Living with a couple who had gotten engaged just weeks earlier, Grace didn't spend a lot of time at home out of pure fear of walking in on something that she didn't want to see. She had seen way more of Zig Novak than she had ever wanted to in the time they had lived together since they moved out of the dorms, but there was a certain amount she hoped she would never need to see, ever. She dreaded the day that Zig and Maya got married; or perhaps she was just terrified that they were going to be worse as newlyweds and, god forbid, she would still be living with them when that happened.

That was why Grace had been viewing apartments nonstop for the last week and a half without telling her roommates. They would both insist that she stayed living with them and she could just hear Maya telling her that if she moved out and they found her in a ditch she would be mad at her and haul her ass back to the apartment. She would prefer living with newlyweds to being homeless any day, not that she was going to admit that to Maya; otherwise she stood no chance of ever leaving.

Unlike a lot of people, Grace liked riding the bus. She liked not needing to drive, and she liked being able to put on her headphones and not think until they got where she was going. The bus was reasonably empty and she wasn't in any immediate danger of being sat next to, just how she liked it.

A girl in a dress (that looked like it wasn't anything but sequins) and a pair of heels (that Grace didn't think she could comfortably walk across a room in) got onto the bus and sat in the seat behind her, her phone pressed to her ear. As the brunette got closer Grace could see that her makeup was running and figured that she had probably been wearing the same clothes since the night before; it was almost six o'clock in the evening then. Grace, unsure what she was even doing, paused her music and pulled her headphones down around her neck.

"I- I think this is a conversation we need to have in person," the girl said into the phone, her voice wobbling. "Yeah, I can't d-do this right now. I'm on the bus, can we talk later?" The girl winced and pulled her phone a few inches away from her ear, the person on the other end obviously raising their voice at her now. "I can take the bus! I'm a big girl! And I'll have you know that I'm on my way to a friend's house. Yes, my friend. Yes, I have those!" Grace could tell that she was trying her hardest to keep it together, and it wasn't quite working. The girl sighed loudly and hung up her phone, and immediately turned it off.

Against all her better judgement, Grace was concerned about the girl.

"Hey, are you okay?" Grace asked her, turning round in her seat to face the girl. Why did she care, anyway? She wasn't the kind of person who just cared about girls on the bus. Even if they were really pretty girls.

"I'm fine," the girl said pointedly, but Grace caught her lip quiver.

"You don't want to talk about it?"

The girl scoffed. "Why do you care?" Grace shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm a good person, I guess. So are we talking about it?"

"That was my charming mother on the phone. She's with my agent. They want me to go home and I, like always, am being a difficult child. But woops, look like my phone ran out of battery." The girl shrugged innocently. Grace liked something about her attitude already.

"You still live with your mom?" Grace quirked an eyebrow at the girl, "How old are you, anyway?"

"I hardly think it's relevant," came her response. "But honestly? I'm not going to my friend's house. I don't really have anywhere to go."

"You don't have any friends?"

"Zero. Not since I tripped Amelia Burkhart and she fell into the cake, anyway." Grace had no idea how to make any traction with her from there. She knew nothing about the other girl, and she wasn't sure that even wanted to know anything more… or maybe, more importantly, why she would want to know more.

"I'm Grace," she said, and stuck her hand over the seats for the girl to shake.

"Zoe," she introduced herself back, taking Grace's hand. She smiled, the first that Grace had seen from her. At least she wasn't crying.

The bus lurched forward, coming to an abrupt stop, and creating the end of their conversation. They had chatted the whole ride, and when the bus had filled up, Grace had moved to sit next to her instead.

"Well, this is my stop." Grace stood up and joined the progression of people towards the exit. She looked expectantly at Zoe, who was looking down at her hands, probably a matter of minutes away from crying again with her new distraction leaving so soon. "So, are you coming?"

"What?"

"You said you were going to a friend's house, didn't you? Hurry up, princess." Grace made her way off the bus, and stood on the sidewalk patiently. Zoe stepped out of the doors, last of all the people getting off. She must have had quite the deliberation with herself before she followed.

