The process will never end. She wants Dylan, and if she can't have him then no one can. "Are you going to make that girl's life hell too?" I demand. "Aren't you sick of being hurt over and over?" She purses her lips and I know I've touched a nerve. "You don't know about me and Dylan. I can't just let him go." She plays with her hands before saying, "I think I love him." Yikes. "Do you really love him? Or do you love the idea of him?" I want her to see that Dylan isn't the only guy in the world who can make her happy, but I don't want to come across as only saying those things just to get her out of the picture. She's stuck to him, and it isn't healthy. "I don't know," she says, looking away from me. "Maybe it's just the idea of him." I can sympathize. Dylan is truly a great guy with only a few flaws. "I felt that way about Jacob." "Your ex?" She seems interested. Maybe she's like Dylan, and the more I open up, she will too. "Yeah, it was great with Jacob. He was sweet to me, he showed me off to his friends, and I thought we'd be that couple who'd stay together after high school." "He cheated on you, didn't he?" "I found out he cheated after I lost my parents in an accident," I look down at my hands. I can't believe I'm telling Kay everything. "Shit," she leans back in her seat. She looks uncomfortable when she says, "Sorry about your parents." "Thanks," I mumble. Exposing my story to Kay feels weird. I don't know what will come out of our conversation. "What an asshole," she says about Jacob. "After we broke up, I didn't know if I could trust anyone. I didn't want to get hurt again. Then suddenly I had Dylan in class and things just felt so natural with him. He helped me get over Jacob," I say, without really thinking. I'm not sure how she'll react when I bring up moments with me and Dylan. She leans forward again. "Dylan knows exactly what to say. I never knew if he meant what he said, or if he was just feeding me bullshit." That's something I couldn't relate to. I always felt like he was completely genuine with me and that's why I liked him. "What is he doing with Xavier?" I ask her. She'll most likely know. Her eyes narrow, like she's examining me. "You want him back, don't you?" "I just care about him, Kay. I mean, I don't want his life to be ruined by Xavier," I say. Her expression reads protective sister, so I quickly say, "Don't tell me you're actually proud of Xavier." The atmosphere around our conversation has changed. "It's not our job to fix Dylan, of course," I continue. "But that doesn't mean we can't try." Kay isn't looking at me, only looking at the table. Almost lost in thought. "I don't know what he's doing with Xavier. I've been left in the dark." Damn. Maybe I should've talked to Anthony about it first. "You're in love with him, aren't you?" she asks me suddenly. "I mean, why else would you be doing all of this?" In love with Dylan? No. "There's a difference between being in love with someone, and loving them," I say. "I don't think I'm in love with him." "But you love him," she says flatly. "You can't deny that." Maybe I do. I don't want to say in front of Kay because my feelings are not to be trusted. "Well, well, what do we have here?" Mine and Kay's eyes snap to Carlos, who is closing in on our table. I haven't really seen him since the day he blew up on everyone. "What are we conspiring, ladies?" he asks, pulling a chair up to the table. "None of your business," Kay shoots at him. His eyes travel to me. "Something to do with Dylan, right?" I'm going to answer his question. "What are you doing here, Carlos?" "I'm just here," he grins. "Living my bullshit-free life." Kay rolls her eyes at him. "Leave us alone. You're clearly jealous of Dylan." She's going to piss him off, and I don't think it will work out well. He smirks. "Jealous of Dylan? Fuck no." I don't want to be around him. He's a bad friend and I don't want to be around him anymore. "C'mon, Kay. I think it's time to go." "Kay can leave," he waves her off. "I want to talk to you." His eyes bore into mine and I look at Kay, wondering what her next move will be. "I think Lacey has somewhere to be," she says to him. The fact that she's helping me out has me cheering on the inside. I almost have her won over. "We're friends, right, Lacey? Let's chat for a minute." He holds up his hands. "Just a minute, then I'll let you get back to your busy life." Curiosity killed the cat, but the cat had eight lives left. I'm sure talking with Carlos won't hurt too much. I look at Kay. "Um, I think I'll talk to him." She looks at me like I'm crazy, but she nods and stands up. She is about to walk away when she says, "Call me tonight, Lacey." And with that, she takes off. Before I can even comprehend what's happened, Carlos speaks up.