Returning from a long lecture class, Mandy saw a note taped to her door. She pulled it off to see that it was from Callie. "Mandy, I am so sorry about what happened. Please let me make it up to you. Dinner tonight? In the caf? Six? -Callie."

Mandy folded it up before going into her room, sitting it on her desk. If she accepted this dinner, Gabby would hit the roof. The same way she wouldn't be happy if her girlfriend went to dinner with a woman who'd kissed her. But Callie was her friend and was going through a difficult time. And if it would help her friend, of course she'd do it. Mandy ignored the flurries in her stomach and lay down. When she woke up, someone was knocking on the door. Opening it, Gabby came in and wrapped her arms around her, pushing hair from her shoulder. "Hi," she smiled.

"Hi," Mandy responded with a moan getting back into bed.

"You okay?" She asked concerned. It was so nice that their relationship was based on their friendship just with the addition of sex.

"Yeah. My stomach just hurts."

"Oh. Ohhh."

"What?"

Gabby began grinning. "I got my period yesterday."

"Ugh," Mandy said hugging a pillow. Gabby sat on the edge of the bed. "I truly hating syncing with you. How could you do this to me?" She whined.

"I'll go and find a heating pad for you, babe."

"Thank you, but I have one in my desk. Can you get it for me?"

Gabby walked over to the desk looking for it. "Hey, what's this?"

"What's what?"

"This note. From Callie." She held up the piece of paper.

Mandy turned to see that her girlfriend's eyes were unsmiling. "Are you going through my stuff?"

"No. It was sitting right there."

She sighed. This wasn't how she was supposed to find out. "Oh, I was going to tell you about it."

"When?"

"When I saw you."

"But you didn't say anything."

"Because I'm having cramps," Mandy said getting agitated. "And it's only dinner. Nothing more."

"Just dinner?"

Nodding, she reached her hand out. "Come here." The sophomore shook her head, finding the heating pad. "Come here, Gabrielle Hightower." A smile twitched across the other woman's face, disappearing before it could spread. "Please, baby."

Gabby rolled her eyes and walked over to Mandy who exhaled a short sigh of relief. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me." The two of them stared at each other.

One in pain and one pissed. "Let me, um, go and heat up this pad for you."

Mandy muttered a "Thank you" before curling up into a ball. She checked her watch and saw that she only had about an hour to muster up some strength. The door opened and Gabby walked inside with three heating pads. "For me?"

"Yes, for you. You're well-liked on this floor," Gabby said. "When I was a freshman, people were not this nice." She handed over the heating pad and Mandy pressed one to her stomach, closing her eyes at the feeling.

"You probably didn't put out good energy," Mandy smiled as her girlfriend climbed on the bed and put her arms around her. Lips hit the back of her head and goosebumps appeared. If she were being honest, their relationship still didn't feel real. And she didn't know why. The line from friend to friendlier was so thin and they'd crossed it, neither wanting to go back. But it was still a whirlwind of could whatever they had last?

"If I go to sleep, can you wake me up at five-thirty, please?"

"For the dinner with Callie?"

"Yes, Gabby. For the dinner. I don't want to be late. And I don't want to be rude."

"She's the one who kissed you knowing that you had a girlfriend!"

Mandy turned to face Gabby, activating another cramp, feeling her body open up. Years of experience told her exactly what was going on and she winced. But she didn't get up to do anything about it though, not yet. "I thought you'd gotten over that."

"Me, too." They were quiet for a long time. "I am over it. I'm not mad—really." She sighed. "I'm just feeling… you know."

"I do." She searched the sophomore's face for the truth, finding it in a real smile that appeared on her lips. "Look, I will go to the dinner, we'll talk, I'll come back here and you can keep holding me like you're doing now.

Gabby stroked her hip. "And what do I get, frosh?" She asked pulling her closer.

Mandy grinned, her heart flipping. Had Tucker ever made her feel like this? "I will give you long kisses."

