*Zach POV*

“Good morning, Kid.” I whispered quietly, gently shaking Kid’s shoulder. She moaned a little and shifted her body before her eyes fluttered open. She looked at me tiredly, her blue eyes clouded and red.

“Nothing is good.” Kid replied, her voice low. I pursed my lips and sat myself up on her bed.

Last night Kid had called me bawling, begging me to pick her up from the cliff. When I got there, she was curled in the blanket with the bottles of wine completely empty. She was passed out when I got there, so I had picked her up and put her in my car. She had woken up at one point on our way back to her house, but when I tried to ask what happened, she burst into tears and kept slurring things I couldn’t understand. Luckily I had gotten back to her house quickly and I carried her bridal style up to the apartment. Emma was there, and held the door open as I brought Kid into their bedroom. Emma asked me to explain, but I told her all that I knew. I was about to go home when Emma asked me to stay there for the night, since she hated trying to take care of Kid when she was crying.

“Will you tell me what happened last night?” I asked, my voice soft. Kid’s eyes began to water, but she nodded. She kept the blanket pulled up to her nose like a child and took a deep breath.

“W-we were laying on the c-cliff, and he a-asked me how I f-found it,” Kid sniffled, hiccupping occasionally. “I t-tried to tell him y-you showed me it and… and he began accusing me of having you plan the wh-whole date and he said h-he was done with m-me.”

“Oh Baby,” I breathed, pulling Kid into a hug. “Did he let you explain that you thought of the idea and I just helped you plan?”

“I t-tried but he th-thought you planned all of it and I j-just went along with it.” Kid whimpered, tears flowing in rivers down her cheeks. I held her tightly and rocked her, rubbing her back. I felt so bad for Kid, and I also felt angry. Matt completely overreacted at the fact that I was the one that showed Kid the cliff. And to be even more of an asshole, he didn’t even let her explain herself. I’d have to talk to him today and get it through his thick skull that Kid did nothing wrong and she was trying to be nice.

“I’m so sorry, Kid. I want to say Matt usually isn’t like this, but he can be an asshole sometimes.” I said quietly, giving Kid a sad look. She sniffled and looked up at me, wiping the tears from her face.

“G-Gayle said he’s dangerous to be around.” Kid whispered. My eyes widened in shock and my mouth dropped.

“How the hell do you know about Gayle?” I asked, completely taken back by her bringing up Matt’s ex-girlfriend. I knew Gayle still lived in Huntington, but none of us had seen her around since after graduation. How in the name of God could Kid meet up with her and hear that Matt is dangerous to be around?

“Sh-she’s my friend.” Kid stated, sniffling again. My eyebrows rose and she looked down. “Emma introduced me to her about a month ago.”

“Wow… I haven’t seen Gayle since high school.” I muttered, thinking back to the memories Gayle had left us. Gayle was actually a really cool girl until senior year when she fucked with Matt, after that we never saw her, which I was okay with. Kid looked up at me with wide eyes and I smoothed her hair. “Enough about Gayle for now, Kid. Do you want me to go talk to Matt about last night?”

“Y-yes please,” Kid squeaked, tears brimming her eyes again. I shushed her quickly and rocked her until she calmed down once again.

“Okay, I’ll talk to him today and explain everything.” I informed her, beginning to set her back on the bed. Her grip tightened on my shirt and she clung to me like a cat, her eyes wide with fear.

“What if it just makes him angrier?” She asked, her voice shaky. I pursed my lips.

“I’ll make sure he gets mad at me instead of you, okay?” I offered, moving her bangs from her face. She nodded and I looked away, adding under my breath, “He’ll definitely be mad at me after I punch him.”

“Don’t punch him!” Kid cried, her grip tightening on my shirt. I sighed and looked at her. She stared with big eyes and I gave her a look to tell her I wouldn’t. I tried setting her down again, and this time she let me. I stood up and straightened my clothes before looking back at her.

“Do you need anything before I go?” I questioned. Kid looked around her room before pulling the blanket farther over her face.

“Water.” She croaked, her voice dry. I flinched at her voice and nodded, walking out of her bedroom. Emma was curled on her chair in the living room, on the computer as usual. She looked up at me and I half-smiled. She just sighed and went back to her web-surfing. I got out a cup and filled it almost to the brim before bringing it back to the bedroom. I set it on the side table and glanced at Kid, who was watching me with sad eyes.

“Do you want me to call one of the guys to hang out with you today?” I asked, licking my lips. She shook her head and cleared her throat a little.

“Odds are Johnny’s coming over today, so if I need to I can just steal him from Emma for a little bit.” She explained. I saw her mouth twitch a little and I smiled. I waved to her and headed for the door when I heard the bed shift. “Wait!” I turned around and Kid was sitting up, her arm reached towards me. She looked down at her hands and played with the sheets. “Thank you for picking me up last night. I probably would have been stuck there if none of you answered.”

“It was no problem, Kid. I’m sure any one of us would have picked you up if you called.” I replied, smiling. She glanced up at me and smiled a little bit. “Goodbye, Kid.” I waved to her and she waved back before I left the bedroom. I gave one last glance at Emma, who was on her phone texting. She glanced up at me and I playfully rolled my eyes at her. She narrowed her eyes but smiled before I opened the front door and left.

