It was a Sunday afternoon when Ashton heard a knocking at the door. He got up from the couch and closed it almost immediately when he saw who it was. "Come on, open the door." Freddy said from outside. Ashton rolled his eyes, but opened the door back up anyways.

"What do you want dipshit?" He asked.

"I just want to talk to Zack." He said.

"Like that's gonna happen." Ashton said and he began to close the door again.

"Ash c'mon-"

"No, you don't get to call me 'Ash,' not after what you did."

"If you just let me explain-"

"You can't talk your way out of this one Jones. Now get out of here before things get ugly." Ashton said in a serious tone. Freddy began to walked down the driveway when he turned around.

"Can you at least tell me how he's doing? He wasn't at school Friday."

"You wanna know how he is? Seriously?" Ashton asked, looking at Freddy like he was insane. "Well so do I. He hasn't left his room since he came home on his birthday crying his eyes out. He's not answering when he knock, he's not answering his phone either. He's completely isolated himself. I don't know if he's eating. All I know is that every night, I can hear him crying himself back to sleep, so thanks for that. Now beat it." Freddy took a deep breath, walked away and once he was down the street began to cry himself.

Ashton went back inside, playing back the conversation in his head and headed upstairs. He walked up to Zack's door and tried knocking. "Zack are you in there?" He asked, to which he got no response. "You gotta come out sometime." Still nothing. "Listen, your piece of shit ex just dropped by." He waited for a second before he heard the door unlock and saw it open just a crack.

"What did he want?" Zack asked in a weak voice.

"He wanted to see you. I said no obviously." Zack tried to close his door again, but Ashton put his foot in the way. "No, you're coming out." He said pushing to door open. Zack was standing on the other side with his head hanging low. His hair was a mess, his t-shirt had tear stains on it and he also didn't have pants on. Just a pair of boxer-briefs and one sock on his left foot. Ashton lifted his brother's head up so see his eye were tired and bloodshot. "Oh God, you look awful."

"I feel awful." He replied.

"Come on downstairs, you need to eat something. Anything." He said taking Zack's hand in his and bringing him down to the kitchen with him.

"Where are Mom and Dad?"

"They had to go into work. Won't be back until later tonight. Here, made you a sandwich." Ashton said, putting it on the table in front of him. Zack just looked at it. "Bro, please." Zack picked it up and started eating. "Look, I know what Freddy did was fucked up, but you can't just lock yourself up forever."

"I know, I'm just being sad for awhile."

"That's fine, but you weren't even eating dude."

"I couldn't. I felt too sick." He said before the two fell into silence. Ashton then noticed Zack had begun to cry again.

"Zack?"

"Was I not good enough?" Zack asked.

"Hey, don't say that. Don't you dare say that. Freddy didn't deserve you."

"Really?"

"Definitely. You'll find someone who'll treat you right. And until Freddy gets his shit together, he'll keep missing out on what's best for him."

"Thanks Ash," Zack said wiping his tears away.

"Anytime. Now can you please put some pants on? I'm really not comfortable talking to you right now."

"You know, you were really sweet up until now." Zack said with a small laugh and walked upstairs.

Freddy got home and stormed up to his room walking right past his mom and brother who both tried to talk to him. He kicked his shoes off and fell down on his bed. "Freddy, sweety," his mom said peaking into his room. "Is there something you walk to talk about?" She asked hesitantly.

"If I wanted to talk, I wouldn't've kept walking when you said 'hi.'" He said without turning around.

"Is there something you need to talk about?" She asked.

"My ex ruined my life and I can't even talk to the boy I'm desperately in love with. Any advice?" He asked.

"Give it time honey. Zack just needs to process everything, that's all. You'd probably act the same if you saw him with someone else."

"But what if he's over me when I see him next and it's too late?"

"Well, if it's meant to be, he'll come back." She said, rubbing his back.

"Great, I love leaving it up to chance."

"Bart and I are going out to eat if you want to join us." She suggested, to which he didn't respond. "Or just stay in your room and sit in the dark, whatever makes you happy." She said walking out.

Zack was walking to school the next morning. It was cold and looked as if it was going to rain soon. He had his headphones in, blasting his music at full volume when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He hesitated for a minute before he turned around and saw Freddy.

"Hey," Freddy said, to which Zack didn't respond. "Can we talk?" He asked.

"Not now." Zack said turning away.

"Look, I just wanted to say-"

"I said not now." Zack told him firmly. "We'll talk later, I promise. But for now, just leave me alone." He said, putting his headphones back on as Freddy took off on his skateboard. Zack walked into the school where he saw Tomika and Lawrence flirting with each other like it was any other day since they finally got together. Please don't notice me, please don't notice me. He thought as he walked by.

"Zack!" They both shouted. Crap

"Hey guys. Crazy weather lately huh?" He asked. He blinked and next he knew, Lawrence was hugging him tight. "Uh, Larry?"

"I was so worried about you man. You never miss out on school." He let go and looked at him concerned.

