TREVOR: Hey, guys. Me and Adam broke up. It's good, but I just wanted you to hear it from me first.
MIA: What the hell? Seriously? Are you okay?
TREVOR: I'm fine.
LACE:
TREVOR: No joke, Lace. It's real.
LACE: Fuck, I hate that. You guys were so damn cute together.
BIANCA: Oh, Trevor. I'm so sorry.
JOHNNY: It's good???
TREVOR: What else would I say?
JOHNNY: I don't know. I just thought you'd be a little more torn up over it.
MIA: Yeah, Johnny. Great way to comfort our friend.
JOHNNY: Shit. Sorry, Trevor. Do you need anything?
TREVOR: It's a break-up, man. I'm not physically hurt.
BIANCA: He means like company.
TREVOR: I'm not really feeling it, but you can come over if you want?
MIA: Shifts could be cool, maybe? Spend a day with him or something.
JOHNNY: Sounds good.
BIANCA: I'm in.
BIANCA: Lace?
LACE:
LACE: But yeah, I'll take first shift tomorrow.
TREVOR: Can't decide if this is babysitting or treating me like a job. Which is worse?
JOHNNY: Having friends that don't care about you!
LACE: Which you never have to worry about with us!
BIANCA: We've got your back, always.
MIA: And we love you!
TREVOR: Love y'all, too.
+
After the break-up, Trevor doesn't expect himself to be thrown into the stages of grief. And though he tries to fight it, he eventually decides on letting it run its course. He's got nothing better to do, so why the hell not?
Apollo and Akira have to fly out for RAW, but the rest of his friends, as they agreed upon, grace him with their presence in shifts.
On the first day, Lacey is here to keep him company. He's power cleaning the apartment and Lacey is hurrying to keep up with him as she asks if he wants to talk about it. "Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about, everything's fine," he tells her in deep denial.
Lacey sighs, deciding to stop following him and moving to straighten his CD collection instead. "Trev, it's okay if you're upset."
"Why would I be upset?" He forces a chuckle as he glances over from where he's dusting the television. "Lace, I'm cool, alright? We weren't in love or anything, so it's all good."
Lacey doesn't look convinced, but Trevor has a house to clean and there's no time to let her psychoanalyze him or whatever. "Listen, you don't have to tell us what happened," Lacey starts, turning away from his stereo with concerned eyes. "But none of us like seeing you like this, Trevor."
Trevor really doesn't want to talk about this, but maybe if he opens up a little, she'll drop it. Placing the duster down, he comes over to her to try and explain what he's feeling. "Lacey, Adam lied to me in the early stages of our relationship. When I found out about it, I made a choice to end things. That's all there is to it. We're over and you don't have to expect me to stay caged up because I'm doing just fine. See?" He points at himself with a faux smile. "The Killers song reference is proof."
Looking like she wants to say something else, Trevor cuts Lacey off. "All this cleaning got me hungry. You hungry? I can make lunch real quick." He whirls around and heads off towards the kitchen.
He doesn't look back to see Lacey's reaction, but he doesn't have to. Trevor knows she and their friends are concerned about him even though they don't need to be. This is just a small set-back and nothing more.
He's gonna be fine.
+
"Fuck, I can't believe any of this shit," Trevor says, nostrils flaring as he rests his chin on his clasped hands, tapping his foot against the floor erratically. Johnny sits beside him, rubbing his back. It brings Trevor no sense of comfort, so he stands and starts pacing his living room. "I don't get it. What did he think was going to happen when I found out he lied to me?"
Johnny doesn't know the specifics. Still, he opens his mouth to say anything along the lines of reassuring, but Trevor's words stop him short. "And can I even be mad at him without being mad at myself for falling for it?"
Trevor groans, stopping in front of a window and balling his hands into fists. "I should've never agreed to go to that damn baseball game. All it did was ruin a good friendship. That's what pisses me off the most." Even as he says this, Trevor knows if he could take everything back – every little moment, every sweet kiss – he wouldn't. Because he's not the type of person willing to throw something like that away, regardless of the outcome of it.
It's finally now that Johnny can say his piece. "I know you're mad, but it's not all so terrible. You guys had some great times too, right?"
As Trevor is enraged, he tries to sift through his memories to find the good times. They're there in the background but he can't reach them. And even if he could, those memories couldn't do shit for how he's feeling right now. Angry and bitter and low. A terrible combination for a man with a broken heart.
