Thankfully, when Kim got home, her parents did not ask her questions. Not a lot, anyway.

"Ah, Kimmie-cub, there you are," her father exclaimed when he heard the front door close. "Come in the kitchen, Mom made pancakes and there are some leftover."

Kim walked into the kitchen to see her parents reading the paper at the table. She sat down with them and shook her head. "Sorry Dad, I had breakfast already."

James shrugged. "So whose place did you sleep over at? Monique's?"

"Uh, no, not Mon's."

James raised an eyebrow. "Were you hanging out with a boy?" James did realize that his only daughter had grown up and could make decisions for herself, but it was also in his best interest to look out for her when needed.

"No, Dad." Kim thought she might as well throw it out that she made a new friend. "Her name is Shego. We were playing guitar yesterday and lost track of time."

"I didn't see you take your guitar with you when you went out yesterday, honey," her mom replied.

"Shego's got a bunch of guitars, so I just used one of hers."

"Kimmie-cub, if you have all this time to play guitars, maybe you should start looking for a job?" asked James.

"...Dad, I just graduated, I want to take a bit of a break right now." Kim shrugged. She didn't really want to hear her parents nag at her about finding a job. She just wasn't ready to "launch her career" - heck, she didn't even know what to do with her degree. She just wanted to have some fun for a bit and then eventually look for a job.

Anne, sensing her daughter's indecision and growing agitation about the topic, decided to interrupt the conversation before provoking the younger redhead any further. "How long have you known Shego? This seems to be the first time you've mentioned her."

Kim bit her didn't want to lie about how she met Shego, but she didn't want to tell her parents the truth either. They'd just freak out because it would sound like a complete stranger picked up me on the curb. Which is true, but still... Kim decided to play it safe by telling a white lie. Heck, it's not really lying if I stretch the truth. Just a bit. "Oh, I've known her for a bit, we met in college, so she called me up yesterday out of the blue and asked if we could hang out." Kim hastily added a "I'm sorry. I should've told you I'd be staying over."

If there was one thing Kim picked up in college, it was lying. In high school, she wasn't very good at being convincing, so others could see through her lies immediately. In college, however, she sometimes had to get herself out of very awkward and unwelcome situations (especially at frat parties), so she managed to work her way at being a very convincing liar. Somewhat.

Thankfully, both of her parents bought the lie and let Kim off the hook.

Kim went upstairs to her room to shower and change out of her day-old clothes. When she was done, she pulled out and unfolded the slip of paper that Shego had given her.

A phone number was hastily scribbled on the inside of the paper. "867-5309."

Kim smiled. She inputted the number in her cell phone and thought it might be better to send a text message. Shego could be driving right now, I don't want to disturb her if she is on the road. She typed up her message and sent it, hoping to get a response from her new green-skinned friend.

KPKPKPKPKP

What we got feels so good

Like I'm climbing a stairway to heaven

And it turns me on

When we dial it up all the way to eleven

Shego returned home immediately after dropping Kim off. She was lounging on the couch and tuning one of her acoustic guitars when she heard her cell phone chirp once. She looked over to the coffee table at her green and black cell phone, and noticed that an indicator light was on. She picked up her cell phone and saw the words "1 New Message" flash before her eyes on the external LCD. She flipped open her phone to access her inbox.

"Thanks again! I owe you one. - Kim"

Shego smirked. You owe me one, eh? I should give you guitar lessons, ha! She pondered for a bit before typing up a reply.

"Pleasure's all mine, Princess."

Shego's finger hovered above the send button. Short and simple. I hope she doesn't actually expect me to ask her for a favour. True to her 'badass' image, Shego didn't like to get too close to people - she had been hurt in the past because she was so warm and welcoming. Normally, she wouldn't have even let someone come into her apartment to check out her guitars, let alone touch them, but there was something alluring about the redhead she met on the street - no, she didn't really 'meet' her on the street, more like thought she was good eye candy and wanted to flatter the poor girl into embarrassment.

Initially surprised by the redhead's retort to her flattery, Shego was intrigued by the girl. Normally, people would scoff at her if she made some kind of (un)flattering comment about their attire, but Kim seemed like she didn't mind the comment at all. "I wish I'd seen Hendrix play" was what Kim said. That told Shego one of two things: one, the redhead was not as uncultured as Shego thought, and two, the redhead honestly appreciated the comment about her Hendrix t-shirt.

In the heat of the moment, 'picking up' the redhead off the street seemed like a bloody smart idea for Shego. She was further surprised when the redhead did manage to play a wide range of classic rock songs on her guitar. Shego secretly enjoyed those few hours they had; she had been getting sick of hearing herself play, so it was nice to have someone play along with her after so long.

It's been six years since I've had a partner, Shego mused.

She hit the send button.

Author's Notes: Shego's cell phone number is a direct reference to Tommy Tutone's pop song "867-5309 (Jenny)". The chorus is really catchy with the phone number. I figured I'll try to put in some song references in the story - either with the chapter titles or somewhere embedded in the text.