"And you know Cole," Garfield began, fighting with the lock on his locker this morning whilst talking to Rachel Roth. "he just… couldn't keep from being himself. And you were mentioned, then he went on about his gummy buddy, and that if he had to attend meetings, you were going down with him. And then he told me that if I didn't spend so much time on my back it wouldn't hurt as much." This was just the tip of the ice burg as to what he could've told her about last night, but he decided to leave out the mentioning of Roy and Garth – for now.

She nodded, "Yeah, I haven't seen him in awhile. I could use some gummies... which is why I still think we should hangout more. Not the gummies, but we haven't seen much of each other and whatnot." She looked up at him with her expressionless eyes.

Rachel really had been missing Gar, and she didn't realize how much she would until they started drifting. She wasn't sure what exactly it was that changed between the two, but she knew there was something different.

He gave a small smile, "He misses you, Emma mentioned this morning that Cole was having withdrawals from his gummy bestie." Just then, in a small spurt of anger he hit the locker, denting it slightly. "Work this time, damn it!" When the lock made the small clicking sound to signify it was open, a heavy blush rose to Garfield's cheeks. "Anyway… how's things?" He asked quickly, taking the lock off his locker.

She nodded. "Things are fine." Things were fine, actually. Boring, different, changed, but definitely fine. She found herself buying more and more into the gossip of those around her, the closer her best friend got to them though. She glared at Roy, who was across the hall with the girl they call 'Jinx'. She still didn't approve of the boy. "Can I come over today?" She blurted, and then corrected herself almost immediately. "...was it rude of me to ask?"

Garfield shook his head, "Nah, not at all. With Vic, it's more of, 'Can I come raid your fridge today?' so, no – you're cool Rae. If you want to sure." He couldn't even tell her if there was football practice today, perhaps he really didn't care all that much anymore?

Rachel nodded. "Yes, I do. I'll be there." She then frowned, "You're friends with Roy, right? What's with him and Jinx? Are they dating now?" She couldn't help but to be just the slightest bit curious. She had never seen either of them in a relationship lasting more than four hours.

Tossing the bangs out of his face, he gave a light shrug and smile. "Rachel, tell me you're not becoming a gossip bag? Tell me it isn't so!" He inquired over – dramatically and also purposely avoiding her question.

She cracked a small smile. "Just curious, is all." Then she rocked on her feet a bit. "I think I hang around Kori too much." She then linked arms with the blonde and began toward homeroom. "Can we have a movie night, maybe? Like we used to... and please don't make me sit through 'Batman' again. I can't stand that stupid Robin, parading around in those tights."

Garfield chuckled, "I know, and they just don't work out for him at all. Oh hey, did you know some guys wear tutu's?"

"Cole? Again? Was he at least wearing underwear this time?"

Garfield let out a laugh, "You know it, and I don't know if he was but the lady across the street fainted. Again. The same lady from last time."

She laughed as they walked into homeroom, but it was a forced laugh. "Let's hope she doesn't sue again."

Garfield just shook his head, "So anyway… read any good books lately?" Why not strike up a conversation of her interest? At least he wouldn't bore her to tears then.

"No." She answered. "I've been hanging out with our friends. Where have you been lately?"

Garfield chose the seat behind Rachel, not quite wanting to look her in the eyes right now. "Just, around. Why, you guys actually miss me?"

"Surprisingly, yes." She smirked. "You should come around more often."

He sighed, "I've been… going through some things is all. I'll try not to be so scarce, okay?" He didn't want to discuss much sitting here in homeroom, it wasn't really anyone else's business and he didn't want to explain himself to a room full of people who he didn't overly give a shit about. Besides a select few.

She nodded. "That's fine." The bell rang and Rachel turned to face forward as she usually did.

(T-T)

Gar scanned the cafeteria for his friends, but instead caught sight of Roy at his usual lunch table. His head was leaned back, eyes closed, resting with his hands behind his head and his feet on the table.

