It was finally here. Step three. Or as Charlie said, half of the plan. Simon was looking forward to it, but he still had to remind himself to see the glass half full and not half empty. Especially since he was running out of excuses every time Max cuddled up to him and he wanted to avoid having sex with him. 

Letting him kiss him was one thing, but sex... 

After he started to think more about it and all the STDs started to haunt his mind, he decided to get tested. Fortunately, his results came back clean. 

"Do you really have to go?" Max's sad face snapped him back to reality. 

"You know how Asher is. If I leave him alone, who knows what'll happen," Simon replied, rolling his eyes to sell the lie. Luckily, all his friends had agreed to provide him with an alibi whenever he needed a break from Max, and he was more than grateful for that. 

"He's lucky to have you," Max judged, taking advantage of Simon's proximity to capture his lips. 

"I'm sure he would have said the contrary," Simon picked up on the previous conversation as soon as he could speak again. 

Max chuckled. He'd had a chance to get to know Simon’s friends in the year they'd been together and Simon used to enjoy how easily they got along. Now he was glad that they were still his friends first and foremost and that they immediately took his side. 

"We should all get together sometime. I think it's been a while since the latest beer incident," Max said, scrunching his nose. 

Every time they'd let his and Max’s friends into the apartment at the same time, it had ended in disaster. It always meant a lot of noise, alcohol and stupid ideas. They were lucky that the neighbours only called the police on them once for disturbing the peace. 

"No, thank you," he replied promptly, eliciting another laugh from Max. 

"You're right." He reached up and, thankfully, only planted a kiss on his cheek this time. "As always," he added. 

"I'm glad you realise that." Simon replied in the same playful tone, and although he pretended everything was fine, the way he subtly pulled away so that Max couldn't reach him any more spoke otherwise. 

Apparently it wasn't enough, because Max reached out and took Simon's hand in his. The blonde knew exactly what was coming. "Do you really have to go?" His puppy dog eyes were adorable at times and could melt Simon's heart, but that was long forgotten. Hard to melt something that's broken in the first place. 

"Do you want my friends to laugh at me again that we can't keep our hands off each other like a couple of teenagers?" Simon asked with a fake smile. 

"I don't care about my reputation when I've got you," was Max's swift reply. 

"I care about mine," Simon assured him, pulling his hand to his side and pulling it away from Max's in the process. "And I care about my friends. Asher may be an idiot, but he's an idiot who needs me right now." 

"I know." Max assured him. "Tell Asher I said hi." His tone was kind and didn't give away that he was accusing Simon of anything. 

"I will," Simon assured him, taking the opportunity to move to the door and, more importantly, get out of their apartment as quickly as possible. 

"Bye! Love you!" he shouted as he closed the door behind him, slamming it shut before Max could reply. His happy mask fell from his face the moment he was alone, and since he didn't want to risk Max seeing him like that, he quickly ran down the stairs and then down the sidewalk. 

As he walked, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to send three messages. The first was for Asher, letting him know that he was leaving the apartment, so if anyone asked, he was going to his house. The second was for Jeff to let him know that Max was officially home alone and there was a good chance he was going somewhere. Even though they already had enough evidence, they agreed that if an opportunity like this presented itself, they wouldn't waste it. Besides, if Jeff was watching him, Simon was assured that he and Max wouldn't run into each other by accident and he wouldn't find out about their plan. 

The final message was for Charlie. Simon was actually spending the afternoon with him and they were going to meet at the same café as usual. 

This message was the shortest since Simon had texted him: "I'm on my way." 

The café wasn't far, at least not as far as one would expect according to their secret plan, just 15 minutes from Simon's apartment. The moment Simon opened the glass door, the usual sweet smell of pastries and other goodies surrounded him, followed immediately by the tantalising aroma of coffee. 

His eyes fell first on the counter, behind which all the sweet temptations were hidden, before he looked around to see where his friend was sitting. Charlie waved him over with an amused smile, then nodded his head towards the table to show Simon that he already had several different cookies in front of him.