"Those are my favorite kind." The freshman touched Gabby's smooth chin, bringing her in for the start of promised kisses.

No matter how gently Mandy tried to tell her that she didn't need an escort, Gabby insisted on walking with her to the cafeteria. "And then you're leaving, right?"

"I might just get something to eat, sit the back, observe." Her mahogany brown eyes were playful, but Mandy wasn't amused.

"No, no, no. You'll just say 'hi,' then 'bye'."

"Well…"

"Gabby…" she said firmly.

Gabby nodded. "Fine. Okay."

"Okay?"

"I said okay, Miranda."

"Don't call me Miranda."

They stopped walking and Gabby turned to face her, lowering her head so that their eyes were level. "Isn't that your name?"

Mandy clenched her jaw. "You know what I mean." When Gabby said her full name, she found herself getting turned on. It was inevitable and involuntary.

Smirking, she said: "I do. Make sure you remember that while you're on your date."

"It's not a date," she whined taking a look around before kissing Gabby on the lips quickly. Though they'd shared a few non-private kisses, Mandy still didn't want everyone in her business. And who she kissed and what they did, was her business. Inside of the cafeteria, she peered through the crowd trying to spot Callie.

"There she is," Gabby pointed, pulling Mandy through throng of people to a booth in the back. "Hey, Torres."

"Hey!" Callie said standing up, the tallest of three. Her eyes darted from Gabby to Mandy.

"It's fine," Mandy told her. "She knows. We're all… cool."

Callie's smile made Mandy smile. "Again, I'm sorry. And, uh, if it makes you feel any better, Arizona and I are back together."

"Really?" Gabby asked excitedly. Mandy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah." She fidgeted not really wanting to say anything else in the moment. And definitely not in front of Gabby.

Mandy turned to her girlfriend. "Alright. You can go."

"Okay."

"Okay." Gabby kissed her cheek forcing them to turn red, waved to Callie and left out of the busy room. "So."

"Want to sit in here?" Callie asked.

Mandy raised a brow. "It's really loud in here. We could get some food from somewhere else."

"Great idea." Mandy didn't often use her car, but she drove off the campus, unsure of where they were going, chatting occasionally. What Callie wanted to talk about, Mandy didn't know, but as long as the woman didn't try to kiss her again, it was all good. "Vegetarian?"

"You're a vegetarian?"

Callie shook her head as they pulled into a shopping center. "No, but there's this place that I've always wanted to go to, but Arizona never wants to…"

"Let's do it." At the restaurant, their friendship started to come back.

"So, I kissed you."

"And there it is," Mandy said putting her hands beneath her chin, her heart racing. "Yeah…"

Callie swallowed. "That, uh… that was a mistake. I hope you know that, Mandy."

"I do. It's no big deal, really." They both exhaled. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're very beautiful with legs to die for." Mandy blushed at the comment and watched Callie do the same.

Callie laughed loudly. "Right back at you, sister." Continuing their conversation, Mandy learned more about her friend. They talked about summer plans and life plans and simply had a good time. She wondered if she and Callie could have had something if they weren't both in relationships. The thought flitted away. Either way, she was grateful for their friendship. On the way back to campus, Callie walked with Mandy back to her room because she was going to visit Arizona. In front of her door, they hugged tightly. "Tonight was great."

"It was so much fun."

"A lot of fun. We should do it again," she taller one offered.

Mandy nodded. "You name it." They hugged once more and when they separated, she saw Gabby standing a few feet away watching. "Hey, you."

Callie waved to Gabby who gave a fake smile. "Bye, Mandy."

When her friend was gone, Mandy held out her hand, waiting for her girlfriend to take it. Gabby grasped it and they stepped into the room. She was certain that she knew why, but there was a lot of stale air between them. However, Mandy pretended like she didn't even notice it, undressing and putting on pair of shorts and a long t-shirt. Gabby watched her; and rare form, she didn't even try to get her hands on her. "So… I guess I have to ask. How was it?"

