It was Sunday and Max was packing to spend the night at his parents' house. At least that's what he told Simon. 

Simon, fortunately, had learned his lesson and knew that what Max said and what he actually did were two different things, so he sent a quick message to Jeff and Charlie to let them know about his plans.

The two of them had actually succeeded in getting a photo of Jeff and Max together in a café on the outskirts of town, and Simon preferred not to ask about the details of the day. He knew that Jeff had met him, that Max had kissed him, and that he had then invited him to his place, which Jeff had refused, and that was enough for him.

All he cared about was that they had the first piece of evidence, which meant that the number of days he had to spend in the same apartment as him would be reduced.

Simon couldn't wait to be free and stop pretending. If he could, he'd move to the couch, but he'd need a good excuse for Max, and he hadn't come up with one yet. In the year they had been together, they had never had a reason to sleep apart. Whenever he was ill, Max would lie next to him if he needed anything at night, even if it meant he might catch something from him. And when they fought, they slept back to back, but still in the same bed. Their relationship was perfect on the surface, but only on the surface.

"I will try to come back as soon as possible. Try not to miss me too much." Max gave him a teasing smile from the doorway. Simon decided to see him off, as he always did when he was at home, and Max went somewhere to avoid arousing his suspicions. At this rate, he could put an actor on his CV.

"I'm not sure I can do that," Simon replied with sarcasm in his voice and Max laughed. Immediately afterwards he leaned down and planted a warm kiss on Simon's lips. He closed his eyes tightly, although it wasn't necessary. Simon's heart was aware of the betrayal, but his body was not, for it still responded to Max's kisses and welcomed them enthusiastically. 

"I love you," was the first thing Max said to him when he released his lips. 

"I love you too," Simon replied, though the words left a bitter taste on his tongue. The worst part was that the words still rang true, even though Simon wanted nothing more than for them to be forgotten.

"One more." Max pressed his lips to Simon's in a quick kiss before giving him a mischievous smile. Simon shook his head amusedly out of habit and a smile appeared on his face. 

As soon as the door closed behind Max, his face turned into a stone mask. Simon leaned his back against the door and slid down to the floor. He had never thought that pretending everything was fine could be so exhausting.

The worst part, though, was the way he felt in their empty apartment. When Max was here with him, he had at least some semblance of normality. But when he was here alone, he began to feel claustrophobic, as if the walls were suffocating him. Just like now.

Simon knew there was no point in calling Charlie and Jeff as they were probably busy following Max, for which he was grateful, but he would also appreciate their company. Fortunately, they weren't Simon's only friends, if he could call them that, and Simon's fingers quickly found a group chat that he knew wouldn't turn down an empty apartment and alcohol.

It was exactly fifteen minutes before there was a knock on the same door he was leaning against. He quickly got to his feet and opened the door, not caring how it looked as he opened it at lightning speed.

"You look terrible," Asher's words greeted him. Simon rolled his eyes as he told him that every time they saw each other and pulled him into a half hug as the brunet had a bottle of tequila in his hand.

"Someone's got their best guns out," Simon judged. He knew full well that he wouldn't remember anything after a few shots of tequila, which was why he almost never drank it, but now he was excited about it for exactly the same reason.

"Don't encourage him in his madness." His twin sister appeared behind him. It wasn't often that Amanda spent time with them, usually only when she was afraid her brother wouldn't make it home, and this was clearly the case.

"A little madness never hurt anybody." Serena was the last to enter the apartment. This time she came without her girlfriend, as she was working a shift, but Jess promised to come by later if she wasn't too tired.

They all automatically headed for the living room, and Simon stopped by the kitchen on the way to get some sodas, miraculously managing to find the lone orange and leftover cinnamon that Asher had left there last time. 

"Has anyone heard from Parker?" No one seemed bothered by his absence, but since he hadn't replied to Simon's message, it was to be expected that sooner or later the conversation would shift to him.

"I think he has a date," Asher answered Serena's question.

"Date? Parker?" Even Amanda seemed confused by the statement, knowing full well how Parker felt about dating. 

"I think she has class with you." Asher turned to Simon as he twisted the cap off the bottle. "Her name was Nora? I think." Simon knew exactly who Nora was and immediately remembered how Charlie had mentioned her when he had first approached him.

If he remembered correctly, she was half Japanese and lived with her older sister, who had her own flat near the school. She was friendly, if rather shy, and Simon got on well with her, although he didn't spend much time with her outside of class.

"Yeah, I know her," he confirmed, putting things from his hands on the small table around which everyone was sitting. 

"Is she hot?" Asher asked immediately, which earned him a smack on the head from Amanda. "Hey!" 

"I think she's cute, objectively speaking," Simon answered him anyway. Although he was not attracted to women, he could appreciate female beauty. In Nora's case, it could be described as adorable, as she was short, with fuller cheeks and big doe eyes.

