The next few days go by relatively well. The four of us settle into the apartment, getting everything unpacked and organized. Thad really want to do some decorating and house warming, but none of us have had much time. We're rarely all home at the same time, between work and school and other miscellaneous affairs.

I wake up around midnight on a Friday night to the sound of my phone ringing. I slip out from Hunter's arm in a hurry and answer in a whisper. I walk out of the room, hoping he didn't get woken up. Thankfully he's usually a pretty heavy sleeper. "Hello?"

"Hey, Seb, it's Anderson, how's it going?"

I sigh, rubbing my eyes awake, "Ugh, why are you calling me so late? And for future reference, don't call me Seb. It's Sebastian, Bas, Bastian, Smythe, or whatever, I don't even care, anything but Seb."

"Haha, alrighty then, Bastian, I was just wondering if you wanted to come hang out or something." he says with a chuckle.

"I um, I can't."

"Why not?"

I frown a little bit, "I was asleep before you called me. In bed, with my boyfriend. Who I live with now."

"Oh, well then," he replies, a hint of displeasure in his voice, "I thought you were sort of, I don't know, over him?"

"We were going through a rough spot," I explain, "But that's all over now. We're good, and I don't want to jeopardize that."

"You've been sending me some mixed signals, you know. Just a few days ago you were asking me for my number. Seems to me that you don't really know what you want."

I run a hand through my hair, frustrated, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," I flop onto the couch, unsure where to go from here, "I don't mean to. I just, I don't even know. I just woke up, my brain's fuzzy."

"It's okay," he mutters coolly, "You're grumpy because you were all happy in dream land with your questionable choice of a significant other and I pulled you out of that. If you want to go back to bed, that's fine. But don't talk like you're done with me because we both know that you're not."

I curl up against the side of the couch, not feeling up to this conversation, "Look, I can't talk about this right now. I think I just want to be friends with you, and that's it, okay? My boyfriend's really protective, if you can't no for an answer than you might want to just give up on me altogether."

I can practically here his eyes rolling through the phone, "Okay. Fine, we can be friends. Good enough for me. Can you hang out tomorrow night?"

I sigh in relief, "Yeah, sure. What time?"

"Eight?"

"Alright, where?"

"The club, where we met originally."

"Sure. See you then. Bye."

I hang up the phone without waiting for a response. Things are pretty good with Hunter so I should probably just tell this guy I'm dropping off the planet. A part of me doesn't want to, but I know that it's my best bet. I'd rather keep my relationship with Hunter good than figure him out.

"Who was that?"

I turn around to see Hunter standing in the doorway, a serious expression on his face. I feel my heart sink down to my stomach. I try to act like nothing is going on, and that I have no reason to feel even slightly guilty, but he can already see straight through me.

"Hey, Hunt. Sorry if I woke you..." I reply, avoiding his question.

He sits down on the recliner across from me, his expression remaining cold, "It's fine. Who were you talking to on the phone just now?"

"Just a friend," I answer, eyes drifting to the floor.

"Just a friend, huh?" He replies sternly, "Didn't sound like that to me. Tell me what's going on, Sebastian, and don't you dare even try to lie to me."

I tense up, freaking out in my mind. I try to keep my cool on the outside,"It's nothing important, really. I just, I had accidentally given him the wrong impression about what my intentions were. It's sorted out now, though."

He shakes his head, "You're not seeing him tomorrow night, understood?"

I sit up a little bit, getting rapidly more upset, "You can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with, Hunter. Nothing's going on, I swear to god. You heard me tell him that I just want to be friends. He said that was fine. So I have every right to hang out with him and you can't tell me not to."

His hand clenches into a fist and his voices raises a little bit, "Yes I can and I am. I don't know him and I don't trust him. Remember what happened last time? Do we really need to go through this again?"

"This is different, don't even start with that!" I reply sharply, "You just, you have no fucking idea.."

"Then enlighten me. What the hell is going on with you? Why can't you just be honest with me? If there was really nothing going on with this guy you wouldn't get so damn defensive!"

I shake my head, already holding back tears, "Just stop! Okay? Just fucking stop! I'm not cheating on you, because truth be told, I'm afraid of what you would do to me if I did! We've been over that, remember?"

He sits up a little bit, getting angrier by the second, "What's that supposed to mean? Now you're fucking scared of me because I don't want to be cheated with god knows what kind of trash? I'm not going to apologize for putting my foot down on your sneaking around!"

"I'M NOT FUCKING CHEATING ON YOU, HUNTER!" I almost scream, standing up and walking into our bedroom.

He follows me in there, "Just relax, okay? What the hell are you doing?" he yells.

I pull on a pair of jeans and put my shoes, "I'm getting out of here! I'm not going to sit here while you accuse me of being a whore!"

He grabs my arm before I can walk out of the room, "Just sit the fuck down, you're not going anywhere!"

I try to pull away but his grip is too tight, "Yes I am! Let go of me!"

He pulls me out of the doorway and pushes me down on the bed, "You're not going anywhere, Sebastian!"

I get back up just to be pushed back down again, "Touch me again and we're over!" I warn, making another attempt to leave.

He pulls me away from the door and I fight him with every ounce of strength I have. Still, he over powers me and I end up on the floor.

"Fuck," I mutter, sharp pains running up my back as I hit the ground.

Thad walks into the doorway, "Are you guys okay? What's going on?"

Hunter ignores him, falling down onto his knees beside me, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

I get up, holding my back, shoving off Hunter's attempt to help me back up. I take advantage of Thad being there and manage to get out the door.

I hurry down the street, turning a few corners so I'd be hard to find if anyone comes looking for me.

Eventually I break down on the side of the street. I just sit there at first, alone on the sidewalk in the middle of the night, crying so hard I can barely breathe. When I finally calm myself down, I take my phone out and call Anderson, not knowing where else to turn right now.

He picks up on the second ring, "Hey, Bastian?"

"On second thought, I wanna see you," I explain, still sniffling, "Can you come pick me up?"

"Are you sure about that or are you gonna change your mind as soon as I get there?"

"Please," I reply weakly, "Just please come get me."

"Okay," he answers, his voice softening, "Where are you?"