Never before had Tina been so grateful to be back home, flipping burgers and listening to her mother's off key singing.

Not to say that university wasn't a delight, which it was. Tina was currently studying to get a degree in mass communications, hoping that that would allow her a job in broadcast journalism. Such an ambition was inspired by Tina's time with Wagstaff School News (WSN) - a short lived period that prompted Tina to often stand before a mirror, holding a hairbrush up to her mouth, as she discussed the latest news on Jimmy Jr.'s glorious butt. Sometimes, she would even do such practice before her family - awkwardly standing there as she motioned towards an "invisible" screen and explained the magnificence of horses. And though she wasn't talking about horses and butts at school anymore, she was still having a good time.

Initially, leaving for university was tough. Extremely tough. Bob was absolutely distraught that Tina, his prized daughter - the one who always promised to be, and usually was, at his side, was now taking off after miraculously winning a hefty scholarship through a national writing competition. His immediate reaction to her announcement was to yell "What?", and then ask Tina how she could possibly abandon her own family. So not the best reaction.

While Linda was supportive of Tina's decision, her constant wailing slowed down her daughter's attempts to pack, and Tina found herself fantasizing about the silence of college, seeing as her, uh, vocal mother wouldn't be there. Despite Linda's crying, Tina would much rather deal with her sadness than Bob's - who silent, somber brooding caused a layer of tension to fill the home. Tina was overflowing with guilt, with her mother sobbing, Gene clutching her legs, Louise's voice wavering as she hid her own sadness, and, worst of all, Bob's coldness towards the girl. It didn't matter that months had passed since Tina first announced she was leaving, Bob had stayed sullen that entire time. And then she was seconds from boarding the plane, embarrassed by her siblings' and mother's refusal to let her go, as they clawed at her and cried loudly. With a clear, erupting voice, Bob yelled "Enough!", picked up Tina's bag, and said he was going to walk her to the gate.

It was there that Bob, finally, apologized, and told Tina how immensely proud he was of his daughter. And Tina, despite all the previous wishes to escape the rundown restaurant and her embarrassing family, found herself crying so hard, she could barely speak. Unable to say good bye, or make a joke, or do anything - she just hugged her father as tightly as she could, only then realizing, due to the shaking of his shoulders, that he was crying to. And then she was gone.

Well, not gone. She was in Chicago: the windy city, where she was so busy with growing that all previous homesickness, though never fully disappearing, was blotted out by the fun that came with her newfound independence. At university, she excelled in her classes - despite her previous failures at high school in subjects like P.E. and Pre-Calculus - and made quite a few friends. Turns out, in art school, there are a lot of other monotone, "friend fiction" writing, horse loving students - who ogled over Tina's vast collection of steamy, erotic fan fiction, and her impressive knowledge of Equestranauts - both the original and the reboot. And college also brought on a lot of changes - or "soul searching". At least, that's what Tina claimed she was doing when she told Linda of how she had dyed her hair a horrid shade of green, became a vegan, gotten a tramp stamp of a horse shoe, and even moved in with her girlfriend after dating for, well, a week.

Eventually, Tina came down from the initial high that comes with being without parents. She let her hair go back to it's natural color, she gave into the immense cravings for a burger - which only brought on bittersweet feelings of nostalgia, and she realized that she wasn't as into Alexa as she claimed to be, and the two went back to being friends. But, even without all the liberal changes, Tina was still having fun. School offered a new topic everyday, and she loved how enveloped she became with whatever story she was asked to report on. Even her siblings, who were once more interested in how much weed she was smoking rather than the tsunamis occurring around the globe, would stay on the phone for hours just to listen to Tina yammer on about the latest topic that she was researching.

Despite all the fun she was having at school, Tina was overjoyed to be with her family due to, well - a boy. More specifically, Henry Haber.

