Avalon paid no heed to this and continued.

"You still love me and you know it!" She screeched.

Aaron dragged a hand through his hair in frustration.

"I don't love you, Avalon. How can I when I love Lexi?" He shouted.

Everything stopped for me there.

Aaron froze in his tracks, having realised what he said.

But, I couldn't concentrate on anything over the beating of my heart.

____________________________________________

Not Justin, no.

"I need to tell you something. Something I should have told you before." Justin disclosed and Aaron's heart stopped then at the dampened tone of his friend's voice, his mind going erratic.

Not Justin, right?

Still, the lowered tone of his friend's voice unsettled him as did the long silence that followed and Aaron's hands clenched by his side.

"What?" He asked curiously when Justin said nothing, eyebrows furrowed. He tried to speak with as much casualness as he could fathom, but his voice still came off as terse.

It was then that his eyes shifted towards Lexi. If not him then Justin would have probably told her, but the confusion on her face showed him that she knew nothing. He ignored the shudder up his spine at her meeting his eyes as he turned away promptly focusing on the matter at hand.

Then finally, with baited breaths, he lifted a hand and motioned between Avalon and Justin.

"You're not..." Aaron's voice drawled off before he completed his sentence because he did not want to continue to ask the question.

To ask if something had happened between them.

They had been close since birth and known each other for longer; only a fool would be blind to see how much Justin had treasured her. Perhaps, he thought, there may have been a time when this closeness had led to something more. It was a fleeting thought, bred out of his paranoia, but it was a thought nonetheless. So, he watched Justin's reaction carefully, only for him to raise an eyebrow. He was confused at what Aaron was asking and Aaron stared at him incredulously. Justin- the smartest person Aaron knew and yet he couldn't understand this.

Aaron shook his head and spoke again, his voice hesitant at the uncomfortable line of questioning.

"You and Avalon... you're not... you haven't... been...?" Aaron ended his sentence with an awkward cough. The majority of his mind knew that nothing would have gone on between Avalon and Justin. He knew that they had just been close friends and Justin was as moral as they'd ever come. If he had liked her then he would have said something to her before setting her up with Aaron. Besides, Aaron could read Justin's eyes like no other. His facial expressions never changed but his eyes said it all. They had only looked at Avalon with brotherly affection; not with anything more intimate, not the way he looked at Raven, that was for certain.

It was then that Justin seemed to understand his words and the confused look was wiped off his face. He slowly glanced at Avalon before turning to Aaron, a blank look on his face.

"I don't take leftovers." He said simply with a casual shrug, but it was enough to make Danny double over in laughter, his eyes filled with tears as he clutched his stomach. His words, albeit harsh, made Aaron warm up. What anyone else would see as cruel, he saw as sincere. He knew what Justin meant: he would never take anything away from those he cared about, that was his meaning. Still, Aaron couldn't help but be fond of Justin's clipped nature. It left nothing for doubt or paranoia; it was the finite and absolute monopoly of truth, something that Aaron could unduly trust.

He felt himself smiled at Justin before folding his arms.

"No harm in asking though, right?" He joked, laughter evident in his tone, glad to know he had such a close friend he could trust.

"Well, if it's not that then what is it, Justin?" Lexi's voice broke through the silence then and he realised, at her words, that a secret was still needed to be told..

Not one for dramatic pauses or suspense, Justin nodded back, moving closer to Aaron and looking him in the eyes in a way that made Aaron tense. He sighed heavily before speaking.

"Aaron, I knew. I knew, that Avalon was upstairs with Elliot before you had found out, but I didn't tell you." Justin let out, his voice deep and ridden with guilt. He looked away from Aaron's gaze and towards the floor.

It was a sudden confession, one which filled Aadon with questions. How, why, when: he wanted to know it all, but curiosity would kill the cat indeed and he realised he didn't care too much for the admission. Yes, there were questions in his mind but they pertained to a past he wanted to move along from. He wanted to be free from all the experienced that had repressed him in the past. He wanted to move on.

It was with this thought that he sighed, a sad smile on his face before he nudged Justin's arm with a hand.

"Hey, I know. I understand it was probably hard for you to tell me, but it's over now and I-" He began but Justin interrupted his words before he could finish off his sentence, shaking his head as he did so.

"That's not all, Aaron. There's more." He said with a sigh, the frustration evident in his dull grey eyes at which Aaron's eyebrows furrowed in confusion yet again. At this, Aaron felt the terseness again, hoping the second admission would be something he could move on from too.

Justin spared a glance towards Avalon's direction before turning back to Aaron, his voice resonating with anger as he spoke.

"It wasn't the first time, Aaron. I'd seen them before that incident. It was.... they were having a relationship behind your back." Justin finally breathed out, looking anywhere but at Aaron.

Shock.

It riddled his body as he stared at his friend of more than a decade. He felt shock not for the content but for the fact that it was Justin who had hidden it from him. It upset him and ye couldn't help but shake his head, keeping his eyes on his friend.

"How?" Was all that left Aaron's lips; was all that he could say in his state of doubt. He had muttered it quietly, half not wanting to hear the rest, but it was heard by Justin who nodded his head in response.

"I remember, it had all happened on a Wednesday..."

