He continued to run until he reached the outside gate of Tim's house. He was going through his cell phone looking for Tim's number when he heard the front door open and closed.

"Hey." Tim said as he approached.

"Hey, were you watching for me?"

"Yeah, I was sitting by the window."

"You ready to run?" Toby asked as he put his I-pod into his pocket.

"Yeah, but can we start slowly? It's been a while."

"That out of shape huh?" Toby joked.

"I'm sure I am."

"Is your dad home?"

"Yeah, he doesn't usually do too much on the weekends because of Tati. I try and help out whenever I can."

"Do you still pick her up from school?"

"Yeah, I had to change my schedule around at work to do it which didn't make Jon happy. We've regressed."

"Meaning?"

"He hates me again. All because I didn't want to go out with him. I think if anyone else was available he would have fired me."

"It's not like you need the money."

"Yes, I do. I'm still paying for my studio."

"Why? I thought you moved back home."

"I stay some nights if my dad has to work late or I don't feel like going home, but it's nice having my own place. I hated it at the beginning, but now I've grown to like it."

"Do your mom and dad talk?"

"Yeah, she's been by to see Tati a few times, but I think my dad's more embarrassed than anything."

"What do you mean?" Toby asked.

"Can we stop for a second? I'm way out of breath." Tim panted.

"We just started!" Toby laughed as they headed towards an old brown bench in one of Sunnydale's local parks.

"What I meant," Tim started, "was I have a feeling that this wasn't the first time my mom has had an affair or at least that he'd known about her affair with this guy for a while, but ignored it for whatever reason. Me throwing it in her face with him there forced him to acknowledge it and now he just doesn't know what to do."

"You think they'll get back together?"

"I don't know," Tim shrugged, "My dad doesn't have the strongest backbone."

"Didn't he ask your mother to leave?"

"I don't know. I'm afraid to ask."

"Why?"

"Cause, it's hard for me to look at him right now. I feel like...it's my fault. Like I was so angry and pissed off and wanted to get my mother back that I didn't even think about how hurt he would be to find out she was cheating. I feel like a horrible son."

"It's not your fault," Toby said patting Tim on the back, "you would have never been in that position if your mom was honoring her commitment."

"I guess. At least Tati's taking it pretty well. It probably helps that she doesn't have school. I've been trying to spend as much time with her as possible to hopefully keep her mind off of things."

"Good idea." Toby agreed.

"Do you know if Eric's still mad at me about the whole Jon thing?"

"He hasn't mentioned anything."

"You think I should call him?"

"Yeah, it's been over a month, he's probably over it by now." Toby said.

"He was pretty mad about it though. Do you think I was wrong?"

"You asked me that already." Toby said putting his hands up in a defensive matter.

"I know and you didn't really give an answer."

"That's because I don't have an opinion, I mean I'm the one who let the love of my life go because we're not ready for each other."

Tim laughed, "And I have no idea what to say to that."

"Me either." Toby laughed.

"Do you regret letting him go?"

"No," Toby said immediately, "I had a teacher in high school say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That's what this would have been. Not enough has changed to think things will work out differently."

"That's not the definition of insanity." Tim said confused.

"Maybe not, but it makes sense to me."

"Whatever." Tim laughed.

"You ready to run some more?"

"Yeah, I think I can go a little while longer."

**********

Richard opened the door and was surprised to see Toby standing in front of him, "Hi!"

"Hello."

"Did we have something planned and I forgot?" Richard asked as Toby walked into his apartment.

"No, I was just coming by to see if you'd fixed up your new place yet."

"Eh, it's still a work in progress as you can see." Richard said motioning to some un-emptied boxes on the floor.

"This looks like our room when we moved in together back at the dorms. Remember that?"

"Yeah, except me and you had some fun with the boxes that I'm not going to have with my roommate now." Richard said feigning disappointment.

Toby laughed, "Oh, something tells me he wouldn't mind."

"I'm sure he wouldn't either."

"Are you talking about me?" Joey asked walking into the living room.

"Joey...," Richard began, "I'm surprised you didn't come out when you heard the doorbell ring."

Joey shrugged, "All my visitors come at night."

"So then you and Cooper are shacking up again?" Toby teased.

"Ew. I'll go barf now."

"Wait a minute, don't you have someone that guy...what's his name?"

"Chase." Richard smiled.

"Can we not talk about that please, thanks." Joey said quickly

"Yeah please don't get him started again," Richard began, "He's just shut up about Chase ignoring him.

"Asshole." Joey muttered under his breath as he returned to his room.

"I see you two are getting along great."

Richard chuckled, "Yeah, can't you tell? What are you up to the rest of the day?"

Toby shrugged, "I think I'm gonna go see this movie I saw yesterday again, it was really good, and then probably catch a late lunch and then...who knows. We'll see where the day takes me."

"Cool, who you going to the movies with?"

"Myself."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I hate seeing movies by myself. I like to be able to talk about it with someone after." Richard said as he kicked an empty box out of his way as he headed to the kitchen

"Well yeah," Toby agreed, "there are some movies I wouldn't want to go see by myself, but I don't know sometimes it's nice to just be by yourself."