"I would never say that Parker would go for cuteness." Parker had flirted with Serena once when he was drunk and barely knew her, so it was no wonder she was surprised. While Nora was short, Serena was almost as tall as Simon. Whereas Nora was brunette, Serena was blonde. And while Nora could be described as cute, Serena was the perfect example of hot. 

"I honestly thought he was gay for a second," Asher interjected before quickly turning to Simon with a raised hand. "No offence." And then he continued, "His sad flirting skills with women just suggested it."

"You say that like you know how to flirt with women," his sister quickly pointed out, and he turned to her with a frown that only got worse when she snatched the bottle of booze out of his hands.

"I can flirt with anyone," he corrected her statement, reaching for the lone orange and starting to peel it.

"Simon," Amanda addressed him, but before she continued she put the bottle to her mouth and took a swig. Her face grimaced for a moment as the alcohol hit her throat, but she immediately licked her wet lip and handed the bottle to Serena. "If you were single and Asher approached you in a bar, would he score?"

Simon knew this was the perfect opportunity to tell his friends that he was indeed going to be single soon, but he didn't feel like confiding in them right now and instead continued to pretend that everything was fine.

"Not in a million years," he said with a smile and took the bottle from Serena.

"That's a lie and we both know it." Asher pointed a finger at him. 

Before Simon decided to reply, he put the bottle to his lips and drank from it. Unlike the girls, however, he immediately reached for a soda to wash down the taste of alcohol. Even though tequila tasted better than vodka, he still couldn't understand how people could only drink plain alcohol.

"I hate to disappoint you, Asher, but I would never go for your type."

"And what's my type?" brunet reacted straight away. 

"The type where you never know if they're gay or just experimenting or just not into relationships. The confusing type," he explained. The way Amanda asked the question, without the "if Asher was gay" part, suggested that no one really knew what his orientation was and it proved his point.

"True," Asher replied, not elaborating. Simon knew he wasn't going to get any more out of him, so he handed him the bottle without further ado, even though he was still struggling with the orange peel. 

"Enough about Asher's orientation. Nobody cares anyway," she said, before adding. "Nobody cares about him, I was gonna say." Before her brother could cast another glare at her, she took the orange from his hands and began to peel it for him. 

"I agree," Serena said, and although Asher handed her the bottle, after her statement, he quickly pulled it back to his body before she could take it. The blonde rolled her eyes and explained, "I meant I didn't want to talk about your orientation, idiot."

That was enough for Asher to offer her the bottle of golden liquid again. 

After that, the bottle was passed around between the four of them quite fast and they were almost halfway through the tequila before they decided it was time to take a break.

And while Asher hardly showed any signs of being drunk, the same couldn't be said for Simon. Although he had only recently gotten drunk on vodka, he still hadn't had enough training, and even the fact that he drank soda between shots of tequila didn't help.

His concentration was off and when he stood up, he immediately swayed in place before regaining his balance. "Damn, are you all right, Simon? You should maybe take it easy for a while." Serena was immediately at his side, just in case.

"I don't want to take it easy," he protested and he could tell that his voice didn't sound like it should. 

"You don't usually drink," Serena reminded him.

Simon turned to her with a scowl and swayed in place again. "I don't usually date cheating bastards either, but here we are." He opened his arms.

"What?" Serena frowned and Simon's words also caught the attention of the others in the room despite their alcohol clouded minds.

"What do you mean, Simon? Did Max cheat on you?" Asher asked. The atmosphere in the room changed and although Simon continued to enjoy his alcoholic intoxication, the others seemed to have suddenly sobered up at this information.

"That he did." Simon said nonchalantly, as if talking about the weather.

"Then why are we just sitting here and not helping you pack?" Asher was on his feet in a flash and his sister followed his example.

Simon looked around at his friends with a confused look on his face, as if he had momentarily forgotten what they were talking about. However, his "oh" quickly indicated that he had managed to remember, and his expression quickly changed as well. 

It was obvious that he was fighting back tears and Serena put a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of support. "Simon," she addressed him in a soft voice.

"He cheated on me for weeks, if not months," he said in a low tone, his gaze dropping to the ground. He didn't want to see the look on his friends' faces, and at the same time he was ashamed. Not only because it had taken him so long to find out, but also because in the back of his mind he still thought it was his fault. And with how much he had drunk, that thought was slowly consuming his entire mind. He must have done something wrong, right? 

"Simon." While Serena addressed him tenderly, Asher's voice suggested he had no choice. His firm tone worked and Simon looked up at him. 

"We're going to set his apartment on fire and then we're going to smash his car," Asher declared and Simon, in his drunken state, chuckled. 

His laughter did not last long, however, and quickly turned to sobs. Drunk as he was, Max's betrayal still weighed on his soul and he couldn't forget it. 

"We got you, Simon, we got you." Serena hugged him from one side, Amanda from the other and Asher wrapped his arms around them all.  

 Setting fire to the apartment had to be put on hold, because right now Simon's friends knew he needed support the most. And in doing so, they had unknowingly helped Simon take another step forward in his journey to heal his heart.