Yes, that's right - Henry Haber: dinosaur lover, graphic novel writer, action figure collector, and possibly the biggest dork known to man. He had ended up at the university so as to get a degree in video game design - which was a less popular subject of the rather artsy, philosophical school. Because of this, Henry was rather unpopular, and took to hiding away in the library where he played Dungeons and Dragons with other acne covered, adult braces wearing students. Tina didn't even know about Henry's coexistence until one fateful, stormy day that Chicago often sees. While passing by the library, barely able to push through the wind's strong push, Tina was startled when a tree branch, snapping due to the storm's pressure, swung into her face and cracked her glasses. Blind and bleeding from her nose, Tina stumbled into the library - and fell into Henry's open arms.

Despite the "romantic" introduction, their initial interactions were similar to that of high school: they absolutely loathed each other, both introducing the other, to their group of friends, as a total dork. Honestly, all contact between the two would've ended had Tina's laptop not broken, causing her trips to the library to become more frequent. There, Henry admonished Tina on her poor knowledge of technology, java lingo, and Star Trek trivia, while Tina mocked him for his inability to speak to even the friendliest of females. Somehow, their teasing evolved into playfulness, and then into actual conversations - one that were sometimes sincere and sweet, such as when the two both admitted the constant loneliness and isolation that comes with being a teenage dork. And then, one day, while the two were leaving the library, Henry slipped his hand into Tina's and didn't remove his grasp. Despite her confused look, Henry didn't try to explain - or even take notice of her expression, instead just casually walking alongside her while holding hands. Testing the waters, Tina then introduced him as her "boyfriend" to her professor, and, after not being corrected by the boy, she realized that the title was, indeed, factual.

So when did things go wrong? Well, there was no real downward spiral or a shift in their relationship, which mostly consisted of obsessing over the latest shows on Syfy, eating chinese take out in their underwear, and having vanilla sex with the lights off and both of their shirts on. Actually, this was sort of a perfect relationship for Tina - but one that was a short lived thing, and not something that continued for the rest of her life. Tina wanted her husband to be sophisticated, outgoing, charming - and she wanted the build up to their eventual marriage to be just as exciting. But what she had with Henry was the polar opposite of that, seeing as how their relationship was as equally dull as the $2 bouquets Henry would occasionally buy in a pitiful attempt to be the romantic Tina requested him to be.

"So what's the problem than?" Louise said in response to Tina's long, seemingly random, explanation as to why she was at home. "I mean, you just said that you and Henry are doing alright. Granted boring, but it's not like you're going to marry the guy."

"Well…" Tina murmured, not tearing away her gaze from the road that they drove on.

"Tina, are you engaged to him!?"

The two were in the van, heading for a B-horror movie - one that Tina loathed, but had agreed to in hopes of getting Louise alone, so Tina could carry out the promise she had made to Logan. She had hoped that, maybe, by admitting her own romance troubles, Tina would be able to get Louise to open up about Logan. Instead, she was seeing no cracks in her sister's hard exterior, and it looked as if the only one who was extorting any information was Louise - as usual.

"No. I'm not. I'm very sure that I gave Henry a soft maybe - but I think he interpreted that to be a 'yes'."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, for one - he updated his Facebook relationship status to 'engaged'."

"Oh god. Who even uses Facebook anymore…?"

"Exactly! And I don't even know why he wants to be engaged. We haven't even said 'I love you' but he wants to marry me!"

"So what are you going to do? Walk down the aisle with him?" Louise said, with a mischievous snicker.

"Maybe…."

"Wha - I - Tina! That was a fricken' joke!"

"Oh."

"Tina you can't marry him. Just leave him! You can do it over the phone, through a letter, send an owl - I don't care, just do it!"

"Louise, it's not that simple."

"No. It is. Watch me. 'I'm. Breaking. Up. With. You."

"Louise!" Tina yelled, as best as she could - considering the monotonous way of her voice - and slammed her hands on the wheel. In reality, she wasn't all that angry, and even felt some remorse for hitting the innocent driving wheel so hard. But to bring out an emotional response, you've got to give an emotional response. "It's not that simple, you...fool. I'm afraid of….of….dying alone!"

Tina then hid her eyes down on the wheel and wrapped her arms around her head, shaking her shoulders slightly to appear as if she were crying. Past her acted out sniffles and whimpers, Tina could hear Louise, sounding rather unimpressed, say "Tina….tina…..sweetie….". Lifting her head and wiping away an "invisible" tear, Tina looked at a rather bored Louise.