"Yeah, maybe," Trevor relents, slowly unfurling his clenched fists as he stares out the window like a goddamn widow in a Nicholas Sparks film. Trevor can feel his anger simmering and he puts a lid on it, so it doesn't explode as he releases a deep, somewhat calming breath. "But look at where they left me."
+
On day three, Mia drags Trevor out of the house to go see a movie and get lunch. Trevor wants to say he knows what movie was playing, but everything is kind of a blur. It might have been a slasher film or maybe an adaptation of a tragic YA romance. Does it really matter if they all died at the end anyway?
After eating they take a stroll through the park arm-in-arm. Trevor can feel that Mia wants to talk about Adam, but she's holding back because she thinks he doesn't want to. That's not true. He's got things he wants to say. "Maybe if I had saw it coming, I could have done things differently."
Mia observes their surroundings. The kids outside playing, dogs bounding through the dying grass, and a gentle breeze blowing the last few remaining tree leaves. "Differently how?"
"I don't know, but I wish things were different, Mia. I need them to be different." He shakes his head, wiping at a stray tear that's made its way down his face. "If I hadn't reacted that way maybe they could've been."
"Hey, this is not on you, Trevor," Mia tells him, stopping and using her grip on his arm to bring him to a stop as well. She grabs Trevor's chin and turns him to look at her. "Adam hurt you and that hurt is valid. You don't need to feel guilty because of a choice you made. Your feelings are valid."
Just yesterday he was adamant about not giving up the memories he'd built with Adam. Now, Trevor would do just about anything for a few minutes of peace, away from all the chaos those memories have created. "Are they still valid if I tell you that sometimes I wish I could forget everything between us?"
And what he loves about Mia is that she doesn't try to tell him he's being too extreme or overdramatic. Doesn't insist he's just saying things because he's hurting. No, she just sends him a sad smile and nods. Mia's arm slides down Trevor's to take his hand, interlacing it with her own to give it a squeeze. She brings her left hand to his arm, rubbing it consolingly. "You know I love you right, big head?"
For the first time since leaving Adam's house, he smiles for real. "I know." He lifts their hands to rest his forehead against them for a moment with a sigh, adding, "I love you, too."
Mia grins, then starts pulling him along again, recounting a story about another board game catastrophe. Trevor listens intently so that he can later recall every detail. He spaced out earlier, but he wants to be completely here, in the moment for his friends. Especially since trying to bargain with the past won't get him anywhere.
+
Before Bianca shows up, Trevor's on his couch, drinking rum and Coke of all things with a 3/4 fraction of rum as he listens to throwback songs. "Low" by Flo Rida and T-Pain comes on, and he doesn't change it, but do people honestly listen to "Low" enough for them to still play it on the radio?
Trevor doesn't want to move from his spot as he watches the TV. Nothing good is playing. It occurs to him that this is the depression stage, which is fitting because he simultaneously feels like shit and like the world isn't turning despite the exact opposite.
After "Low" goes off, something comes on that Trevor doesn't know the name of. A song with lots of piano that probably could evoke tears from a lesser person.
Trevor is that lesser person.
The tears just fall, and he doesn't try to stop them. Or at least not until he hears a knock at his door. He furiously wipes at his face as Bianca eases inside. "Hey, Trev," she greets brightly. She shuts the door and only walks a few spaces into the room before she stops, smile falling away as she hears what's on the radio. "Boy, uh-uh. I love you, but I ain't trying to hear sad music all day while you sulk."
"This isn't sulking." But he gets up anyway and heads to his stereo to put in a CD. "Best Thing I Never Had" by Beyoncé starts playing and Trevor raises his alcohol glass in a salute as he returns to the couch. "Wow, I feel better already," he utters sarcastically, despite truly loving this song. "Beyoncé is the cure to all my problems now."
"Isn't she everybody's?" Bianca comes over, placing her purse down on the coffee table as she takes a seat beside Trevor. "If you want to talk or need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here for you, Trevor."
Trevor considers it as he watches the melting ice in his glass aimlessly. He doesn't really want to say anything. He's content enough to just sit here with Bianca, listening to Queen Bey and whatever comes next on his CD. The only thing he can say is, "Love shouldn't hurt this much."
Downing the rest of his drink, Trevor stands and shuffles to the kitchen to refill his glass.
He tells himself it'll get better, but the acceptance stage never comes.
+
A week after the break-up, Trevor's trudging up the steps to his apartment after a night at the PC when he freezes at hearing sound come from inside of the apartment. Akira's still on the road and he swears he didn't leave the TV or stereo on, so he wonders for all of a second if someone's broken in. Then Trevor actually listens to the voices and knows he has nothing to worry about.
