At about seven o' clock PM, Mitch called everyone downstairs. The whole Pack plus Natalie was standing standing around the kitchen, waiting for Mitch to talk.

"So! I think now is the time for the Pack to finally do something as… well, a Pack! We've all been here for three days, and we've barely even spoken to each other!" Mitch spoke up. Preston enthusiastically nodded.

"Yeah! We came here to spend time together! A vacation to see everyone who lives so far away," Preston added.

"Jerome and I have planned out where we're going out to eat out already. And the two of us are going to pay, so don't even bothering trying to argue," Mitch announced.

"You guys have fun," Natalie cut in, giving us a smile. "I'll be here if you need me."

"I assumed you were coming…?" Jerome said, confused. She shrugged and made her way towards the door.

"Well, I figured you guys wanted to go out to eat as the Pack, the YouTube group of best friends. I'm not part of the Pack. Don't worry about me, though, I don't mind. I actually find it… cute how close you all are," she explained. She walked out of the room before anyone could argue. I was actually a bit disappointed that she wasn't going to come along. As much as I hated the fact that Lachlan and Natalie were dating, she was still a sickeningly great person. In all reality, though, the guys wouldn't talk about anything too personal with her around. They especially wouldn't talk about recording and viewers around her.

"Okay, so we're going to be taking two cars: mine and Mitch's," Jerome told us, shaking off the whole Natalie confusion. "Me, Vik, and Preston in one car. Mitch, Lachlan, and Rob in his car."

"Wait! Can I ride with you and Vik? Preston can go with Rob and Mitch instead," Lachlan asked, worried. I nodded my head, hoping Jerome noticed my agreement. I didn't want to be stuck in a car for who knew how long with the guy I had to pretend to be in love with, who I also walked in on, making out with his best friend. That wasn't happening.

"Mitch and I spent time figuring out who would go with who," Jerome complained.

"Is that so?" Rob questioned, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yeah, we figured that Lachlan and Preston would be too flirty, Jerome and Lachlan would get into pointless arguments, Rob would probably try to make Vik uncomfortable by talking about love or some bullshit like that, Vik and Lachlan would go permanent best friend mode - so would Preston and Rob - and then you guys wouldn't talk to anyone else for the rest of the night, and obviously Jerome and I have to drive," Mitch answered. They forgot to consider that Rob and Lachlan got annoyingly flirty too.

"Geez, we're just going out to eat," I grumbled.

"So? Can I?" Lachlan continued.

"No, we just explained why not," Jerome sighed.

"But-" Lachlan started.

"But what?" Jerome snapped. Lachlan sighed.

"Nothing, nothing…" he breathed. He looked at me and I gave him a small shrug. It was sweet of him to try, but Jerome didn't seem like he would give in.

Jerome grabbed me and Preston by the arm and dragged us out of the house. Holy damn, it felt like my arm was getting ripped open. Why did he have to be so forceful? We were just going to the car. He didn't need to reopen all my cuts in order to do so.

We somehow managed to make it to the car in complete silence. Jerome opened the car doors and shoved me and Preston into the backseat. He slammed the door shut and got into the driver's seat.

"Are you taking us to dinner or kidnapping us?" Preston huffed, rubbing his arm where Jerome was holding him. If that genuinely hurt for him, then I had every reason to be mentally screaming in pain.

"I don't know, you tell me," Jerome smoothly replied. I could tell he was only excited to hang out with us, he wasn't purposely being aggressive. We both rolled our eyes.

"So… erm… Vik?" Preston awkwardly murmured, breaking a period of silence. I stared at the water drops that were making it's way onto the window. It was raining. I hummed to acknowledge Preston. "What happened- erm… earlier-" he began. He kept trying to find the words to say while stuttering out meaningless syllables. "I-it was… nothing. Don't tell anyone, please."

"I didn't look like nothing," I mumbled, still looking away from him.

"Well- it- we-" he stuttered.

"Do you guys like each other?" I interrupted, turning to face him. I honestly did ship Poofless, but it annoyed me that they would be able to have a perfect relationship without even trying.

"I mean… I like Rob, and I think he likes me. I hope so, anyways. Otherwise it'd be very awkward," he half-heartedly joked.

"Very, very awkward…" I agreed, looking at my shoes. The conversation became uncomfortable very quickly. I didn't know how else to respond.

"Why did you run?" he thought out loud. I tried to think of a valid excuse, but nothing came to mind. "Are… are you homophobic or anything?" His eyes were widened in fear.

"Oh god, no," I instantly answered. It was almost funny that he even thought for a second that I was homophobic, seeing as I was gay myself.

"O-oh, sorry. I just figured…" he apologized.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," I told him. I glanced over to Jerome, who looked completely distracted as he drove. He seemed to be driving fine, but I was hoping that he wasn't completely out of it, just in case. I was about to say something to Jerome, but my phone vibrated in my pocket before I could do anything. I pulled it out to check it.

