Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter. This chapter should explain quite a lot. Much love RSD xoxoxoxo

*Evie's POV*

As I walked down the corridor towards Mal's hotel room I was concerned. Mal was acting strange last night and I needed to get to the bottom it. Actually when I thought about it Mal had been acting strange since she broke up with Ben. I just wish she hadn't closed up as much; she had built her walls up to everyone and I needed her to understand that it was ok to speak to me.

"Hi Evie" I heard Sam say. I looked up and noticed that he was standing in his doorway.

"Hi Sam" I answered back politely. This was another thing that confused me as well; why would Mal bring Sam with her? She says that there is nothing going on between them; but it looks completely different. For all I know they could be actually sharing a bed when we all go home! They share a flat together for goodness sake! If Mal has moved on from Ben I don't want her thinking that we are would think less of her. No one would think that; I just wish Ben or Mal would talk more about their break up as it looks like neither one of them have healed properly from it. Especially with last nights behaviour.

"I know you've come to see Mal" Sam started. I started into his calm chocolate brown eyes for a few seconds. Was this my best friend's new boyfriend? If he was I was going to have to talk to him.

"Yes" I answered politely.

"Do you mind if I had a word with you first?" he asked.

"Erm" I said slowly. In all honesty I didn't know how to feel about this; Sam seemed to have a lot to do with Mal. Part of me thought that it was good that Mal had someone looking after her when she was away at college but surely he should know that he doesn't have to protect her from her family.

"It's just Mal will be sleeping anyway and I need to speak to you" he said as he quickly threw a glance towards Mal's bedroom door. He wanted to speak to me? This couldn't be good, could it?

"Yeah sure" I answered and I followed Sam into his hotel room.

"Take a seat" he said after he closed the door after me. I watched as he quickly sat down next to me and we awkwardly stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"You said you wanted to speak to me?" I asked hoping that this would prompt the conversation.

"Sorry" he said nervously.

"Yeah but there's something I need to do first" he said and then a smug grin started to spread across his face.

"Right" I said slowly; not knowing how to react.

"Let me introduce myself properly" he said and he held his hand out for me to shake his hand. I took his hand as I pulled one brow up in confusion.

"Hi my name is Sam Rogers and I'm Mal's gay best friend" he declared as he shook my hand whole heartedly. Mal's what? Did he just say what I thought he said?

"Gay best friend?" I repeated.

"Yeah" he confirmed.

"So when Mal said it's not what I think" I replied slowly.

"You couldn't have been more wrong buttercup" he answered.

"Right down to business" he said seriously. I pulled one brow up again.

"Right" I answered slowly.

"Evie darling" he said as he took my hands in his. Wow! The sudden change in Sam was outstanding. However this would explain his taste in music, style and shopping.

"What I'm about to tell you needs to stay in this room and you don't let on to Mal that you know" he said sternly.

"Promise?" he asked.

"Promise" I said eager to finally find out what was going on with Mal.

"Ok well there are three reasons why I made sure that I came here with Mal" he started.

"And what are those?" I asked.

"Well I've never been here" he said happily.

"I wanted to meet you guys" he added.

"And I wanted to support Mal" he finished sighing.

"Thought what?" I questioned.

"Well this is what stays between us?" he asked again. I nodded at him eagerly.

"Did Mal tell you about what happened when she broke up with Ben?" he asked.

"She told me that they broke up but when I asked her about it she closed up" I advised.

"Well I saw the reality of it but it was only due to the fact that me and her had just started to share a flat together" he explained as he let go of my hand and started to drag his left hand through his brown, messy bed hair.

"How was she?" I questioned picking up on the tone he had just used.

"Well she came back and wouldn't come out of her room for days and when she did she was quiet. Then she started drinking" he started.

"What?" I exclaimed. Yes I knew Mal liked to drink; but not as a reaction to a bad situation. I didn't like the sound of this; especially as Mal had been hiding this away from us. She must have been thinking that we would judge her or worse.

"Yeah but don't worry I didn't let her get into too much trouble" he advised reassuringly.

"Ok" I answered slowly.

"There were two occasions with two boys" he advised.

"She didn't" I stated sternly as I started to hope that Mal hadn't done something that she now regrets.

"No she only kissed them. To be honest with you I think she only remembers kissing the second one" he said as he pulled a face.

"She was that drunk?" I questioned incredulously.

"Yeah" he confirmed.

"I got her home and she broke down crying and she told me about the promise that she made with Ben" he started to say.

"The promise?" I wondered out loud.

"Yeah they were both struggling with being apart from each other so to save their relationship they broke up. But with the promise that when Mal returned and if they were both single they would get back together" he admitted.

"That would explain both Ben and Mal's behaviour last night" I rationalised as this information was starting to make a lot of sense.

"Yeah" he confirmed.

"Well I could have punched him leaving like that" he said angrily which made me eyes widen.

