Abby sat in her room on a window seat that looked down to the valley below her. She could see the fairground and some horse show going on down there. She could see her former high school, and she could see the River. She knew in which direction each of her friends lived. She was on the south end of the valley and she knew to the west, towards Tacoma, she could find Dari and further west and a little north, on the other side of the river, she would find Izzy and down in the valley, seven or eight blocks from the high school she could see Horatio’s house.

She heard her phone ring again, it’d been ringing off and on all day and she didn’t want to deal with it. She tucked her knees tighter towards her chest as she heard the machine catch the call. “You’ve reached my phone. I’m busy but I’ll get back to you.” She heard her own voice say.

After a couple moments of nothing Horatio’s voice came in. “Abby, hey. It’s me again. Listen, I really think we need to talk about what happened. I love you and I know you love me too. Please. Please pick up. Please call me.”

She sighed and a tear streamed down her cheek as she remembered back to graduation.

She’d been so excited during the ceremony. Everything had felt so right. But during her speech she’d noticed that only one of her brothers was present and only her dad. That was not like her family. Both her mom and dad were well known at the high school and with the exception of this year, they normally participated in the graduation ceremony. But since their youngest was graduating this year, they wanted to watch. The twins had not even gotten that when they graduated a couple years before.

Abby kept close with her friends for a while after the ceremony but then her eldest twin brother, Greg came up to her. He looked serious, which was rare for him. He forced smiles to all of her friends and then told her that they had to go, dinner plans. None of the group, even Abby, had known that it was not true. She followed after him and after a couple minutes she started to get nervous.

Greg was the older of the twins and more laid back than his younger version. He was the messier of the two but also the more popular. He had been a quarterback in high school and the kind of guy that all the girls loved to be around. He played soccer and baseball also, but Puyallup was a football town so that’s where his notoriety came from. He was too small to play football in college so he opted for his other sports. He never took anything serious, never. But now, after five or six minutes of seriousness, Abby knew something was wrong, “Where’s Jeff?”

Greg looked over, “Not til we get into the car.”

Abby grabbed her brother’s arm and pulled him around. They had left the fairgrounds where the ceremony had taken place. They were virtually alone, “No. None of that shit, where’s Jeff?”

“He’s at Good Sam.” Greg said. Good Sam, or Good Samaritan Hospital, was the closest hospital in the valley and where almost anyone who got hurt in the area went.

Abby’s green eyes met her older brother’s hazel, “What happened?”

“He’s getting worse.” Greg said, looking down.

Their dad, Donald, moved over, he wasn’t particularly tall or particularly short. He had receding red hair and his almost ever-present sunglasses were tucked into the buttons on the front of his dress shirt. His face was worn from years of standing in the sun on the sidelines and stress that came from being a coach. He wasn’t even trying to pretend to smile. He pulled out his car keys and led the two of them to their SUV.

The drive was quick as the hospital wasn’t even five blocks away. Abby had taken off her robe to reveal the denim skirt and light green peasant top she’d been wearing below. She hopped out of the car before it’d even come to a complete stop. This wasn’t her first trip to the hospital for Jeff and would not be the last. She went up to the admission nurse and found that he was in a recovery room on the third floor. She didn’t wait for her brother or dad, she ran. She didn’t have the patience to wait for the elevator so she hit the stairs. She hopped up the stairs as she removed her sandals and once they were off, she ran up the stairs faster. Finally she hit the third floor and she was out of the stairwell in a flash. She found the floor nurse station and found out which room he was in specifically. She ran down the hall and to the left saw her mom standing outside of the room looking into the window.

Normally Abby thought her mom looked like a goddess, very pale (though not unhealthily) like porcelain, with bright eyes and golden, flax hair. But now she looked disheveled and stressed out. Her hair looked dirty and tied back, her lithe body seemed burdened, and her clothes, which were normally immaculate, were the same PHS sweats she wore around the house. Abby looked to her mom, “Is he okay?” Susan looked up as her youngest daughter ran up and she wrapped her arms tightly around her. Abby looked in and saw Jeff laying on his side, facing them but asleep. “What happened?”