"Yeah. Not gonna work."

"What? But I practiced for hours on my fake crying!"

"Well, watch some Claire Danes movies. She's got the whole cry face thing down. Why do you think I'm so good? But, anyway, why are you fake crying? Are you even 'engaged' to Henry."

"No. I am. But...Logan sent me to...check up on you."

"Aw, what? God - I - Jeezus! Not cool! Not cool!"

"Well, what else is he supposed to do? You haven't spoken to him!"

"I was with him last night!"

"Last night? What were you doing last night?"

"Uh, 'it'!"

"You had sex with Logan?!"

"Wait - you don't know about the whole story but you're still, like, extorting information for him?"

"Well, it's obvious he has a crush on you - and I know you like him too - especially now that I know you two did...that. And I overheard him asking Dad if he'd allow you to date an employee."

"He was asking that?" Louise said, her voice reaching the high pitch that it would on the rare occasion Louise ever felt genuine surprise.

"Yeah, of course. You two slept together. Why wouldn't he?"

"The reason why we did that was because we didn't want to be in, like, a relationship."

"That makes no sense."

"I - well, it did in the moment. And it's like, you know, we both agreed we couldn't do a relationship anytime soon but I needed to lose my v-card so why not him-"

"-Louise, you never need to lose your virginity. I learned that from sex-ed."

"No, I do. Like, I really do."

"Why?"

"Ugh, it's this whole thing where I have to, like, sleep with this guy and all that - just, never mind that. Focused on what's important-"

"-Wait, you're actually going through with that!? That sounds kinda important-"

"-Tina! Focus! What did Logan say!?"

"He said he wanted to date you! I mean, not exactly - but it's very clear that he does. So that's all that matters! So just stop this whole not-dating-stuff, and just date him!"

"I...I….."

"What's holding you back, Louise? You like him, he likes you. That's literally all you need to start a relationship!"

"I do like him. I do. But….Rudy…."

"Oh god, him!? That's what's stopping you?"

"Yes, of course that's what's stopping me! I loved him and...and he…."

Based on the slight wavering of her voice, Tina realized that Louise was near tears. All her life, Tina had wanted to see her sister cry. Not in a cruel way, but just so she could see her sister's soft, jelly inside - something that Tina was certain existed. But now that she was actually finally getting that chance, a strange fear filled her - as if finally seeing Louise crack would be like watching a diamond shatter. It's just not something you want to happen. Tentatively, Tina placed a hand on her shoulder and said "It's okay. I'm sorry. I get it. I really do."

"Thank you, T. Just...please don't tell Mom and Dad."

"Yeah. Of course. And don't tell them about Henry. Because I know Mom really wants us to, like, get married."

"Yeah. Okay."

The two sisters looked at each other with slight, small smiles, their eyes, identical in appearance, looking deep into the other's.

"So." Tina began, hoping to lighten the mood. "How was it?"

"How was what?"

"Logan of course!"

"Oh. Yeah. He was…uh…"

"Oh, wow. That bad?"

"Oh - what? No, I mean, like, it was amazing."

"Why?"

"He's very...he knows what he's doing. Definitely knows what he's doing."

"Yeesh. The guy I lost it to thought 'g-spot' was a military term."

"Who did you lose it to?"

"Louise, I told this to you, like, years ago!"

"Yeah, but I was sixteen and dating Rudy and, you know, sure that I was all set with that whole 'finding-a-guy-to-lose-it-to' thing."

"Oh well. I lost it to Jonas. He was in Chicago and I met up with him. One thing led to another and you know..."

"Oh god, that guy! The one who played that horrible accordion thing."

"-melodica. But, yeah, him."

"Why? Of all the people, I thought you'd lose it to somebody that you, like, loved or whatever. Like Jimmy Jr."

"Yeah. I dunno. We almost did one time. That night was a crazy...crazy…time…"

"Why? When did it happen?"

"The day before I left for college."

"Well, what happened?"