The usual pink - haired girl blabbering in his ear. She turned, noticing Roy's inattentiveness and seemed to be yelling at him. He opened one eye to peek at her, seemed to say the minimal amount of words he could manage, then he closed his eyes once more. The girl seemed to be content with this, and continued on her tangent.

Roy peeked once more, only this time noticed Gar. His eyes widened and he pulled down his glasses when Jinx wasn't looking, he took his chance to mouth 'help me' to Gar from across the room. Garfield raised an eyebrow, looking to Roy, pointing to himself in question. "Me?" He whispered so softly, barely being audible to anyone. He looked to the table where his friends would be, but they weren't there, so he figured he couldn't do any damage. He started to walk over to the table, 'I can't be mean to her today… don't do it Gar, you're better than that.'

"Hey," he greeted casually, not sure how the table would react to him what so ever.

"And then she told me-" Jinx cut off and turned to Gar. As did everyone actually. It was like he wasn't even their species.

Roy decided to take this time to help out. "Hey, man. Guys, this is Gar!" He announced to the table. One boy raised his hand as if to ask a question. "Yes, Tim?"

Tim had a bewildered look on his face. "Is he... the new dealer?"

Roy's eyebrows knit together. "No, no he isn't."

Tim raised his hand once more.

Roy shook his head, "No, Tim. He isn't a narc either."

Tim slowly dropped his hand.

The table stayed quiet for a moment longer, before they all went back to their usual business and Jinx decided to regain her grudge on the blonde from the other day. "Oh, great. You. What do you want?"

Roy stayed quiet, but gave Gar a look that said he was on Gar's side.

Garfield wasn't quite sure of what to do at all, but Roy wanted him to 'help' him, so 'help' him – he shall. "Can't I just, say hello to some fellow students?" He was just waiting for items of their lunch to come flying at him, but he glanced to Roy for some assistance.

"Yes, of course you can!" Jinx replied before Roy could speak up. "But, uh, just like you don't want to catch my 'whore' diseases, I don't need to catch your preppy, prissy ones."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Actually, I think Gar came to... remind me, that we had plans... to eat together... today?" He tried his best, but stumbled on his words.

She raised an eyebrow. "Guys make plans to eat together?"

Roy tried to cover himself. "Yeah... uh, Gar... you care to explain this to her? Poor thing's a natural blonde." He shook up her hair, and she hissed at him. He just smiled.

Garfield gave a sheepish smile, "Well dudes make plans just like chicks make plans. Hang out kinda thing, y'know? So Roy, are you ready to go smash?" He learned from Vic and Karen, that was slang for the want to eat food.

Roy's mouth dropped open. 'Smash' most definitely did not mean to want to eat food, but to have sex, and Jinx couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and turn to Roy. "'Smash'? As in have sex, 'Smash'? That's... are you gay?" She asked, laughing hysterically as if it were all one big joke.

Roy blushed but gave an easy smile. "Oh, yeah. I am a flaming homosexual." The football guys passed the table, giving him strange looks. "You don't know what you're missing!" He called to them.

They laughed, knowing he's straight. "I think Gar means it in a different sense." He patted Gar on the back. "Come on, Gar. Let's go eat."

Garfield smirked, "You say tomato, I say tom-ato. I say smash, we go dash." He teased with a quick wink that no one else but Roy caught on to.

"Right. Well..." He looked to Jinx, who leaned up on her tip-toes for a kiss. He just pursed his lips. "Bye." Then he turned and followed Gar. "Where to, Boss? Now you're stuck with me."

Garfield smirked, "Oh, I'm stuck with you now?" He gave a shrug to his shoulders, them walking into the quieted hallways. "So, why'd you need help? Things seemed to be going smoothly and what not back there."

He rolled his eyes. "It was going fine. Except, Jinx hasn't shut her mouth since this morning. I don't care to listen to it. She annoys my ears." He talked as if being with Jinx was just a petty chore. "But, well, you know females."