Well, nothing extreme.
He unlocks his door to quietly slip inside and sure enough, there are his friends, scattered across the living room. They don't spot him yet as they're way too focused on the TV, arguing about what they should put it on. "Is it a crime that I've never seen Dear John," Johnny asks, sitting on the green beanbag with the remote in his hand. "I'd like to watch that."
"Boy, ain't nobody watching Nicholas Sparks," Bianca disputes from on the couch next to Mia, SpongeBob blanket covering the both of them. Bianca tries to swipe the remote from Johnny, but he holds it to the right, out of her reach. "That man's shit is depressing."
Johnny trying to fend off Bianca leaves him open to have the remote taken by Mia. She eases back against the couch, snuggling deeper under the blanket as she scrolls through Netflix, ignoring Johnny's squawk of protest. "Which is the last thing Trevor needs right now, so we're looking for something else."
"And it's a romantic drama anyway," Lacey points out from where she sits in the chair, indulging in a small pint of rocky road ice cream. "I vote for 50 First Dates. It's Adam and Drew's best movie."
Trevor scoffs, finally drawing attention to himself. When his friends' eyes are on him, he shuts the door and looks at Lacey. "The disrespect that you just showed The Wedding Singer is heartbreaking as hell, Lace."
"Aye, Trev, we were waiting on you," Bianca says happily. She scoots over on the couch closer to Mia, beckoning him over. "We saved you a seat."
"You saved me a seat on my own couch?" Trevor gives a genuine smile, letting his gym bag slip from his shoulder onto the floor. "How thoughtful."
Mia shrugs, eyes moving back to the TV. "We try."
Trevor clasps his hands, index fingers tapping the tip of his nose as he tries to work through what's happening. He points at them. "I know how you got in here," Trevor speaks slowly, aware that they know where he keeps the spare key. "But why are you in here?"
"We said if you needed us, we'd be here, so we're here for a sleepover," Lacey informs. She holds up her pint of rocky road. "With ice cream!"
"And a shit ton of rom-coms." Johnny gestures to the TV, corner of his mouth tipped up in a smile as his arm rests on his knee. "Or whatever Netflix offers."
Trevor's grin widens. "For real?"
Bianca nods. "Shifts weren't working, so we decided what you needed was all of your friends at once."
Mia smiles at him sadly. "We should've known that from the start, Trevor. We're sorry."
Trevor must be The Grinch because he swears his heart grows three sizes in that moment. How lucky is he to have friends like this? "It's not your fault," he assures them, knowing he would've worked through those stages of grief either way. Had to if he wanted to be able to appreciate something like this. "I still love y'all for trying."
"Glad to hear it." Mia tosses him the remote and he catches it with both hands. "Now get over here and pick this movie before we put it on A Walk to Remember."
"Nah, we don't need anybody in here crying they eyes out," Trevor insists, plopping down beside Bianca and covering himself with the edge of the blanket. He glances at Lacey, eyes narrowed. "Where's the rest of the ice cream?"
She points towards his kitchen with her spoon. "In the freezer. You're welcome to walk on in there and help yourself."
Trevor clutches his chest. "Ah, I can't. I heard acknowledgement of a broken heart requires three to five business days to process before I do any straining activities."
"Well, I'm sure as hell not about to get up and do it," Lacey tells him outright, snuggling deeper into the chair. "Too comfortable."
Trevor can't help his amusement as he looks at his friends, each of them studiously avoiding his gaze. He shakes his head, getting up and jokingly muttering loud enough for them to hear, "Damn, can't believe none of you wanted to do this one thing for me in my time of need."
"Don't worry, your broken heart will thank you for the cardio," Johnny calls out after him.
Trevor flips him the bird as he disappears into the kitchen. He takes a spoon and grabs a pint of chocolate from the freezer, wrapping it in a paper towel. When he returns to his seat on the couch, his friends still haven't agreed on what to watch. Around a spoonful of ice cream, Trevor says, "If y'all can't decide, I'm putting it on 10 Things I Hate About You and calling it a day."
Immediately, all of them groan, starting to speak over each other in a mixture of complaints and pleads for Trevor not to put it on the movie. As Trevor eats his ice cream, trying to stifle a fit of laughter, he's entirely enraptured by the light of his friends. The utter euphoria that exists from simply being in their presence. And it's great that Trevor's so caught up in their energy. It's what prevents him from realizing that this is the first time since the break-up that he's not missing Adam at all.