“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.”

Crash certainly took that old adage to heart on tonight's "Finding Carter": In a moment of selflessness, he broke up with Carter in an effort to ensure she follows her heart's true path.

Fly, butterfly, fly!

The drama unfolded earlier in the episode when, faced with repeating her junior year because of truancy and lousy grades, Carter decided she wanted to drop out of school.

"I hate being there," she told her parents. "I'm not alive when I'm in school."

Backed into a corner by Carter's determination -- and her incredibly bad judgment in asking Lori for help -- David and Elizabeth threw in the towel.

"We're fighting a losing battle," Mr. Wilson said, convincing Liz to allow Carter to indeed quit school. (Editor's note: Kids, DO NOT try this at home). Their only caveat: Their daughter would need to get a job -- a necessity since she later got canned from Magic Hour.

Crash, who'd just been reassigned to an army base in California, was stoked by the news. "Now that you're dropping out and a job's not holding you here, there's nothing in our way," he said. "Come to California with me."

But did the Wilson twin really want to head west? Turns out, the answer was no: When Carter went to pick up her last paycheck at Magic Hour, she decided to beg for her job back. Her ploy worked: Jared immediately rehired her.

The teen's joy was shortlived, though, when she told Crash about the job -- and he decided that, well, in case you hadn't heard, "If you love something, set it free..."

"I think you really need to do this on your own with nothing holding you back," he said. "You've spent all this time helping me; you've changed my life. Now it's your turn."

That's not all.

"I love you," he continued. "[But] we shouldn't call, we shouldn't Skype or make plans. You should live your life, and I should live mine. And if there's any justice in the world, we'll cross paths again."

Sorry if you need a tissue -- our box is empty.

Meanwhile, Maxlor hit a roadbloack all their own when everyone's favorite long-haired hunk noticed that Tay was paying a little too much attention to Gabe.

"Sometimes you need to let people heal on their own," he said when Tay was talking about the G-man for, like, the 7,000th time. Later, Maxlor's six-month anniversary dinner was spoiled when Taylor left Max's loving embrace to answer a phone call -- about Gabe. The 411: He was drunk AGAIN, and before long, Tay was at his place, helping Ben put the intoxicated teen to bed. And that's when things got awkward.

"Taylor, I've fantasized about this -- you, me, my bed," Gabe slurred as he channeled his inner Beyonce.

Drunken ramblings? Not quite. "He's got it bad for you," Ben told Tay.

Later, when Gabe was the subject of conversation for the 7,001st time, Max finally voiced his concerns. "Do you think that he might have feelings for you?" he asked.

"No, definitely not," Taylor replied.

The look in Max's eyes told us he wasn't buying it -- and with good reason, because, well, yeah, she was totally lying. But was it just a harmless white lie, or was Taylor wrong for fibbing? And do you think Crash and Carter will get back together? Head to the comments with all your "FC" thoughts, and be sure to watch another episode Tuesday at 10/9c!