Aaron could only listen numbly then as Justin relayed the events of 21 months ago. He felt his heart twitch slightly when Justin spoke of the debaucherous couple, lying under a tree contently, knowing full well that he had already given his heart to Avalon. In that moment, he felt like a fool. Did they laugh at his naivety or gossip about his pathetic love admissions? He felt unbridled anger, not for losing Avalon, but for the game she had played with him. He didn't care to pine for her love anymore but she had betrayed his trust in those years when she had been a friend to them all. Was their platonic bond, at least, not something of value to her?

"So, I didn't do anything with them and decided to come straight to you first to tell you." Justin finished off, sparing an icy glare towards Avalon, but Aaron was more focused on his words. Or, rather, confused.

"So, why didn't you tell me then?" He couldn't help that his voice came out quiet nor could he help the look of shock on his face as he stared at Justin. The admission was too sudden; too overwhelming.

Justin shook his head slightly, a guilty look in his eyes.

"I was going to. After a while of thinking to myself, I went to your house to tell you the truth, but when I came into the room, you were already upset. Don't you remember? That day, your mother was upset. She'd heard that your dad was getting married again. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you." He said truthfully, looking towards Aaron who tensed yet again. That memory was one so vivid to him, when he had that breakdown. He could remember so clearly, the shattered glass and tattered clothes on the floor as his anger had taken over. It was Justin and Danny who had lifted the haze and brought him back to sanity.

He opened his mouth then, feeling the anger fill him again, but Justin interrupted him.

"I didn't just drop it either though, Aaron. I went and had a talk with the boy. It wasn't exactly a friendly talk and the boy agreed to leave you and Avalon alone, but I guess they're right when they say that a cheetah never changes his spots. I'm sorry." He murmured apologetically in a way that quelled the anger in him. Why would he care for her infidelity when she held no place in his heart? One look at Lexi's form and he felt a sudden calm fill him, waving his hand dismissively.

"It's not your fault. I'm actually happy that you didn't tell me when I was so obsessed with her. It would have broken me. You told me at the right time." Aaron countered, reassuring Justin with a gentle tone. Yes, there was still a dull pain in him. He had been lied to all while his mother was breaking down because of his dad. He had experienced two betrayals simultaneously, unbeknownst to him. But, he couldn't find it in him to get angry and his lips quirked up all the more when a slight smile made its way to Justin's face. Only a slight one though.

Avalon's scoff resonated across the room, breaking the silence and she folded her arms, raising an eyebrow as she did so.

"So, what? It's my fault then, is it? Aaron, right now, it's you who has fallen out of love with me, not the other way around. So, who's really being unfaithful here?!" Avalon argued back, her voice spiteful and it was then he targeting the inner anger towards her, dragging a hand through hair in frustration.

"I'm unfaithful? I wasn't the one having two relationships at the same time." Aaron shouted, his voice strained. It wasn't anger more than it was annoyance that she was still victimising herself like this after all she had done. How had she ever been likeable to him?

She scoffed yet again, a scowl on her face. She put her hands on her hips before speaking. He realised the more he interacted with her, the more he found himself confused that he had been attracted to her.

"In case, you didn't know, declaring your love for someone else is also classed as unfaithful. Face it, you're nothing but a cheat." She spat out with malice and hurtful intent and the word 'cheat' made him stop in his tracks.

It had been one that he had been afraid of hearing after what his dad had done. He was afraid to be anything like his dad but, in actuality, Avalon was right. For once, he wasn't afraid to hear the word because he could accept his faulting. He could accept that he had been the very person he had hated the most. He wasn't afraid anymore, only remorseful and disgusted. All the more when he remembered the tears he had let stain Lexi's eyes. He had been half a man when he had allowed her to get hurt like that. He had been nothing short of a coward. So, he accepted her accusation with a simple nod, looking down to the ground.

"You're right, I am a cheat." He said simply with a shrug, feeling his shoulders lighten with the admission. He could feel her staring in confusion as he ran a hand through his hair before speaking yet again.

"I cheated a girl, not figuratively, but in the way that I didn't do right by her. She deserves better and I cheated her by not giving her all that I could...." Aaron drawled off and then he settled his eyed on the women who had his heart, opening his mouth to utter only sheer honestly.

"But, I'm gonna fix that."

With those final words, he made his way over to her. He thought of all he had put her through, knowing she had every right to not forgive him. He thought of how every tear out of her eye had equated to the tears his mother had shed due to his father. Yes, he had acted like his dad and he hated every fibre of his being for it, but he hoped with every ounce within him that his realisation hadn't come too late. He hoped he'd be given the chance his father was not, so he could finally have the single thing that had turned his life around.

His Lexi.

And, so he pulled her to him, burying his lips in hers. For he knew that, after this, he stood the chance of not being forgiven and losing her.

It would only be fair to have one last moment of her love before he lost the very purpose of his life.

________________________________________

Avalon paid no heed to this and continued.

"You still love me and you know it!" She screeched.

Aaron dragged a hand through his hair in frustration.

"I don't love you, Avalon. How can I when I love Lexi?" He shouted.

Everything stopped for me there.

Aaron froze in his tracks, having realised what he said.

But, I couldn't concentrate on anything over the beating of my heart.