“He rigged some kind of contraption that malfunctioned and stabbed him.” Susan explained. “His delusions are getting more intense and he’s slipping more.”

Abby steeled herself with a nod, “Can I go in?”

“For a minute.” Susan said, “Are your father and brother…?”

“I left them downstairs, they’ll be up soon.” She said as she moved into the room, closing the door silently behind her. She moved up to the bed and sat on the edge of it. As she did Jeff’s eyes opened. They were the same hazel color as Greg’s but there was a wild yet child-like innocence in them. He scanned the room quickly and then saw Abby. He looked up at her with his eyes filled with terror. Abby reached out with a gentle hand and touched her brother’s face. “Hey Jeffy, it’s me. We’re alone.”

“We’re never alone.” He said, still scared. “Somebody is always listening.”

She smiled softly and took his hand, “What happened?”

“They figured out what I was trying to do and they made my machine break.”

“What were you trying to do?” She asked.

Jeff stared at her, not trusting her at first but then he sighed. “Well, since they already stopped me, there’s no harm in explaining now. You know that they keep track of us by putting implants in backs. Various places, they move too. That’s why we get knots in our back. Well, I had a bad one and I knew they were getting some good intel from me so I had to disable the device. So I made a machine that would stop the signals from sending and that would cut it out of my back.”

Abby’s face contorted as she visualized what horrific design her brother imagined. “Jeffy, no one is trying to hurt you now. You won for the time being, you just need to sleep.’

He looked at her, “You’re still on my side right?”

With a solemn face she nodded, “They’d have to kill me to betray you.”

Abby had just started her sophomore year when Jeff was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He’d always been different from Greg, more gentle and imaginative. He would always tell Abby the best stories. But then 9/11 happened and he lost it. First he was certain that George W. Bush was tapping into his mind to get information about the Democrats, then with Bin Laden being named as the attacker, he was certain that there were excerpts from the Bible and the Qu’ran that were encrypted for him and that once Bin Laden or Bush or Saddam figured out that he was the one to interpret everything, they’d come and kill him. After time he got worse.

Abby took his illness very hard, but not as hard as Greg. The two boys, despite their differences, had been very close and watching his best friend degrade like that was emotionally difficult. But the worst part is that the two boys had identical DNA and there was a very high certainty that Greg too would get sick. Fortunately, he didn’t show any symptoms that his brother had been displaying for his entire life. But still, for Abby, this most recent outburst was just too much for her. And it wore heavy on her too that she hadn’t told any of her close friends about the stuff Jeff was going through. It was their Dad’s idea. Puyallup was just such a small town, especially in the valley. If one person found out, then the town would be talking about it and they didn’t want to deal with the public-ness that would come with it.

So on the day that he tried to slice open his back, they checked him into an institute about twenty minutes north and east of Seattle. They knew he wouldn’t get better but it was somewhere where he could be safe. It was the day of Abby’s graduation and her senior prom and the day was overshadowed by having to send her sad, sick brother away.

And then at prom, Horatio had been such a downer, talking about how everything was ending and changing and he wasn’t in the mood to do anything. All she wanted to do was forget for a couple hours and she could hardly drag him onto the floor. He just wanted to sit and talk and that was the last thing she wanted. And he wouldn’t just let her be, he had to argue and push and badger her. He couldn’t just let her deal, he wanted a 1001 reasons why she was sad and she finally couldn’t take it.

And now, just over a month later, she was getting daily calls from him, sometimes three or more a day. He wanted a reason and the only reason she had was that she’d grown tired of him and she needed something less complicated in her extremely complicated life. Izzy had called a couple times to chat but Abby had spent almost every day or every other day in a car driving to her brother in Bellvue. When she’d call, Abby would either be gone, leaving soon, or just getting back and she never felt like chatting. Then Izzy called on a Monday to remind them of a concert on Friday and Abby had been so determined to go. She was not going to let anything get in her way from hanging out with her, but something did get in the way.

