Quick note before I continue:

My dearest Anonymous Reviewer aka ThisIsBlowingMyMind (Clever… Very clever), I must thank you. I was beginning to think my story wasn't good enough for reviews. I was having a really terrible time, and then you came along with all your fancy "words" and you made me blush. =^_^= Have I ever told you how much I love you? Because what you said made me happy. Veeeeeeeeery happeh.

The Y Effect, I must thank you for your review! It definitely encouraged me to continue writing. Thank you!

U r awesome, Thank you, as well! Your review pushed me over the edge and told me to get off my fat lazy ass and get writing.

I'm so, incredibly sorry for not updating LIKE SIX THOUSAND YEARS EARLIER, and I must apologize. I'll do my best to get a chapter up a week, but I can't say I'll be able to do it. I have had SO MANY EXAMS, IT'S NOT HEALTHY~

Yeah. My tutors are like WE MUST GIVE THIS ONE PARTICULAR CHILD SIX HUNDRED EXAMS NOW and I`m like Noooooooooooooooooo~

Now, enough of my mushy mush-mush. It has come to my attention that I have totally disregarded the disclaimers. I also must apologize for the inexplicable wait. I am a procrastinator at best, a lazy lump of nothingness at worst.

I OWN NOTHING~

And it's back to hell again. Viola's givin' me looks that I don't wanna see, Lee looks guilty as hell, and Davy's actin' stupid, like usual. I don't think he remembers much 'bout the other night. Which wouldn't surprise me, I reckon he went thru about six bottles of whiskey. There are dormitories here, but they ain't nothin' like the ones in Doctor Snow's city. These ones are open now, with no real segregation, 'cept girls who ain't married need to stay in the girls dormitories and guys who ain't married gotta keep to themselves. 'Course, that don't mean you don't get to share with your own sex. Davy barked out an order which got me an' him a room together. Of course, there's only one bed. We take turns sleepin' on the floor, 'cuz of all his "manliness". He don't wanna be "caught being gay". I can see straight thru his Noise, tho. It ain't nothing like anything you ever saw before. It's so packed with images of women and their bits you'd never think nothin' of what happened a few weeks back. I think he remembers.

Viola keeps tryin' to apologize, but I don't listen.

Why?

Why would she stay for so long, wait for me, and then shatter every hope I had?

Why?

It's stupid.

Women're stupid.

Lee's stupid.

Life's stupid.

Davy's stupid.

And I'm thinkin' this as I walk into the bar. Few whiskeys never hurt no one. Right?

I find out later I'm wrong. Davy's drunk. Again.

He gives me lopsided grin when I walk in.

I realize I like the sober smile more.

His drunk Noise is just as open as his sober Noise, 'cept he doesn't cover it up as much with naked women as a bunch of memories of a fully clothed me.

And it makes me smile, whether it's from the whiskey or the Todds in his Noise, or a mixture of both, and when he hugs me, I just let him hug me, and I smell all the Davy in there, even under the alcohol.

I let him drag me away, and we end up in a clearing, and I can't remember if here is important or not, 'cuz it seems familiar and it's nagging at the back of my brain, but I can't seem to care 'cuz he's runnin' his fingers thru my hair, and it feels nice.

I realize that Davy Prentiss is a very nice person. He's a romantic drunk, too.

And that in itself makes me question whether I like the drunk Davy or the sober one better.

I decide that after the umpteenth kiss that I like the drunk one plenty, but if this was all done sober, I'd like it a whole lot better.

He likes my hair.

I don't know why, but he seems to like to put his hands in it.

His Noise presses into mine, and it's not uncomfortable, or anything. It's like it's blending together.

I see me, and Viola – surrounded by a dark hue of black – and Lee, and me some more. I see what he wants, and thru the haze of all that drunkenness, I can see the more innocent, honesty of what he wants. He wants to be able to hug me, and hold my hand.

But he ain't gay. That's what his brain's tellin' him. He ain't gay.

No.

He ain't gay.

But that ain't what his body's sayin', with all his hugging, and affection. So much love.

He gives in to just holding me, and I bury the bottom half of my face into his shoulder. He still smells like Davy. But there's less alcohol on him this time. He ain't nearly as drunk as he let on.

That's okay with me.

I wake up in a daze. We're in a clearing, the same one I caught Lee and Viola in. I notice Davy`s holding me, with his hand running thru my hair. His nose is nuzzled against my neck, and it presses there lightly every so often.

I decide I kind of like it.

I close my eyes, and he hasn't even noticed I'm awake yet. He presses a kiss to the top of my ear and pulls his arm back. He gets up quietly, and I force myself not to cringe. Of course he's gonna to leave, he's probably just looking for a little amusement, and now when I wake up and ask why I was in the forest and not my dorm, he's gonna laugh.

But I feel him pick me up, and walk me to our dorm. He's all quiet, and his walk is real smooth, without the usual swagger he has around women

(and me-)

and he puts me down on the floor, not the bed, because it was his turn, and he takes a deep breath.

He whispers a quick apology to me, which I didn't understand, until he did something I wasn't expecting-

He kicks me real low and swift, right in the ribs.

"Wake up, pig piss!" he barks harshly. "It's breakfast."

I guess I'm just building the bridge now, away from Viola, towards Davy.

And I realize I like Davy.

But I miss Viola.