"I am pleased to say that I have just taught your last class for the year. Congratulations on making it this far and I'm expecting to see you all soon at graduation. Have a great rest of the day," our economics professor says with a bright smile on her face.

I pick up my MacBook and place it in my backpack before leaving the classroom.

As I'm walking out the door I make eye contact with Leo and as usual, he doesn't say anything, but he keeps a respectable distance from me.

I roll my eyes in annoyance.

Ever since we've gotten back from Florida Leo has been like this.

He refuses to speak to me and sometimes he won't even acknowledge my presence.

I've grown so used to the Leo who couldn't keep his mouth shut and always made snarky remarks that this new version of him was so hard to get used to.

"I wish you would stop ignoring me," I say loud enough for him to hear me.

Silence.

"The silent treatment is a terrible method of communication. It's actually not a method of communication at all," I point out.

Once again silence.

I sigh loudly, and in an exaggerated manner.

"You're being so immature," I say.

He stops in his tracks and turns to face me.

"I don't think you have the right to call me immature. What you did last weekend is the definition of immature," he says.

"I've apologized so many times for causing you guys all that trouble,"

"Exactly!"

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"You've apologized for everything in the book besides what you actually did. It's like you don't regret not care that you did what you did," he says.

"Of course I care. That's why I did it," I say.

"Yet you still don't seem to understand the consequences of your actions," he shrugs.

"Leo, I had to. It's more than just the issues between my brothers," I tell him.

"Of course," he chuckles dryly.

"Of course what? I ask in an annoyed tone.

"You still care for him. All this time you've been lying to us about him, hiding your encounters with him and literally running away with him. You still have feelings for him," he says.

I cross my arms over my chest and open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

I scoff and shake my head.

"That's ridiculous," I mutter.

"Is it? This entire time you've refused to hold him accountable for anything that he's done," he explains.

"Leo that's not true," I say.

He frustratedly runs his hands through his hair.

"Gosh stop fucking lying, Frankie! You can't seem to take accountability for anything. You-"

He's cut off by his phone ringing.

He rolls his eyes and answers the phone.

After a couple of seconds he hangs up.

"Your brothers set up a spa thing for you and Sophia. She's already there," he says walking away.

I stand there momentarily in disbelief before I start walking to catch up to him.

____________

I let out an audible sigh before relaxing back in my seat.

I close my eyes and sigh again taking in the feeling of warm water on my feet.

"Alright Frankie, what's up? Sophia asks.

"What do you mean? I ask in a hushed tone.

"You've been in a slump lately. I wanted to give you some time before I asked you about it," she said.

I sigh deeply.

Then, I explain everything from start to finish.

By the time I finish, I look at the expression on her face and I couldn't make out what she was thinking.

"Well first, I'm shocked that you and Leo have kissed. I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier! She pushes my shoulder playfully.

"Getting steamy with your body guard? That's hot," she laughs.

"It was only kissing. Nothing beyond that," I comment.

"Still, it's pretty scandalous for you. Although I've learned to stop being surprised when it comes to you and your extra curricular activities," she chuckles.

I roll my eyes.

She rubs my shoulder before she speaks again.

"Although I will say that I think the boys have a point. In the end, you really did betray their trust. Claude came with you under the impression that you guys were just going to talk, and it went south. You and Leo on the other hand were building something. You put that in jeopardy when you did what you did. Of course he's hurt," she explains.

I nod my head in understanding.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do now because I think you know that it's going to be a hard decision that you have to make on your own," she says.

I sigh in defeat.

"Don't think about it right now. The boys and I set up a nice pre graduation spa day for you so that's what we're going to enjoy now,"

I once again nod my head and force a smile.

"You're right," I say in a cheerful tone.

__________

DYLAN

I sigh as I place my phone on the table.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" I ask.

Flynn nods his head.

I sigh once again and massage my temples.

"Thanks for telling me," I tell him.

Despite my previous knowledge of what happened in Florida, I realized I could no longer avoid the situation.

I pick up my phone and speak into Siri.

"Call Frankie."

________

FRANKIE

I hang up and turn to look at Sophia.

"That was Dylan. He wants to take me out for dinner," I say.

She turns to look at me and smiles.

"Right now?" She asks.

I nod my head.

"That's so cute," she says as she turns her attention back on the road.

"Yeah it is. He's taking us downtown," I say while typing the address in.

"Not too far. I'll drop you right now," she says.

I mutter a thanks while I browse my phone.

Although I was excited for the dinner, I couldn't help my curiosity.

_________

I picked up my drink and took a long sip of it in an attempt to contain my laughter.

"So what did Tomas do when he found out it was a gay bar?" I asked.

