"Those three words are said too much. They're not enough"

-Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

"I love you!" Kyle yelled to his friend Lana while running away. Lana stuck her tongue out at his retreating back and resisted the urge to throw something at him.

She sighed and jammed her hands into her pockets. Stupid Kyle, always doing something annoying or stupid and then running away leaving Lana with those three words that she knew he didn't mean. And that hurt. He said "I love you!" constantly to basically everyone, including Lana and as much as she wished he meant it, he never did, except for maybe the love between friends.

She sighed again and wandered home just in time to say goodbye to her father who was rushing out to his job as a security guard. He kissed her and her mother on the cheek and ran out the door.

Lana looked sadly at his receding figure. He had only said "Goodbye," not "I love you," like he used to when she was little. She missed those days and wondered what had changed. Was it him? Or was it something she herself had done? Whatever it was, it hurt.

Lana's father made his way outside, only realizing afterwards that he had forgotten to say "I love you," to both. Thinking back, he could not remember the last time he had. Oh well. It didn't matter much, his family knew he loved them with all his heart.

He glanced at the house next door and glared as he caught sight of the teenager who lived there smoking. He muttered, "Hooligan," underneath his breath, before continuing on towards his car.

Said hooligan, René, smothered a laugh at the man's obvious dislike of him and wandered inside, brushing his skirt off as he did so. Things like that used to hurt, but now he got so much hostility directed towards him for his cross-dressing tendencies that a simple glare was a pleasant change.

René smiled at his boyfriend and settled down on the couch, snuggling up to his side. "What's on your mind, Jesse? You look awfully serious."

Jesse smiled softly at him. "Just thinking about what to do about Sara."

René's mouth turned down, but he didn't say anything. He thought Jesse should tell the girl the truth and break it off, but Jesse had been dating her since before René had even met Jesse and the older boy had even told her that he loved her. He had not said that that even once to René, so René had no business telling him what to do on the matter. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

Jesse saw René's smile dissolve and sighed. He knew he should break it off with Sara. It wasn't fair to her or René. He was cheating on her and two-timing René. His boyfriend knew of course, but that didn't make it any better. Plus, he didn't love Sara, e loved René. Not that he would ever admit to it out loud.

He had spent most of his life trying to cut every tie that held him. Now with René… there was a bond there, a deep one, but breaking up with Sara or saying "I love you," would make it that much stronger. Jesse was not ready to take that plunge yet. He knew he was going to have to break up with Sara fairly soon but h didn't know if he would ever be ready to speak those words to anyone and really mean it. He could say it to Sara because he wasn't serious about her, but René…

"Sweetheart," he said quietly, "I have to go. I'll be back around eleven, okay?"

René nodded, eyes hooded. Jesse knew he knew where Jesse was going- on a date with Sara- but saying it aloud would make it worse for both of them, so neither ever said it. Jesse kissed him on the cheek and left, knowing René would dissolve into tears as soon as he was out of the house, but he walked out anyways, heading towards the theater to meet Sara.

After an hour and a half of the mindless idiocy of the newest romantic comedy, he and Sara parted ways after saying "I love you," both trying to think of a way to end their pseudo-relationship.

Sara walked inside her apartment and smiled when she saw her girlfriend, Macy, curled around a pillow on the couch, blinking groggily up at her, having just been woken up by the click of the door shutting. "Hey Mace," Sara said tenderly.

Macy smiled blearily at her and Sara snickered softly before crossing the room to snuggle with her, content with the love of her life in her arms and secure in the knowledge that they were happy and in love.

Meanwhile, Macy was forcing herself not to lose the smile as Sara drifted off beside her. She loved Sara, but she didn't know if Sara loved her back. She had never said so. Well, to be fair, neither had she, but it was common knowledge that Macy was shy as all hell, and she would never be able to work up the nerve to say anything first.

She was just starting to nod off when her cell phone beeped.

Macy quickly glanced at Sara, but the other girl didn't stir. Macy dug the phone out of her pocket and looked at the text message that had been sent to her.

'Hi yourself. What's up?'

