DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

4 Points of view in this one... yay

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

I obliged, and welcomed her, someone new and beautiful, with open arms.

-x-

Evan's POV

"Sorry," She murmured, closing her eyes as she pulled away.

"Why're you apologising, Leah?" She shrugged and bowed her head.

"I don't know." I smiled at her, but she didn't see it, her hair falling across her eyes as I laughed.

"Super-mood-swings." I tutted sarcastically, rolling my eyes with another laugh, "What is it, you on your period or something?" She blushed pink and looked away, her expression changing from elated to heartbroken in a second. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her against me again, "Hey! Hey, I was only joking, Leah… I didn't mean to be rude or anything-"

"I know." She said quietly, still looking utterly shattered. "I know… but…" She shook her head and stopped speaking.

"You want to tell me, or… is it a bit too quick?" She bowed her head and looked away again. "It's cool." A pause and my stomach growled, breaking the awkward silence.

"You hungry?" I nodded mutely, suddenly starving. She smiled and rose, offering me her hand. "I started making pizza before… earlier." She blushed and looked away. "I don't think it'll be burnt yet…" She trailed off and looked at our hands for a second. I took her moment of indecision to be the perfect time to pull her back into my arms. She stumbled and laughed and I smiled at her for the longest time, pulling her into a tight hug and waiting for her to pull away.

I wasn't hungry when she was hugging me. It was strange - when I was with her, it… it didn't feel weird, but it was as if nothing else mattered. And that was a fantastic feeling.

I was vaguely aware of the knock on the door as I pulled her close to me again, she was laughing in my ear, enjoying the repeat hug-attack, apparently, but I didn't look up to see who it was. I was too caught up in the whole moment to even care, and as Leah gently tilted my head to make me look at her, pulled me closer to kiss her and I stumbled back to the bed, just in case I fell over, I heard the gasp, and the door close. But it didn't bother me.

Leah's POV

I pulled him down to kiss me, hearing someone open the door, but ignoring it with all the strength I had. I wanted to be here. I wanted to be held.

I had found my imprint, and he was kissing me. The door closed again as Evan fell back on the bed with a small laugh and a yelp of surprise. I tried my best to act gracefully, but ended up falling on top of him, his arms still around me, our lips still pressed together.

"What-did-I-say-about-pacing-myself?" He managed to squeak as I lost control and kissed him repeatedly. He eventually found the strength of will to push me away, and cupped my cheeks between his hands. "Leah?"

"Yeah?"

"Control yourself." I took a deep breath and let it out, suppressing the urge to throw myself at him again. "OK?" I nodded and he relaxed. "Good."

There was a long moment of silence and his stomach growled again. I pulled him up from the bed and he dusted himself off, grinning, his face flushed with… a lot of emotions, I suppose.

"You're blushing," He grinned and I took his hand, leading him back downstairs, trying to brush my hair back from my eyes as best as I could. He laughed and ruffled it, I growled back and he shoved his hands in his pockets, mock-terrified, and laughing. I poked my tongue out and smiled at him, he dared to jump forward and kiss me on the nose.

Laughing, we stumbled into the kitchen, arms linked, grinning at each other pathetically widely. Evan stopped as he saw the scene before us, his mouth hanging open slightly. Max had a mug of tea on the table; Seth had a drink and was sitting beside her, rubbing her back gently as she cried.

"Mac?"

"Oh, you fuck off now." Seth said without looking up. "This is your fault."

"What is?" Evan went pink and his hand flew unconsciously to his throat, touching the well-formed handprint that now sat there, looking menacing. I swallowed and stepped in front of him. "Mac… what've I done?" she sniffed and didn't reply, so he turned to Seth and asked the same question.

Max's POV

I went upstairs to go and get them for dinner. The pizza was smelling pretty good, actually, I could almost taste it on my tongue as I strode upstairs and pressed on the door, knocking twice. It swung open before me and I gasped as I saw him hugging her.

She was laughing, giggling in his ear as he squeezed her tighter, and a surge of jealousy spread through me. My fingers slipped on the door handle and it clicked loudly, but neither of them noticed, neither of them had seen me there.

Tears sprung up in my eyes and I stepped back as they kissed, Evan falling back onto the bed, pulling her down with him. I shook with anger as I watched them, throwing the door shut and shaking, tears falling from my eyes. I thundered back down the stairs, throwing myself into Seth's arms and holding onto him tightly. He tilted my head up and kissed me softly on the lips to calm me down.

Yes, I was well aware of the hypocrisy. But I was alright with it. Seth sat me down and let me cry a bit more, making me a cup of tea and sitting down beside me, just rubbing my back gently, letting me know he was there.

-x-

I knew exactly what Evan was going to say when Seth couldn't explain.

"Well? What've I done?"

"I-… I don't know." Seth murmured, not looking at Evan.

"Then how can you be sure I've done it?" He was always quick and sarcastic. That's why I loved him. He was smart, cute, funny… everything a girl could want. And now he was looking at me, a mixture of confusion and concern plastered across his face. "Mac?" A small pause, "What's up?"

"S'just me being stupid." I managed to murmur, blushing harder.

"Doubt that." He sat down beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. "Come on."

I shut my eyes and tried to ignore his hand, slowly rubbing up and down my arm in his own little consoling way. Shaking my head, I sniffed and wiped my eyes, pulling away.

"Mac." He was suddenly slightly sterner, "You've got to tell me."

