"We're all dead when your dad gets home," Matt laughs hysterically, and the rest of us join in, our drunken states causing us to find humor in absolutely everything.

"Yeah, well, who gives a shit?" Danny smiles and takes a swig of the Jack we found stashed in his dad's closet...along with a fuck load of empty bottles of cheap vodka and quarter filled bottles of whatever else gets you loaded.

We were going to hang at my place like we usually do, but Danny's was closer. I'm glad we came here, though. I think times like these are good enough to replace the bad memories Danny has of this house, now.

It's sad, we walked in and had to pretend we didn't notice the bloodstains on his couch...

"Easy, kid," I snatch the bottle out of Zach's hand, "what're you trying to send yourself to the hospital?"

"Ah, let him get wasted, he's growing up," Danny says proudly. "My uncle used to say that all you need in life to be happy is moonshine and a hot piece of ass."

Yeah, Danny, man, I'm starting to question your whole family...

"The same uncle who likes to dress in drag?" Matt said slyly.

"That was 20 years ago, and for the last time, it was a costume. It was Halloween for fuck's sake," Danny sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, and what did he go as? A fag?" Matt continued to tease and laugh.

"Hey- stop," I interrupt, "don't say that, cut it out." I try my best not to look over at Zach, only stealing a quick glance to make sure he didn't seem upset.

Sure, there's a picture of Danny's uncle coated in makeup wearing fishnets and a sequined cocktail dress. But, it doesn't matter if he's a fa-...I mean gay.

"What do you care?" Matt shrugged and even Danny gave me a suspicious expression.

"It's just not something we should say...it's fucked up, you know?"

"Why? Are you a fairy too?" Matt snickered and nudged Danny, expecting him to find it funny as well.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm a fairy who's gonna break your nose if you don't stop talking."

"Nobody's a fairy, how about that?" Danny rolled his eyes, "there are no fags here, alright?"

Matt nodded and I subtly glanced over at Zach again, this time actually being noticed.

"I feel kind of sick..." Zach said before getting up and walking out of the room.

"Want me to come with you?" I call out but only get the sound of the front door shutting in response.

"Where's he off to?" Matt asked, "why didn't he just puke in the bathroom?"

Probably because he's sick of you guys.

And now he's probably walking home alone in the dark.

I quickly follow after him, hoping to catch him before he's too far gone. Thankfully, when I open the door, he's sitting on the porch.

He doesn't acknowledge my presence, but I sit next to him anyway in hopes of him feeling comfortable enough to actually start speaking.

It's a bit cold outside, and he's cradling himself close to keep his bare arms warm. I have a long-sleeved shirt on under my jacket, so I didn't hesitate to throw it over his shoulders.

He gave me a quick glimpse and a small smile, yet I still didn't feel it was appropriate for me to talk first.

And, I guess he knew that...

"I don't know," Zach mumbled.

"What do you mean?" I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"At Johnny's, you asked if I'm gay...I don't know." He stared down at the ground, fiddling with the laces on his sneakers.

"Oh," was all I could say.

"Would you care if I was?" His voice came out lowly as if he's nervous about how I'll respond.

"Would it bother me?" I raise my eyebrows at him and he nods. "No, it wouldn't."

"Really?" Zach sounds surprised.

"You'd still be Zach, nothing would change." I pat him on the back, "you know, other than the fact that I'd have to give the dad talk to that dude you like." I say casually, earning a genuine laugh from Zach.

"No, Evan is cool..." He shakes his head.

"That's his name?" I question, "he's older than you, isn't he?"

"Just by a year," Zach shrugged.

"And he's...gay?" I refrain from saying "he's like you?" or "he's gay too?" considering the fact that Zach is just as confused about this as I am.

"Maybe? I mean, he kissed me and stuff-" My heart falls to my stomach.

"Holy shit," I unintentionally cut him off, causing him to send me a puzzled look. "Sorry, I meant to say that in my head..." I mumble. Suddenly, this is more real than I thought it was. "Continue," I urge him to finish his story.

