about the long update...so sorry!

This story is coming to a close in the next chapter or so...tear, tear.

R&R and please, no flames!

Lotsa love,

degrassichick