A few hours later, Tawny was lying on the couch, knee propped up, flipping through the channels with Luis by her side. She stared at his profile as he watched the glowing screen, thinking of how much she wanted him to hold her.

Luis looked from the screen to her, catching her in the act. "What are you looking at?" he asked softly.

Tawny smiled, returning the standard reply. "I don't know. I haven't figured it out yet."

He laughed and then tried to look menacing. "You're lucky you're laid up, kid. Or I'd kick your butt for that one."

"Nope, you're lucky I'm laid up or I'd kick you're butt just for looking the way you do," she said, grinning.

He started to reply, but was interrupted by the loud ring of the phone. Tawny snatched it up on the second ring and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi, hun. You feeling better?" It was Luis's mom.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better. The drugs the doctor gave me work miracles." Tawny said smiling.

"That's nice, dear." she said, ignoring her last comment. "Could you tell Luis that a Stephanie is here to see him? She's a sweet girl. Have you met her?"

"Yeah," Tawny said, drolly. "I've had the pleasure. All right, I'll tell him. I'll talk to you later. Mm-hmm.. Goodbye. "

Luis grabbed a handful of chips out of the open bag on the table beside him stuffing them into his mouth. "Who was that?" he asked, mouth full.

Tawny rolled her eyes. "You really do have the most revolting table manners."

Luis opened his mouth, displaying its full content. "I'm not at the table," he said, grinning. "What were you suppose to tell me?"

Tawny toyed with the idea of not telling him at all, but in the end her morals won out. "That was your mom. Apparently the new chick is at your house," she said with a bored voice.

"Stephanie? At my house?" he jumped up, knocking Tawny's knee off of its pillow. "Oh crap! I'm sorry!" he said quickly. "You ok?" At her pained nod, he continued. "I gotta go. Do I look ok?"

Her eyes skimmed over his beloved features. "You look great," she said honestly.

His eyes softened. "You looked good today too. It just shocked me. You didn't look like you. And it was scary." He grinned. "Not that you were scary. But you know what I mean. I gotta bail. Wish me luck!" he yelled as he ran out the door.

Tawny snorted. Wish him luck. With another girl. That will be the day, she thought. She sighed and snuggled down into the couch, flipping the channel to an old love movie starring Cary Grant and Aubrey Hepburn and proceeded to learn from the masters.