"Uh- okay," He breathes out, "Evan had a girlfriend a few months back, but even then, he was weird around me. I can't tell if he likes me...I couldn't tell then either. He's just like that."

"He kissed you....and stuff?" I narrowed my eyes as I said the last part, "so, of course, he likes you."

"You kiss Cherry, and you don't like her." Touché.

"Fair point. I kiss Cherry because I like having sex with her. Now, unless you and Evan-"

"No," Zach says quickly.

"Okay," I breathe out, "then he likes you."

A wave of quiet crashes down on us again, and Zach looks lost in thought. I can't pretend I understand what he's going through. He's been hiding this for forever it seems. I can't believe I didn't notice...

"You know that me maybe being a fag doesn't mean that I like all guys, right? You don't have to worry," Zach says assuringly.

"Christ's sake, Zach. Don't call yourself that, and yes, I know how being gay works" Sort of. "I don't like every girl I see, and you don't like every dude. I'm not worried, like I said, you're still just Zach to me."

"What the actual fuck, Jace?" Ethan storms into the living room from the elevator. Jace looks up at him and then sighs.

"Nice to see you too, bud," I chuckle.

"Do you know what he did?" Ethan seethes.

"Well, I can guess," I say with a smirk.

Jace told me all about how Heather found the picture of Alison, though he swears that was the best hiding spot.

"Alison hates me now."

"What do you care, you didn't like her anyway," Jace shrugs, "I'm the one losing someone I love."

"Bullshit, it took one dry spell in your relationship to start rubbing off to her best friend."

I laughed at his response, "he's got a point."

"Bite it, Trevor," Jace scowled.

"Look, you both have said your piece. Now kiss and makeup...they're just girls."

"Heather is not just a girl. She's supposed to be my future wife...my mom was going to talk to her about accepting my great grandmother's engagement ring," Jace said in despair.

My god, you're happy about that? Think about all the wild oats you won't get to sow...or will, you do have this new loyalty problem, after all.

"I didn't like watching her cry..." Ethan says in shame. "Alison— she just broke down in front of me. It made me feel evil..."

"That's probably because you are," I say slyly.

"This is because of you...you know that, right?" Ethan glared at me. "Your stupid dare."

"I didn't hold you at gunpoint and make you snap those photos," I say remorselessly. Besides, when a girl lets me take dirty pictures, I tend to keep them to myself, not parade them around like I'm in junior high.

"You asshole," Ethan laughed in disbelief.

"What do you want me to do? Apologize?" I scoffed.

"Yes!" That question was rhetorical. "To Alison."

"No, out of the question. I didn't do anything to that girl," I say firmly. "If you're so worked up over her, you apologize."

"You don't think I tried that already?" Ethan puts his hands up in frustration. "I need you to say sorry to her, just talk to her for me."

"For God's sake, fine, I'll do it," I agree reluctantly. "I can't believe you're making me apologize to a girl I'm not even having sex with."

"Have you really never liked someone for more than one night?" Ethan asks.

"Trevor thinks with his dick and lets his heart take a backseat," Jace snickers at his comment.

"Yes, well, why get your heart broken when you can have an orgasm?"

"Leo?" His name leaves my mouth in shock. When Edna called to say I had a guest, I was expecting to see literally anyone else. Audrey or Alison, maybe, to apologize. And, the only guy who should be standing in my hotel lobby with a bouquet of flowers is Jace...yet, that's not who's holding the daisies.

"I forgive you," he shrugged.

"Forgive me? For what?" I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms.

"Taking your anger out on me, an innocent bystander who did nothing to deserve your shit today," Leo said sternly and a bit harsh, "So, here," he handed me the flowers, "water under the bridge...you seem like you could use a friend."

I narrow my eyes at him, "you don't think you did anything wrong?"

He raises an eyebrow at me before shaking his head, "no?"

I scoff, "are you kidding me? You thought it was okay to try and call me out in the midst of what was happening? You just had to be the cherry on top of a great day?" He smirked as I ranted. "And, you didn't say anything to Audrey when she was tearing me down, so why scold me for returning the favor?"

