"Get out. Now." Tyler quailed under that ice blue glare, turned on him by Caleb's petite blonde girlfriend. He shrunk out the door before Reid could do more than glare at him, leaving the tattooed boy to fend for himself alone. Fuck.

"What did you do to her?"

"Hello to you too, Gorgeous," he drawled, taking his time.

"I'm not fucking around, Reid. What happened between you and Holly?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Goldie Locks." Sarah raised her chin, and leveled a steady-eyed stare into his own.

"I'm really not fucking around right now Reid." Her voice was low, clipped. "What. Happened. Between. You. And. Holly?" Silently, she dared him to call her Goldie Locks one more time. To her surprise, the boy ducked his head, only the final clinging shreds of his dignity allowed him to keep from shuffling his feet like a guilty child.

"Nothing big… okay?" His voice was vehement, defensive. "I gave her swim lessons, she… conducted video interviews; we both got what we came for."

"And?" Sarah was clearly not fooled. The boy sighed deeply, searchingly.

"And then we kinda hooked up, she freaked out, left, and blew me off at the pool after that." Sarah's frown had deepened steadily with every word. She half-turned away from the boy, staring at a light switch on the opposite wall with unfocused eyes. "She seemed into it. We made out on the roof-" here Sarah raised an eyebrow "-but she was the one who brought me inside and jumped my bones." Here Reid allowed himself a small congratulatory smirk. Sarah was unimpressed. As she looked on, his smirk twitched and slipped out of place, ceded by a look of cool impassivity. She registered even now, to her displeasure, the catlike way in which the fair boy studied her with sidelong, unreadable glances. "She bailed right after, didn't say a word. Haven't talked to her since." With that, Reid rose from his seat on the bed and moved towards the door. "If you'll excuse me," he spoke abruptly, startling Sarah, "I have to get down to the pool. It takes work to look this good."

He left her alone in a strange room with more questions than before she'd come here, on her quest for answers.

--

"So I talked to Lavender after practice today." Reid raised his eyebrows at Tyler, a clear so what? with slight fuck off overtones. Tyler studied him for a moment, waiting for a response, before flopping lengthwise across the unmade bed opposite Reid's. "Um... He says he hasn't seen Holly at the pool in a while."

"Three weeks, two days," Reid replied in a monotone, eyes still fixed on the ceiling above him. The muscles in his biceps tensed, obvious from their exposed position beneath his head.

"See?! That's exactly what I'm-" Tyler cut himself off, exhaling loudly. He opened his eyes once more. "Lavender says it's a no-go. Well, actually he said that if Donnelly's not swimming laps by the end of the week then neither are you." Reid didn't flinch, giving no sign that he had heard the younger boy's words.

"Look, Reid. I love you- and not in a gay way," he spoke sarcastically over Reid's snort. "But really, dude. Grow the fuck up."

"I don't know what you're talking about." His voice was robotic, dead.

"I think you do, Reid. You haven't been the same since after that night at Nicky's. Since you stopped talking to Holly, and-"

"Shut up." Now his voice was taut with tension, the words cut off and spat out like shards of spun glass.

"Why should I?" Tyler's tone was cynical, he laughed without amusement. "Tell me Reid, why the fuck should I shut up? Because I don't want to watch you annihilate one more girl who doesn't deserve it? Because I'm not pretending everything is all hunky fucking dory? Because I'm not absolutely fucking fine with our varsity year championships being completely fucked because you don't care about anyone but yourself? Aaron Abbot is taking your place in the 4x400 medley relay, did you know that? We're going to lose because of Aaron Abbot. Because of you. Or should I shut up because I'm not pretending like we aren't all worried about you? Enlighten me, oh Holy One. Because everyone has noticed." He sat facing Reid's supine form, staring intently at his friend's pale, pinched face. Whatever he found in the blond boy's expression tempered the harsh glint in his blue eyes. "Reid." His voice was low, but almost gentle. "Tell me." Reid remained on his back, focusing on that same point ahead of him. A muscle in his jaw twitched. His tongue flicked out to wet his bottom lip. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and closed it again. He turned on his side, back to Tyler. "Hey. Please." And there was silence. One minute. Two.

And he drew in a shuddering breath, releasing it jerkily before speaking.

"I didn't stop talking to her." Tyler raised an eyebrow, clearly disbelieving.

"Really."

"Yes really, asshole. Yes really I didn't stop talking to her. Yes really she- yes really some things happened and yes really, she was the one who walked out the fucking door. Yes REALLY SHE HASN'T SPOKEN TO ME SINCE." He was nearly yelling now, and hesitated. "Happy? Are you happy now?"

"Of course I'm not." Tyler spoke more tentatively now. "But Reid... something had to have happened. I mean... you had to have done something...?" Now Reid rolled over completely, swinging his feet to the floor quickly and standing.

"This is so fucking typical, Ty. Of course it would be me that fucked it all up. Of course! Reid fucks up everything! Why wouldn't he? Better yet, how could he not? How could it possibly be that Holly was the one who fucked and ran this time? Maybe- god forbid- maybe Reid liked a girl. Maybe he fucked her because he couldn't not, because he tried not to but he lo- he tried not to but he liked her and she wanted to and maybe then she just fucking ran away. And maybe then he hasn't seen her since." Reid had shoved shoes onto his feet as he spoke, and now he turned to leave.

"Reid, I-"

"Save it, Tyler. Forget I said anything." And he was gone.

--

Holly stifled a squeak as she crushed herself into the shadows of the niche behind the water fountain, her face pressed against the cool of whitewashed wall. He passed her quickly, a ripple of wind leaving the scent of his skin stinging in her nostrils. She waited until she heard him clatter down the three flights of stairs, and only when she heard the building's door slam open and close again did she move to extricate herself from her hiding space. She was just rising to her feet when a quick-moving shape slammed into her, knocking her back against the fountain with a crack. She winced, gasping with pain as she felt the back of her head, hair sticky with blood.

"Um... ow?" She whispered more to herself than to the shape on the floor beside her, who was flooding the air with alternating expletives and apologies. "Tyler?" She spoke slightly louder, recognizing the voice and the contours of his familiar face in the dark hallway.

"I am so, so sorry- I was trying to catch up with my-"

"Reid. He went downstairs like a minute ago." She leaned dizzily against the wall, hand cradling the back of her head and legs splayed at odd angles in front of her.

"Holly?" Tyler's voice was now sharp with recognition, and something else.

"Yeah. I was just looking-"

"I don't think Reid wants to talk to you right now, Holly." His expression was hard. "Or ever." Her head tilted backwards in surprise, reeling as if he had reached out and slapped her.

"That's… that's fine. That's good, actually, because I was just looking for you." Now it was Tyler's turn to look surprised.

"Can we talk?" The boy stood, silently, and studied her for a moment before reaching out a hand. She took it, and was nearly levitated to her feet. Tyler was much stronger than he looked.

"Not here," he replied curtly.

"Lead the way, then."