Rachel immediately shook her head, frowning as if she could break out into a sob any time soon. "No. Don't worry about him. It'll only make matters worse and knowing him, he'd make sure you'd get in trouble for it," she told him after she heard about how his parents were fighting again. "I don't want you to get into any trouble that could rile your parents up anymore. He's out of my life for good." She knew Michael well enough to know that the next day she walked into school, he would play it off as some usual break up and pretend as if she had never even existed. It was better than her last boyfriend, who had tried to stir up gossip that she was some easy whore. But she made sure that never worked out for him.

"Why do I always have the worst luck with men?" she asked more herself than Michael as she sat down across him at their booth. She stared down at the menu, sniffling with puffy eyes. She had stopped crying by now, cracking a tiny smile at his mention of what he'd get for food.

"That sounds good. Perfect for you," she told him as she turned the pages in the menu after ordering a lemonade. She had been here often enough to know the menu by heart, but tonight she was looking for something specific. When the waitress had come back around for their orders, she ordered a simple cheese burger with extra fries covered in cheese and bacon and asked the waitress to bring around a plate of vanilla ice cream covered in sprinkles and strawberries.

And when the woman had gone off to put their orders in, Rachel wiped her eyes dry and rested her temple on a raised fist, looking over at her best friend. "Next time we go out to eat, it'll be my treat. Deal?" she offered up, now feeling bad for ordering that big meal. No doubt it was worth twenty dollars with all the additions she had asked for it, but then again that was what she liked so much about this place. They always had random stuff they were willing to throw onto food. Besides, it was the only place in town that added chocolate chips to their pancakes even though chocolate chip pancakes weren't ever on the breakfast menu.

"Thank you, Micheal. You have no idea how much this means to me," she told him as she reached across the table and grabbed his hand to show how much it did mean to her. "You're the best friend any girl could ask for." And she meant it. He really was.