It's been a couple of hours since Colton. His words linger in my mind. There was something off about him. I don't know what it was. He can be a dick sometimes but not like that. It didn't seem like him.

I'm hanging out at Brandon's house. Cross and Flemings are home.

"Yo, Andy, you want a beer?" Cross asks.

"You know I'm eighteen, right?" I ask. He shrugs. Something tells me not to drink. "I'm good."

Flemings runs by Cross and snatches both of the beers from his hands. "Yeah, two for me!" Flemings hollars. I laugh. They're like older brothers to me. Cross grabs a pizza box from the fridge and sets it down on the table. He sits next to me on the couch. Flemings flops onto the couch and turns on the TV.

"Why do you guys watch Keeping up with the Kardashians?" I ask. Flemings shrugs.

"Cuz they're hot," he says. I laugh. I look at my watch. It's close to seven.

"Not that I mind, but why are you crashing with us? Don't you have parents?" Cross asks. I roll my eyes.

"You two are honestly the biggest gossips, but whatever. So, you know my mom, right? She's a Medical Examiner. Anyways, I drove up to our cabin to set up for Dad's birthday and I found her there. With Harrison. I doubt that was the only guy," I tell them.

"Wait, like Harrison, the Chief Harrison?" Flemings asks. I nod. "Damn, that shit's juicy."

"Your mom hit on me once," Cross says.

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," I say. My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket. I see the caller ID and stand up. "I gotta take this."

"Oooh, it's her boyfriend," Flemings says. I hit him.

"Shut up," I mutter as I walk by the entry way. I answer the call. "Alex?"

"Oh, thank God you answered," Alex says.

"So, uh, what's up?" I ask.

"It's Colton...he's...I think he needs you," she says. I hear a loud crash.

"What's going on? Alex?" There's another crash.

"Oh, God, Colton, please don't break that!" Alex says. "I think...I don't know. I don't know what to do. Can you come over?"

"Uh, yeah. I'll be right there," I say.

"Thank you. I'll see you soon." The call ends and I shove my feet into shoes and grab my keys. I walk back into the living room.

"Hey, I'm gonna run out," I say.

"Booty call!" Flemings yells. I smile.

"Whatever. Bye."

"Byeeee," Cross says. I shake my head as I walk out. My smile fades as I start driving. What's wrong with Colton? I still care about him even though he was a total dick.

I get to his apartment and park my car. I hit the buzzer and Alex lets me up. I take the elevator up and then knock on the door. She opens it.

"He's in his room." She looks tired and her eyes are red like she's been crying.

"Okay," I say. I walk slowly through the apartment. It's messy, scattered. Things are pulled out of place. I step over a broken pot and nudge his door open.

I've never seen Colton like this.

His eyes are red, there's tear streaks down his cheeks. His room is a disaster. Drawers are pulled out of his dresser and thrown on the floor. Posters are ripped from his walls. There's a dent in the wall.

He doesn't seem to realize that I'm here. He grabs his dresser and pushes it over. It makes a loud crash and I flinch. I don't know what to say."Colton," I say. He looks at me. "Colton, what's wrong?"

He looks at me again, his eyes dark. "Go," he says. "I don't want you here."

"Colton, I'm not going to go," I say. I walk towards him.

"I'm not going to tell you again," Colton says. "Fucking go."

"I'm not going anywhere, Colton," I tell him.

"Get the fuck out of here!" His voice booms. His fist slams into the wall. I wince and take a couple of steps toward him.

"You can't push me away, Colton. I'm not going to go anywhere." I place a tentative hand on his chest. "It's okay that you're not okay."

"Damn it," he says softly. "Why can't you just go?"

"I can't leave you like this," I say. I slide my arms around his back, pulling him into a hug. I'm worried he's going to shove me away but his arms slide around my waist. He buries his face in my shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to hold back," I murmur as I rub his back.

Something breaks and sobs wrack his body. He clutches me like I'm all he has left. Colton doesn't tell me what's wrong and I don't ask him. Hours blur into the next as I hold him. His sobs grow silent but tears still fall.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's going to be okay." He pulls away and looks at me.

"Thank you, Andy." I force a smile.

"You should go to sleep," I say. He nods and lets go of me, crawling into his bed. I yawn as I walk to the kitchen. Alex is sitting down with a mug of tea in her hands.

"I think he's more okay now," I say. She looks up.

"That's good." She plays with a ring that she's holding. It looks like a wedding ring.

"Um, not that it's any of my business, but do you know what's wrong?" I ask. I walk towards the table.

"No, it's fine. I suppose you should know. Why don't you take a seat," Alex says. I nod and sit down across the table from her. "I should start from the beginning. I was married once, to a man named James, Colton's father. We were young and in love, highschool sweethearts. He was a few years older than me, but we were in the same grade because I skipped three. I got pregnant when I was twenty, but at that point I had two college degrees."

"Creative writing and psychology, right?" I ask, remembering when we bumped into them at dinner and Mother was being a bitch.

"Right," Alex says. "Neither of our parents were particularly supportive, but it didn't matter because we had eachother. I stayed home with Colton while James finished college. He was twenty-three when I got pregnant, he only had three years left of Med-school. He wanted to be a surgeon for the Army. It was the two of us, Colton and our mutual best friend, Rachel."

My mind spins. My aunt is the same age as Alex and her name's Rachel, but...no.

"You know," Alex says. "I couldn't figure out why your father looked so familiar when we had dinner with you. But then Colton said your last name and I figured it out. Christopher Reed was Rachel Reed's older brother."

"You're sure it was Rachel Reed?" I ask. She nods.

"Rachel, James and I were inseparable. James spent time with Colton before he went off into the Army, Colton was ten. Rachel helped me through it. I never knew if he would ever come home. It was more okay after a year. I started writing and that helped to pass time. I wrote a few novels, got them published.

"But then, four years ago, today, I woke up sick to my stomach. I knew the call was coming. Rachel felt it too. We knew something bad had happened, but we wanted to make Colton happy, so we pulled him from school and brought him to an amusement park. The call came that night. James had been killed, they didn't tell us why, but called it an honorable death. Five weeks later we were at his closed casket funeral," Alex tells me.

"I'm sorry," I say. She shakes her head.

"It's not your fault." She looks towards Colton's room. "James had set up a life insurance plan, paid obscene amounts of money so that Colton and I would be okay. I don't need to work, but it helps."

"So, that's why," I murmur.

"Why what?" Alex asks.

"Colton's been acting differently for the past two weeks," I say. Alex nods and slips the ring onto her finger.

"Yeah. This time of the year is always rough, especially for Colton. James' death is still fresh. I don't think Colton's ever really finished grieving. He always acts out," Alex says.

"I just have one question," I say. Alex nods. "It seems like you were really close to my aunt. I feel like I would have known or remembered something about you."

"After the funeral I cut ties with your aunt. It was too painful. I grabbed Colton and we left for two years, coming back for his Junior year," she says. It all makes sense now. Why Colton's been acting strange, why he looked so broken. She looks at the clock on the stove. "I'm going to go to bed. You're welcome to spend the night."

"Uh, yeah. Is it okay if I stay with Colton?" She nods.

"Good night, Andy," she says.

"Good, night," I say. I walk to Colton's room and look at the bed. He's sleeping soundly. I could crawl in next to him but I walk out of his room and lay down on the couch. My mind spins as I process everything that Alex told me.

My eyes shut and I fall asleep.