"Um, good. We just talked." The older woman raised an eyebrow. "We had a good time." No response. "What did you do?"

Disregarding the question, Gabby asked: "Did she try to kiss you again?"

Mandy licked her lips, calming herself. "If I say yes?" She teased, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Don't play with me."

Her forehead crinkled at her girlfriend's cold reply. "No. No one kissed anyone."

Gabby exhaled, moving next to her, pulling Mandy's legs into her lap. "Well, not yet anyway." Twin smiles decorated their faces. "You owe me kisses, woman."

The freshman shrugged. "I don't recall."

"Let me remind you." Their lips met tenderly, slowly.

Mandy wrinkled her nose at the alcohol on Gabby's breath. She didn't drink enough to know exactly which kind. "Have you been drinking, babe?"

"A little bit," she answered guiltily. "Someone had a little thing in their room. And since my girlfriend was on a date, I had to occupy myself someway."

"Stop calling it a date." She dropped her legs from Gabby's thighs. "We just had dinner."

"Where? Because I know you two didn't eat there, so… where did you go?" She asked accusatorily.

Mandy squinted. What was she getting at? She asked internally. "We went to some place off-campus. If you must know."

"Or maybe she just took you to her room."

"WHAT?!" She screeched, sliding away. "What are you even saying? Why would we have gone back to her room?"

"You know why," Gabby replied in a tone dripping in smugness.

Being overly emotional during her period was the reason why tears prickling her eyes. "That's not…"

"It's fine. It's fine," she said waving her off. "I've been cheated on before."

Mandy's stomach quaked with anger. "I'm not cheating on you. I wouldn't do that." Gabby bobbed her head. "You don't believe me?"

"You said you were having dinner in one place and ended up in another."

"Because we didn't want to eat spaghetti and chicken for the thousandth time!" She took a breath, steading her tone. Reel it back, she reminded herself. "We wanted to try something different."

"It's fine," Gabby repeated. The smell of alcohol hit Mandy's nose again. She hated that it wasn't unpleasant, but it was certainly a major factor of Gabby's behavior. If she weren't half in a bottle, her girlfriend would not be saying these things. "I mean, babe, Callie is… is… beautiful."

The fact that she'd told the Latina that earlier would have made them both giggle incessantly any other time, but now… "That has nothing to do with anything." Why did she feel like she was on trial? Cheating was not a part of who she was. She thought that Gabby of all people would know that. Clearly not. "I think that—I think that you should go."

"You're getting mad and there's nothing to get mad about. I'm just saying."

"And I'm just saying that you need to go."

"Seriously, Miranda?" Mandy stood up and crossed her arms trying not to bend over as a cramp hit her side.

The freshman's face was stern. "I find it really funny how you kissed Callie and I was supposed to be okay with it when you knew how you felt about me and I was… coming around to my feelings, but you can't possibly get over a kiss that happened when she was distressed."

"It's not the same."

"Of course not. Because it's on your terms, right?"

"Okay, okay, okay, um," Gabby said coming toward her, "let's take a step back. I'm a little drunk and I'm… saying shit that I don't… really mean."

"We can both agree to that, but I don't feel well and I need to get some rest after my date." She didn't want to fight, hated it, in fact, but she'd be damned if Gabby would be the only one with ammo. To make matters worse, through the walls of her room, she could hear someone having sex. By the names being called Leanne and Amber were having a good time. Their bed scratched across the floor and Mandy got even madder. That should be her and Gabby right now. Especially since orgasms helped with cramping.

Her girlfriend must have been feeling the same way. Gabby licked her lips and walked over to her, kissing her cheek. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Mmhmm."

"Can we…?"

"Not tonight."

At the door, Gabby gave her a hug that Mandy didn't return. "Can we talk tomorrow? Maybe…"

"I'll see." Mandy pushed the door closed, locked it and crawled into bed horny, angry, writhing in pain and seconds from crying.