Tony did his best to concentrate on the Art History final, although he couldn't believe that this dream, or whatever it was, was still going on. When he woke up that morning, he expected it to be in his bedroom in Iowa. Hopefully, Angela would be lying beside him, her natural scent tantalizing his nostrils. If he had woken alone, he'd have called her, tried to reconcile. Maybe she could move to Des Moines or Dubuque and set up a branch of her agency there. Or he could explain the situation to Dr. Graham, get a reference, and apply for colleges in the Northeast. He might not be able to live with Angela again right away, but they could work towards that, live close enough to visit without all the hassle of airports.

Instead, he woke up in his old bedroom in Angela's house. And she was sleeping in her not yet remodeled bedroom. Tony thought of his argument with Hank's father over the remodeling and how Tony had tried to do it himself, with "help" from Jonathan and Hank. Wow, Sam wasn't married to Hank! She wasn't even engaged to Matt yet. Tony could prevent both of those relationships which Sam was too young for. At the moment, Sam was not yet 18, and she hadn't had a long-term boyfriend since Jesse. Knowing what Tony knew, he could put his foot down about Sam going to New Mexico, and if Hank still came along later, then Tony could do what he could to stop them eloping. Maybe she'd be better off with Pierce, the stock broker. Hey, Tony had stock knowledge he didn't have two years ago! Should he drop hints to Angela? Nah, that probably was cheating a lot more than knowing what the questions were on this final exam.

And anyway, it was fair in a way, to sort of remember this exam from two years ago, because he was more distracted than he'd been last time. Back then, he felt just as guilty towards both Angela and Kathleen but at least he didn't know what would happen if he stayed with Kathleen. Now he felt like scum to have slept with Kathleen and not wanted to pursue a relationship with her. But maybe she didn't want one, maybe that was where the "awkwardness" she'd told Angela had come from. Except, that wasn't how she acted two years ago, in the living room in front of Angela. Or was it crazy to expect the dream to go exactly the way real life did, when there were some obvious exceptions?

After the exam, one of the guys from his study group said out in the hallway, "It's finally over! Let's go get drunk!"

"Oh, Kyle," said the other girl, the heavy one with glasses.

"What do you want to do, Kathleen?" asked the other guy. He had an obvious crush on her.

"Actually, Dave, I'm a little tired. I think I'll head home."

"Oh, OK." Dave definitely looked disappointed.

"How about you, Tony?" the heavy girl asked. "You wanna get coffee with us or something?"

"Gee, thanks, Guys, but I'm kind of tired, too."

"Oh, I see." The girl looked from Tony to Kathleen. Tony hoped she wasn't figuring out that Tony and Kathleen had been up late the other night doing something other than studying. She had seemed surprised that Kathleen wasn't there at yesterday's study session but mostly relieved that Kathleen wouldn't be a know-it-all like usual.

"Come on, Debbie, let's at least go to the cafeteria."

"Yeah, OK, Kyle. You comin', Dave?"

Dave looked at Kathleen, but whether he was as suspicious as Debbie now or if he hoped Kathleen would change her mind, Tony didn't know. "Yeah, OK," he said, and the three younger members of the study group headed down the hallway.

Unfortunately, this left Tony alone with Kathleen, but he decided he may as well get this over with. "Uh, listen," he said.

She shook her head. "Angela explained to me."

"Explained?"

"Yes, how you two aren't 'involved' but she wishes you were."

"She does?" Tony felt shocked. It wasn't in the same way as it was about a year ago, when he'd asked the family, and Mrs. Rossini, "Who knew she felt this way?" It turned out then that they all did. Even Sam's spacy date Fred had had a hunch. Looking back, of course Angela must've wished that in the time of his all-nighter with Kathleen, although that all-nighter had obviously screwed up that wish, and delayed them eventually getting together.

What was shocking Tony now was that Angela had told Kathleen that. After all, she hardly knew Kathleen. And why would Angela just blurt out something like that to a stranger? Unless she knew about the one-night stand, and she sure hadn't acted that way with Tony in the kitchen and her study. And the Angela in the parallel universe, which Tony had been assuming was reality, had not confronted Kathleen, had instead tearfully told Tony that maybe his relationship with Kathleen was part of their journey.

"I guess you two haven't talked about it yet."

"Um, no, we haven't." How could Angela lie like that? Why would she be direct with Kathleen but not with Tony?

"Maybe she was waiting for your finals to be over," Kathleen said with a little smile.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Well, good luck to you two. And I told her I wasn't trying to steal you or anything. I didn't even know about her feelings, since you didn't act like she felt that way about you."

"I, I didn't know. I mean I suspected but we never said anything like that."

"I see. And do you return her feelings? Never mind, it's not any of my business."

"No, no, it's OK. I, I do feel that way about her, but I've always been scared to say anything and lose what we have."

"And sleeping with me wasn't going to make you lose her?"

Her words were like a slap but he knew he deserved them. "Listen, I'm really sorry about the other night. I got swept up in the moment. I mean, I guess I wanted it to happen." He remembered Mona's words when she found out. "But I didn't think about the consequences."

She nodded. "It was fun. But I guess that was all it was to you."

He felt incredibly guilty, but he knew that that same guilt had made him get involved with Kathleen for months, and he couldn't let that happen again. "No, I could see us dating. If not for Angela. But it wouldn't be fair to you, or her, to do that."

"OK," she said faintly. "Well, thanks for not leading me on more."

Tony winced. This was very awkward. But better to have this conversation than have her father want Tony to sire grandkids someday. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "I'll see you around. Have a good summer."

"Yeah, thanks, you, too."

And now Tony stood alone in the hallway, until another class got out. Then he headed home, wondering what he would say to Angela.