Rich and George: The Power Couple

George's POV: Someone Like Him Never Cries

I had heard stories about Josh Davis before. I knew he was known for drinking and drugs, and I knew he hated Rich growing up. All of these rumors were commonly spread, mostly by Henry. But I never expected to meet Josh the way I did.

He seemed overly friendly, like he was hiding something. And obviously Rich could tell, he practically sent him out of the house. I figured it was best to mind my own business.

When Rich came back into the room, I could tell something was wrong immediately. He was shaken, and his eyes were puffy. It took me aback a little, I'm not gonna lie. "Sorry about that, George," he said hastily, sitting down on the bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied. "Babe, are you okay?" I asked, trying not to sound too worried. He looked at me, his eyes filled with sadness and anger.

"Josh is such a horrible person!" He put his face in his hands, and I could tell right away he was crying. That's how I knew it was bad, since someone like him never cries if they can help it.

"Hey, I'm here for you," I said quietly. "What did he do?"

He looked up at me, tears falling down his cheeks rapidly. "He said he would tell Henry about us."

I felt my blood turn to ice. Hearing that scared the crap out of me, and it took everything I had not to start sobbing. "Do you... do you think he really means it?"

He nodded. "Josh always follows through with that kind of stuff." I felt my bottom lip quiver, and Rich pulled me close to him. "I'm sorry. Please don't be mad."

Now I felt myself fighting back tears. I was hurt, and there was nothing either of us could do about it. "Did you tell your dads about this?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did." He was still sobbing, hard, and I felt completely helpless. I wasn't scared of getting beat up, though. It had happened to me plenty of times. I was scared of what would happen to Rich if Henry found out. And it killed me that I was the one who had to stay strong for him, when deep down I was falling apart.

"Don't cry, please," I begged. "It's gonna be okay, I'm okay."

"Stop telling me you're okay!" I looked into Rich's eyes, which were filled with tears and bluer than I had ever seen. "I'm sad, okay? And everything is gonna get messed up now. I was finally happy for once until he came along." He stood up and walked over to the wall next to his bed, slamming his fist into it as hard as he could.

"Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself," I pleaded. "Rich, I'm sorry."

"I hate him!" he kept repeating. I walked over to him and tried to pull him away from the wall. "Don't touch me!"

That was the moment I knew I had to take drastic measures. I grabbed him by the waist and tried as hard as I could to get him away. We both fell to the floor, him on top of me, but I held on. "Richard Christopher Davis, this isn't going to be our relationship going forward," I asserted.

"I--"

"And no matter what Henry does, I'm still going to love you, okay?"

Rich was quiet for a moment, breathing heavily as his crying got worse. Finally, he said to me, "What would I do without you?"

I threw my arms around him, thankful that he finally stopped. He was wailing, but I didn't feel as helpless anymore. I held onto him as tight as I could, making sure he knew I would never let go.

A couple minutes later, we heard a knock on the door. Rich's dad came in, the one with the brown hair. He seemed upset, which I couldn't blame him for. He said he wanted to talk to both of us, and sat down next to Rich on the bed.