"It's ridiculous." I sniffed, "You'll call me a hypocrite." Another sniff. "And you'll laugh."

"Promise I wont. Though I can't guarantee on the hypocrite thing." I looked up at him and frowned. He shrugged, "You know me, call 'em as I see 'em."

"I do know you." He smiled and hugged me tighter again. "It's…" I leaned closer to him and murmured the words into his ear. "It's…" I pulled away again and shook my head, bottling it. "Don't worry."

"Mac!" He yelled, "For god's sake, I've had enough of you screwing me around." he pulled his arm away and stood up, "I'm just gonna go, alright?" He looked at Leah for a second; she was staring at me, furious.

"Don't." She murmured, turning and laying a hand on his arm. He stopped in his tracks and I snapped.

"It's that!" Suddenly I was on my feet and pointing at him. "You and her!"

"What about us?" Evan was genuinely lost on this one; I could see it in his eyes. "I mean… we've only just met and…. I mean, alright, she's…"

"What I think he's trying to say… is that yes, I imprinted on him," Leah jumped in, "But… we're gonna take it slow."

"Then why the hell were you kissing him?"

"Impulse." Seth said softly, turning to me, "Max… you remember when I… the first night you were here, you thought you were dreaming and-"

"I thought you kissed me?" Oh, crap. Welcome to Hypocrite Central. "You did?" I tilted my head slightly and he nodded. "Oh, Christ, why didn't you bloody say?"

"Because I thought you'd overreact." He paused, "Which is what you're doing now."

"Sorry…" Evan folded his arms and stepped between us, "Sorry to break up your little domestic, but… you're saying that I have no right to go around kissing someone else, who I happen to have a weird but very strong attraction to, when you went around kissing him the night you met while you were still in a relationship?"

"I-uh…" I started, Seth jumped to my defence.

"Hang on, man, I had no idea you two were together at the time-"

Wait. He didn't just back up Evan? This must be a joke.

"Oh, right, well I don't blame you, then." Evan turned to look at him for a second. "But you." He turned back and looked at me. "You…" There was a long pause.

"Evan… I-"

"I don't want to hear it." He didn't look at me as he went and sat back down, then, after a few, long seconds, got up again and strode upstairs. "I don't want any dinner, thanks." He called back down and Leah looked at me.

"Maybe you should have… I dunno… talked about this with Seth." She said softly, before going to the oven and pulling the pizza out of it, slicing it and taking some for Evan. "I'm gonna… go eat with him." she gestured and disappeared upstairs after him.

I looked over at Seth and noticed his huge frown, and disappointed eyes.

Seth's POV

"You were gonna have him take the blame, weren't you?" I murmured, she looked at me, wide eyed and panicked. "Max… I feel like I don't know you."

"Well," She tried to make light of it because I knew if she didn't, she would probably cry, "You don't really, do you?"

"Mackenzie… please-"

"No." And suddenly I was going mad, because she had no idea what she was saying. "No. you don't understand, do you? I couldn't stay at home, because everything there hurt. I still love Evan, 'course I do. But when I met you… everything shifted and all I want is to be with you."

"That's bullshit." I murmured, "Because it doesn't work like that."

"What?" She stopped and looked at me, "Course it does. How else would I be feeling all this?"

"It's bullshit, Max, because I've seen what you've done. How can I trust you when you've lied to me so many times? When you've kept everything from me and… done this to him." Suddenly everything made less sense, but it built up to one conclusion.

She never loved him like she said she did.

"How could you do it to him, Max?" I paused, realising I felt so bad for him, felt so guilty, and so horrible. "How could you do it to someone you loved so much?" Because I knew he was going through an accelerated version of what Leah had gone through, and he was clinging onto her because he thought she would help him through it. "How could you be so…" I hesitated, but she second-guessed me before I could speak.

"Cruel?" Max murmured, and I closed my eyes. "Well? Is that what you were going to say?"

"You can't take the moral high ground any more, Max. Evan and Leah aren't in the wrong. As much as you want to feel jealous, to be hurt and destroyed, you don't have the right."

"Excuse me? Are you trying to tell me-" but I had to stop her, I had to let her know that she was wrong. She couldn't have both worlds. Even, I think, Evan understood that. And he was letting her go.

"I'm trying to tell you that hypocrisy doesn't work, Max. You did it to Evan. You hurt him. So shut up and deal with the consequences."

There was a long silence in the kitchen, broken by a couple of thumps and a laugh from upstairs.

"You can't stay mad at him for moving on, Max." I murmured, wrapping my arms around her, "I know that's not what you want to hear, but remember, I'll always love you…" I paused and looked down at the top of her head, "And I know Evan still loves you," a longer pause, she sniffed and held me tighter, "But you need to understand that things change… and you initiated it this time."

She breathed deeply again and I tilted her head up to look at me.

"Maybe you should go and apologise… and perhaps the drama would end, for one night?"

She sniffed and kissed me, then turned away and nodded.

"Yeah. Maybe I should."

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Inspired by "Sleeping with the light on" by Busted, and "Easier to lie" by AquaLung (thanks Badwolfrose, once more)

Lol, and i'm sorry I didn't update/get back to your reviews yesterday, I was at a 70s party, rocking out. Lol haha

Let me know what you loved and hated!!

I'm really glad you all like it... so i'd appreciate more feedback...

And i'm really, really happy that you keep reading :)

Love you guys

xxx