Garfield shrugged his shoulders, "Depends on the females I guess." He looked to Roy, the other looking straight ahead. "So, is she your girlfriend? How long have you two been together now?" He might as well find out the gritty details before going any further, or sinking himself further.

Roy seemed to be deep in thought. "I suppose she'd call me her boyfriend, but I never officially said anything. And we've known each other a long time, and she's always liked me, but our first date- type of thing was the other day..." He sighed. "I guess I wouldn't call it a 'date', there really isn't much 'dating' with her, but we're... making it work I suppose."

"So you wouldn't call her your girlfriend and you wouldn't say you're dating, but you're making it work?" Garfield figured asking for clarification wouldn't hurt.

"No, we're dating, I suppose. But she doesn't date. She just wants to hook up, basically. But I take her out, and I buy her dinner, and I try my best to make dates and keep them, and keep her on track and all." He spoke as if that was a chore too.

Garfield figured out this was all part of Roy's logic. Somehow, someway – in his mind it all made sense. "Ahh, I see. Well… you kinda speak of it, like it's a chore." The main point he was trying to get at, was to see if Roy could hear his own logic out loud, and second guess it since it made absolutely no sense to Gar at all.

"It is. It's like whore babysitting, but I pay her... in food and stuff, she's not a prostitute or anything." He smirked, as if it slightly amused him. "Okay, fine. To make this simple- just call her my girlfriend... but we don't date much. Okay. Wait." He was confusing himself, but he knew what he meant to say. "Okay. So basically, she wants to have sex instead of date. But I think we should date too. And then there's this whole issue where she says I don't pay enough attention to her, blah blah blah- OKAY I GOT IT. It's all the trouble and responsibility of being a boyfriend- But I'm not actually her boyfriend." He frowned. "You understand what I'm saying, right?"

Garfield shook his head, "I hate to be the barer of bad news… but not really Roy, it doesn't overly make sense to me. You can't really have both. You can either be in a relationship, or just 'fuck buddies'. That's usually it, so I've ever known of anyway."

"Okay. But what if we're not 'fuck buddies'? What if we don't have sex? But I try to take her out on dates, but really she just wants to have sex. And even though we're not dating, and we're not having sex, she still acts like I'm her boyfriend. What's that, then?"

Garfield gave a smirk, "Are you paying me for my time? I can't think on an empty wallet." He gave a soft laugh, but noting Roy's unenthused expression, he cleared his throat. "Well, it seems like you're trying to reach to something, that's just not there. I mean, has she made it clear to you that she doesn't want to 'officially date'?"

"No, she does want to. But I don't think she knows what dating is... Never mind. Bottom line: we're making it work... what about you and Rae? or..." His voice dropped to a whisper, "Garth?"

Garfield's cheeks blushed a rosy pink color. "Well Roy, I… don't know. Hot then cold I guess you could say. But I mean, Rae… is a different story. I mean, I crushed on her for the longest while, but then I got it, she didn't want to be anything more than best friends and I accepted that. She seems to think I've 'drifted away' but I don't think I see it."

"Rachel and I talked the other day. She told me to keep my 'drugs, germs, and STDs' away from you. We had a nice talk. She does like you." He nodded. "She told me so. We talked for a while actually, she also told me that she's in G.A.A. - gummy addicts anonymous."

Garfield gave a smile but then sighed, "But I don't know what… I want anymore Roy, I really don't. I mean, you heard me last night at dinner, about football and all that. I honestly don't know what I want and dropping football makes me feel anxious, overwhelmed, but at the same time – why should I take up a spot on a sports team and take a scholarship, that another kid really could've needed? That'd be selfish of me, don't you think?" He didn't know why, but he felt that he could truly talk to Roy about whatever was bothering him. He felt so comfortable and it felt so natural that he didn't even realize he was semi – ranting. "So sorry Roy, forgive me?"

Roy sighed. He liked the fact that Gar played football, he wasn't really sure why, but he felt it best not to bother him with it. "Yes. It would be selfish. You're a good person." He then frowned a bit. "So, where do you suppose to get a scholarship now? Unless, you don't need one."