The nurse in charge of Jeff was not the most reliable kind of person. He had been dismissed for stealing patient’s drugs to use himself or to sell. Either way, Jeff was not getting the medication he needed to keep himself from hurting himself and he had stolen a plastic fork from the kitchen and had tried to gouge at his back. He’d been left alone for almost a whole day due to the situation with the nurse and when he was checked on in the morning, he was loosing consciousness due to blood loss. Abby had rushed up to Bellvue to see Jeff and then she decided that she wouldn’t be able to go to the concert so she called Izzy. Izzy didn’t call too much after that.

Horatio didn’t just call her, her email inbox was constantly flooded with letters from him but there was an occasional email from both Izzy and Dari. By far her and Dari had not been the closest. He was always the sweet guy that she hung out with because he was Horatio’s best friend and Izzy’s boy-whatever they were at the time. She would get emails from him that he would mass-send out and she’d see him in passing every so often but there was no real loss between them.

Abby hugged her knees again and then leaned her head back against the cold glass of the window behind her. Her watch beeped and she looked at it. Jeff was expecting her around five and if she wanted to beat traffic she would have to leave soon.

Abby handed a box to Greg. He set it down next to the pile that they had unloaded from his Ford F-150 truck and he looked back to her. “That it?”

She nodded and hopped down from the truck. “Thanks a lot for helping.”

He smirked a little, “Well, any excuse to come check out the hot freshmen chicks.”

“You’re a perv.”

He smirked a little and shrugged, “What can I say? Don’t forget to bring any new friends over. The hotter the better.”

She decked his shoulder playfully and smiled a little. Jeff was doing well now, and everything seemed to be going well. His medication was keeping him from hurting himself and he seemed to like his surroundings. And when he did well, Abby’s whole life felt more at ease.

Greg rubbed his shoulder and jogged over to where she’d parked her teal classic mustang and he pulled a roller cart from the trunk. He brought it back over and loaded her boxes onto it.

They’d come in the evening before and picked up her paperwork and so now all they had to do was go to her room and unpack. They crossed the parking lot and went right up to Terrance Hall. Her room was on the fourth floor and since it was so early in the morning, no one was really up yet. They moved up to her room and they both could clearly hear some music playing in her room. Abby opened the door and her roommate was sitting at the desk with her computer set up with a special pad set up so as she drew on it, the image appeared on the screen. Abby cleared her throat and the girl with long dark hair turned around. She smirked a little, “Hey, I was starting to think you were a myth and I had no roommate.”

Abby shrugged a little, nervously, “Better late than never right?”

The roommate smirked and clicked the music off, eying Greg a little and smiling at him. He smiled back. “I’m Natasha, and you are?”

“Abby. And this is my brother Greg.” He smiled and shook her hand, trying to seem as charming as possible. Abby elbowed him in the stomach and smirked, “He’s still being housebroken.”

Tasha laughed, “That’s cool. Need help unloading boxes? I’m heading out to go for a run in like half an hour but I can help until then.”

Abby smiled, “Thanks.” She turned to Greg and gave him a hug. “Love you, big brother. I’ll see you when I come home.”

Greg made a face at the fact that Abby was kicking him out but he complied. “Yeah yeah, I’ll see you around. Nice to meet you Natasha.”

She smiled and then turned to Abby and waited for Greg to leave. When the door closed behind her she smirked, “You don’t remember me, do you?”

Abby’s eyes met Tasha’s and looked her over. She was relatively tall, had long dark brown hair that had bright red streaks of color in it. She dressed like in the punk fashion and had dark makeup on. She wasn’t really the kind of person Abby normally hung out with but then it clicked. “All-State student government. You’re from Rodgers right?”

“Emerald Ridge.” Tasha clarified. Rodgers was the older of the two schools and the direct rival of PHS, and Emerald Ridge was the newest school in the area. 2004 was only the third graduating class at the school. “You’re from Puyallup.”

Abby smiled a little, “Yeah. Small world, isn’t it?”

“Yeah it is.” Tasha said as she moved to the door and started unloading boxes from the cart into the room. “I hope you don’t mind but I just picked a side cause you didn’t show up yesterday, but if you want to switch that’s cool with me.”

