The first forty-eight hours after George and Levi's split are immensely difficult for both of them. Seconds; minutes; hours all tick by, but the pain never lessens. The break-up is the first one of which George has ever felt any kind of emotion for; but of course, being around Stephanie only makes things all-the-more raw for him. As George stares emptily into the bathroom mirror, he can't help but loathe what he sees looking back at him. All he can find, is the face of the man who ruined his own future; the man whose selfishness cost him the love of his life; the man who only sees bleakness when he thinks of what's to come. Of course, he has Alexander's pending arrival; but even the excitement of that feels quelled by the numbness that has taken over.

"You can't keep fucking around," George scolds himself, no louder than a murmur. "You've got nothing else to lose, other than your son. And although you don't want to lose him, the relationship you're in will only cause you to lose yourself." He shakes his head subtly, as his mind wanders; searching for every excuse he can think of, to keep his secrets to himself. Alas, he can only think of one. "Maybe Levi was right," he thinks aloud. "Maybe you need to do what's going to hurt somebody else ... in order to find your happiness again, Georgios. You can't keep going on like this. It's been almost a decade."

He rubs his stubbled chin with his large hand, as he voices his conclusion at last. "This is it. It's time to be me. I'm going to tell her."

With a small wave of confidence arising, he leaves the bathroom; instead, making his way downstairs where Stephanie is sat watching the television. She spots him, turning the screen off with the remote. "Hey. Are you okay, babe?"

"Stephanie," George begins, taking a seat beside her. "I ... need to talk to you. About something important."

"Alright." She smiles, perhaps slightly apprehensive about what the topic could be. "I'm all ears."

"You see ... " George struggles to find a way to start his confession; the words don't come easily. "You and I have had a truly fantastic relationship from the day we met, wouldn't you say?"

"Of course," Stephanie agrees. "I've loved every second. Even the negative parts."

"Right." George reaches up, to nervously scratch the back of his neck; his way of buying himself a few seconds of time. "And, uh, you'll never truly understand how much I'm looking forward to Alex being born, either. Um, but there's some feelings of mine that I need to ... get out in the open, I suppose."

"Of course." Stephanie nods once, to usher him on.

"Uh, so, well, I ... " His anxiousness starts to get the better of him, but he does his best to suppress these emotions. "There's no easy way to say what I'm trying to say, so I hope you'll give me the benefit of the doubt and let me speak before you raise any kind of opinions."

"George, are you okay? You're starting to worry me." Stephanie's demeanour suggests she's curious, but gradually losing patience with how drawn-out his introduction is.

"Sorry. I'm fine. I think. Okay." He shakes his head, swallowing harshly to brace himself. "What I'm trying to say is that, although I think you're a brilliant person and I couldn't imagine being with any other woman ... I think we should, perhaps, call it quits."

Stephanie's face immediately changes, to an expression of shock. "What? Why? What makes you say that?" She begins to panic, demanding answers before he can start to give them. "What about Alex? I thought you loved him? I thought you loved me?"

"I just ... think that we aren't compatible," George lies; he doesn't quite feel the courage to divulge the truth to her. "I've thought it for a little while, and I didn't want to keep leading you on. I didn't want you thinking that everything was alright when my heart isn't in it."

"So you've just ... fallen out of love?" Stephanie frowns; she wants to cry, but she is too stunned to do anything other than ask questions. "You just don't love me anymore?"

"It's just a part of life, Steph." George already feels guilty, but he knows he must continue his explanation; for it is the least this faultless female deserves. "People fall in and out of love every day. And I do feel so sorry about it, but I just cannot help how my heart decides to feel."

"Is it because I've not been giving you as much support lately?" she questions sadly, desperate for some kind of peace of mind. "Because you know it's just the pregnancy. I-I'm happy to work on whatever it is, so that you'll fall back in love again."

"I don't think that'll happen," George informs her, trying his best to be as sensitive as he can. "I'm so sorry, Steph."

