"We found him on Tinder."

Despite their agreement not to meet during the plan, so that Max wouldn't find out, Jeff, Charlie, and Simon found themselves back at the same table.

"Tinder," Simon repeated. Whatever he was expecting, he certainly didn't expect his boyfriend to be secretly using a dating app. No wonder he never let his phone out of his sight.

"It wasn't easy because he uses a fake name and the first photo on his profile is deliberately not easily recognisable, but we found him. Jeff texted him and asked for more photos of him to be sure," Charlie explained. It was stupid, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Simon still had doubts that someone might have created a fake profile using Max's photos. But it was unlikely that someone would just download his photos and use them to fool people, because Max wasn't a celebrity.

"Can I see them?" Still, Simon had to be sure.

"Of course." Jeff automatically handed him his phone and Simon got a glimpse of their entire conversation. He tried not to pay attention to the words and searched for the photos, but he couldn't stop his curiosity from getting the better of him and he read a few messages. Max was charming in them, as Simon knew him to be, and he even admitted a few true things in them, like his age, the fact that he was still studying, and ironically he even mentioned his favourite show, the same one he and Simon had watched a few days ago.

Photos, Simon reminded himself. He should have looked at the photos. He scrolled through the conversation again, faster this time, to get to the photos. It didn't take him long to find the first one, or rather the last one, and his heart sank. It was a selfie from their bathroom. Nothing Max would post on social media, so it had to be taken in the moment. 

Simon's thumb hovered over the conversation. He knew he should have kept looking, but this was already enough to make him feel bad. A few days wasn't enough time to get over Max's betrayal, and although he thought more evidence would make him feel better, the opposite was true.

Wordlessly, he slid Jeff's phone back to him.

"He doesn't deserve you," Jeff assured him before taking the phone from the table. "He's not even that charming. I've managed to prove that you are way out of his league."

"We'll get him out of your hair before you know it and you'll have a chance to find someone better," Charlie added immediately. Although it was supposed to sound like encouragement, it was the last thing Simon wanted. Dating again and looking for someone he could trust. He thought he had good judgement, but he was clearly wrong.

"Simon." Charlie touched his hand and from the look in his eyes he knew exactly what Simon was thinking. "Everything will be okay. It just takes time."

"Honestly Simon, you could just walk into a gay bar and have any guy you want," Jeff decided to cheer him up in a different way. "You're much hotter than Max and I don't understand how he managed to score you."

Simon chuckled at his serious expression. He wasn't saying he wasn't attractive, but certainly not as attractive as Jeff claimed. Especially now that he was no longer trying to impress anyone. Before, when he was single, he took much more care of his appearance. Now his blond hair was messy most of the time and he didn't care what he wore as long as it was clean. Maybe that's why he wasn't enough for Max anymore. 

"You're doing it again," Charlie snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Doing what?" he asked.

"Killing yourself with your own thoughts. I'm sure whatever you're thinking isn't true," Charlie assured him, and Simon sighed. He couldn't help himself. Ever since he found out that Max was cheating on him, his mind had turned into one big black hole, swallowing up all his happy thoughts and replacing them with doubts.

Simon decided not to say any of this out loud. Instead, he brought the conversation back to where it had started. "So what is the next step in the plan?"

Charlie looked like he was going to add something, but Jeff beat him to it. "I will arrange a date with him. Somewhere in a public place where Charlie can discreetly take a picture of us." 

Simon nodded. It was a good plan. Besides, if they really succeeded, he would have no excuse not to believe the whole thing anymore. He would have real proof.

"Alright. When?" he asked with more determination than before. 

"That's actually something you have to sort out," Jeff said and Simon was confused. "You know when Max is free and you have to make yourself busy so he has no reason to say no." That made sense. Obviously Max was able to make time for secret meetings without his help, but if they wanted to catch him doing it, they had to be able to plan it in advance.

"I'll tell him that my colleague Jess got sick and I have to take her shift on Friday. Will that work?" he suggested.

"Perfect," Jeff assured him. "I'll take care of the rest." 

And so the next part of the plan was born. 

Since Simon wasn't the best liar and didn't like being involved in lies, he decided to take the Friday shift, as he had told Max. Jess was surprised to see him behind the counter of their bar/café, but luckily she didn't ask.

Luckily, Fridays were busy, as the mornings were filled with students in need of a cup of coffee, and the evenings were filled with students in need of alcohol to unwind from the school week. Simon didn't stop all day, so he had no time for dark thoughts. 

For the last few days he had been looking forward to spending as many hours as possible at work, so he was not happy when the night was over. He and Jess were on duty to close the bar tonight, so while Jess washed the glasses, Simon grabbed the broom. 

"You're quiet tonight," Jess said to him after a moment. They only exchanged a few words during the shift, and usually only in the course of their work, so this was the first sentence they had exchanged in a friendly way.

"I've just got a lot on my mind," he replied vaguely. He didn't want to drag her into his problems, even though Jess was not only his colleague, but also one of his best friends.

It was no wonder that she saw right through his lie. "Bullshit." 

With a sigh, Simon stopped where he was and leaned against the broom. "I want to break up with Max." He turned to Jess to see her reaction, but to his surprise, she didn't look shocked by his statement. Instead, now she seemed lost in thought.

"Okay," she said after a moment. Simon raised an eyebrow. Was that all she had to say?

"Okay?" he repeated after her. 

Jess shrugged. "It's your decision. If you feel like breaking up with him, you should."

"Don't you want to know why?" he asked her. He thought it was ridiculous that he was the one asking her and not the other way around.

"Of course I do, but I'm giving you space. If you want to talk about it, I'm all ears," she replied. 

Simon bit his lip, wondering if this was a good idea. He had brought up the subject and obviously wanted to talk to someone about it, but a part of him was irrationally worried that Jess would understand why Max had done this. He had to have a reason, right? Just because Simon didn't know it didn't mean it didn't exist.

Overcoming his fear, Simon spat it out at the speed of light. "Max cheated on me."

"That bastard." The glass in Jess's hand hit the bar with a loud thud. 

Simon laughed at her reaction, despite the seriousness of the situation. Jess gave him a confused look and he understood immediately. "It's been a week since I found out. I've had time to recover, I guess." He shrugged.

"Are you all right?" her tone softened.

Simon wanted to say yes automatically, but then changed his mind. If he could admit to strangers that he felt like shit, he could do the same to his friend. "Not really."

Jess took the cloth from her shoulder and walked around the bar, heading straight for Simon to pull him into a hug. It was the first comforting hug he had received since the terrible discovery, and perhaps that was why tears immediately flowed from his eyes.

"I got you, Si. I got you." Jess's hand ran down his back in a gentle gesture, her firm grip giving him a sense of security. And so, in a dark bar in the middle of the night, Simon fully broke into tears for the first time, letting his emotions run wild, and Jess stayed with him the whole time.

Little did Simon know that it was going to make him feel at least a bit better the next day.