It was pretty damn ironic that in my hurry to just run far away from the whole awful party, that I found myself at a beach. The beach always reminded me of Nick for some reason. It was no secret that it was one of his favorite places. We'd spent so much time there together that it was at the point where every little thing about the ocean made me think of him. So, yea it was pretty ironic that I'd wound up there, especially when I was trying to get as far away from him as possible.

God, I didn't know why I loved the damn asshole so much. You would think that any other girl would've probably cut her losses and moved on by now, but not me. What can I say? I'm stupid. For some reason despite all the shit that he'd put me through I still loved him. Why? I couldn't say, but the way he was treating me like nothing had happened one minute and then the next saying he didn't love me ... well it was killing me inside.

After a few minutes of crying I got up and dusted the sand off of Izzy's dress. Slipping my feet out of my sandals I proceeded to walk down the beach aimlessly, enjoying the feeling of the sand between my toes. I had no clue where I was headed. I just needed some time to think.

After walking a few minutes I spotted a familiar looking figure sitting in the sand, with his knees to his chest. Ashley, I realized wondering what he was doing there. I stood there hesitantly for a moment or two unsure if I should approach him or not. Finally taking a deep breath I decided to just say hi as I passed by and take it from there.

"Hi," I told him as I drew nearer to him.

He looked up in surprise and when he saw it was only me he looked down again. "Oh ... hi," he answered.

"You don't look to happy to see me," I observed. "Are you waiting for somebody?"

"No," he replied. "I was actually hoping you were Izzy. What are you doing out here anyway? Shouldn't you be inside enjoying your birthday?"

"Yea, some birthday," I scoffed as I rolled my eyes. "Mind if I sit down?"

"No, of course not," Ashley told me as he moved over a little bit. I sighed as I plopped down beside him.

"So, could it be that you are having just as much of a crappy night as I am?" I asked him, staring out at the ocean.

"I don't know. What happened to you?"

I sighed. "Same old bullshit with Nick, only tonight he pretty much told me that he never even loved me and was only faking it for Izzy's sake. I don't believe that though. Nobody is that good of an actor."

Ashley just rolled his eyes. "Must be something in the water. I thought Izzy and I were great, but evidently not. She pulled me aside when we got here and gave me some stupid story about how she wanted to break up because she had just been using me for my fame."

"That definitely doesn't sound like Izzy," I remarked in a surprised tone of voice.

"That's exactly my point! Something strange is going on."

"You're telling me," I muttered underneath my breath. "Nick has got to be hiding something."

"That's really pretty shitty that he's acting like such an asshole to you, especially on your birthday. Nobody deserves that," Ashley sympathized. "Some guys really don't know how to treat a lady."

I was taken aback a little bit by his comment but I decided to just go along with it even though I could tell that this conversation was heading into dangerous territory. This was my best friend's boyfriend! Okay ... make that ex boyfriend, but still... It felt kind of sleazy to even be confiding in each other. "Well, some girls can be pretty bitchy to guys too," I told him.

"You can say that again," he cynically laughed. "Leave it to me to attract them."

"Well, at least you won't have a problem finding another girlfriend. There are tons of girls who would kill to date you. On the other hand somebody like me..." I paused to sigh. "Let's just say that Nick's the only guy who's ever been interested in me and that was only because he felt forced to date me because of Izzy."

"I bet that isn't true Melissa. You're a really pretty girl and a great person. If the other guys refuse to see that then they are crazy," he assured me as he put a hand on my arm.

I couldn't help but stare down at his hand on my arm. It felt like fire. In a way that's what I felt like I was doing, playing with fire. I knew deep down why each of us were being so nice but I refused to acknowledge it. "Thank you," I told him a little breathlessly.

"Seriously though if it wasn't for being in this group girls wouldn't look twice at me," he confessed.

"That's not true Ashley. You love what you do right? So what if girls only want you because you're 'famous'? You don't have to date them. Not every girl out there is like that," I insisted.

"Yeah, I thought Izzy was one of the ones who was different. Apparently I was wrong," he sadly sighed. "You know it's funny. If I had wanted to I had plenty of opportunities to cheat on Izzy, but I didn't. Every time I was even tempted to I just pictured her face if she would ever find out and I just couldn't... I didn't want to hurt her. A lot of good that did me."

I sighed as I listened to him. This was all hitting a little too close to home for me. Why couldn't Nick have had that attitude when he met Katie? Obviously he didn't stop to think for one moment how I would feel if I found out. Why didn't he have the same kind of attitude as Ashley?

"I'm sorry Melissa," Ashley apologized, realizing that my silence was probably because I was thinking about Nick. "I know that's kind of a sensitive subject for you. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, it's okay Ash," I reassured him. "You guys don't have to walk around on eggshells when you're near me. I mean I guess Nick and I just weren't meant to be..." My voice almost broke as I said those words and it took all of my control not to just break down crying again.

"Well, maybe Izzy and I were wrong for each other too," he admitted looking me right in the eye.

Yikes. This was definitely uhh awkward. Normally I probably would've just put an end to it right then and there and left, but I was a total emotional wreck. It was sad, but I was lonely... Right then I really needed comfort and I had nobody that I could confide in. Ashley knew exactly how I felt just then because of what happened between him and Izzy, so talking to him had been easy. Unfortunately, sometimes talking leads into other things.

I wasn't sure how to react to his last comment and I was embarrassed to find that a stray tear had started to fall down my face. Before I could brush it away, Ashley instinctively moved closer to me and wiped it away with his thumb. We were so close at this point that if we moved our faces just a tiny bit we'd be kissing. Not exactly the safest position to be in with the guy who your best friend just broke up with barely even a few hours ago.

I looked up at him just then, which turned out to be a huge mistake. The sadness and pain in his eyes seemed to mirror the same emotions that I was feeling inside. Damn, hormones! I thought to myself. Making me all crazy and overemotional...

I wasn't really sure which one of us exactly initiated the first kiss because it happened so suddenly. I mean in a way I was expecting it to happen, but I was still a little surprised once it actually did. Maybe it was sort of a mutual decision and we both kind of started it at the same time. Whoever started it didn't really matter because soon we were both kissing each other back like there was no tomorrow. The reason that we were both doing this went unsaid. We had both been hurt by our significant others and were trying to seek comfort anyway we could. Granted, making out with another guy, especially your best friend's ex boyfriend probably wasn't exactly the most mature way of going about things, but I was just kind of living in the moment. In a way I must admit that it felt good. If Nick could sleep with another girl while we were dating, this couldn't be much worse now could it?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Nick and Izzy were out taking that walk that Izzy had suggested after she found Nick right after I'd run out. Ironically enough they of course were walking along that very same beach where Ashley and I were.

Izzy and Nick had just finished confiding in each other how horribly they had treated both me and Ashley. Izzy spilled out the whole story about Lou's threatening phone call and why she broke up with Ashley, while Nick confessed that he hadn't intended to intentionally hurt me, just that he was afraid how I would react if I knew about Katie being pregnant.

"God, we're really horrible people, aren't we?" Izzy asked with a sigh as she looked out at the ocean.

"Guess you can say that again," Nick answered. "I really fucked up Melissa's birthday."

They were silent for the next few moments as they walked along until finally Nick spoke up. "At least there are two people over there who seem to still be madly in love with each other," he said wistfully as he ironically enough pointed towards me and Ashley, not being able to recognize us in the dark.

Izzy gasped as she spotted us recognizing who we were immediately. "What's the matter Iz?" Nick asked, clearly confused at her reaction.

"That's Ashley!" she sputtered. "And Melissa!"