The girls walked together in silence in the direction of Grace's apartment. Neither was sure what to say, because neither had any idea what they were doing.

She could be a serial killer for all you know, Grace thought, this could have been her plan all along.

She could be an axe murderer, Zoe thought, she doesn't have an axe now or anything, but she probably has a whole room full of them. Which I'm walking towards.

"Aren't you cold?" Grace asked. Zoe's dress left plenty exposed to the elements; a one shoulder dress that only came to just above her knee. There was no space for a coat in her clutch purse, either.

"Not really. I stopped feeling it twelve hours ago."

"Dude," Grace said by way of response. Zoe shrugged it off.

"Are we close to your place?" she asked. She was slowing, no doubt due to her shoes as much as anything else. She had a fiery determination, Grace could tell that already from the short time they had known one another.

"Yeah, it's just around the corner. Hopefully we're not forced to wait outside."

"For what? You don't live alone?"

"Nope. I live with another girl and a guy, and you might have to shield your eyes on entry," Grace said. "You could take them off, you know. There's not usually a ton of broken glass around here."

"I made it this far, I'm fine," Zoe said, quickening her pace to prove a point that Grace wasn't really sure was necessary to make. "So you and your friends are like, a… group?"

"What? Ew, no. They're engaged and aren't very good at locking doors." At the reminder, Grace took her phone out of her pocket and shot a text off to Zig, warning him of her arrival. She had to at least try to make herself known. "Wait, do I look like someone who would be in a ménage à trois?"

"No! I mean, it wasn't an insult. Just… making conversation."

Grace shook her head in dismissal. "Right, of course. I know polyamory isn't bad, it's just, yeah, not me." Grace let them into the building, and led Zoe around to the elevators. "You're lucky these are working this week." Zoe simply smiled back, and stepped into the elevator behind Grace. She might have finally given up on the shoes had they needed to walk up the stairs, but that wasn't a judgement of Zoe's character that she would get to make. Any little detail about Zoe, how she reacted, was new information to file away about her in drawing conclusions about whether or not she was a murderer.

"Are you sure your friends will be okay with me staying?" Zoe questioned.

"I don't care if they're not." Zoe couldn't hide how thankful she was that Grace was sticking to it and hadn't changed her mind on the walk. Zoe was really no worse on the street there than anywhere else, but for everyone involved, throwing her on the street just sounded like something unnecessarily awful. She couldn't imagine not being a good person, letting Zoe be homeless without a coat for another twenty-four hours instead of having her inside.

When they got to Grace's apartment, she knocked on the door before entering, avoiding gazing directly into the room as she called out, "Does everyone have pants on?"

"I hope not," came a male voice from behind her. She spun around to see her neighbour, Miles, leaning in his doorway. "Is the boyfriend over at yours?"

"I wouldn't know, I haven't been inside yet," Grace said, accompanied by an isn't it obvious? gesture.

"Right, of course," Miles said, stepping out of his own apartment and locking the door behind him. "Guess we're all going in then." Grace didn't even attempt to suppress an eye roll as the three walked into the apartment. Miles inviting himself over wasn't uncommon.

Sitting around on the couches in front of their TV were Zig and Maya, thankfully completely clothed, even if they were sickening to watch for how needlessly lovey dovey they were being. "Zoe, that's Zig and Maya. That's Miles. Everyone, this is Zoe. She's crashing here tonight." The pair received a couple of small waves and confused looks as Grace walked straight through to her bedroom, expecting her company to follow (which, thankfully, Zoe did), and Miles took a seat.

She opened up her drawers, looking for something more comfortable to lend Zoe. "I'm guessing you're going to want to shower. Bathroom's through there. You can borrow these. I'll get you out a towel." She handed a pile of clothes to Zoe; nothing fancy, just a shirt and sweats. The other girl took them, obviously a little surprised at how proactive Grace was being, but her gratefulness showed in her soft smile.