Tina could feel a familiar bittersweet nostalgia fill her, and her grip tightened around the driver's wheel.

"I didn't want to be with Jonas that night. Or any other man for that matter. Hell, every member of Boyz 4 Now could ask me, but I would still turn them down, just so I could go on one last date with Jimmy Jr."

"He actually agreed to go?"

"Of course! It was my last day. Actually, Jimmy Jr. was kind of emotional."

Walking down a dimly lit street, Tina and Jimmy held each other's hands in peaceful silence, the dark haired girl enveloped by the boys parka which she wore on her slumped over shoulders. Oblivious to the inner turmoil going on inside his head, Tina was slightly taken aback when Jimmy Jr. abruptly stopped their walking, right beneath a stop light. Placing both his hands on Tina's shoulders, he stared right into her eyes and said, with absolute determination "I'm going to miss you so much, Tina."

"I'm going to miss you too, Jimmy Jr." Tina responded, but with far less emotion as Jimmy's wavering voice.

"No. I mean, I'm going to really miss you. Like, I don't...I don't want this night to end. I don't want you to go….I...Tina, please…."

The realization of how genuine Jimmy was being dawned on Tina, causing her once blissful expression to slowly melt into that of confusion, sympathy, and, most of all, guilt. After letting out a long exhale, Tina took Jimmy's hand off her shoulder and clasped it between her palms.

"Jimmy Jr., I can't stay here forever. And I can't chase after you forever. But, what we can do, is fit a forever's worth of fun in this single night."

"How?"

Not responding, Tina, with a devious smile, just looked at the nearby gas station - which, beneath rays of moonlight in the isolating darkness of night - looked almost holy in its appearance.

The storekeeper, from behind his newspaper, gave the skittish teenage couple several suspicious glares, bothered by how the one, who's gender became ambiguous due to the baggy jacket...it...wore, kept on letting a rolling, monotone moan, while the light haired boy kept on murmuring something and giving quick, nervous glances at the locked shelf of cigarettes behind the cash register.

"How do we...how do we do this, Tina? He's guarding the cigarettes!"

"We could, uh, bribe him?"

"We have no money! We spent it all on dinner!"

"How? We went to Taco Bell-"

"Whatever, Tina! Maybe we should just...compromise? Just steal a...a...ooh - a hair clip!" He suggested, happily pulling out a clip from the shelf and snapping it quickly.

"Jimmy Jr., listen. This night is supposed to contain a forever's worth of fun. So, you know what, a lot of mistakes are made in forever. Maybe this is one of them."

"Okay. Let's...let's….do something stupid!"

"Right! I've got an idea. A real stupid idea."

The storekeeper than saw the dark haired teen motion something while furiously whispering into the boy's ear. Then the boy walked towards the counter, stopped when he noticed the storekeeper's stare, and went down the aisle. The dark haired one then stepped up to the cashier. Doing something that must've been a curtsy, though it wasn't very clear do to the oversized jacket, and then said "Hello, good sir."

"Uh, hi." He answered.

"Pardon my rudeness, but I require, uh, assistance! Yes! I require assistance."

"Uh, with what?"

"Oh, uh...I need you...to…" She said, while searching the store before finally landing on a brightly colored object on the top shelf of an aisle "Bring that piñata down for me!"

"Uh, I'll need to get a ladder…"

"Great! I mean, uh, cool. That's fine. Whatever."

Grumbling as he did, the storekeeper went, with his aching joints and knees, to the back and fetched a ladder. As he neared the counter again, he could hear the sound of rattling door hinges and frantic whispering. A feeling of suspicion began to fill him, and his footsteps quickened until he was full on running. With a squid as he turned the corner, he found the teenage couple, hunched over behind the counter, tugging on the cigarette cabinet's locked doors.

"Hey!" The storekeeper called out, causing the two to whip around - looking like two deers caught in headlights - before the boy, after some panicked fumbling, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, swung it down on the lock, frantically pulled out a pile of cigarettes, and then run towards the automatic door entrance. In response to the storekeeper's lunge at the two rapscallions, Tina pulled down a shelf of magazines - blocking the storekeeper's path. As Jimmy Jr. and Tina sprinted into the parking lot, disappearing with darkness, the man cursed their names - annoyed with the mess those two had formed in mere minutes.

