"Ben?" Zac asked, walking into Ben's apartment later that afternoon. "Ben, are you here?" It was almost five o'clock. Ben didn't eat dinner until at least seven, and Zac saw no reason for him to be out of the house at this point. He would have been home from school already, unless he was at work, but then his front door wouldn't be unlocked. Zac looked around and saw two jackets thrown carelessly on the couch. Confused, Zac walked over to Ben's bedroom. The door was closed. He opened it and went inside.
"Ben, are you�oh my God!" Zac yelled. Ben and another guy Zac didn't know immediately scrambled away from each other. Ben fumbled to put his pants back on but Zac turned around immediately and left.
"Zac!" Ben called, running after him.
"Don't even!" Zac yelled, not looking at Ben as tears welled up in his eyes. He began to shake. "You are exactly like your father."
"Zac, please, let me explain!"
"Explain what?" Zac asked, turning around to look at Ben for the first time. "How the hell can you explain that? Did I not see right? Was he not sucking your dick?" Zac yelled. "I don't even want to look at you again. Fuck you, we are so broken up." Zac flung open the door and ran out. He went downstairs as quickly as he could and didn't stop running until he got into the car. He slammed the door shut and put his arms over the steering wheel. He put his head on his arms and immediately began to cry. This was just his luck. Not four hours ago he had his interview where he came out to the world, saying he was very much in love with Ben and now they were broken up.
There was knock at his window and he looked over at Ben, still wearing his jeans a T-shirt although it was about thirty degrees out. He was shivering and Zac was glad. Instead of talking to him, or even looking at him any longer, Zac started the car and immediately peeled out of the parking lot, hearing Ben's voice calling after him. He didn't care. He actually hoped he ran over Ben's foot while leaving.
It wasn't long before his phone rang and he immediately shut it off. He didn't want to talk to Ben. He didn't want to see Ben. He didn't want to even think about Ben but he knew that was just a pipe dream. Shaking his head, he cried as he drove around, looking for somewhere to go. He wound up in front of Taylor's apartment building and sighed. As long as Taylor was home, things would be okay.
He took his time going up to Taylor's floor, out of energy and the mirth he was experiencing on the flight home. He was going to see Ben again. They were finally going to be a regular couple. They could go out on dates and everything would be okay. Then he walked into the bedroom and found Ben with someone else, someone he didn't know, and things finally made sense.
He knocked on Taylor's door and a moment later Taylor answered the door. Zac was pleased to see him home, although it didn't show at all on his face. "Zac? Zac, what's wrong?" Zac didn't say anything. "Come inside. You must be freezing." Taylor sat Zac down on his couch and sat down on the table in front of him. "What happened?"
"Ben," Zac whispered, looking away. He was still crying.
"What happened, did you have a fight or something?" Zac shook his head.
"No," he said. "We broke up." Taylor gasped.
"Why?"
"He's cheating on me."
"Are you sure?"
"I saw it."
"Oh." Zac shook his head and took in a deep, shaky breath. "How could he do this to me, Taylor?" Taylor sighed.
"I don't know," Taylor told him. He moved next to Zac on the couch and pulled him into a tight hug. Zac began to cry harder. "Calm down, Zac. It'll be okay."
"I really loved him, Taylor!"
"I know you did," Taylor said. "I'm sorry."
It was ten minutes later when Zac decided to turn on his phone again. He was lying on the couch, the television on. He had stopped crying by now and Taylor had left the room to make some coffee for them. He had six new messages, and from the looks of it, they were all from Ben. He sighed and checked his messages.
"Zac, it's me. I'm sorry. Call me back please," Ben's voice said. Next message. "Zac, please talk to me. I'm sorry." Next message. "Zac, he means nothing to me. I love you." Next message. "Zac, honey, it's Mom. Call me when you get this." Next message. "Zac, what did you expect me to do? You were gone all the fucking time, I hardly ever saw you. I got lonely! I'm not the kind of person who can just sit around and wait for you to show up for two days at time and then run off again for two weeks. I'm not you." Next message. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Zac, please call me."
Zac took the phone away from his ear and dialed home. His mother picked up. "Hello?"
"Hi Mom," Zac said, his voice low.
"Hi Zac, how was your interview?" Zac didn't even want to think about his interview. "Where are you?"
"I'm at Taylor's," he said. "My interview was fine. I came out."
"You what? You told her you're gay?"