On the way to my car, I thought of all the ways I could kill Matt. I don’t know how far they were in their relationship, physically or emotionally, but I know that Matt really fucked it up with Kid. I jumped into my car, dead-set on driving it straight through the door of Matt’s house. I was about to start it up when I made myself stop and take a deep breath. If I wanted to get anything done today, I was going to have to play it cool. I’d have to hang with Matt for a while and just do normal shit, and then bring it up with him when the time is right. After I had that plan set I drove to Matt’s house, my hands tightly clenched around the steering wheel. I parked next to his car and got out, reminding myself that I can’t punch Matt. Yet.

“And in a way it seems there’s no one to call when are thoughts are so numb and our feelings unsure” Matt sang as I walked into his house. I tried to hold my laughter as I saw him dancing around his kitchen, most likely making some weird-ass concoction for lunch that he’s going to end up throwing away.

“We all have emptiness inside we all have answers to find,” I continued, loud enough so Matt could hear me. His head snapped towards my direction, and when his eyes landed on me he smirked.

“But you. Can’t. Win. This. Fight.” We growled together, bursting into laughter immediately afterwards. I walked over to Matt and high-fived him as he continued to stir what looked like vegetables in a pan. I gave him a weird look and he pursed his lips, staring at the food.

“… I don’t even know, dude.” Matt said, chuckling. I laughed and patted his back.

“You waste so much food it could probably end world hunger.” I laughed, staring down at the popping items in the pan. I pursed my lips and shook my head. “Those poor, poor vegetables.”

“I don’t even remember what I was trying to make,” Matt mumbled, stirring around the food. “Either stir-fry or fajitas.”

“I’m gonna go with fajitas. Do you have tortillas? I can probably save this train wreck,” I suggested, smirking at him. Matt grinned and nodded. I turned down the heat on the stove and looked through his spices, trying to figure out what I could do to make the food edible. “Did you put chicken in it?”

“Yeah. It’s the black stuff.” Matt said, pointing to black strips laying between the piles of peppers.

“You burnt the chicken to a crisp, dude!” I exclaimed, poking at a black piece of ‘chicken’ with the spatula. I chopped it open and it was, in fact, chicken. I gave him a look and he pursed his lips.

“So I’m not the best cook.” Matt stated, holding back a smile. I scoffed and began putting different spices into it to try to save it. After about ten minutes of bashing Matt at his cooking skills, I successfully managed to make the fajitas slightly edible.

“That’s how you cook fajitas,” I snapped playfully, punching Matt in the arm. He bit into his fajita and nodded, giving me an impressed look.

“You’re gonna need to teach me how to make these.” Matt slurred, his mouth full of vegetables. I smiled and nodded. I leaned back into his couch and took a big bite of the fajita, impressed with myself at how well I managed to do that.

“I don’t even know what I did, I just threw random shit in and hoped it tasted good,” I admitted, laughing. Matt laughed too and began his second fajita. We continued to talk random nonsense until I realized what I came here for. I swallowed the last of my fajita, my throat tensing up. Ouch. I began coughing and Matt patted my back.

“You okay dude?” He questioned, finishing off his fajita.

“Yeah. Just too much fajita.” I croaked, the food moving slowly down my throat. After it passed I sat up and pursed my lips. How in the hell was I going to do this? I should take things slow. Just talk about Liquid first, then go onto the subject of Kid. I took our plates out and grabbed us some beer before sitting next to Matt. He turned on the TV and began watching it, not noticing my hesitation. “So… how was Liquid last night?”

“It was cool, did you see the chick Jimmy was talking to?” Matt answered, not looking away from the screen. I raised my eyebrows and he chuckled. “Yeah, Jimmy got a girl.”

“That’s bullshit,” I grumbled, grimacing at the floor. “Fucking Jimmy can get a girl but I can’t.”

“She was really cute too,” Matt continued, crossing his arms over his chest. “Dark red hair, shorter than Kid, nose piercing. I think her name was Joy or Jamie or something like that.”

“Did her and Jimmy hook up?” I questioned. Matt laughed a little and shook his head.

“Jimmy said she was adorable but he is enjoying being a lone wolf for now. He made sure not to lead her on or anything, though.” Matt explained. I nodded and sighed. I seriously missed this; just hanging out with Matt. I’d feel like a total asshole for him to think I only came to talk about Kid, but I told her I’d talk to him.

“Hey, uh, Matt?” I started, stuttering a little. Matt looked at me and I licked my lips nervously. “What happened between you and Kid?” At that statement, Matt’s face dropped. He looked both angry and somewhat hurt, but mostly he looked down-right irritated that I brought Kid up.

“Zach, if you’re going to try to talk to me about Kid because I didn’t let her explain or I don’t know the whole story, can you please just leave? I don’t feel like talking about her right now, especially not after last night.” Matt snapped, his body going tense. I scratched the back of my head, unsure of what to do. I wanted to stay and hang out, but I think it’d just be awkward after this. But if I left, he’ll think the only reason I came to talk to him was because of that. I mean, I guess it originally was to talk about Kid, but after hanging out with Matt after so long, I guess I forgot about it for a little bit. Matt looked at me blankly for a couple seconds before smirking. “Zach, if that’s what you came here to talk about, I’m not mad or going to think you’re an asshole. I just don’t want to talk about it and it’s all over now. If you want to leave, you can. I’m not going to condemn you for trying to help a friend out.”

“Uh, okay.” I muttered, standing up. Matt half-smiled at me and I returned it before heading towards the door. I looked back at him once more before opening the front door. As I began walking out I heard Matt say something quietly.

“You do a good job at planning dates.”

“You’d know it wasn’t me if you would just listen,” I said quietly as I walked out, hoping I was just loud enough for Matt to hear before I shut the door and headed home.