Macy glared at the phone. She had forgotten that she had text messaged Caitlyn earlier because she was feeling bored, insecure, and lonely, and had wanted company. But, damn the girl had bad timing.

'NM. Sleeping with Sara, Go away,' she punched in before hitting send.

Caitlyn stared at her phone in bemusement. That was just rude. But before she could send an angry reply back the door swung open and she hastily stowed the phone into the drawer. Andy hated it when she was talking or text messaging someone else. As he put it, she was his and his alone. Caitlyn actually liked that possessive streak at times, but he could go a bit overboard sometimes.

She hurried through the bedroom door to meet him and took a moment to admire him. He was gorgeous with his short, messy, dark hair, lean body and handsome face. He had sort of feminine features, but that was to be expected. He had started out life as a girl after all, but had gotten a sex change when he reached eighteen. It really made no difference to Caitlyn; she loved him either way.

"Hey Cait," he slurred and Caitlyn's eyes widened as she noticed that he was drunk again. That was never good. Caitlyn backed up slowly as panic began clawing up her throat.

"Wha'? You don' wan' me any more? Too goo' for little ol' me?" he asked, his words soft ad venomous despite the fact that they were running together as he began stumbling towards her.

Caitlyn backed up and ran to the bedroom slamming the door behind her and leaning against it, wishing that the apartment was larger.

That didn't deter Andy at all. He pushed open the door and sent her sprawling across the floor. "Don' ru' away, you slu'. You're mine," he hissed, picking Caitlyn up and pushing her against the wall. When she didn't object and only nodded fearfully, he slammed her against the wall again for good measure and then dropped her, stumbling out of the room.

Caitlyn sank to the floor and took deep breaths, blinking rapidly to try to stop the tears from falling. Andy loved her, she had to believe that. It was the alcohol making him act like this. He would apologize in the morning and tell her that he loved her and this wouldn't happen again. She just had to keep telling herself that.

Next door, Devon jumped as something slammed against the wall, but managed to rrestrain himself when it happened again. He shook his head in bemusement. His two neighbors were always going at it on every surface available. He should have been over being surprised. He had once walked in on them having sex in the stairwell. That had scarred him for life.

He glanced at his watch. Finally, it was time for him to leave. Kyle and Grace were expecting him at Kyle's house in fifteen minutes. He stood up and began the walk.

When he arrived, Grace was already there and sitting on Kyle's bed. As soon as Devon sat down, Kyle started the movie and they all quickly became engrossed in it.

Well, at least they were all pretending. Devon's attention was actually wavering quite a bit. He glanced at Kyle through lowered lashes, but quickly looked away before Kyle could catch him at it. How he longed to tell Kyle how he felt. All it would take was that one phrase, those three little words. But… he couldn't stand the rejection that was sure to come. Better to have Kyle as a friend than nothing at all.

Kyle looked up, just in time to see Devon's gaze reach its former resting place on the television, and felt hope soar, but quickly quelled the elated feeling. Devon was not interested him and never would be, but Kyle held onto that shred of hope, that maybe, if he could just say those three words, "I love you," maybe, just maybe, Devon might consider a relationship with Kyle a possibility. He would never work up the courage to do it though.

Grace looked onto her two friends with pity in her eyes. If only they could just admit their love for one another to each other, they would get their happily ever after. But both were afraid and both had sworn her to secrecy. She sighed, and when the movie ended, she stood up and made her goodbyes. She needed to be on time for her date with her boyfriend, Dylan.

They met at a coffee shop and from there, went to Dylan's apartment to have dessert.

Afterwards, they were sitting on the sofa cuddling when Dylan said "I love you," softly to Grace.

Grace looked up at him amazed for a moment. He had never said that before! She hesitated for a moment before kissing him fiercely and saying, "I love you too." When he stood up and led her to the bed, for the first time, she did not object and although Grace could not see it, Dylan was smirking.

A/N: The lyrics from Chasing Cars was the inspiration for this story. Except I got them wrong and thought they were "Those three words are said too much, yet not enough." That's what actually inspired this piece… So if the lyrics at the top of the page don't fit exactly, that's why. Review please!