"I guess." Richard said not really understanding what Toby was saying.

Toby was about to explain himself further, when Richard's cell phone vibrated noisily on the kitchen counter.

"Hello?"

"Hey Richard, it's Morris."

"Morris..." Richard said racking his brain trying to figure out why the name was familiar to him.

"Morris Clemenson...the guy you ran against for student body President."

"Oh...yeah, hey! How's it going?"

"Good, thank you. I was hoping you had some free time this week."

"I probably do, why?"

"I wanted to talk business; see if you were interested in being apart of my staff for the upcoming year."

"Uhhh...I'd be interested in meeting with you."

"Good, how does Wednesday afternoon sound?"

"It sounds good."

"Ok. I'll call you in a day or two to set up a time. Talk to you soon Richard. Goodbye."

"What was that about?" Toby asked curiously.

"Morris, the guy who was elected President wants to meet with me."

"That's awesome!"

"Not really," Richard said thinking, "I'm not sure I want to play second fiddle to anyone."

"It might give you some good experience that you can run on again next year."

"True, I never thought of it that way. I knew you were good for something." Richard joked.

"Thanks!"

"I was kidding."

"I know." Toby said unconvincingly.

"I know you have plans all by yourself today," Richard smiled sarcastically, "but you're welcome to hang around if you want. I'm sure Joey wouldn't mind."

"Fuck you!" Joey yelled from inside his room.

Toby and Richard both laughed, "No, it's ok," Toby began, "thanks for the offer. I'm going to go catch that movie."

"All right. Feel free to stop by anytime. Really."

"Thanks, talk to you soon."

**********

"I cannot believe you brought me to a movie with subtitles!" Melinda yelled as she and Bliss walked out of the theatre.

Toby was right behind them and decided he should be friendly and say hi by tapping Bliss on the shoulder.

"Toby, how are you?"

"Good good. Hey Melinda."

"Did you just go see that French shit?"

"I did. My second time actually."

"Wow, mine too!" Bliss squeaked, "I love it."

"So do I."

Melinda interjected, "I'm sorry, I come to a movie to watch and be entertained, not read."

"Oh, stop complaining it was a beautiful movie." Bliss said.

"I wouldn't know because I was too busy reading. Wait for me I'm going to the bathroom."

"She's so funny." Bliss laughed.

"Definitely a character."

"I loved this movie even more the second time around, I might even go see it again."

Toby smiled, "Yeah, it`s great.."

"I know it sounds pathetic," Bliss said her voice dropping a tone or two, "but I imagine myself in the movie as part of that perfect couple."

Toby smiled, "Don't tell anyone, but me too."

"It's fitting huh?"

Toby nodded and for the first time it occurred to him that both he and Bliss had romantic histories with Richard. Of course, Bliss and Richard never got that far, but the hurt was all the same when she found out what Richard and Melinda had done.

Bliss continued, "Sometimes, I worry that I'll always have to live through movies."

"No," Toby said immediately, "You're a fun girl, some guy will realize it and sweep you off your feet."

Bliss smiled, "I've thought that for a long time, but here I am with one of my girlfriends watching a romantic movie."

"You must think I'm a loser then."

"No!" Bliss said immediately, "Some guy will realize how wonderful you are and will..."

They both laughed as Bliss realized she was about to repeat almost verbatim what Toby has just said to her.

"It never sounds as good as when you say it to someone else does it?" Toby smiled.

"No, I guess it doesn't."

"All good now!" Melinda said rejoining the conversation, "That movie made me want some French Fries, let's go to McDonalds."

"Ok, you want to join us?" Bliss asked.

"I can't. I promised I would help Cooper with some stuff once the movie was over." He suddenly wanted to be alone.

"Alright, well it was good talking to you."

"Yeah, see you guys."

*********

"Hey Tobes." Cooper said yawning lazily as Toby walked in to the house.

"Tobes?"

"Yeah, it's kinda cute."

"Ignore him," Eric said coming into the room, "he's in a nickname phase for some reason."

"Awww you don't like being called lover?" Cooper asked a little hurt.

"No, I like it." Eric smiled.

He waited until Cooper turned his attention back to the television before making eye contact with Toby and rolling his eyes. They giggled and it made Cooper look back at them, "What?"

"Nothing." Eric said.

"I saw this hot guy on the corner by the movies..." Toby started.

"Did you go see that drippy French shit again?" Cooper interrupted.

"Shut up," Toby responded, "and your balls are falling out of your boxers."

Cooper shrugged, "It's not like you haven't seen them before."

"Anyway," Toby continued, "he was really hot, but I couldn't tell if he was homeless or just dirty and it would have been rude to ask so...I just admired from a distance."

"Wow, ok, I know being single sucks my man, but your standards can't possibly be that low." Cooper said looking at his friend with a worried expression.

"Fuck you."

"No, you should let us find you someone."

"Why does everyone think that being with someone is the greatest thing, it's overrated if you ask me." Toby responded.