“It’s fine.” Abby said as she dropped some of her stuff onto her bed.

The two continued without too much of a conversation until there was a knock on the door. The door was already partially open so it was opened all the way. In the doorway were two girls, one dark haired and one was blonde. The dark haired girl was pretty with dark eyes that smiled playfully and she was dressed in sweats. The blonde girl was also pretty, her hair was tied back and her eyes were unique. One was blue and the other was brown. The blond girl looked right past Tasha to Abby, “Knotts?”

Abby looked over and recognized her right away, it was Horatio’s sister, “Season?”

“You’re alive?” Season remarked.

“I’ve had a busy summer.” She said looking down and seeming to be uncomfortable.

Season nodded, “Listen, I don’t care that you broke up with Horatio and frankly I’m not going to tell him. Just, talk to him sooner or later, he deserves it.” She moved into the room and hugged Abby. It was somewhat awkward but once Abby was sure Season wasn’t going to try to kill her, she relished in it. The two of them had always had an awkward closeness but they got along well.

From across the room, there was a clearing of a throat as the dark haired girl. They looked over, Natasha and her were waiting impatiently. “I hate to interrupt but we’re supposed to be running by now. And we haven’t met, I’m Jen.”

Tasha made a face, “Jen’s not a morning person, so ignore her. She’s not intending to be this obnoxious.”

Jen laughed, “How do you know?”

Tasha rolled her eyes, “Want to come with us, since you obviously know Season.”

“My ex-boyfriend’s sister. But yeah, I’m not feeling like going for a run. I didn’t sleep too well last night.”

Tasha smiled and put her arm around Jen’s waist, “Let’s head out.”

Season smiled a little, “I’ll see you around, Knotts.” Abby smiled and Season squeezed her shoulder, “Oh by the way, tell your brothers I said hi when you see them.”

Abby did the best she could to hide the pain in her eyes about that, she forced a smile, “I will.”

The other three girls left and headed out for their run. Abby sighed heavily and flopped onto her bed. She’d gone almost half an hour without thinking about Jeff. She reached over to her cd case and pulled out one of the hip-hop CDs and put it in Tasha’s player. She let the beat drown out her thoughts and she closed her eyes.

Dari and Horatio walked back to their dorms, both of them were covered in sweat. They were obviously just coming back from their run. Horatio shoved his hands into his hoodie and looked to Dari, “Did you see what I saw?”

“All I saw was a lot of hot girls.” Dari said with a smirk as he pushed open the door.

“I meant Abby’s car.”

“She is going here.” Dari replied. “And she has her own car. I’m going to talk my dad into to letting me bring my car out here.”

Horatio smiled a little, “Good luck.”

“I’ll need it.” Dari said as the elevator opened and a pretty girl walked out of the elevator. She smiled at him and he smiled back, watching her walk away. He smirked to Horatio, “You know what they say, there are tons of fish in the sea. But if that doesn’t work for you, just think that you are in an all you can eat buffet.”

Horatio made a face, “I don’t want anyone else, I just want her.”

Dari sighed, and put his hand on his shoulder, “Whatever makes you happy, bro.”

They split up at Horatio’s room and Dari continued on to his room and then the shower. Horatio entered his room and Luke was just waking up. Luke smiled, “How’d you sleep?”

Horatio shrugged, “Alright I guess.”

“That’s cool. I slept like a baby. What time were you up?” Luke asked, putting on some loud, angry gangsta rap that was uncool almost a decade ago.

Horatio made a face at the music but didn’t comment, “Sixish. I’m going to go take a shower and then nap.”

“Want to go hang out? I heard there’s a cool café on the other side of campus and we can hang out there.”

Horatio shrugged, “I’m not feeling too hot.”

Luke nodded and clicked off his music, “Well, if you change your mind…”

Horatio smirked and pulled his headphones on. Luke sighed and headed out of the room. Down the hall, Dari was walking back from the shower with his towel wrapped tightly on his waist. Luke smiled, “Hey, Dari right?”

Dari nodded, holding his towel steady. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Want to go to check out the campus?”