From a distance, the image of two huddled over figures, trying to share a single jacket, sat by the watchtower - facing the peaceful, dark ocean. A flame of red could be seen, before the girl then started hacking.

"Wow. That - that's terrible."

"Well, we've got, like, twenty other packets. So…" Jimmy said, placing his own lit cigarette between his teeth.

"What if we get in trouble?"

"We probably will."

"What? Really?"

"I mean, the store probably has security cameras. And it's a small neighborhood. We'll probably see him again. And we might get arrested - seeing as we broke, you know, private property. And than you'll get kicked out of college."

"Really!?"

"But hey, at least this was a hell of a lot of fun!"

"I…" Tina was about to begin a panic rambling about how she could not lost her scholarship, before noticing the sad, near tears expression on Jimmy's."Yeah. This was a lot of fun. Thanks, Jimmy Jr."

Due to how close they were sitting in an attempt to retain warmth, Louise barely had to lean over when she placed a soft, delicate kiss on Jimmy Jr.'s cold, rosy tinged cheek. He flinched slightly, looking at Tina's pleased smile - before a wide, goofy grin spread on his face. And then, cupping her face, Jimmy have Tina a long, passionate kiss - one that was more likely to be found in a dramatic film noir, and not between two dweebish teenagers. Breaking the kiss, but barely breaking the close contact between their lips, Jimmy murmured "Tina, I have to confess something."

"What, Jimmy Jr.?" She asked, slightly afraid.

"I stole something else from that store."

"What?"

Not responding, Jimmy just pulled out some sort of foil object from his pocket, which crinkled as he brought it up to Tina's eye level. Between his fingers, Jimmy held a condom. For a moment, an expression of only surprise rested on Tina's face, until it stretched into that of amusement and a laugh escaped her lips.

"Wha-what? What's so funny?"

"Jimmy Jr., I'm not going to lose my virginity to you."

"What?!"

All laughing stopped, and Tina calmly explained "I don't wanna give it away on some cold, dark, stinky beach - when I haven't shaved, or put on deodorant, or even showered!"

"That's kinda gross, Tina - wait, no. That's not the point. I...this is our last night together. I want to make it special."

"It already is special. But I don't want to lose my virginity on the fly, or with sadness in my heart. I want the moment that I lose it to be a happy, planned out occasion - and, most importantly, someone that I trust, but that I'm not afraid to say goodbye to."

"Do you not trust me, Tina?"

"Of course I do! I just don't want to say goodbye. Because this isn't goodbye. I promise. It's not."

"But how do you know? You're going away to school! And, I mean, there is no way I'm helping my dad run that dinky little restaurant. I wanna get out of here! I wanna be somebody! And I want to be somebody with you, Tina!"

"You are somebody. You're my somebody."

"No I'm not! I didn't even take your, you know, virginity."

"Just because you didn't have sex with me doesn't mean that you're unimportant to me."

"But then what am I to you?"

"You're my longest crush. My first kiss. My first slow dance. My first non-blood related male friend." She said, quickly spewing out the last part. "But, most importantly, you're my first love, Jimmy Jr."

"First love?"

"Yeah. First love."

"How do you know?"

"I dunno. I just do. I've the most heart wrenching devotion to you for about four years now. I think that's something more than just a little crush, don't you."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And I...I love you, Tina."

And with that, the two teenagers, both hands clasped in the others, leaned in for a long, slow, finale kiss. One that would eventually break apart, but "last" for a much longer time. Even when Jimmy Jr. was lying on his bed, trying to wish away the ache in his heart, could feel the kiss - alive on his lips. And Tina, moments from falling asleep on her plane ride for Chicago, touched her lips - noticing the warm, tingly sensation that was dancing along on the pink skin.

"Tina? Tina!?" Louise screamed, breaking through Tina's blissful thoughts. She turned away from the window, unsure as to what was going on.

"Tina, you've just been staring out the window for, like, ever! Can we just go!"

And off they went.