#veronica-fox

"Nick! Hey, you got a letter!" 

Nick groaned, rolling over and out of his bed, opening the door to the bedroom and narrowing his eyes at his boyfriend, who was standing in front of him in just his boxers, his hair still a mess. 

"Put on some clothes, you ass" Nick grumbled, snatching the letter with a grin. "Yeah, cause I'm sure you want me to put on clothes. You probably want me to take the boxers off" Chrisitian retorted, rolling his eyes when Nick paused, looking down at the boy's boxers with a thoughtful look until he shook his head, making Christian snort loudly.

Nick jumped up onto the counter, opening the letter and pulling it out, not bothering to look at who it was from before he did so. His eyes scanned over the letter, his fingers playing with the envelope, and as he read, he felt the smile drop off his face.

Christian noticed his boyfriend's change in mood, and looked up, raising an eyebrow.

"Nick?" he asked quietly, picking up the envelope, frowning when he saw the letter was from Ronnie. He raised an eyebrow again, trying to read over Nick's shoulder.

"S-She..h-how...R-Ronnie.." Nick mumbled, his eyes filling with tears. Christian slowly reached over, taking the letter out of Nick's hands, frowning when the boy didn't protest, didn't even move. His own eyes scanned the letter and went wide, looking up at Nick.

Before he had a chance to say or do anything else, Nick lept off the counter and out the front door, ignoring his boyfriend calling for him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

It took nearly two hours, but Christian finally realized that the one place in Michigan where Nick would go when he wanted to feel safe was the treehouse in his backyard. He climbed the ladder carefully, frowning when he found his boyfriend curled in one of the corners, his head tucked into his knees.

"Nick?" 

"Go away"

Christian sighed at the response, knowing his boyfriend knew he wasn't going anywhere as he crept closer. He was shocked, however, when Nick's head snapped up and he lunged forward, his hands pushing at Christian's shoulders.

"I said go! Don't you listen! I wasn't..she's gone, Chris! She's gone and I wasn't even there! I didn't..she..I wasn't there! I should've been there! She was my best friend, dammit, Christian, I left her! I left her and she needed me and she..I.." his voice trailed off and he stopped pushing, as they both collapsed backwards onto the floor of the treehouse, Nick crying loudly, his face buried in Chirstian's chest.

"I l-left her alone! S-she's dead, Chris, my b-best friend" he sobbed, clinging to Chistian's shirt. 

Christian ran his fingers through Nick's hair, feeling his heart break slightly at the sound of his boyfriend's sobs. "Ssh, Nick, ssh" he urged, rubbing small circles on the other boy's back. He could hear his family's questioning voices from the backyard, but figured he'd deal with that later.

"I c-can't..I'll n-never s-see her again" Nick cried, his voice calming slightly as he laid his head on Christian's lap, a small whimper escaping him. "I know, Nick, I know" Christian mumbled, unsure of how to comfort him.

"C-can we stay here?" Nick asked quietly, and Christian nodded, figuring spending a cold night in a treehouse would be the least of his problems. "Let me go into the house and get some stuff and we'll camp out" he said, allowing Nick to move for a moment. He sent looks to his family telling them to wait for their explaination and leave Nick alone, before he entered the house, having his sister help him toss a blanket and two pillows up into the treehouse. 

"Will he be okay?" she asked quietly.

Christian sighed, frowning. "Not sure" he muttered honestly, climbing back up next to his boyfriend and laying down, letting the other boy curl as close to him as he wanted, still sniffling.

He realized Nick was humming through his tears, and he struggled to place it, until he realized what it was and sighed, kissing Nick's forehead and squeezing his eyes shut.

Abby: I'm real tired of getting called a whore.

Abby: Why is it everywhere I go, someone starts something and I end up being a whore?

I know you've never loved, the crinkles by your eyes when you smile, you've never loved your stomach or your thighs, the dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine, but I'll love them endlessly. I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth, but if I do, it's you, oh it's you, they add up to, I'm in love with you, and all these little things.

Yes! 

Abby: These people are gunna get me.

Alex rolled over on Belle's couch, trying her hardest to ignore the knocking on the door. She knew Belle was at work, and she knew that her friends knew where she was, so she figured the person at the door either had to be related to her, or there for her, so she pulled herself to her feet, rubbing at her eyes and yawning before she ran a hand through her hair, opening the door and frowning.

Abby: Okay, so, we promised to be honest with each other, and this is me being honest, but I don't know if you'll be upset or not.

Abby: Izzy came over a couple nights ago, and she was really upset, and it was raining, and she was crying, so I let her clean up and everything, and then we talked and she told me that she slept with some dude her dad set her up with just to try to satisfy him..and then I got mad and yelled a little, cause that's stupid, really.

"I'm going to go get some food. Do you want anything?" Belle asked, standing up and looking down at Alex, who was pouting at her bed. She shook her head with a frown, and Belle rolled her eyes at her. "Stop pouting, god" Belle said playfully, shoving Alex's head playfully.

Alex frowned down at her wrists, eyeing the scars running across them. They'd healed, and the doctors had taken the bandages off, but she'd kind of wished they'd just kept them there. Now she was forced to look at them all the time.

Belle left the room and Alex sighed, leaning back on her bed and raising an eyebrow when she heard something again. She sat up, and her eyes went a little wide.