Nodding a little, “Is Horatio going?”

“He’s kinda being anti-social.”

Dari thought about it and while he was normally a good friend, Horatio had been complaining about Abby the whole time they ran and Luke didn’t seem to have any friends. “Give me like five minutes to grab some clothes.”

Dari ducked into his room and pulled on some clean boxers and jeans. He spent a little longer trying to find shirts that would look okay. He eventually settled on a layered look. He put on his almost ever-present wife-beater tank, then a waffle style hoodie, he put on one of his retro shirts over it. He put some gel into his hair and grabbed his keys and jacket. He exited and locked his door behind him, he smirked to Luke, “Ready.”

“Only three minutes and forty-three seconds. Not bad.”

“You’re serious?” Dari asked.

Luke laughed, “No, dude, I’m not that much of a geek.”

Dari smiled a little and they headed to the elevator. The door opened and Izzy was standing there waiting for the elevator. Dari smiled, “Morning.”

“Where are you off to? Hi, Luke, right?” She replied. Luke nodded.

“We’re going to go check out some café on campus, want to come?” Dari asked, stepping out and letting some other kids come use the elevator.

“Where’s Horatio?”

“Being moody, Abby’s car was in a parking lot.”

Izzy sighed a little, “We knew this was going to happen.”

“His mood went from normal brooding to hyper brood mode. I doubt he wants to do anything besides stalk her.”

Izzy’s face contorted, “Dude, that’s pretty bastard like of you.”

Dari turned to Luke, “I’ll meet you outside.” Luke nodded and left the building. Dari turned back to Izzy, “What’s this about?”

“That was just not cool. He’s your friend, you shouldn’t say shit like that.”

“Listen, I’ve been there for him all summer and he’s impossible to deal with when he starts thinking about her. I just want to hang out and not have to deal with making him feel better about Abby.”

Izzy shook her head, “He’s your best friend.”

“Is this cause I was late last night?”

Izzy’s eyes narrowed and darkened, “What the hell was that supposed to mean?”

Dari raised his hands defensively, “I didn’t mean anything just sometimes you let other things I do affect how you feel about other things.”

“So you think that cause you stood me up last night, that I’m picking fights about this?”

Dari lowered his head, “Iz, I’m not trying to start something. I just don’t want to deal with Horatio right now, I want to have fun for a bit.”

“Well then you don’t need me for that either.” She said before walking away from him and to the stairway.

He jogged after her, “Iz… please.”

She stopped and turned to him, “Go have some fucking fun.” She continued up the stairs, taking a couple at a time.

Dari leaned his head back and sighed, he took a breath and then slammed his palm against the side of the stairway. He turned and jogged back towards Luke, “Sorry man, had some woman issues.”

“So, bro?” Luke asked, with a very youthful smile, “You ever tap that ass?”

Dari laughed a little, “I wouldn’t say it like that.”

“But you tapped her?”

“Stop saying tapping.” Dari said with a laugh. “Yeah, I’ve slept with her.”

“How’d you get the hook up?” Luke asked trying, now very apparently to be cool.

Dari smiled, “Luke, how old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

“When do you turn eighteen?”

“Next June.”

“You just turned seventeen?” Dari asked with disbelief. Luke nodded, “Well that explains it.” Dari said looking at Luke.

“Explains what?”

“Why you’re trying so hard.” Dari said, he stopped and looked at Luke, “You seem like a pretty cool guy and people can see it when you’re trying to play it up. You’ll come off cooler if you don’t try.”

“How do you know?” Luke asked.

Dari smirked a little, “Cause I’ve been with a girl like Izzy.”

“Point and case.” Luke said with a large grin.

“Exactly.” Dari said, laying a playful punch on Luke’s shoulder.

Izzy walked up to Horatio’s room. She knocked softly and the door opened immediately. Horatio was still wet from his shower but dressed in clean clothes. He saw it was Izzy and was fairly surprised. “Hey.” He said.

“Hey yourself. What you up to?” She asked.

“Gonna go for a walk.” He said.

“But didn’t feel like going out with Dari and Luke?”

