A/N: There are certain things I prefer to leave to the imagination of the reader, you should all keep that in mind…

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ruby pounded on Ren's door. "Where is she?"

"I don't know, but you do have a key," Amy responded. "It's your room too."

"Oh yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, searching her purse for the key-card. When she found it she shoved it in the slot and the little green light on the lock lit up. She pushed open the door.

"Ren?" she entered, not finding her friend anywhere. "Maybe she went to the other girl's room."

"Other girl?" Amy asked. "Ok, clearly you aren't giving all the details."

"She was with some girl. I told her to try and move on and I said she might as well get some experience so she doesn't have the Tawny problem with someone else in the future…"

Amy glared at her. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"I was tipsy," Ruby shrugged. "And the worst part is… I think Tawny was going to… she came to me and wanted to know where Ren was. She said she needed to talk to her and she sounded like…"

"Damn it, Ruby, why would you just give up on them?" Amy shook her head, then noticing a note on the floor near the door. She picked it up. "Ren, please return the shoes to room 415 ASAP. –Marissa."

"You think they're in 415?" Ruby asked. "And it's been a month and a half and they haven't even talked. I thought maybe something would happen if we forced them together, but they've just avoided each other. Ren's my best friend, ok? I hate seeing her so depressed. I know I didn't help because I was pretty mad at her about everything too, but still..."

"Hey," Tawny greeted them suddenly, both her bags in hand.

Both of them whirled around.

"Ren's getting some ice for her arm," she said. "She's got a couple nasty bruises."

"From skiing? I thought she said it felt fine today," Ruby replied.

"It was better, and then she fell on it three times chasing me through the street," Tawny answered, half-grinning. "Three times… she didn't learn after the first two."

"Well, if she was running after you," Amy shrugged. "It follows that she wouldn't be thinking straight."

"It is a known fact that Ren Stevens is particularly prone to stupidity when romance is involved," Ruby said.

"So?" Amy poked Tawny questioningly in the shoulder. "You seem to be…in a good mood…"

Tawny nodded. "I am. But you two need to leave now."

"This is my room," Ruby retorted.

"We're switching for the night," Tawny stated, holding her bags up for Ruby to see. "I… Ren and I… we have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah, you do," Amy sighed. "And make sure everything is clear. I'm talking crystal. Come on, Ruby, get your stuff."

"I'll just get he essentials. Tomorrow is for packing anyway. It doesn't matter which room I do that in."

"Well, what if the star-crossed lovers want privacy tomorrow morning?" Amy asked.

"Ha," Tawny mock laughed. "That's not going to happen, Amy, Not tonight. Especially with Ren's arm the way it is."

"I suppose," she said. "But you never know."

"Do you think it would be a good idea to go for that right now? Given the circumstance?"

Amy shrugged. "If I were you and Ren was finally willing..."

Tawny just shook her head. "Oh, can you take these with you?" she asked suddenly, bending down and picking up a pair of black high-heeled shoes.

"Oh, sure," Ruby replied, grabbing them. "We know where they go."

A few minutes later Ruby and Amy left, leaving a 'Do not disturb' sign on the handle of the door.

Shortly afterwards, Ren arrived. "Ok, I'm ready for 'the talk'."

Tawny sat down on one bed and Ren took a seat across from her on the other.

"So," Tawny sighed. "I'm not really sure where to begin."

Ren nodded. "Me neither. Is this really necessary? Because I can think of more enjoyable ways we could be spending this time. I mean, not--"

Tawny smiled. "No, we need to do this."

"Ok," Ren resigned. She knew Tawny was right. "Are you wanting to talk abot what happened on Valentine's? Like what exactly..."

"No," Tawny cut her off. "I know what happened..."

"Right, well..."

"Alright, I… I have my theories… as to what the problem was… from your side. I mean, what lead to what happened, not what ended up happening. But," Tawny paused a minute. "I just… I need you to tell me."

"Tell you?"

"Yeah," Tawny answered. "So I understand, for certain."

"I don't… I don't know what you want me to say, Tawny," Ren replied.

