"Well, I guess it's about time for me to go," Josh finally said. "It was really great finally meeting you guys. You're all I've heard about for the last three weeks."

"Yeah, you too," I replied with a fake smile and shook his hand.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow, Lex," he told her.

"Looking forward to it," she grinned and walked him to the door.

I was so glad to see him leave, and I hated him even more than I did before I met him, if that was possible. Because he was awesome. He knew a ton about music. He played the guitar, too. He listened to cool bands. He was hilarious. He probably could be a fucking underwear model. And if Lexi was cheating on me with him…shit, who could blame her?

I glanced out of the kitchen towards the door. She gave him a hug before he left. She hugged everyone. It shouldn't have bothered me. I shouldn't have gotten angry.

But I did. I got so angry. It wasn't even funny. I started to go upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Lexi called to me sweetly.

"Bed," I replied, not even bothering to look back at her.

"Well, give me a few minutes and I'll join you."

Damn. Not that I hadn't been waiting for three weeks to come home and sleep with her, but I didn't want to when I was this pissed off. I pulled off my shirt and changed from my jeans to a pair of baggy gym shorts to sleep in. I wasn't really ready to go to sleep – it was only about 10pm – so I started unpacking my suitcases. Or, I guess it was more like I was just throwing my clothes around in a fit of rage. Whatever.

"Hey," Lexi smiled, coming into my room and closing the door.

"Hey," I replied flatly.

She came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "I missed you so much, sweetie."

"Yeah, me too."

She started kissing my neck, but I just kept packing. I couldn't stop imagining her doing the same to him. Obviously, she noticed that I wasn't very responsive, because she stopped and went over to my bed and sat down.

"Come here and talk to me," she said. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing, I just wish you had the consideration not to parade your other boyfriend in front of me in my own house," I whispered to myself.

"Excuse me?"

Shit. Okay, first of all, I didn't mean to say that out loud. Second of all, I definitely didn't mean for her to hear it. Third, I didn't even mean it! I'm a jealous asshole, I know that, but I when it came down to it, I knew she wouldn't cheat on me. I trusted her. Josh was just the first guy she'd spent a lot of time with, besides Nate and Jason, since we started dating. So, yeah, I was jealous that she was spending so much time with him, but I didn't really think there was anything going on.

I spun around and looked at her apologetically. "Lexi, I am so, so sorry."

"What the hell, Shane?" she said, her voice somewhere between sad and angry. "You think Josh and I...how could you think I would do that to you?"

"Lexi, I didn't mean that at all," I replied quickly.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I…"

It pretty much meant what it sounded like it meant, really, so I wasn't sure how I was going to explain that…other than I'm just a fucking asshole.

"I was just…"

"I can't believe you!" she said bitterly, not giving me a chance to explain. Not that I had any explanation. "What, I can't have friends now? Did you just expect me to sit at home and cry about how lonely I was while you were gone? Shane, you go all over the world and have thousands of girls throw themselves at you. But I never once thought that you would…"

"Lexi, I'm sorry," I interrupted her. "I was just jealous, okay?"

"No, Shane. If you trusted me, you would have no reason to be jealous."

She bolted out of my room and downstairs. She grabbed her keys from the counter and ran outside, slamming the door behind her. Caitlyn, Nate, and Jason were all still in the living room – they all looked at each other and then Caitlyn got up and went outside after her.

"Shane? What the hell did you do?" Nate shouted up to me.

I trudged down the stairs, trying to decide whether I should go after her or let her cool off a little. I found myself standing in front of my friends, who were staring up at me from their chairs expectantly.

"I didn't mean…" I started, but the sound of the door slamming stopped me.

Caitlyn stormed towards me and got as much 'in my face' as someone seven inches shorter than me really could. "You are such an asshole, Shane!"

"What the…" Nate and Jason both said. Caitlyn never raised her voice to anyone. And she definitely never called anyone an asshole.

"I know," I admitted quietly. "Is she…"

"What, Shane? Crying hysterically? Yeah, she is."

Damn. I am the biggest asshole in the world. Caitlyn was being nice compared to what I deserved.

"Where is she going?" I asked.

"I think you know," she replied cynically.

She stormed up the stairs to Lexi's room, probably to get some of her stuff to bring to her. Why the hell did Lexi ever want to be my girlfriend in the first place? I'm worse than the douchebags I try to protect her from. Oh wait, she didn't want to be my girlfriend in the first place.

"What did you say to her?" Jason asked again.

"I didn't mean for her to hear it…I didn't even mean to say it…"

"What did you say?" he and Nate both repeated in unison.

I sighed. I didn't even want to admit it. "I said that I wished she was considerate enough not to bring her other boyfriend to my house."

Their jaws seriously dropped. They just stared at me for a minute.

"Wow…you are an asshole, dude," Jason finally said.

"I know!" I replied. "I didn't even mean it…I know she wouldn't cheat on me…I just got so jealous, I…"

"What are you going to do?" Nate asked. "I think that's definitely more than a flowers and chocolate comment. And you're at a serious disadvantage because I'm definitely sure Caitlyn isn't going to help you out with this one."

"We're going to have to get creative…" Jason said, and I could tell he was already thinking.

At some point in our friendship, our love lives turned into a collective problem. We all talked about what was going on, and we all came up with a solution. It was annoying, sometimes, but I guess I only thought that because they were never usually my problems we were trying to solve. Really, it was usually just Jason. He was that guy who would hesitate before answering when a girl asked him if that dress made her look fat. We had to bail him out more times than I can count. But now that it was my problem, I was thanking God that I had these guys to help me figure out what the hell I was going to do. I thought loving someone was supposed to be simple. I love her, she loves me, aren't things supposed to be perfect?

And why the hell am I such an asshole?

Caitlyn walked into the kitchen quickly with Lexi's backpack, kissed Nate goodbye, glared at me, and sped out the door.

"Do you guys think I should propose to her?" Nate asked suddenly.

My jaw pretty much dropped. That comment was totally out of left field, whatever the hell that means. I was never really a baseball guy. I wasn't really interested in anything that didn't involve a guitar while I was growing up.

"What?" Jason and I both said at the same time.

Nate shrugged. "I mean, we've been dating for four years. That's a long time, right?"

"That doesn't mean you have to marry her," Jason reminded him. "You shouldn't feel like you have to just because you've been together for a long time."

"I don't feel like I have to," Nate clarified. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

"Well…do you want to marry her?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "I mean, eventually, yeah. We don't have to get married right away, right? We could wait awhile. But at least she would know that I wanted to, someday. Do you think?"

We both shrugged. "I guess that makes sense."

Nate nodded. "Yeah, it does. I'm gonna do it."

"Wow."

I always knew that Nate would be the first of us to get married. It was still weird to actually hear it, though. We were only twenty.

"Anyways," Nate said. "Back to you, asshole. I think we need to get Josh on our side."