"I just don't understand," she whimpers. "If I can work on it, then maybe you'll change your mind. I'm willing to be a better girlfriend, George. Just please don't do this to me; not this close to Alex being born. I've got enough going on with him. I love you, George. Please, don't leave me by myself like this. We can make this work, can't we?"

George shakes his head once more; insistent that there will be no going back on his decision. "My mind is made up. I'm sorry."

"So why did you fall out of love?" Stephanie pleads. "Please, at least give me that."

George's remorse almost feels as though it is burning a hole in the depths of his soul; he decides that enough is enough — and that he just needs to be straight-to-the-point with her, if he wants any chance at escaping from this relationship. "You're right. You do deserve that," he mutters. "You deserve so much more than I can give to you. I'm not the man you thought I was."

"Why? It's not as if you've murdered somebody."

"No," George acknowledges. "But I'm not who you think. I don't think you'd appreciate the things that I hide — and I've been hiding my true self for almost a decade; since before I even knew you existed. Since I was fifteen years old, I've kept this secret to myself." He closes his eyes, inhaling deeply in preparation for the end of his relationship. "You see, my friend Levi was the first to know about all of this. Our friendship developed extremely quickly, and now we know one another inside out. Um, and meeting him truly changed things for me; he was supportive; he was kind; and ... he was different."

"Different to Andrew?" Stephanie is clueless in what George is trying to suggest.

"Yes," George tells her. "But ... perhaps not in the way that you think."

"Well, I can't really think anything — you still haven't told me this secret of yours." She folds her arms over her stomach, unsure as to why she's still entertaining a conversation with somebody who doesn't love her.

"Sorry," George speaks breathlessly. "I know I'm kind of building my part up over this. It's just, in my mind, I never quite expected this day to come. I've been wanting to talk to you about this for ... a long time. So now I am, it feels quite surreal and I'm scared."

"We aren't going to be together anymore," Stephanie reminds him. "There's nothing you can say that's going to change that outcome, if you're so certain about it."

"And I am," George affirms. "Okay, fine. The truth is, I'm leaving you because of something that's ... my fault, not yours. S-So please allow me to explain, before you talk."

She nods. "Go on."

George finally speaks his truth, pushing the potential consequences out of his mind for the time being. "The truth is, I love Levi ... because I'm a gay man, Steph; and I'm proud of it."

A few moments of silence follows; in which Stephanie looks to George, searching his eyes for any hint of an indication as to how genuine this statement is. When she sees that he is deadly serious, she voices the first signs of her opinion. "Is this after the other night, when you kissed him while you were drunk?"

"No," George answers quietly. "We all blamed it on me being too drunk to realise what I was doing ... but I guess it was just my conscious letting my true self escape in the only way it knew how."

"So how long have you ... loved him?" She still can't bring herself to even begin to acknowledge her part in this situation just yet. "And does he know about it?"

"I've ... loved him for a while," George explains; though, feeling the need to elaborate, he continues to talk. "About eight or nine months. And yes, he knows about it."

"And how does he feel about it; knowing you fancy him?" Tears begin to form in her eyes; she isn't so much hurt by the revelation, but rather, hurt that she believed he truly loved her.

"He ... He's definitely okay with it," George stammers. "Um, because he feels the same. Felt the same." The correction he has to make brings on a nasty pang of sadness.

"How do you know he feels the same?" Stephanie has a slight inkling of what the answer may be, but she cannot face suggesting it herself.

"He told me," George explains. "A-And I'm so sorry that I've kept this hidden all this time. This has all been extremely difficult for me to come to grips with. B-But it doesn't matter so much anymore, because he left me."

"He left you?" Stephanie furrows her brows; just this sentence gives her the explanation she dreaded to hear. "You have to be in a relationship with somebody, for them to lea—oh my god."

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." George's eyes release tears he didn't even realise were building up. "I feel so awful for what I've done to you. You've never deserved any of this; I didn't want to be like your ex. I'm so sorry, Steph."

