You're hurting, baby. Everyone can see it, and you wear your heart so proudly on your sleeve. You're feeling broken and alone, but don't worry too much about that, because it's not true. Your friends still love you. They will be there for you as long as you let them, and they can give you what you need right now. What you need to do right now is focus on yourself and be a little selfish. You have every right to feel the way you're feeling at this moment. Used, hurt, betrayed, manipulated... the list seems to go on forever, doesn't it? But it's not those feelings that you should be even giving a second thought to. Yes, tend to them, but let them go. You're worth more than just pain. You deserve to be happy just as much as anyone else, and if you honestly believe that you don't, you're wrong. You're wrong, sweetheart... you're a beautiful person, all around. Anyways, what can you do about it now? Just take some time to sort yourself out before you go trying to make other people happy. They're right: no one expects you to take care of anyone other than yourself.

He means a lot to you, it's true, but what does that even mean in itself? How did this happen? You were attracted to him the moment you saw him, maybe just because he's beautiful, too. Then came the flirting, the play-fights and innuendo. Those pieces of time where you looked into each others eyes, and you felt as if you were watching glaciers melting beneath the sun's good light. That tender playfulness, even that ruthlessness, has always been so appealing to you. He's your type down to the bone, and it's painfully obvious. Those first talks in his basement, in his living room... lighting the understanding between the two of you further. But, that first time his lips pressed against yours, you fell in headfirst. The embers roared to life, didn't they? That night, you felt the threads slowly slip around the both of you, pulling you in tightly. The physicality brought up so many things, of course, and that certainly complicated the situation. The nights he spent in your bed and you felt completely comfortable, nurtured, and stable. Of course, you hadn't been expecting any of these things to happen, so how could you possibly have known that this week would happen? You couldn't have, it would have been impossible to foresee. What you could have done was listen to your friends, to heed their words of warning and be far more cautious. It's just now that you've really started understanding the stark possibility of his dishonesty. But, the time has come and gone for those precautions. You made yourself vulnerable, and he took advantage of that, whether or not he meant to do so cruelly. You gave him a chance, but now is your time to claim your ground and stand it. He has no right to hurt you any further, and you owe it to yourself not to let him.

Fool me once?
Shame on you.

Fool me twice?
Shame on me.