"Justin is leaving." Brian says after what feels like minutes of silence. He clearly doesn't know what to say after the bomb I just dropped on him.

"Aren't we all." I mutter as I gather the last of my things from the office.

"You could always go with him?" He suggests.

"You're kidding, right?" I laugh.

"Not really." He says. "He apologized. You forgave him. Hell, he may be able to get you a pretty good gig." He shrugs.

"Doubtful." I reply.

"What the hell am I going to do without you?" He groans. "You're the only one I like in this office. Plus, you're the only one that I wanted to handle this app with."

"Just have Tristan help you. He knows the layout." I tell him.

"Yeah, but still." He sighs.

"Mind if I interrupt?" I hear from the door.

"I'll leave you guys to it." Brian says, giving Grayson a small nod. "Nice seeing you." He adds.

"You too." Grayson replies, watching me cautiously.

When Brian leave the room, I return Grayson's cautious look.

"What?" I ask.

"Do you need me to write you a letter of recommendation?" He asks.

"What?" I say. "No, of course not."

"Why?" He asks.

"Because. It's inappropriate." I reply.

"But you don't have a job." He adds.

"I'm very aware of that, Grayson." I say with annoyance.

"I just don't want you to worry about anything. Plus, you'll be practically guaranteed a job with my recommendation."

"I don't want a job because my boyfriend got me one. I want a job because I deserve it."

"But you do deserve it." He says.

"That doesn't mean that everyone else will think that, though."

"I'm just trying to help. I don't even want you to leave, Nat. Let me just have a talk with Shane. I'll-"

"No, Grayson. I know you're trying to help, but don't. I got myself into this mess. I'll get myself out of it."

"You can easily get yourself out of it if you just have a talk with Shane." He replies.

"Or you can just let me handle this on my own. My last talk with Shane wasn't exactly the most pleasant." I mutter.

"Yeah, but-"

"I might go and work with Justin." I say out of no where. I have no idea what the hell I think I'm doing, but these words leave my mouth before I truly think about them.

"What? Justin?" He asks, completely taken aback. "Where?"

"Yeah." I mutter. "I guess he got a job somewhere else. Maybe he'll get me a pretty good gig." I say, repeating Brian's words

"I didn't even know that he was leaving?" He says. "He's a leader. He's supposed to tell me before he leaves. Especially if he already signed a contract with another company." He explains.

"I don't know." I shrug. "But I'm talking to him about it today."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, we had that whole issue with him before. Do you really want to just go and work for him?" He asks.

"It would be better than working here. For Shane." I counter.

"What if I just changed it? You don't have to work under Shane anymore. I can move you to another team. I'll-"

"Grayson!" I exclaim. "No. I'm leaving. I already quit. I don't want to cause any more problems for you and Shane. I know that I'm adding stress to your friendship and it's just better if I leave." I repeat.

"Okay, but what about our relationship? You don't think this isn't going to add stress? My best friend, sister, and girlfriend all hating each other?" He asks.

"I'm working on it." I mutter.

"No. You aren't." He argues.

"Yes, I am." I reply. "I already tried fixing this. Clearly, it didn't work out. I apologized and tried fixing things. They are the ones who aren't trying. I'm not going to beg for their forgiveness. I fucked up. I get it. It isn't fair for me to continue to beg for their friendship. I tried."

"I know." He sighs. "I'll fix this. I'll find a way to make this better."

"You can't. What happened is already done. It is what it is." I reply. "It's my own fault, anyways. It's best if I just leave. It's the only way any of this is ever going to get any better."

"Listen." He sighs. "I just...I don't want you working for Justin."

"Well right now, I don't know if I have another option. I can't really just stay unemployed." I huff.

"Talk. To. Shane." He emphasizes.

"No." I snap. "I'm not doing that. I'm going to try and work for Justin. God, I thought we already dropped this? Like thirty seconds ago?" I question.

"Yeah, well I already changed my mind. I'm not going to just let you do that." He replies. changing his mind faster than I even thought was humanly possible.

"Excuse me? You're not going to let me do that? What...get a job?"

"With Justin." He adds.

"And why not?" I ask.

"Because I don't want you to do it." He replies simply.

"Grayson, you don't get to decide what I can and can't do!" I exclaim.

"Justin isn't good. You know all of that stuff that he said about us in the beginning. You had to leave his team. And now you just want to go and work for him?" He asks.

"Actually, you made me leave his team! If it were up to me, I would have just stayed on his team to begin with!" I fight back.

"Well I'm sorry that I forced you to come and work for us up here. God, you just have it so bad over here, don't you?" He bites back with sarcasm laced in his voice.

"Well I was practically forced out of my job twice." I reply.

"No one forced you out of here. You quit. And I'm still having a hard time figuring out why, as we never really gave you difficult work in the first place. You kind of just did whatever you wanted since day one." He says, crossing his arms.

"And whose fault is that? God, at least with Justin he gave me a hard time! He made it so that I always had to work hard! Over here, I could completely fail and you'd still make sure that I got a gold star for the effort. Have you ever thought about the fact that I may not want that kind of privilege over here? Maybe I want to work hard, Grayson! I'm more than just an intern or an assistant!" I say, standing up for myself for once.

"So you think that by working with Justin, you'll be viewed as more than an intern or assistant? He looks at you like you're a piece of meat!" He yells.

"No he doesn't!"

"Oh, and what was that invite to lunch after he apologized? Do you really think he only wanted to go to lunch? He's attracted to you!"

"No he isn't. God, Grayson." I huff. "You invited me to lunch before too! It's just lunch. Nothing more or less."

"Yeah, and look at us now!" He exclaims.

"So now his apology is fake, too? What? All because I'm a woman working here? All of a sudden he's instantly attracted to me and is trying to make a move?" I question.

"With Justin in question, yes. That's what he's trying and I don't like it. I don't want you working for him. It's not a good idea." He says.

"You know." I say, slamming the box of my things down on my now very empty desk. "Maybe this isn't going to work out." I sigh.

"What isn't?" He asks.

"This. Us." I say, gesturing between the two of us.

"You're not seriously about to break up with me again." He huffs with a laugh. He's not laughing, though. He's agitated, I can tell. I am, too.

"Maybe getting back together was a bad idea to begin with. Clearly, we have more problems than this." I reply.

"And who seems to be the root of the issue in all of these problems? Can't you just relax for two fucking seconds and think about all of this in a rational way? You're always so...dramatic! Things don't have to be this difficult all of the time!" He exclaims.

"Yeah. It's me. I'm always the problem in every single relationship I've ever been in. Happy?" I snap, grabbing the box and brushing past him.

"Natalia." He says sternly from the door.

"Save it!" I say, holding my hand up to halt his words. "I'll come by the apartment later to get my stuff and figure it out."

"You're being dramatic!" He calls after me. "It's like the boy who cried wolf. You always have something new going on. God, it's drama after new drama with you. I can't even tell if you're really about to break up with me or not because it seems like this happens every other day!" He exclaims, following behind me.

"Well, I'm not crying wolf anymore." I shrug, heading towards the elevator.

"We're talking tonight." He says, stopping before the doors closed on him.

"Bye." I reply, pressing the down button and watching as Grayson is no longer in my area of sight.

-

Yikes. Big yikes. It's trouble in paradise for these two! And I don't think that Shane or Sofia are about to make it any better.