Emily parked her car beside Alexia's and took a deep breath.

"Ok," she whispered, "Alexia, I'm really sorry I was such a drama queen. You are my best friend and not only should I always be there for you, I shouldn't freak out on you every time you mess up. I don't want to lose our friendship over something like this."

She nodded in satisfaction and opened the car door.

She knocked lightly on the front door, peering in the window into the empty living room. Since she had practically grown up in this house, she rarely waited for someone to say 'come in' before she entered and, true to her habit, she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Lex?" she called quietly.

When no one answered, she figured Alexia was upstairs taking a nap. Oftentimes in the afternoons when Emily would come over, she would find Alexia fast asleep on her bed.

She carefully started up the stairs, avoiding the step towards the middle that creaked. She tiptoed down the hall towards the door at the end.

~ ~ ~

Alexia ran her hands through Ryan's hair as he softly laid her back on the bed. Quickly her shirt came off and Ryan kissed her again. She began unbuttoning his jeans while he fidgeted with the drawstring on hers.

~ ~ ~

            Emily reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly, careful not to make too much noise so she wouldn't wake her friend. She pushed it open and…

"Oh my God! Oh…oh." Emily screamed and slapped her hands over her eyes. Alexia sat up quickly, shoving Ryan off of her and pulled the sheet up to cover her almost exposed chest.

"Emily! What the…what are you doing? Oh my God." Alexia screamed back at her.

Emily turned around and stood in the doorway with her back to the room, her hand still over her eyes.

"Lex, I…I swear I didn't see anything."

Ryan, who was now lying face down on the bed and tangled in the sheets, frantically tried to hide himself under the covers. Alexia screamed again out of sheer panic and reached for her shirt that was lying on the floor in front of the bed.

"Oh my God, Em, I'm so sorry! Ryan and I were just-"

"No!" Ryan shouted. He rolled off the bed and started hurriedly trying to put his pants back on.

Emily's heart stopped. Her eyes got wide and she spun around to face the scene that five seconds ago she had been desperate to get away from.

"Ryan?" she asked, stepping back into the room.

"Em, I'm sorry, I-"

"You…you…" Emily thrust her finger toward Alexia and then toward the pile of wriggling sheets on the floor that was Ryan. "I can't believe this!" She stomped toward Ryan and jerked the sheets of him, leaving him lying in the floor wearing just his boxers and an embarrassed expression.

"What the hell are you doing in bed with my best friend?"

"Em, I can explain I-" Ryan stuttered.

"Don't even try it! And you!" she turned around to look at Alexia. "You thought I wouldn't know? As if what you did to me before wasn't bad enough? Now you're…you're…" she was so mad she couldn't even find the right words. Her heart pounded and it felt as if all the blood in her body was rushing to her head.

She turned and ran out of the room and started down the stairs.

"Em! Wait!" Alexia yelled. "What are you talking about?"

Emily ignored her and slung open the front door.

"Stop!" Alexia grabbed Emily's arm and stopped her roughly. "Look," she began, but Emily stopped her when she grabbed the shirt out of Alexia's hand and shoved it back at her saying, "Put some clothes on!"

Alexia looked down at her black, lacy bra and quickly pulled the shirt down over her head.

"Now, listen. I am so unbelievably sorry you walked in on that. I really didn't know you were here or I would have stopped before you got here. But, please tell my why you were yelling at us like that. What were you talking about?"

Emily breathed deeply and shook her head. Suddenly she burst into tears. Tears of anger and frustration.

"You were having sex with my boyfriend!"

Alexia's head jerked back in surprise. "What? What did you say?"

Emily was too choked up to reply right away.

Alexia sighed. "Em, oh man, I knew you had a thing for Ryan. I should have known!"

It felt as if everything around her was caving in on her. Emily began quivering and suddenly found herself falling. Her knees hit the ground and right away Alexia bent down on her knees to catch her before she fell further.

"Emily! Are you okay? Please just pull yourself together and tell me what's going on? Why are you so upset?" When Emily didn't reply Alexia continued. "I know you didn't want to walk in on that, but would it have been the same if it hadn't have been with Ryan? Is it because you have a thing for Ryan?"

Emily finally composed herself. "Alexia, Ryan is my boyfriend. And apparently you didn't know that, but I know he did."

"Em, Ryan's not your boyfriend."

"Yes he is! We've been dating for weeks!"

Emily saw the shock in Alexia's eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. Something didn't add up. Alexia hadn't been trying to hard to conceal the fact that it was Ryan in her bed. She really didn't know they were together. Alexia's breaths became short and labored.

"Lex? What's wrong?"

"Ryan is…is my boyfriend. We've been dating for weeks, too."

"What?"

"We decided not to tell you because we didn't want things between us all to be weird. Ryan said we couldn't all be friends if you knew about us."

"He told me the same thing." Emily said standing up. Alexia stood up too and she turned around to look up at her bedroom window. Just as she suspected, Ryan was watching them.

"He has some explaining to do." Alexia told Emily, grabbing her by the hand.

The two marched together in the house and up the stairs. Ryan was standing awkwardly at the foot of the bed. He had finally managed to get his jeans back on, but still had no shirt on.

"Ryan." Alexia said sternly. "Do you mind explaining something to us?"

He shook his head uncomfortably and smiled.

"For some reason, Emily and I both have it in our minds that you are our boyfriend."

"Yea, " Emily added. "As in, you are my boyfriend and you are her boyfriend. Now, this doesn't really make sense because, as we all know, a guy can't have two girlfriends at once."

Ryan shook his head again and shrugged his shoulders. "Can you blame me for liking both of you?"

Alexia laughed and shook her head. "No, I guess I can't. I mean, we're both hot, smart, funny and well, we're both great catches. So you've gotta wonder what we saw in you."

Emily laughed too. "Yea I mean, both us of can get any guy we want. Yet somehow, we both fell for a jerk like you."

"Now, ladies." Ryan held up his hands and smiled the smile that had drawn both of them in. "I don't see any reason why we can't all be together."

"Gross!" Emily shouted.

Alexia laughed. "I have to agree with Em on this Ryan."

"You're pathetic, Ryan Berkeley. I don't know what I ever saw in you."

"Em, I….Lex, I…"

"Get out of my house, Ryan."

            "I just don't know how he managed to play us like that. I had no idea. I thought he was so great."

Alexia shrugged. "I don't know. I thought he was great, too." She smiled. "But great in a different way than you thought he was great."

Emily smiled back at her friend. "I'm sorry, Alexia."

"For what?"

"For everything. For acting like such a drama queen lately, for not telling you about me and Ryan and for jumping to conclusions."

"And I'm sorry, too."

Emily sighed. "I know it's stupid after all he did, but I'm going to miss Ryan. Not the real Ryan, but the one he was around me. He was so sweet."

"I know what you mean. But there are lots of other guys out there who are just as sweet and who don't cheat and lie."

"I guess so."

Alexia put her arm around her cousin. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think Ryan deserves something."

"What does he deserve?" Emily asked rolling her eyes.

"He deserves payback."

A smiled spread over Emily's face. "Payback?"

"Oh yea. We're talking major revenge, baby." Alexia said nodding. Emily could see the wheels turning in her head.

"What did you have in mind?"