"Oh yeah, well you know there's this cold going around and I guess that I just-"

"Freddy told us what happened." Tomika told him. Zack dropped his head, he couldn't bring himself to look at them with the knowledge. "We're sorry Zack, I really thought he'd changed."

"It's fine, I'm the idiot who trusted him." The bell rang cutting them all off. "I'll see you guys after class." He said walking off.

"Holy shit you're alive." Gordon said as Zack walked into their class.

"Despite my best efforts, I am." Zack said sitting down.

"You didn't like...actually try to-"

"Of course not! I didn't eat much, but I didn't try to kill myself, relax."

"You had me worried for a second there man."

"Tomika told me that Freddy told you guys what happened. What did he say exactly?" Zack asked.

"He said that you ran off after you saw Taylor kissing him." Gordon told him.

"Taylor...kissed him?"

"That's the story he told us at least. Not every believes him though."

"Do you?" Zack asked.

"I don't know man. To be honest he could be lying to cover his ass again like he did for all of Middle School, but Taylor is obsessed with him enough I can see her trying to break you guys apart."

"Yeah, so can I…" Zack said to himself as class started.

"I just want to make sure that we're still ok even though Freddy and Zack split." Frankie said to Katie trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Frankie, our relationship isn't in jeopardy because Freddy's an asshole." Katie told him.

"Hey, you heard what he said happened." Frankie argued.

"And you believe him?" She asked.

"Well yeah. He's my best friend. Why wouldn't I?"

"No offense Babe, but you weren't here the last three years. Cheating and lying kind of became his thing." Frankie was silent for a minute.

"I believe him. I've seen how he is with Zack and I don't think he'd lie to him."

"I wish I had your optimism." She said.

Later at lunch, the usual crew was sitting together, minus Freddy and Frankie. "Are you sure you can talk to him?" Lawrence asked Zack.

"I think I can handle it. I owe it to him to at least listen to what he has to say." Zack admitted in between fries. "God, I've missed food."

"You must of have been starving to enjoy the stuff the school's giving us." Tomika said poking her bowl of...soup? Yeah, that sounded close enough.

"Are you gonna eat that?" He asked.

"Be my guest." She said, handing it over with a smile. He took it and immediately began eating the...whatever it was supposed to be.

"Everyone, be sure to keep your hands and feet away from Zack's mouth." Katie warned.

"You know, you're eating just Freddy used to." Gordon commented. Everyone gave him a look. "Sorry,"

"No, it's fine." Zack told him. "I dated him for almost half a year, it'd make sense that I act a bit like him."

"I really wish I could go over there." Freddy told Frankie as they sat across the quad. "But after Thursday, your girlfriend would probably kill me."

"Little more than probably. You need to get Zack alone to talk to him."

"Zack promised me we'd talk after school. So I'll just meet him at his locker then. Until then, I'm just glad to see that he can smile again." Freddy said staring longingly at Zack.

"You really loved him didn't you?" Frankie asked.

"Still do man." He said not looking away from Zack.

"I think you're making the right decision talking to him." Alicia told Zack in their class together.

"Really?" He asked.

"You should've seen it Zack, Freddy was nearly falling apart when he told us what happened. It's amazing that he managed to not cry in front of us. That's probably why he left immediately after." She continued to explain.

"Wow," Zack said. "Then I think I know what I'm going to say."

It was after school. Zack was at his locker grabbing what he needed. When he closed it, he saw Freddy running down the hall towards his direction. "Hey," Freddy said out of breath as he arrived. "Is it ok if we talk now?" He asked.

"Yeah, I actually really want to." Zack told him.

"Yeah? Cool. Ok, let me start." Freddy said as the two made their way to one of the benches outside. "I was about to give you your present when I saw Taylor. She was was crying and told me this story about her boyfriend being a dick and-"

"Freddy, I don't care about all that. I just want you to answer me one question." Zack interrupted

"Anything."

"Did you willingly kiss Taylor even though we were together?" Zack asked.

"No. She kissed me, I pushed her off immediately, but you were already there." Freddy told him. "Zack, you know hurting you is the last thing I'd ever want to do." He said, taking Zack's hand in his.

"I don't doubt that for a second. But I still think we should stop seeing each other." Zack told him.

"B-but Zack. I didn't cheat this time. I really thought that I was being a good boyfriend."

"You were Freddy. You were more than I could ask for, but when I said I trusted you, I lied. To you and myself. I saw you with Taylor and right away assumed that you were back to your old ways and ran off without letting you get a word out. I don't want to break up because you kissed someone else. I want to break up because I wasn't mature enough to think you changed. You deserve someone that can really trust you and that person just isn't me."

Freddy opened his mouth to protest but, deep down he knew Zack was right as much as he hated to admit it. "Can we...still be friends? Would that be ok?" Freddy asked out of desperation to still be apart of Zack's life.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Zack told him before the two shared a tight hug. "One last kiss too?" Zack asked. Freddy nodded as he lifted his head up and the brought their lips together for the last time.

"See you later?" Freddy asked.

"See you later." Zack said as the two took their separate ways.