Emily walked with her new friends to Donnie and Mariana's apartment; they weren't lying when they said it was a block from Callum's apartment. When they arrived, Donnie went into the kitchen and began naming off the alcohol they had. A few of the guys weren't satisfied with the options, so they decided to walk down the street to the liquor store. They asked if anyone had any additional requests. Emily decided it would be better if she stayed away from anymore hard liquor, so she handed them some money and requested a six-pack of Anchor Steam. The guys mocked her California beer choice, but stopped when Mariana told them to leave her alone.

Before the guys could return from the liquor store, Emily was roped into doing another round of tequila shots. Emily could tell that she needed to slow down and acquiesce that she could not keep up with the rest of the group's drinking. After the other guys left the kitchen, Emily found herself poking through her new friends' cabinets for a water glass. After she opened up yet another wrong cabinet, she heard a voice asking if she needed help finding something. Emily felt herself go red and stumbled, "No, I mean yes, I need to get some water." Before she could move, Emily felt Mariana come up behind her and open the next cabinet that was full of glasses. Mariana pulled out a plastic cup and asked Emily if she would like some ice. Emily nodded and thanked her host.

Emily and Mariana stood in the kitchen silently as Emily sipped her water. Emily was feeling a little anxious, so she started to babble. "So, how long have you lived in Dallas?" Mariana thought for a second, "Three years now. Jenny and I moved here after she finished her degree at the University of Texas." Emily nodded, "Jenny was your girlfriend?" Mariana shifted a little, "Yeah, she was." Emily realized that she was overstepping her bounds, "I'm sorry, I'm asking too many questions." Mariana shook her head, "No, you're fine. To be honest, the guys go out of their way to avoid the topic. I was a bit of a mess at first and that scared them a little."

Emily nodded, "Yeah, people can be a little weird after a breakup. Most of my friends don't even broach the subject with me. It's a little awkward." Mariana looked at Emily intently, "How long ago was your breakup?" Emily thought about it for a moment, "That's kind of hard to pin down. I kind of moved out of our apartment last March, but then I moved back in as "friends", after spring break. I slept on the couch for the rest of the semester; that is, until I got drunk the weekend before finals and slept with her. We both agreed that it had been fun, but it was nothing more. We shared the same bed for about a week and then she moved to Iowa for grad school."

Emily sat there for a second, "Sorry, that was probably more information than you ever wanted." Mariana smiled softly, "No, it was refreshing to hear actually. Things with Jenny were pretty messy; we would break up and then get back together, and then do it all again. I think my breaking point was when I actually caught her fucking one of our mutual friends. Before, I always suspected that she was cheating on me, but actually seeing it was a whole other issue." Emily shook her head, "I'm so sorry to hear that. I really can't imagine what that must have felt like." Mariana shrugged, "To be honest, it was almost a relief. I think I preferred having definitive proof, rather than a nagging suspicion."

Mariana abruptly smiled, "I think we're getting a little too serious. This is supposed to be a party. We've been standing in this kitchen for way too long. I haven't given you the official tour of chez Mariana and Donnie. So clearly you have become acquainted with the kitchen—it's small, and the microwave makes a weird clicking noise when you use it. If we take a few steps, you will see the living room. In it are various pieces of furniture that match really nothing at all."

All of a sudden we hear Donnie shout, "There you two lezzers are. We were just placing bets on whether or not you had already decided to call for a U-Haul and adopt three-legged homeless cats from Cambodia." Mariana threw a plastic cup at Donnie and said, "Fuck you. I was just in the middle of giving our guest a tour of the apartment—it's what a good host does." Everybody laughed at the exchange.

Mariana turned back to Emily, "Please excuse these fuckers—they think they are being funny. Would you like to see the rest of the place?" Emily smiled, "Of course." Mariana turned around. "This is the dining room. Technically this is still part of the living room, but this is where we keep the table." They walked into the hallway. "Directly in front of us is the bathroom that is way to small for two grown ass adults who would rather not see one another naked. To the right is Donnie's room, and to the left is mine. I'll spare you the horror of Donnie's room." Mariana started walking to her room. "I'll give you the abridged tour of my room."

They walked in and Emily saw that Mariana's room was beyond tidy. "You're room's very nice." Emily looked around. Mariana's bed was made and all of her clothes were either put away, or in a hamper in the corner; she had a large bookshelf that was completely full, and on her desk there was a laptop and a small set of speakers. She looked around a little more and saw a large world map on the wall with pins of various colors. Emily walked over and looked at the map. "So are these all places you have been?" Mariana walked up behind her, "No, the blue pins are places I have visited, the yellow pins are places where I have lived, and the red pins are places where I would like to go."

Emily continued to look at the map, "Wow, you have lived in a lot of places." Mariana shrugged, "Most of those were from when I was little. My dad was in the army and he was stationed all over the world when I was younger." Emily nodded, "My dad is still in the military. That's why my parents moved here from Pennsylvania. We lived in Pennsylvania until I graduated from high school. She was adamant that we stay rooted in one place while I was growing up. It was hard though, because there would be long periods when I wouldn't see my dad. I'm a little envious that you got to be with him all the time." Mariana shrugged, "I don't know what's worse. Sometimes it really sucked being the new girl in school. Thankfully my dad retired when I was in the tenth grade. My parents were from the Houston area, so we moved back there and I was able to spend two and a half years at the same school—it was the longest stretch I ever had at a school."

Emily and Mariana talked for several hours. They talked about nearly everything—music, their exes, and even their mutual hatred of American Idol. Eventually Emily left the room to use the restroom. She returned and reported that several of the guys were passed out in the living room. Emily looked at the time on her cell phone, "It's after four in the morning. I should probably get back to Callum's." Mariana yawned, "I would advise against that. Callum is notorious for picking up some cute young thing for a one-night stand. Why don't you stay here? You can have my bed and I'll take the floor." Emily thought about it for a second, "There's no need. We can share the bed. Just because we're both lesbians doesn't mean we are going to jump one another the minute we share a bed." Mariana smiled, "Agreed." She threw Emily a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to change into and excused herself to the restroom.

Emily changed quickly and got into bed. When Mariana came back in she sat up. "I hope I didn't take your side of the bed. I can move if you want." Mariana smiled, "You're fine. I don't really have a designated side." Mariana crawled into bed and made sure there was a plenty of room between them. They talked a little more until Emily started to drift off.

The next morning the beeping of her cell phone awakened Emily. She was no longer on her side of the bed, but instead she had wrapped her arms and legs around Mariana. She slowly untangled herself and reached for her phone. She had slept until two and had amazingly missed several calls and texts. One of the texts was from Callum asking where she was, but the rest were from Hanna demanding that she call her ASAP.