From: Simon Minter

I'm sorry for everything.

I glared at my phone. Did he really think that I would forgive him that quickly? Did he think a simple sorry would fix that fact that he made so many people I cared for hate me. It didn't work like that. I didn't bother to reply.

"Where are we going, Jerome?" Preston asked. I looked up from my phone to glance at Jerome.

"You'll see when we get there," he replied, almost sounding like an impatient parent.

"Come on, Jerome. You think we're completely fine with you blindly driving us around?" Preston continued. Jerome shrugged.

"You trust me, don't you?" he answered, looking at us through the rear view mirror.

"No, not really," I admitted, bluntly. The other two laughed.

"Yeah, I can't tell if you know where you're going yourself," Preston added.

"Well, I think I do, considering that we're here." I looked out the window to see that we were in a parking lot behind a building that I could only assume was the restaurant. "The rest of the guys should be here in a minute or two, so we're going to wait for them." Jerome got out of the car and unlocked the doors. Preston and I got out of the car and stood nearby it.

Mitch arrived about three seconds afterward. As soon as Lachlan got out of Mitch's car, he bolted towards me. He stopped right next to me, and let his face slam into my shoulder.

"What happened to you?" I mumbled, trying not to freak out at his touch.

"Rob is so annoying," he whined, purposely loud enough for Rob to hear.

"What did he do this time?" I wondered. Lachlan sighed, his hot breath hitting against my shoulder. I involuntarily shivered.

"He kept sitting on my lap and he was just being a meanie face," he pouted. He lowered his voice significantly. "I know I'm probably reading too much into it, but… it makes me think that maybe he was just using Preston for sex or something." I froze in confusion. I could understand where he was coming from.

"I get what you mean," I responded, looking towards Rob. He and Preston were playfully shoving each other back and forth.

"It's probably nothing. I mean, Rob is just like that, right? Goofy and jokingly flirt," he said, unsure of his out words.

"I'm not sure, Lachlan. Let's just follow them in," I suggested. Everyone else was ahead of us, walking towards the front of the restaurant. Lachlan took his head off my shoulder and we started walking behind them. He only slammed his face back into my shoulder when we saw what restaurant we were at.

"No. They hate me, they actually hate me. My friends hate me," he grumbled. I laughed at his reaction, but I did agree. Mitch and Jerome wouldn't have taken us to the Outback Steakhouse if they knew that Lachlan wouldn't get annoyed by it.

"Come on, they're just jags," I told him, putting my arm around his shoulders and pushing him towards the entrance. What was I doing? Why did I do that? I was probably creeping him out.

The whole time we were getting seated, Lachlan hid his face on my shoulder and kept quiet. He was mumbling words I couldn't understand. I had to push him towards where we were going because he wasn't looking. It was difficult with his clumsy wobbling around. We sat in a booth, three to a side. Preston and Jerome sat closest to the wall. Rob and Mitch sat on Preston's side, leaving me and Lachlan to sit on Jerome's side. I got uncomfortable with how close the waitress was to my face as she handed out menus and the utensils rolled up in napkins. As she gave me the napkin thing, she paused and briefly looked at me.

"You two make a really cute couple," she whispered, lightly nudging her head towards Lachlan. She was already walking away when what she said sunk in. I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment.

"What did she just say, Vik?" Jerome asked, in a suggestive tone. I stayed silent and kicked his foot.

"Yeah, what did she say?" Lachlan repeated, hitting me with his elbow.

"Shut up," I muttered. He got closer to me to whisper so no one else could hear.

"Vikram Barn, everyone. Such a player with the girls, aren't you," he teased, obviously joking with the irony and sarcasm.

"Hey, you know me. The definitely not gay, Vik Barn," I joked along with him. We both let out small laughs, making everyone send us a confused look.

"I guess you guys didn't have to be in the same car to go all out best friend mode," Jerome grumbled.

"Whatever. By the way, she wasn't hitting on me or anything. She thought that... she thought that Lachlan and I were a couple. I have no clue why," I explained. Lachlan's eyes widened and his face became tinted with red. He was probably weirded out at the thought of us as a couple. I didn't see why he wouldn't, considering he had a girlfriend he seemed perfectly content with.

"You know, no offense to Lachlan and his girlfriend, I really ship Vikklan," Preston confessed. Lachlan rolled his eyes.

"You know how I told you that Preston and I dated at one point? There were three reasons we broke up: distance, his crush on Rob, and his out of the box assumption that I liked you as more than a friends. How far fetched is that? Oh shit, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying that I dated him while you… I'm sorry, Vik," he whispered. I gave a small laugh and looked away from him. I could care less about Preston. I hated how Lachlan was capable of comfortably dating a guy. It was like the world was teasing me.