“Dari went with him? Whatever. He’s just been a jerk recently.”

“Okay, why do you think that?”

“Cause it’s like every time I start to get upset about Abby, he starts to act like I’m making a big deal.”

“He might think that you are.”

“Well he’s not that great of a friend then.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Izzy said. “He can be a flake but he’s a good guy. You know that. But look at him and me. We had a bad break and we’re still close. Maybe he thinks that if you gave Abby some space, it’d remedy itself.”

“I have given her space.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah I have.” Horatio said, raising his voice and grabbing his jacket.

Izzy put her arm out and blocked him from leaving the room, “No, see only I can pull that because he stood me up last night. He’s been a good friend to you so this little temper tantrum is not cool.”

Horatio looked to Izzy, looking her deep in the eyes, “Listen, I don’t know what you think that you’re going to accomplish but I want to go for a walk.”

“Gonna go find out where Abby’s room is?” Izzy asked. Horatio stood, trying to make it seem convincing when the word “No” finally exited his lips. Izzy shook her head, “Give her space, okay? As your friend and as hers, promise me that you won’t go look for her.”

“I promise.” Horatio said a little too quickly.

Izzy sighed, “I trust you.” She said in a way that always made whoever she said it to a little guilty, even if they were being honest. Horatio nodded. “Alright.” Izzy added, “I’m gonna go back to my dorm, I think I’m going to go see if Mo wants to work out. I’ll see you around and remember that I trust you.”

Horatio nodded and moved over towards his desk. He watched as Izzy walked out. He turned his computer on and checked his Messengers for Abby and then he stood up and watched Izzy walk away and towards her dorm. He waited for a couple minutes and then grabbed his keys and left his room. He had no intention of keeping his promise with Izzy, he just wanted to see Abby. He needed to see her.

He walked out of his building and towards the parking lot he’d seen her car in. He searched the windows and bumpers for the parking pass and found it on the dash. It clearly read Terrance Hall. He headed that way and went straight to the commons room. He walked up to the RA sitting behind the counter and smiled, “Hi, my girlfriend is in Terrance and she forgot to tell me which room. Could you help me out?”

“Name?”

“Abigail Knotts.”

“412. Can I get your name please?”

Horatio gave his real name, though he’d lied about dating. But to him, they were still together. He walked up to the fourth floor and knocked. Abby opened the door, half expecting Natasha to be back but never expecting, “Horatio?”

He smiled at her, his eyes starving for hers. She looked down and he lifted her chin. “Hey, I missed you.”

“I missed you too, how’d you find me?”

“I saw your car and asked around. God, it’s so good to see you.” He leaned in to kiss her and she pulled away. “What’s wrong?” He asked, confused.

“We’re not together anymore.” She said, gaining her voice. “We haven’t been all summer.”

“I know but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends. Look at Izzy and Dari. They’re broken up.”

“And they’re both weird. They’re okay with being the way they are after breaking up. I haven’t had the chance to get over this yet. I’ve had a hectic summer.”

“Well, let me help. I’ll help you get over this.”

“No.” Abby said, “I can’t get over you with you around. I need to do this on my own.”

“Abby… I want to be here for you. I love you.”

“Horatio, we’ve been over this. I can’t be with you. I just want to be on my own for a while, okay?”

He looked down to the ground and swallowed hard, “Can’t we just try again? I’ll do whatever I can.”

“No, we can’t try again. There’s nothing to try again. We’re done. I want to be your friend Horatio, cause you’re a great guy but I can’t be your friend if you wont let us go. I know it’s harsh but it’s the only way it can be.” He moved closer to her, trying to hug her. She pushed away from him, “Horatio, knock it off.”

“Excuse me.” A voice said from the doorway. Both Horatio and Abby looked over, a guy stood in the doorway, the same RA that had given Horatio the room number. His hair was short and dark brown and his eyes were dark as well. He was well dressed and attractive and he radiated charm, “Is everything okay in here?”

“He’s just leaving.” Abby said.

Horatio, now fuming from the interruption looked to Abby, “I want to talk later.”