Garfield shrugged, "If I'm going to stay here and go to community college, I wouldn't need much of one, 'cause I'd be staying at home while going to school, but all that depends on where I want to go. Some places, if you keep your grades up at certain points, your board can be free for that semester or whatever. I'd have to look into it, but you can apply for scholarships Roy, like… send in applications – you never know what you may get accepted for if you don't try it out."

Roy frowned a bit. "My scholarships are all set, I've set myself up for tons of oppurtunities. It's the school and stuff I'm lost on. I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I'm not like you or Garth."

He smiled though, and shoved Gar lightly. "Doesn't matter. Cole told me you're gonna sell yourself on the streets someday, and considering I'll be getting a discount, I'm sure I'll be perfectly happy in the future."

He laughed a little and pulled off his sunglasses, feigning interest in them for a moment.

Garfield nodded, "Ah, yeah… it's real frustrating when you honestly don't know what you want to do. You're great with kids though… have you thought about a career involving children?"

Roy's face went completely blank for a moment. "Uhhh..." Then he nodded. "No. I'll think about it. I have time."

Garfield looked to Roy, "So, are you actually hungry? You wanna go get something? We have time." A very subtle hint was thrown in, but he doubted Roy would notice it.

"Have time for what?" Garth asked, approaching the two.

Roy glared. "Not you. We. This is a taco-burrito convo," Roy said, referring to Gar and himself, "Nacho."

Garth just smiled cutely and rolled his eyes. "Glad to see we're still good friends."

Roy's smile was anything but friendly. "Oh, the best of friends."

Garth just nodded. "Good. So, hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Roy just grumbled under his breath.

Garfield was stuck; he didn't really know what to do, so he looked to Roy. "Do you… mind having one more for lunch?"

Roy shook his head. "No, not at all. I wouldn't mind my old friend, Garth. He's a prince!" He grinned politely then grabbed his pockets like he forgot something, "Oh, but I totally forgot about that thing I needed. I will see you gents later," and with that, the fast talking redhead ran just as quickly as his words.

Garth laughed and shook his head. "Same old Roy." Then he gave Gar an apologetic smile. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare him off, of course."

Garfield gave a suave smirk, "And I thought you were scared off last night. Was it really that bad for you? You could've just told me y'know." If Garth had any issues, he wouldn't mind getting them out in the open. Before… going any further.

"Wasn't that bad. Really, it wasn't. I'm just not good with families. But I love your family, I really do." He admitted, biting his lip. "But, hey. Next time my place. My parents are really great, you know. My mom bakes cookies all the time, and my dad is kind of like Cole, he tells a lot of lame jokes and aims to embarrass me, but he's a good guy." He smiled politely.

Garfield raised an eyebrow skeptically, "And when is this that you're inviting me over?"

Garth panicked a bit inside. His exterior was very cool, of course. He didn't think Gar would take him up on it, for whatever reason. How is this guy supposed to meet his parents now? "Uh, today! You should come today! ...I know it's rather last minute, and you might not be able to make it... I'll understand of course." Garth was always a great liar.

Garfield gave a sexy smirk, one that just drove Garth wild on the inside. "I'll be there. Walk me after school?"

"Nooo!" He answered without thinking. How would he explain everything now?! He expected Gar to say no. "I mean- Yes! Yes of course! I will walk you. After school. To my house. To meet my loving parents."

Garfield then realized the arrangements he'd made with Rachel, but she did just ask if she could come over – she said nothing about him actually having to be there. "Alright, it's on." Before Garth could do anything, he found himself receiving a kiss upon his lips. No one was present in the hallway besides them, or so he thought.

mrtutus23 : That was kinda the plan! XD stay tuned for more to see how this tangled web unravels!

Drunalove : Awww, thanks! Hope you read and enjoy this update :)

Treskttn : I'm extremely proud of us too! We've done extremely well with this story, now if only we can finish it, *ahem* xD

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