"So, what is everyone thinking of ordering?" Mitch brought up, completely changing the topic. I shrugged and opened my menu. I saw Lachlan read the menu with me, over my shoulder.

"For fuck's sake, they call their appetizers 'Aussie-tizers.' I am legitimately offended," Lachlan whined. I could definitely see why.

"The Victoria's Filet sounds good," Preston replied, ignoring Lachlan's comment. I read the description for what he was talking about.

"That sounds so unhealthy and fatty," Lachlan commented. I wasn't a huge meat person myself. I turned to look at the salads.

"Are you all ready to order?" a female voice asked. I looked up to see the waitress standing at the end of the booth. Everyone but me and Lachlan nodded, so Mitch started giving his order. As their voices continued talking, I skimmed through the salads and choose a random one that seemed appealing.

"Vik, what do you want?" Jerome said, nudging me with his elbow. The waitress gave me a polite, but impatient look.

"Uh- erm, I'll have the Ahi Sesame Salad," I stuttered out. She nodded and looked at Lachlan.

"I don't want anything. Thank you, though" he told her. She nodded and was about to turn away, but Preston stopped her.

"Actually, he'll have-" Preston began.

"I'm not hungry, it'll just be a waste," Lachlan cut in.

"-a caesar salad," Preston finished.

"No, please don't. I'm fine. If I'm hungry, I'll just feed off of you guys, whether you care or not," he insisted.

"Please, just order it anyway," Preston pressed on. She gave a knowing smile, nodded, and walked away. Lachlan groaned and stuck his middle finger in Preston's face. Everyone laughed as he pouted.

"Look at poor Lachlan. We ordered him food. What's he going to do now?" Jerome teased. Lachlan rolled his eyes and took out his phone.

"Really, it's no big deal. We can just bring it to go if you don't eat it," Mitch pointed out. Lachlan shrugged.

"It's fine, whatever," he huffed. He was staring at his phone, but there was nothing on his screen. It wasn't even on. I just fiddled with my fingers under the table.

What was Jerome's problem? He was always on Lachlan's case, as if Lachlan had done something horrible to him. Lachlan didn't deserve to be pointlessly pushed around by someone he considered a best friend. It wasn't fair. He deserved the world.

My mind shifted solely onto Lachlan. Was he really not hungry? I could see him being in a bad mood and feeling a loss of appetite, but the Lachlan I knew loved to eat. Suddenly, my chest tightened. The past three days, I hadn't seen him eat at all. Could that mean something? Was he… No, surely not. He probably just ate when I wasn't around. That made perfect sense.

"What would life be like if the three main Pack ships became canon?" Rob thought aloud. His words caught my attention.

"What do you mean?" Mitch questioned, confused.

"I mean if Poofless, Merome, and Vikklan were real," Rob answered.

"Well, no duh. I meant what you meant by what would life be like.' Are you saying life would be completely different if that were to happen?" Mitch rephrased.

"I mean, yeah. To start off with, though, are any of you homophobic?" Rob continued. Everyone shook their heads to say no, including Lachlan who was still in a bad mood. Preston sent a wary glance at me, but I shrugged it off. Did he really believe that I was homophobic? I was probably the gayest person he'd ever meet.

"Next part: are any of you gay, bi, or anything along those lines?" Rob asked, a playful smirk on his lips. I waited quietly for someone to reply - maybe Lachlan, Preston, or even Rob would speak up, or Mitch and Jerome would confess something - but Lachlan didn't give anyone the chance.

"What the hell, Rob? You can't just ask that as if it were nothing!" Lachlan interrupted. He glanced towards me, and I knew that he was worried about me. He really was too sweet. If only it felt like he wasn't leading me on, and I could accept that he was just concerned, as a best friend.

"What's up with you? If no one answers, then no one answers. Is this your completely see through way of hiding the fact that you're gay?" Jerome speculated, raising his eyebrow. He seemed genuinely curious.

"I'm not gay-" Lachlan started.

"Bi, then," Jerome corrected himself.

"Yes, I'm bisexual and I don't care if you guys know, but what about anybody else? It's a hard question to answer if you're not ready to. You want to answer, because you want to be honest with your closest friends, but you never really know how supportive everyone is," he answered. Jerome was about to respond, but people came towards our booth with our food and he shut his mouth. Soon, everyone had food in front of them. Lachlan just stared at his food in disgust.

"What's wrong, Lachlan?" Preston asked, looking at Lachlan's expression.

"I told you. I'm not hungry," he mumbled, a frown on his lips.

"Why not?" Preston pushed on.

"I don't feel too well. I'll be in the bathroom," he sighed, getting up and walking away. I took a quick glance at the rest of the guys before staring at my food.

What was wrong with Lachlan?