Dylan ran a hand through his hair and before he spoke, I saw a small smirk.

"He actually stayed," he says.

That's when I couldn't contain myself any longer.

The laughs I tried to hide got louder.

Despite the setting of the restaurant being rather fancy, the story was too good for me to contain my laughter.

"Did he have fun? I ask.

Dylan simply shrugs.

"He didn't say much after that," he says.

I smile and shake my head.

I will definitely be teasing Tomas about that story when I see him.

Dylan takes a sip of his drink and clears his throat.

"Frankie.." he begins.

Uh oh. I knew something was up.

"I'm just going to say what I have to cause there's no point in beating around the bush," he says.

I nod my head, urging him to continue.

"Is Benjamin that important to you for you to do what you did in Florida? He asks.

By the way my heart was beating so loudly, I swore he could hear it.

"What are you-" I was cut off.

"I wanted us to have this conversation so that we could be honest with each other. I hope you respect me enough to be honest with me about this," he says.

I sigh. There was no point in being dishonest with him.

"I don't have an excuse. I just wanted answers," I say.

"Have you ever considered just asking us?

"I have. Although I felt as if I wouldn't get the whole truth. It's not like you guys actually tell us what's going on," I say.

"That statement would have been true years ago but now, it's not. We involve you guys as much as we can so you can't say that we don't tell you guys anything," he says.

"When it comes to Ben, you all don't say anything. Since I told you guys about our encounter in Seattle, it's been silent," I explain.

"Ben is a tactical person. He is on and off the grid. There's not much we can give you, especially when he's not the most of our worries," he explains.

"Not the most of your worries? Claude was going to kill him," I say.

Dylan sighs.

"He's an enemy Frankie. He had no problem killing our men just to send you a message. Remember that," he says.

"I know, but-"

"Do you? You seem to be questioning more of our ethics than his. Frankie you know how this works," He says.

I sigh.

"Anyway that's not the main focus of our conversation today. Why'd you do it," he asks. His tone makes the question sound more like a statement, which was intriguing.

"I already told you why. Why do you keep asking," I question.

"Until you truly tell me the reason why," he shrugs.

I blink in confusion.

"You seem to only answer why you decided to meet with Ben. Like you said, you wanted answers. My question is why'd you put yourself in the middle of Ben and a gun?"

I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

I wish I had an answer to what he was asking, but I didn't.

After a few moments of silence I finally speak.

"I don't know," I say.

"I don't want to speak for you or anything but I think you know the answer to that. I also think that there needs to be a conversation between you and a few people," he suggests.

I nod my head in accordance. That was definitely true.

"How are you and Leo? Last time I checked you two were rather close," he says.

I cringe when thinking back on the time he caught us kissing outside of the house, but I nonetheless continue.

"He's been ignoring me," I sigh.

"He's really mad at me for Florida. Both him and Claude," I explain.

"They have every right to be, don't you think?" He asks.

I nod my head.

"Of course they do. I just wish they weren't, it hurts," I say.

"Seeing you run off with Ben of all people hurt them more than you could ever imagine, Frankie. Claude has been your best friend since third grade. You and Leo had something. You put all of that at risk," he explains.

"I know. I feel terrible for what I did. I know that I essentially put everyone at risk. You must have been really upset when they told you," I say lowly.

"More disappointed than anything. Also, they weren't the ones who informed me about the situation," he says.

I couldn't help the confused expression on my face.

"I guess Leo must have told Flynn cause he told me. Although he wasn't the first person I heard it from. Benjamin actually contacted me after it happened." He said.

My jaw practically dropped to the floor with that statement.

"Ben? How did Ben reach out to you? What happened?" I bombard him with questions.

"As I mentioned earlier, Ben is a tactical person. He goes by his own terms," he says.

"What happened? I ask again.

"He told me about what happened in Florida. We talked about a few other things as well, but mainly Florida," he says vaguely.

Despite his explanation, I was still incredibly confused.

He plays with the watch on his wrist.

"Despite his sometimes disturbing tendencies, I was able to see him through. Which is why we're having this conversation and why I'm going to leave you with this final piece," he says changing his tone to fit the serious demeanor of our conversation.

"You've got a choice to make. There's conversations that need to happen. When that does happen, with whatever you choose, know that I support you,"he says.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a million hands.

"Be honest with yourself. It'll be so much easier from there," he says.

Despite the anxiety and nervousness pumping through my veins, I knew there was an inevitable truth behind his words.

I knew that sooner or later I would have to make this decision, I just wish I didn't have to.

I nod my head in understanding.

If I wanted a solution to this situation, I would have to do what I tried so hard to avoid.

I had to call him.

I had to tell him the truth.