Tawny sighed, then signaled for Ren to wait a minute while she searched through one of her bags for something. She pulled out a thin stack of paper. "Here, these are your messages, the ones you left on my machine a month and a half ago. My dad wrote them all down to force me to look at them later. Or, he had my mom do it."

"So, I owe them a big thanks, I'm thinking?"

"Ha, I guess. My dad wouldn't have had much of an effect. I'd have been able to argue with him, but my mother…" Tawny shook her head. "Anyway, you say that you were… that you wanted to, uh, get experience and--"

"Yeah, I know what I said," Ren interrupted. "Why is that important?"

"Because, you never told me how you felt about the whole thing," Tawny replied. "If this is going to work, you have to tell me. Remember how when I was… venting to Amy and Twitty and you overheard? You wanted me to only talk about those sorts of things with you, well, it goes both ways. And it's pretty useless if you aren't saying anything about the important stuff."

Ren nodded. "I still don't know what you want me to say to all of this. I'm still not… confident about… but I can…Tawny, I don't want to be humiliated. That's it. You've done it, you know what you're doing, and I don't."

"I told you that I was ok with waiting and I was, I am," Tawny interjected.

Ren shook her head. "But you'd rather be--"

"That's not important though," Tawny started.

"Yes it is," Ren's voice raised a little, before dropping into almost a whisper. "Because I want to be able to give you what you want."

"What I want is you, when you're ready," Tawny answered. "Not you when you're just trying to satisfy me. I want it to be good for you too, Ren, and, no matter how much experience I have, if you're racked with nerves the whole time, you aren't going to have a good time."

"I hate that you're having to wait for me," Ren mumbled, staring at the ground.

"I don't know what to say to that," Tawny sighed. "Not everything can be perfect, Ren."

"Yeah," Ren said, her voice full of disappointment.

"But you shouldn't let things like that bother you so much," Tawny explained. "Honestly, Ren, if you didn't spend so much time over-thinking and over-analyzing things like this, you'd probably… the more you think about it, the longer it's going to take for you to be ready. If you don't think about it, if you just let things happen…"

"I don't know how not to over-think things," Ren said, clearly annoyed. She laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "It just happens. It's me."

"I know that," Tawny replied. "I analyze things all the time too. I mean, my parents are shrinks. But when something is really bothering me, I have to just let go of it, otherwise I'll never figure it out. Once I let go, it comes to me eventually. Sort of like an epiphany or something."

Ren didn't respond, only continued staring at the ceiling.

Tawny moved over to the other bed, taking a seat beside Ren. "You just can't try too hard with these kinds of things."

"I know," Ren sat up. "You don't have to… is this enough? I don't… we got the sex thing sorted out right? You don't mind waiting, I feel horrible about it and--"

"I don't want you to feel horrible about it, you shouldn't feel bad about it at all," Tawny interjected.

"But I do, and I don't think that's going to change."

"Ren…"

"How can I not feel bad about it?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because I don't care! Why should you be so upset about holding out on me, if I'm fine with it? And I am fine with it. I'm not saying this just to make you feel better or anything."

"You said yourself that patience doesn't work well for you."

"Ren," Tawny groaned. "I said that because patience didn't work well for me because… obviously you didn't respond to my patience as expected."

"That's a way to put it," Ren scoffed, getting to her feet.

"Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" Tawny stood up as well.

"I don't know," Ren sighed, starting to pace back and forth. "I'm sorry. I want… I want to be with you, Tawny. I'm not just holding out on you, I'm holding out on me too. And it aggravates me. I want it and I could have it but I just… And it makes it worse that I know you're waiting for it."

"Well," Tawny sighed. "I don't know what to tell you."

"Just…tell me to do it, I work best under pressure," Ren said, turning her attention to Tawny. "So make me do it."

"Ren…"

"Make me!" she snapped.

"What do you… I don't…" Tawny was utterly confused.

Ren grabbed her and kissed her passionately.

Tawny was completely caught off guard and before she knew it she was on the bed, Ren on top of her, aggressively running her hands over her body, working to get her shirt off, undoing her belt…