“Just go.” She said. He walked out of the room and slammed his shoulder into the RA’s as he exited.

He made a face and smiled at Abby, “You okay?”

“Fine. Thank you.”

“No problem. I’m Dustin by the way, Dustin Greene. I’m the RA of this building.”

“Abby Knotts.” She replied.

“You’re roomies with Natasha, right?”

“Yeah, you know here.”

“My cousin Jen and her used to be an item so I’ve met her a couple times.”

“Item like… same sex item?”

“Well, unless one of them has a secret then yeah.”

Abby was thoroughly creeped out by this revelation about her roommate, she’d never really known lesbians, except for Horatio’s mothers. She’d never been really comfortable with being with both Margo and Lucinda at the same time, or Margo in general. Lucinda was less obtrusive about her sexuality, which made it almost okay. “You’re serious?”

“Don’t worry.” Dustin said, leaning in a little, “They won’t flirt with you unless they know you’re out.”

“Well, that’ll never happen.”

“Especially with your boyfriend.” Dustin said casually, leaning against the doorframe.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Abby said, “He used to be.”

Dustin’s interest was peaked, “Really?”

“Yeah, we broke up in June.”

“Well, then that’s my bad. He told me you two were still together.”

“Well, it’s a lie. He just wasn’t ready for the break and hasn’t gotten over it yet.”

“That’s too bad.” Dustin replied. He looked casually at his watch, “Well I’ve got to get back downstairs, but listen, Jen, and I always go out for dinner on Tuesday nights and we always bring friends. She said she was going to bring Tasha, and well, you could come with us tomorrow night.”

“I’d like to but I don’t know.”

Dustin over-dramatized his plea by getting down on his knees, “Please.” Abby started laughing at him as he crawled on his knees towards her, “Please, please, please. I’m begging.” She nodded and he got to his feet. “Thank you Abby.”

She smirked a little, “You’re welcome.”

Dustin smiled largely and walked towards the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Abby watched as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. She nearly squealed as she jumped on the bed. She was in total crush, he was charming and not to mention very hot. As a bonus he hadn’t once asked her to tell her how he felt or any stupid shit like that. It was relieving for her to not have to deal with another Horatio.

Dari and Luke entered The Last Drop, one of many coffee shops on campus but one of the most well known. The two of them moved up to the counter where a short, blonde girl was working the register. She had dark eyes that seemed very old but the rest of her barely looked older than the two of them. She smiled at them and Dari smiled back. “Hi,” she said, “What can I get you two?”

“No-fat soy latte,” Luke said, “extra whip.”

She started working on the drink and she looked to Dari, “What about you?”

“How about your name for starters?”

She made a face, “Delilah.”

“Well, Delilah, what’s good here?”

“The coffee is good.”

Dari smirked and leaned on the counter, leaning closer to her. She rolled her eyes a little, “Well, I’ll take an iced mocha with extra chocolate.”

She nodded and worked on both drinks. She smiled at them as she gave them their completed drinks. Dari moved up towards the counter, back towards Delilah. She smirked at him, “Ambitious little bastard aren’t you?”

He laughed, “I realized I hadn’t told you my name.”

“Really wasn’t at a loss for that.” She said with a lot of sarcasm in her voice.

He chuckled, “It’s Darren, but my friends call me Dari.”

She picked up a milk carton and nodded it in his direction. “That’s a name I can’t forget.”

He smiled, “Well, I’ll see you around then.”

“I’ll see you around.” She said with a smirk.

Dari nodded and took a couple steps backwards, before nearly tripping on a chair. He turned quickly and grabbed the chair. Delilah laughed as he tried to regain his composure but everyone had already seen it. He raised his hand, letting everyone know he was okay. The clapping began and he bowed a little. He looked over to Delilah and smiled and she smiled back before casting her eyes to the counter. He moved over to where Luke was sitting. Luke was still laughing, “Nice. Did you get her number?”

“I wasn’t trying to yet.” Dari said, “I’ll save that for like second or third week of us coming here.” He looked to Delilah again and smiled. She was looking over at him and he caught it. “You got to build up to things like that.”