TJ walks in the door first. And then I go in after him. "Look at what asshole I found," I say. Landon and Colin both do a double take at me.

"Damn, you look different," Landon says. I nod. "You changed your hair. Got another piercing," he says.

"Wow," Colin says.

"Hello? It's me," TJ says. Like that one song by Adele. I smirk. "I'm just kidding. I'm the one that recommended her hair color and piercing. Hell, you were my Barbie," he says.

"Who's this?" Colin asks.

"TJ. We knew each other from high school," I say.

"He's my cousin," Landon says. "He's staring with us for a couple of days," he adds.

"Gee, thanks for the forewarning," Colin says. Landon shrugs. "Your hair looks good," she tells me. I thank her. I walk over to the fridge. I pull out a carton of fried rice and a carton of sesame chicken. I grab a pair of chopsticks and a Cherry Coke. I walk out to the back patio and sit down.

TJ comes out and sits in the chair next to me. I shrug off my jacket and hand him the carton of chicken. He eats it. "So..." TJ says. "How are you holding up about the whole Devin thing? I'm assuming there's more to the story."

"Oh, Jesus. Not you to," I say. "I'm fine, okay?"

"You don't really seem all that fine," TJ tells me. "You said that you fell in love with Devin, but he didn't love you back. What else happened?" TJ asks me. I sigh and set down the carton, not hungry.

"I told him how I felt-feel," I say. "And by told, I mean I may or may not have said a very long rambling proclamation of love."

"Go on," TJ says.

"I uh, said that he was a part of me and that I would never stop loving him and that I would never love any one as much as him. And I um, also said that I loved everything about him and then I said that I knew he loved me too," I say. I stare at the ground.

"Damn," TJ says, "If someone said all that to me, I would've taken them where ever we were."

"That's disgusting," I tell him. He shrugs.

"Some people would find it very romantic," TJ tells me. "But, then what happened?" TJ asks. I take a shaky breath in.

"We had kissed a handful of times b-before and when I told him he just said that he wanted to get laid. 'God, how naive are you?' he asked me. I thought he really loved me but he said a couple of times that he'd only kissed me because he thought I'd put out."

I don't know why I'm telling TJ everything.

"Fuck," he says. One tear slips down my cheek and I wipe it away quickly.

"You don't need to feel sorry for me. I'm fine," I say.

"Okay." A pause. "Do you want me to beat him up? I will, if you want."

"No, I'm okay," I tell him. He nods and we sit there in silence. "Did-did he... talk about me, at all, to you?" I ask TJ.

"No, not really," TJ says.

"Don't say anything to him about this. I don't want to be the girl who whines and bitches about her petty problems," I say. He nods.

"But you're okay?" he asks me.

"I'm okay," I tell him.

It's half true.