"But I'm used to picking up the pieces when it comes to Mal" he added as he sensed my apprehension.

"She is amazing and she has helped me through so much" Sam said fondly.

"She was the first one I came out to and she never judged me for it. Instead she encouraged me to be me; she told me not to be ashamed of who I am" he said happily.

"Mal's amazing like that" I said happily as I started to remember everything Mal has helped me through.

"I know" Sam answered.

"That's one of the main reasons she played Dr Frank-N-Furter. She told me if she could do that then I could be who I needed to be; she's the best friend that I have always needed" Sam said fondly.

"So it was only fair that now she needs me that I am here for her" he said smiling.

"So you came here knowing all of that?" I asked.

"Yeah" he confirmed.

"Mal has come home for many reasons and one of those reasons was to speak to Ben" he advised.

"She tried to last night but she said he was cold and distant. She now has it in her head that Ben wanted to break up with her for another reason" Sam explained.

"Like what?" I questioned.

"I don't know" Sam replied sadly.

"I need to tell you how bad this whole sorry mess affected Mal" he stated. I didn't like the tone that he used as it told me that it was really bad. I knew Mal would be upset but as she was so far away no one really knew how bad it affected her.

"As soon as she knew that I knew about the promise she started opening up a little bit. What really changed her was when she kissed the second guy" Sam said.

"What happened?" I questioned.

"Well I had just come out of the toilet and she was dancing with this guy. Oh he was gorgeous; brown hair, green eyed" Sam said smiling at the memory.

"Must be Mal's type" he added as I knew that he was now comparing this second guy to Ben.

"But anyway after dancing with him he kissed her and when he pulled away. Her face went blank and then she stormed out of the club" he advised.

"I followed her and she told me that she couldn't do this anymore. Well that scared the living shit out of me as before this I'm not going to lie there were some dark times with Mal previously" he added sadly.

"What?" I questioned.

"Please don't tell her" he begged as he slid his hands into mine again.

"But she would spend days crying over Ben she stopped going to classes and everything. There was many a time I would come home and find her drunk on the couch with her cuddling a photo of her and Ben" he muttered.

"But anyway" he said after a few minutes of us sitting in silence. I didn't like hearing that Mal had to go through that but it must have been worse to see it. I know when I first saw Sam that I didn't know what to make of him. But now I knew that I liked him; he was able to be there for Mal when I couldn't.

"She told me that she needed to talk to Ben because she doesn't know whether she can continue with the way she's going. So as soon as Mal woke up the morning after I found her at her desk doing her coursework" he stated.

"Since then Mal changed; everyone thought she was going to flunk but she proved them all wrong. My smart little fairy" he said smiling.

"She passed?" I asked.

"Oh she passed alright" he said proudly.

"She's one of the highest graded and she's finishing early because of it" he declared.

"What!" I exclaimed.

"Mal is meant to be telling you that on our last night" he advised.

"It's her big surprise" he added.

"She's coming home early?" I questioned happily as I now knew that Mal was coming home sooner than everyone thought.

"Yeah, we are all still graduating together. But half of the class have finished earlier so they are getting to leave early" he confirmed.

"So is that why she wants to speak to Ben?" I asked as the realisation hit.

"Partly" he advised.

"She wants to know where she stands, but I think the poor dear is scared of rejection" he said sadly as he squeezed my hands.

"And unfortunately Mal didn't get to speak to Ben properly last night so what she came to say has still been left unsaid" he advised.

"Mal is basing everything on assumptions on Ben's behaviour last night; she thinks that she now has a definite answer and she is using his detracted behaviour to cloud her judgement. Anyone can see that they are meant to be together; but they won't talk as there is always something in the way" he explained.

"Evie you don't know much about me but I have always had Mal's best interests at heart" he said as he stared into my eyes.

"I am a man on a mission and you need to help me" he said.

"What do you want me to do?" I questioned.

"We need to get Ben and Mal talking again" he said.

"If he's definitely moved on then we pick up the pieces" he said.

"If they get back together then its wedding cake all round and I'll fight you for the bouquet" he laughed.

"I'll work on Ben" I promised. Now I knew what was going on I felt better about the situation. I had to help both of my friends; they were going to talk whether they liked it or not.

"Please don't tell Ben too much" he begged.

"I won't" I advised.

"Just enough to get him to speak to her" I said with a smile.

"I knew I was going to like you" he said tightly squeezing my hands.

"Same. I do like you too, but you had me trying to figure you out" I laughed.

"Well I like to keep people guessing Mal will tell you that" he joked.

"I would like to be a good friend to you as well" he added.

"Finally a friend who will appreciate shopping" I laughed.

"Shopping trip before I go home?" he suggested.

"Yes!" I exclaimed.

"Well let's get these two kids together then we can shop till we drop darling!" he said happily and we both started laughing.