A/N: This chapter is just setting up... 27 will be along shortly (when I say shortly, I mean most likely in less than 24 hours... probably tomorrow afternoon...or this afternoon, I guess since it's after midnight). Though the 3 review policy holds so I still need reviews of this chapter if I'm to post the next... but it will be ready to go tomorrow afternoon. Anyway...

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tawny was completely at a loss with what to do. Her mother's lecture had taken some time to sink in, it always did. She could discuss things with her father, but with her mother… it was more just telling you what the situation is, spelling it out very clearly, and then leaving you to cool down and think things through. Tawny hated it, always found it somewhat condescending, but it worked nonetheless.

Twitty would be by soon to pick her up for their surprise spring break plans. Apparently they'd be gone through the weekend, not returning until Sunday (it was Thursday afternoon), so he must've planned something out of town, she figured. That could be good. A long weekend, a change of scenery could help her figure out what she wanted.

She hadn't heard from Ren since that night outside her window. She'd seen her a couple times, but no words passed between them— looks of pain from Tawny, or looks of anger, looks of regret. And every time Tawny made eye contact with Ren she saw one thing: love. It was a look words couldn't really describe, but it went understood.

That night, Ren had remained outside the front door for another forty-five minutes before going home. Every once in awhile Twitty brought Ren up, testing the waters, wanting Tawny to talk. She never did. The thought of it made her sick to her stomach—seeing Ren with Chris… she'd learned to manage holding the tears back now, about five weeks after that night, but they always came, and it was always a struggle. But her mother wanted her to 'at least understand where Ren was coming from', 'understand why she did it,'… Turn the whole thing into a psych exercise, Tawny thought with a scowl. Who was she kidding? She did that all the time too. But it was their fault she was that way. Her favorite was: 'focus on why it happened, not on what happened'... how the hell could she not focus on what had happened?

Her dad had cheated on her mom before too… and her mother had been adamant that Tawny not hold it against him, that she doesn't have enough information to make any judgments on the situation.

Tawny had responded that it was wrong-- if you know it happened, you know enough to make that statement.

Her mother had agreed, but had said simply: "People make mistakes. If you can't forgive them, then you don't really love them."

Tawny, hurt and angered by that remark, made in such an accusatory tone, countered that if they really loved you they wouldn't have done it in the first place.

Her mother shook her head then and said: "That's a very narrow-minded way to look at it."

Ren's reasoning, compounded by the influence of alcohol, had been that she could maybe gain a little experience with sex, so that she'd be comfortable enough o give Tawny what she was sure Tawny wanted from her. But Tawny had gotten used to the no sex situation. She's accepted it and she didn't mind. She tried to make that clear to Ren several times.

She explained all of this to her mother.

"How do you think that makes Ren feel? You just accepting it because you assume she won't come through for you? That, I'm sure, bothered her just as much as her fear of not meeting expectations. It's like you just dropping it because you've accepted it as fact that she's a failure, to put it in the strongest terms. Of course, that isn't how you intended it. But, you know Ren better than I do…"

That is exactly how Ren would interpret what Tawny had meant to be understanding and patience. To Ren it was an F. She failed. She'd have to retake the course. Ren Stevens didn't do that.

Tawny sighed. She hadn't realized that before.

She was at a point now where she felt that she really understood Ren's side of the story, but that didn't ease the pain of what had happened at all.

Her mother had said it wouldn't. She said it happened, it's permanent, it's a memory, and it's never going to be a painless one.

She heard a loud honk outside and grabbed her bags.

Twitty's dad's Expedition was parked in front of her house, and oddly enough, Amy was in the passenger seat.

"I didn't know you were coming," Tawny said as she approached the large, green SUV. Fuck you, nature, she thought sarcastically.

Then the back door opened up to reveal Louis and Ruby in the middle seat, and in the back was Ren, arms crossed, looking none too thrilled.

Tawny stepped back, her eyes stinging near instantaneously. She blinked a few times, discreetly enough. "What are…. Where are we going?"

Louis jumped out then and grabbed her, quickly shoving her into the back seat with her bags and returning to his seat.

"Louis!" she yelled angrily.

Before she knew it the door was shut and they were on the road.

The ride was about two and a half hours and no one filled them on where they were headed. Supposedly only Twitty and Amy knew, they'd arranged it all. They offered a prize to whoever figured the destination out. Louis and Ruby just went along with it because they were, well, Louis and Ruby. Neither one was known for inhibitions and second-guessing.

Ren glanced over at Tawny every so often, wondering what she was thinking. Did she think I planned this? She hadn't, of course. She'd put up more of a fight than Tawny had.

Ren figured out where they were headed about half way there. "Lake Tahoe? Is that where we're going?"

Twitty and Amy grinned at each other. "And we have a winner!"

Amy tossed her a candy bar—a Twix. Twix was Tawny's favorite. She thought about offering it to her, but didn't. Tawny's attention was focused out the window, her thoughts a complete mystery. Ren was afraid to interrupt her and really didn't know what to say anyway.

When they arrived it was just past six, the ground was wet and snow was piledalong he sides of the road. It was still cold up in the mountains and small flurries of snow were expected through the weekend, mostly in the evenings. The days were predicted to be quite nice.

According to Twitty they had reservations at a restaurant. No doubt with him and Amy they'd be eating out the whole time, racking up quite a bill that neither the Twitty's nor the Johnson's would have any trouble paying off.

"We have three rooms, all next to each other," Amy explained, heading upstairs.

"Are we going to stick Ren and Tawny together?" Ruby asked, trying to contain her excitement at the thought.

"No, I'm going with Tawny, you're going with Ren," Amy said,

"What?"

"They're uncomfortable enough as is, we can't force this on them. We wanted to do something where everyone has a good time."

"They'll have a good time, they just need to--"

"If things change, if they want to room together, I'll be the first to give up my key, but I don't want to force them. They'll be upset with us if we pair them together because they'll know exactly what we're trying to do."

Ruby shrugged. "If you say so."

"How dumb do you think they are?" Amy asked, surprised at Ruby's response. "Because I'm willing to bet that they're the smartest two here."

"Yeah, I know," Ruby responded. "I'm just not good at being subtle in my ambitions."

"We know," Ren spoke from behind.

"Everyone hurry up, our reservations are for seven," Twitty said as he unlocked his and Louis' door. "And I'm not sure where the place is."

"And we have some announcements," Amy added.

Several minutes later, everyone gathered in Louis and Twitty's room.

"Ok," Twitty stood up on his bed. "Our itinerary is as follows: Today, Thursday, we have dinner and no other plans. Do what you want. Simple, easing in, just getting situated. You'll probably want to go to bed early though because tomorrow we hit the slopes. We told you all to pack snow gear, so if you didn't, your loss. You'll have to entertain yourself then. Anyone forget? No? Good. We figured we could all go to a movie or something tomorrow night, we'll all be wiped out anyway. Saturday… well, I'll probably sleep all day. But you can do whatever you want—shopping or hit the arcade downstairs or go for a swim in the pool or horseback riding or hiking…whatever basically.. And then for Saturday night we have special plans—which you'll have to wait for. They're still being arranged. Everyone approve? Great! Let's eat!"