As Grace moved into the bathroom, Zoe followed. A few moments later and Zoe was equipped with a fresh towel, too. "Shower's easy, I'm sure you're intelligent enough to work it out. Just let it run for a minute before you get in. Use whatever stuff you want."

"Um, Grace?" Zoe said, making her stop and turn in the bathroom doorway, "thank you."

"No problem." Grace closed the bathroom door and waited just a couple of moments to hear the shower turn on before she went out to the living area, where Tristan had seemingly joined them too. He had probably been in the kitchen earlier, or at least that was the best guess Grace had as to why he hadn't been in his own apartment.

"Not joining her in the shower?" Miles teased as she sat down. She let a smile crack at the joke.

"Maybe later."

"Wait, Grace brought a girl home?" Tristan asked, sitting up attentively from where he was slouched against his boyfriend.

"It's not like that," Maya defended, "is it like that?"

"It's not like that," Grace affirmed.

"You don't need to be jealous, Maya," Tristan said, "you are our token heterosexual. And you're engaged."

"Hey, I'm straight," Zig said quickly, sitting up sharply in protest. Tristan narrowed his eyes at him.

"Sure." Grace smirked at that. Zig's fragile masculinity wouldn't ever stop being a source of entertainment for the group. There was something to be said about easy targets, and Zig sure could be when it came to any questioning of him as a straight, masculine man. These were the quiet moments where she and Tristan got along best. They had always felt like an unlikely combo, but in a weird way they had clicked.

Grace and Tristan accused Zig of not being straight. Miles flirted with him as much as he did everyone else. And Maya? Well, she didn't discourage it.

"Aren't you two fighting?" Grace questioned Tristan and Miles. They had been at each other's throats for the last few days, but it wouldn't have been obvious to an outsider.

"We are," Tristan replied, though it didn't change the fact that he was sitting comfortably against Miles, who had his arm draped around his boyfriend.

"It's on hold," Miles elaborated. She nodded in response, pretending she understood what they meant. She had no freaking clue how they could just put a whole fight on hold. Not that she had a whole lot of romantic experience, but she was pretty sure fighting for weeks at a time with time outs wasn't a healthy way of dealing with problems. "Anyway, we want to hear about your new girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Well, that's defensive," Zig said, "Grace, we all know you're into girls. You don't have to hide anything from us."

"That doesn't make her my girlfriend, Zigmund. Actually, we just met recently," she admitted, though she wasn't too keen to elaborate on just how recent that was.

"So we should be placing bets?" Miles suggested. "Three weeks."

"Weeks? Three days."

"No, longer, not shorter. Three months."

"Fifty bucks says that they hook up tonight and then one of them has a gay crisis and then it takes three months. Not that Grace would tell us if she got laid tonight."

"Prude."

"Oh my god, leave me alone," she finally retaliated.

"You bring in a shiny new toy and won't even let us play with it?" Miles pouted. There was a shuffling from the doorway. All five sets of eyes looked up, locking on Zoe, who was standing with a towel wrapped around her.

"Sorry, is there a comb somewhere I can use?" she asked, her arms wrapped cautiously around herself. Maya jumped up.

"Yeah, of course!" she hurried over to Zoe's rescue, ever the immaculate hostess, and soon enough she was back on the couch with Zoe tucked safely away in the bathroom. Tristan gaped open mouthed at Grace. She shrugged at him, unsure what had happened to have him react like that. He knew as well as the others that her "girlfriend" was in the bathroom.

"You didn't mention the girl in the shower was Zoe Rivas, Grace!" he exclaimed, though in a hushed tone so that he wouldn't be overheard from the bathroom. He went so far as to wriggle over far enough so that she was within reach for him to hit with a magazine off the coffee table.

"Hey, that's bullying," she said, "and that doesn't mean anything to me."

"The Zoe Rivas. West Drive Zoe Rivas. There's a poster of her in our apartment," he hit her with the magazine again.

"Sorry?" she tried.

"You should be. If I knew I was meeting Gatsby Garcia today I would have dressed nicer."