"I hope they're as good as your grandma's," were Simon's words of greeting. 

Charlie chuckled. "I'll let you decide for yourself." 

His laughter was infectious and had an immediate effect on Simon's mood. Although Max's words and affection annoyed him, he was able to forget them, at least for a while, thanks to Charlie. 

"How's it going?" 

Simon sat down on the seat across from him. 

"Great now that you're here," Charlie replied with a cheeky grin. "But realistically, still good. I'm finally supposed to meet Brody this weekend, can't wait." Brody was Charlie's boyfriend. Their relationship, however, was different from anything that Simon would have ever expected. Not only did they have a long-distance relationship, but they also had an open relationship. Charlie explained to him that they had agreed it was better that way as they were miles apart, but Simon honestly couldn't imagine sharing the person he loved. 

"I'm happy for you," Simon replied sincerely. Just because he didn't understand something didn't mean he couldn't fully support his friend. 

"Thank you." Charlie returned the smile. "Just so you know, if you need me over the weekend, I'll still be answering the phone." 

Although they hadn't known each other long, Charlie had become a part of Simon's life and his words meant a lot to him. "I think I can manage one weekend. Enjoy your time with your boyfriend. If anything happens, I'll bug Jeff," he assured him. 

"I'm sure Jeff will appreciate that." 

After that, their conversation was briefly interrupted by the waitress who came to take Simon's order and then continued in a casual direction until a cup of hot coffee landed in front of Simon. 

"What did you tell Max?" Charlie didn't specify his question, but Simon knew immediately what he was asking. 

"I told him that Asher had come up with another great idea to get rich and I'm afraid he's going to fall for some pyramid scheme again," he revealed, laughing at his own words. 

"Another?" Charlie repeated. 

"Uh-huh," Simon confirmed immediately. "He wanted to change the password to the school wifi once and change it every week so he could sell it to the students," he revealed one of Asher's so-called brilliant ideas. 

"How was he going to change the school wifi without any of the staff finding out?" 

"That's where his plan failed," the blonde assured him. 

"Luckily, I can assure you that I'm better with plans," Charlie jumped on the subject. "Speaking of plans, we're finally at step number three. Are you ready?" 

Simon paused for a moment, but then spoke. "I can't wait to get this over with," he admitted honestly. 

"Great, because I've got it all figured out." Charlie's optimism was becoming increasingly contagious, and this time Simon's thoughts didn't go in the wrong direction. His self-esteem still wasn't repaired, but it was on the right track. 

"I'm listening," Simon assured him. 

"First of all, does your phone have two SIM card slots?" Charlie asked him and he nodded in agreement, though confused by his question. "Yeah, why?"

"Great, that's settled then." Charlie smiled and continued, "You're going to get a new phone number, that's the first part of the plan. That way Max won't find out as you won't have two phones, just two SIM cards."

"You want me to send him the pictures." Simon knew immediately what he was getting at. 

"Yes, but there's one more thing. Do you think you can blackmail him?" 

"Blackmail." Simon repeated after him. "How exactly do you imagine that?" 

"Every time you send him a picture, you text him and tell him that if he doesn't send you money, you'll send it to yourself, I mean Simon," he clarified, just to make sure they understood each other. 

"What if he recognises my account number? I'm not saying it's easy to remember, but if he happens to look it up, he'll know it's mine." Simon thought he'd found a flaw in the plan, but Charlie immediately assured him that was not the case. 

His wide grin indicated that he had thought of something really crazy, and his words confirmed it a second later. "I talked to my grandma, she'll let you borrow her account." 

Apparently she was not only great at baking cookies, but also at plotting against cheating ex-boyfriends. 

"You're crazy," Simon told him, but the smile on his face was identical to Charlie's. "When do we start?" 

"As soon as you say you're ready." 

"I'm more than ready," the blonde declared confidently, surprising himself with how seriously he meant it. He'd had enough of living with Max, and if Charlie's plan worked, he could get the money for his own rent and make sure he never saw the bastard again in his life. At least not willingly.