"So you cheated?" Stephanie chokes out; she never quite believed that she'd ever have to question George about his loyalty. "You've been having an affair with Levi for ... how long?"

"Since October last year." George closes his eyes, covering his face with both hands in shame. "I've gone about this entirely the wrong way, and I'm so sorry. But I knew that if I left without giving you the truth, I'd regret it for the rest of my life."

She nods, remaining silent to try and hold back her tears; she is trying to be as understanding as she can, but it is difficult. After a moment or two, she decides to speak again. "I'm sorry for not being good enough, George. I truly mean that."

"Don't you dare." He cups her face with his hand; the first time he has ever felt able to do so, without it being interpreted as a romantic gesture. "You are more than good enough for anybody. It's me. I'm the one who isn't good enough. I've lied to you for our entire relationship; I've done things that can't be reversed and I'm always going to feel sick with the guilt."

"You can't help who you fall in love with," she reasons; averting her gaze down to the ground to avoid eye contact. "For me, it just so happened to be with a closeted gay man, I suppose."

"I hope that we can still remain friends despite this," George pleads softly; he feels a lot calmer now that he has divulged his secret. "Because I still care about you so much. And I'd still want to see Alex."

"Well, we share a house," Stephanie reminds him. "You'd be seeing him every day until one of us moves out, anyway."

"I ... was meant to move in with Levi, once I'd told you the truth," George admits. "And he lives in Goring. If I wanted to see Alex, I'd have to travel down to London in order to see him. I-I mean, I don't know whether it's happening for sure; because obviously Levi broke up with me. But I'm hoping that once he finds out I've told you the truth, he'll change his mind."

"So you'd be moving away from London?"

"That's the plan," George informs her. "Provided he'll take me back. But you and I can arrange when I'd get to see Alex. This is why I told you before he was born; we can get everything sorted before he even comes, that way."

"No," Stephanie speaks shortly. "You won't need to sort anything out."

"What do you mean?" A rush of fear hits his chest, as he has a feeling he already knows what she's saying.

"You won't be seeing Alex once you move away," she asserts. "So you don't need to worry about arranging anything with me."

"You can't do that," George argues, his demeanour rapidly becoming defensive. "That's my son. You can't stop me from seeing my son."

"I can stop whoever I like from seeing my son." She stands up from the sofa, to head towards the bedroom.

"No!" George shouts, startling the young woman into freezing where she's stood. "If I have to get the authorities involved in this, I will. You can't just snatch my baby away from me, just because you're upset that I don't love you, Steph. That's not how being an adult works."

She turns around to face him, looking directly into his eyes; to prove to him that she means business. "I have every right to keep him away from you, if you're not the father."

"What the fuck does that mean?" George scoffs, laughing in mock amusement at her suddenly-aggressive nature.

"What I mean, George ... " Now, it's her turn to divulge her own statement. "Is that Alex isn't your baby."

George's hilarity melts into bemusement, as his brows knit together at her words. "That's not funny," he scolds. "What kind of sick joke is that?"

"You think this is a joke?" She almost looks as if she feels sorry for the young man before her. "It's definitely not a joke, George."

George feels the rising and falling of his chest with every breath, as he glares at her. "I don't believe you."

"You don't believe me?" She cackles, as if disparaging him.

"No, I don't," he snaps back. "I think you're just hurt about what I've told you; and you're trying to find a way to hurt me back. And I get it — truly I do. But to make jokes about my son belonging to somebody else is just a new low."

"Goodness me. You really don't believe me." She rubs her temples with her fingers, as she takes a seat on the arm of the sofa. "I guess I need to put this another way, don't I? Two can play the game that you played. I cheated on you, George. I cheated, once, months ago — and that's the reason I have this baby inside of me right now."

George continues to shake his head, not buying into any of the words she is saying; he evaluates that she will need to have a better explanation if she wants him to believe her.

• • •

Were we expecting that? Do we think Stephanie is actually cheating, or is it all a lie? Hope you enjoyed this one. xx