"Yes. And I'll have you know Ben and I broke up when I got home. I'll be home later." Zac hung up the phone. He was about to turn it off again when it rang again. Upon looking at it, he realized it was Ben once again. He sighed and picked it up. "I don't want to talk to you."
"Zac, we should just talk this over."
"I'm not going to reconsider. We're broken up." Ben sighed.
"Can we just talk? Please?"
"Fine," Zac said, sitting up. "We'll talk this over. I'll be there in ten minutes." Zac hung up the phone and stood up as Taylor walked in the room with coffee. "I'm going to Ben's."
"Why?"
"Because he wants to talk and I really, really want to yell," Zac said. "I'll be back. Thanks for the coffee." Zac took the cup and walked out of the apartment with it. He'd finished it by the time he was downstairs. He put the empty mug in the cup holder of his car and drove back over to Ben's. He'd passed the crying, disgusting stage and had entered the extremely furious stage. All he wanted to do was go over there and punch the living daylights out of Ben, but he knew he couldn't do that.
He arrived at Ben's apartment and calmly went inside. Ben was sitting at the kitchen table in the dark. Zac turned on the light as he went into the kitchen and sat down across from Ben. Ben looked just as messed up as he did. Neither of them said anything for a moment until Ben pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up.
"Since when do you smoke?" Zac asked.
"Since I started cheating on you," Ben said. "Nervous habit. He introduced me to it." Zac sighed and looked away.
"If that's supposed to make me feel better, you need a lot of work."
"What the fuck was I supposed to do, Zac? Sit around here, day after day, waiting around for you to stop by? You're here for two days out of the month and then I'm alone the rest of the time. I'm a social person, Zac, I can't stay at home every night by myself."
"Get a hobby," Zac said. "Not another boyfriend." Ben huffed and looked away. Zac reached across the table and grabbed Ben's pack of cigarettes. He lit one up for himself and put the lighter back on the table.
"Since when do you smoke?" Ben asked.
"Old habit," Zac said, and looked away. "You know, this isn't the first time this has happened."
"Really?" Ben asked.
"Yes," Zac said. "Some people can't handle me being away all the time so they cheat on me. I never thought you would sink to that level, but here we are." Ben looked away and Zac took another drag from his cigarette. "So what's his name?"
"Who?"
"The bastard you've been sleeping with. What's his name?"
"Skip."
"Skip?" Zac asked. "What the hell kind of name is that? Skip. That's a verb, not a name." Ben shrugged. "How'd you meet him?"
"He goes to Winfield," Ben said.
"And how long has it been going on?"
"It started a little bit after you left after Thanksgiving." Zac sighed. It'd been going on a month and a half and he didn't even know about it. He didn't even think Ben could do something like this. He actually loved Ben. They'd actually said it. "I can tell you a million times that I'm sorry and that I regret it, but I know it's not going to make a difference."
"No, it's not," Zac said, shaking his head. "There is nothing you can say or do to make a difference. I just can't believe you, Ben. I actually loved you. Does that not mean anything?"
"Of course it means something," Ben said, calmly.
"Obviously it doesn't mean enough," Zac said. He took another drag from his cigarette. "I did my interview with Barbara Walters today." He laughed bitterly. "I told her I'm gay. I told her I was so in love with this guy Ben." He shook his head. "If I would have known�I would never have told her."
"It's not like it would have changed much," Ben said. "You're still gay."
"But what's the use in saying it if you're not in a relationship?" Zac asked, shaking his head. "What timing."
"Do you want you car back?" Ben asked. Zac shook his head.
"No. You keep the car. May it be a constant reminder of your raging infidelity. Of course, once I tell everybody what happened it'll be all you have left. Your roomy back seat and your whore Skip." Ben shook his head. "I'm leaving."
"Zac, no."
"What?" Zac asked. "Do you want me to stay? Do you want to talk about it some more? All you did was confirm my reasons for breaking up with you."
"Is it really over?" Ben asked.
"Of course it is," Zac said. "Your mother left your father on the spot for this. At least now you have something in common. Maybe you should just go back to Denver because once everybody knows you had Zac Hanson and you cheated on him, you are not going to be welcome here. I'm a very, very beloved guy in this city and once you do me wrong, nobody will talk to you again."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
"Ask Lynn Turner," Zac said. "Oh, wait, you can't. She moved because she couldn't handle it anymore. It'll be the same for you." Zac stood up. "Goodbye, Ben." Ben sighed.
"Goodbye." Zac left quickly and once the door closed behind him he started to cry again.