This is going to be painful so read at your own risk.

Nico sat on his bed and stared at the screen of the phone sitting in his hands, he felt like all of the air had been knocked out of him as he stared at the words in the text that Will had sent to him.

Will: The divorce was finalized. I have to move with my dad when he goes to his new job halfway across the country. He says that we'll be leaving by the end of the week.

Nico wondered if it was possible to die from a broken heart as he felt his shatter right then and there inside his chest as he read that text over and over again.

Will had told him that things between his parents had been strained lately ever since his dad had received that promotion that required them to move a couple of months back, Will's mom had refused to go along with it. Will had said that she had always resent the amount of time his dad had spent working instead of being at home with the family and it was starting to affect their marriage.

Nico had tried his best to assure Will that things would be okay but they both could see the cliff that this train wreck was heading towards. Seems it had finally ran out of tracks and Nico and Will would be split up because of it.

Will had been Nico's best friend since grade school, they had been practically inseparable since they met and could talk about anything with one another and knew that the other would always be there when they needed them most, but how could they keep things that way if they were so far apart? Sure they could still call or text but with that kind of distance between them there was no chance of one of them sneaking out in the middle of the night to go see the other when they just needed someone next to them. No chance of escaping family drama by going away for the weekend to their favorite camp site when things were getting to be too much at home. No chance that he'd ever see the most important person in his heart ever again.

Nico: Why do you have to go with him? Why can't you stay here and stay with your mom?

Wasn't there another way? Nico didn't want his best friend to leave him, not with so much still left unsaid between them.

Will: She's still devastated and after signing the papers she packed her bags and went to stay with family claiming that she needed time to herself to work through things. I don't know if she's coming back Neeks.

Nico was furious over that, how could someone just pack up and leave their child behind like that, what kind of mother did that?!

Nico's own mother had died years ago in a fire and he missed her dearly but he knew that she hadn't left him willingly, what kind of emotional pain could Will be experiencing knowing that his mom had basically just abandoned him like that, and for what? Because she was upset? Nico couldn't forgive that.

Nico: Will I'm so sorry, should I come over?

He waited for Will's response praying that he could at least comfort his friend while he still had the chance.

Will: Sorry Neeks, dad want's everything packed and ready to go by Friday so I have a lot to do. I was really looking forward to senior year once summer ended.

Nico had been too, he thought that for sure this year he would finally work up the nerve to at long last come clean with Will and tell him how he truly felt, but now he wasn't going to get that chance it seemed.

Nico: I don't want you to go.

There was no reply after that and Nico just laid there on his bed wishing that he had the power to change things, just as he had when he had lost his mother, and just as he had when he lost his sister only a few years later. Will had been there with him then; that was when they had started sneaking out late at night to see each other to make sure that they were alright in their moment of need. No one could ever take Will's place and help him the way he could and Nico couldn't imagine life without Will there with him.

...

Will had spent the past months leading into summer watching his parent fight more and more and he had always gone to Nico to talk about his fears that they would leave each other. Nico had tried to comfort him even when they both knew that it was only a matter of time before it all fell apart, they just never thought that it would happen so soon.

They had been looking forward to senior year and what lay ahead after that. All of that was gone now; Will knew that when he had woken up that morning and saw his father sitting alone in the kitchen and a note in his mother's writing on the counter, she had said that she needed some time to herself and that she didn't know when she would be back. Will had felt like the ground had fallen out from under his feet, and when he tried to talk about it with his dad he was told that his dad's job offer had been moved ahead and that they were going to be moving by the end of that week.

It was like neither of them even stopped to think about him in all of this, like what he wanted didn't even matter. But then, that's how it always went. He wished he was able to move out on his own and not have to go along with this mess but he didn't have a choice and he hated it.

What was he going to tell his friends, more importantly what was he going to say to Nico? Would he think that he was abandoning him? Nico had already lost so much and the thought of losing people was the worst thing for him, Will knew that. He didn't want to hurt someone he cared so much about so he spent much of the day trying to reason with his dad, trying to find some way to stay and keep things as close to the way they were but he just couldn't fight it.

That night before bed, after hours of packing and sorting through their things Will lay in his bed and finally pulled out his phone and sent the text he had dreaded all day.

Will: The divorce was finalized. I have to move with my dad when he goes to his new job halfway across the country. He says that we'll be leaving by the end of the week.

When Nico had replied Will couldn't help thinking the same thing.

Nico: Why do you have to go with him? Why can't you stay here and stay with your mom?

She could have at least waited and talked it over with him before leaving, she could have taken him with her or he could stay here until she came back, but deep down he had the feeling that she wasn't going to.

Will: She's still devastated and after signing the papers she packed her bags and went to stay with family claiming that she needed time to herself to work through things. I don't know if she's coming back Neeks.

Her note hadn't said it and neither had his dad but Will knew that once they left this house there was no coming back for any of them, their life here was over and nothing could change that. Maybe after they were gone his mom would get the rest of the stuff or maybe she'd just put the house up for sale as is. He really didn't want to spend too much time thinking about it.

Nico: Will I'm so sorry, should I come over?

Will wanted desperately to say yes and have Nico come over as soon as possible but he didn't trust himself not to slip up and say something that he would regret now that he was leaving, maybe if he never said anything then he'd have less to worry about once he was gone, if he dumped his feelings on Nico now and then just left then Nico might never forgive him for it and he couldn't handle that.

Will: Sorry Neeks, dad want's everything packed and ready to go by Friday so I have a lot to do. I was really looking forward to senior year once summer ended.

That much was true, though he didn't bother mentioning how he had hoped to ask his long time best friend to go out with him. He had finally felt ready to say everything he'd always felt but now he was going to lose all of that and all because he was caught between his parents and their drama.

Nico: I don't want you to go.

Will spent a long time staring at those words, they meant the world to him but he couldn't trust himself right now to say anything in return, once he opened that door he'd be releasing the flood of emotions that he had spent so long holding back and he couldn't do that now.

He set his phone down on the stand next to his bed and felt tears start to fall. "I don't want to leave you."

Dear God I knew there was a reason I hadn't come back to this one in a while, now I'm sitting on my bed crying...