The Only Exception

"What's wrong with you?" I shook my head at Sam and sat on the couch, kicking off my sandals and pulling my feet under my body. I grabbed a cookie from the plate that Danny had just put down, sipping from Sam's bottle of water.

"James isn't home." I shrugged and finished the hot cookie.

"I don't care about him right now."

"You were in love with him last night, what happened?" Danny asked as he sat down on the other side of me.

"He doesn't care about me anymore."

"Who told you that, Jacky?" I nodded slowly and they both rolled their eyes. "Of course he'd say that, he likes you!"

"Like seriously, any guy that likes a girl that's in love with someone else is going to try and sabotage it." Sam added. I bit my lip and sighed.

"Why do you guys hate me?" I asked quietly.

"We don't hate you," Danny said, "I think you're cool."

"It's just that James has been acting different since you two first met face-to-face." I bit my lip and tucked some hair behind my ear. "We think he loves you, too, but is too blinded by Liz." I shrugged and looked a the door as it opened. I smiled as James walked through, but he looked pissed off.

"Hi James!" He looked at me and sighed before storming upstairs. I frowned and turned back around.

"Want me to go talk to him?" Sam offered while Danny sat beside me, wrapping an arm around me while I layed my head on his shoulder.

"No. I'll do it." I got up and grabbed some cookies before going upstairs. I knocked on James' door and opened it slowly to see him with his pillow over his head. "J-James? I brought cookies." I stood at the threshold, scared he'd flip his load if I messed with him. I walked into his room, grabbed a piece of tissue from the Kleenex box on the night-stand, and placed the cookies on the tissue. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Not love me anymore." I frowned while picking with my fingers.

"Jacky said you don't care about me anymore. A-And that I was just someone on the side. Is that true?" He sighed and lifted his head, placing the pillow under. He licked his lips and stared up at the ceiling while crossing his tattooed arms. I nodded and picked with my fingers. "I-I'll tell him that he was right. . . . I-I just thought you'd, well, care since we're best friends and all."

"I can't."

"It's fine, James! I-I'll just-"

"Kat, I can't-"

"I understand, James, I already-"

"No, Kat! You don't understand because you're too fucking stupid to realize this. We can't have sex anymore, we can't kiss, we can't do any of that stuff! You're costing me Liz, can't you see that?" I bit my lip and blinked away my tears.

"I'm sorry." I looked down at my feet and frowned as the tears fell anyway. "I-I'll just stop talking to you."

"You don't have to to do that."

"Neither do you. You had sex with me because you wanted to, I didn't force you to do anything." He sat up and frowned. "I just wanted you to be happy. A-And I shouldn't have let you sleep with me. It's my fault. I'll stop coming over."

"Kat, you're not listening to me." He got up and walked closer to me, staring intently in my eyes. "We can never be together." A whimper left my throat at the words. "We can only be friends. Okay?"

"I-I understand. Um," I looked down at the ground and hissed when my nail broke down too far, causing my finger to bleed a bit. James took my hands in his after I licked off some of the blood.

"Why don't you be with Jacky?"

"He's mad at me."

"Did you have sex with him?" I nodded slowly,

"I-I was really horny. I'm sorry."

"Why're you apologizing?"

"I don't know, I just want to be happy." He smiled,

"As cute as your accent is when you're sad, I want you to be happy, too."

"But I want you to happy more - you're more important." I sighed and looked in his eyes, "I shouldn't have said anything about how I feel about you. I shouldn't have moved here, I should've stayed in England. . . . I shouldn't have given you my number all those years ago."

"Kat, we're still friends!"

"You're no acting like yourself. You're beginning to act like a wanker, James, something changed you."

"Nothing has changed me!" I whimpered as his tone became harsh and angry. "This is exactly what I'm talking about - we should just . . . maybe we shouldn't be friends anymore if you're going to act like I belong to you or something!!" My chest became really tight and it was hard to breathe. I could feel the room spinning and it made me want to throw up. "You should leave."

"Please..." I couldn't even finish my sentence before the tightening in my chest became a greater pain, causing more tears to flow from my eyes. "Don't d-do this to m-me." I managed to say. My voice was filled with pain and I could see how that hurt him. "I can't live without you."

"You'll have to."

.