"Because..." Leo shrugged again, "Like I said, you're better than that."

I simply stared back at him. He has no intention of seeing this any other way. He's unfazed at my protesting, which subconsciously makes me back down.

"Fine," I give in..."Do you want to come inside?"

"Uh-" He seems to let the offer roll over in his head, "sure, yeah, why not?"

I nod and turn away, heading down the hall toward the elevator. Leo hesitated before following after me but caught up by the time the doors opened. Neither of my parents are home, but I'm sure his silence has something to do with dreading seeing my mother again.

The elevator dinged before opening into my suite. Leo looked around in awe, the same way he did before.

"You can head to my room. I'll bring up some drinks," Leo seemed cautious. "It's fine, really. You can go without me, I'll meet you up there."

He nodded, and I watched as he started up the stairs, his hand sliding over the rail.

Once he was fully out of sight, I scrounged the kitchen for a nice, casual late-night drink. I figured he wouldn't want anything too ritzy, but it's not like we're swimming in cream soda.

"I brought some wine, we don't have anything stronger... father has a code on his liquor cabinet."

He accepts the glass of Richebourg red wine, "It's probably your birthday, you know?"

"It used to be," I laugh lightly, "but that was before I stole his four thousand dollar bottle of scotch."

"Fuck..." Leo raised his eyebrows, "did it taste like four grand?"

"I wouldn't know," I sigh in disappointment, "he caught me as I was sneaking out of his office, and I got so scared that I dropped it."

He chuckled, "of course, you did." I watched him set his glass down on my nightstand as he took notice of my radio. He turned it on and flicked through the stations before settling on one I didn't know about. I gaze admirably at the radio as I recognize the song. They're playing U2..."This is my mom's favorite band," Leo smiles when he sees me nodding along with the music.

"Must be nice to be able to play things other than piano pieces and Beethoven no.5," I roll my eyes.

"Must be nice to be able to afford a piano."

"I wouldn't mind being you for a while," I ponder the thought.

"You only say that because you don't know what it's like to wake up to the sound of sirens at 3 A.M."

You're not wrong.

"It's not always quiet here," I try to relate, "there's always some gala or banquet that we're a venue for. They run quite long, and the guests can get noisy, it's very hard to sleep like that-"

"Heather?" Leo stops me.

"Yes?"

"That's not the same," he says in amusement.

"Well, not exactly, obviously..." I huff, "my point is, neither of us has it perfectly."

"Yeah, but in an imperfect reality, I'd still rather be on your side of the fence."

"Whatever..." I give up.

That satisfied expression returns to his face again as he looks at me smugly. I pretend I don't notice and take another sip of my wine.

"So, what are you going to do about your friends?" Leo's voice cuts through the silence.

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head.

"I'm not going to ask why you were fighting, but— how do you plan on making up?" He seems so sure that we will.

"I don't. They've crossed the line, teaming up against me, getting in between me and Jace-"

"You're fighting over your boyfriend?" Leo narrows his eyes, "that douche?"

"Leo!"

"What? He's shit— I mean, his pockets and ego have got to be ten times bigger than his dick."

"Why do you two hate each other so much? I asked Jace, and he wouldn't tell me."

"It's not my place to tell you either, I'm not your boyfriend," Leo smirked.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head in annoyance, earning a chuckle from Leo.

After a few moments of silence, the song on the radio changed. I was the first to look up, but our eyes locked immediately because his attention was already on me.

"Do you remember this?" Leo smiled.

"How could I forget? Smashing Pumpkins...I bought the album," I smile back.

"Really?" He says in amazement. "I guess I should use all our study breaks to completely convert your music taste to mine."

"Or you should just come around more often," I say with a sense of false confidence.

"Oh?" Leo says in amusement, pushing his hair out of his face and laughing in an almost arrogant way.

"Yes, why is that so funny?" I challenge him.

"Come on, " he shrugs, "you're only here with me because you don't have anyone else."