"It wasn't my idea, it was Eric's."

Eric wasn't looking at Toby, but he could feel the gaze of Toby's look burning through him, "Well...it was just something I mentioned as a hypothetical."

"In case you've forgotten, you guys both were single for a long period of time before you got together."

"Yeah and it sucked," Cooper said, "plus, while I haven't been in a relationship I had Kevin, then that one time pity fuck with he who must not be named, then Mike was actually a relationship...oh my God, am I a whore?"

Toby shook his head, "I'd rather have a cat anyway right now."

"I've actually been thinking about that. We've been living here practically a year, we should get a pet." Eric said.

"I think getting a cat would be great." Toby agreed, "What do you think?"

Cooper thought about it for a moment, "I'm not a big fan of pussy, but it'd be cool to have some around here."

"Fine, then tuck in your balls, go put on some pants and let's go to the animal shelter and see what we can find." Eric said.

**********

After having walked around the animal shelter separately for twenty minutes, the boys met in the lobby area to discuss their findings.

"Find anything good?" Toby asked.

"There is a black and white cat, that was so cute," Eric said, "he was so playful, he was climbing over the other cats to try and touch my hand."

"Awww...that's sweet," Cooper said sarcastically, "the one I want is this all Black cat. Really small, but oh so precious."

"You know they don't stay that way." Eric said annoyed.

"Duh, Captain obvious. I may not know my way around pussy, but I know the basics."

Eric put his hand in front of Cooper's face as he spoke to Toby, "Did you see one you liked?"

"Yeah, this little white and brown cat. No particular reason, I just liked it."

"I don't want an all Black cat," Eric began, "It'd freak me out every time I saw it."

Cooper scoffed, "Did you hear that Toby? Eric doesn't like Black things."

"Ok...well how are we going to decide should we just flip a coin or something? Eric asked. He closed his eyes tightly, "Sorry, stupid question. Thank you for not laughing."

"I only didn't laugh cause I love you." Cooper said.

"Awww thanks." Eric smiled.

"Hello!" Toby shouted, "Focus, how are we going to pick which cat we want?"

"Why don't we just take all three?" Eric shrugged.

"You don't think that's too much?" Cooper asked.

"Not really. I mean as long as we keep the litter box clean. It'll go in the second bathroom right?"

"Yeah," Toby nodded, "we don't really need a second one anyway and it's the best place for it."

"And we all agree we'll do our share in cleaning out the litter box and feeding the cats?" Eric asked looking at both Cooper and Toby.

"Agreed." Toby nodded.

"Word." Cooper said.

"Alright then, I guess we should start thinking of names then." Eric said excitedly.

Cooper smiled, "I already know what you are going to name yours, Stevie."

"Wow," Eric gasped, "Good guess."

"See I pay attention."

"And I bet you'll name yours Degrassi."

"That's my lover! I love that show. What are you going to name yours?"

Toby shrugged, "Probably Rafa."

"What's that?" Eric asked.

"Rafa...like Rafael Nadal. He's an amazing tennis player with a killer ass."

"Funny, that sounds a lot like you." Cooper smiled.

Eric hit him playfully in the stomach and Toby gave an embarrassed smile, "What it's true." Cooper laughed.

*********

By the time all three of the boys had wrestled and done the initial training with their new pets, darkness had fallen over the city of Sunnydale. Toby, fresh from his shower after finishing his nightly work out routine, closed his laptop as he was ready to go to bed.

He moved to pull the covers from his bed so that he could climb in, and he smiled when he saw that Rafa had buried himself under his covers and was looking up at Toby.

"Awww hello there. I'm gonna move you over just a little okay?"

As Toby settled into bed, Rafa climbed on top of Toby and made himself comfortable on Toby's chest. Toby rubbed the soft hair of his cat and Rafa immediately began to purr.

"You know why I wanted you? Because all I have to do is feed you and rub you and you'll love me no matter what."

He suddenly had an idea and quickly picked up his cell phone and a few seconds later sent off a text message. When he got the return message a few minutes later it read, "I'll c u 2morrow."

He smiled and drifted off to sleep soon there after.

**********

Another perfect afternoon saw Toby back at the movie theatre watching Joy For Two, but this time he wasn't alone. He looked to his left and smiled as Bliss looked at him.

"This is my favorite part." She whispered.

"Mine too."

Toby smiled at the situation not on screen, but in his own life. He would have never guessed that he would be sitting in a movie theatre next to Bliss, enjoying the same movie. Even more to the point, he'd never particularly liked Bliss, mostly because he always thought she was trying to interfere with Richard, but slowly and surely he was starting to learn that life has a way of surprising you if you let it and he was becoming more and more willing to go with the flow.

Thanks for reading again, I know it's been a long while since a new update has been up. I'm still in Australia and having fun and enjoying myself. I won't be back in the states until the beginning of February, so I'll be writing while I'm still in Australia. Hope you guys enjoyed this update, and all comments, constructive criticisms, and the like can be sent to tenniswiz12@msn.com.