Tina Palmer peered into the mirror before applying her bright pink lip gloss. She wanted to look perfect tonight. Beta Phi was having a Halloween Party- Colby said it was the best night of the year, and she wanted to look perfect. Her outfit was simple- she was dressed from the sixties. She figured this allowed her to look cute without being slutty. Maddie was at the mirror next to her applying eyeliner. She was going as a genie- Maddie never minded dressing slutty.

Of course, this was always ironic considering she was the biggest prude of their whole group. She had after all, been raised in a strict catholic family.

"You girls ready?" Danni asked, knocking lightly on their dorm room door. She was dressed as a nurse.

"Danni, won't your family be displeased with your outfit?" Maddie asked. "I mean really, just a nurse?"

"Says the girl whose mom is a neurosurgeon," Danni teased. "Dressing up cute for my brother?"

"No," Maddie sulked. "Dressing up cute for me." She paused. "Dressing up cute for my cousin?"

"I know who Tee's dressing up cute for," Danni said, changing the subject. "Shep, perhaps?" Everyone had taken to calling Ben "Shep". Shep and Ren didn't like being "Ren and Ben". Tina frowned.

"Definitely not," she proclaimed. "Ben Shepard is a dirtbag." She applied her mascara, thinking about their almost kiss on the beach. He had avoided her ever since then.

"But you like him," Maddie told her.

"No, I don't," Tina told her friend. "You like him so much, you have him." She closed her mascara, and grabbed her purse. "Ready?"

The party was good. Ren and Danni had left pretty early (no need to wonder what they were doing), and Tina had lost Maddie pretty fast, but she soon saw Colby in the corner, with Sam. She started to walk towards them, but stopped as she got closer, and could hear what they were saying.

"Sam, what do you want me to do? What" Colby whisper-yelled. "I love him. Sure sometimes he's a jerk, but I can't help it. I went through so much just to be with him."

"Yeah Colby, but should it have to be that hard?" Sam asked. "He's a sleaze okay? He doesn't treat you right. You deserve so much better."

"I don't want better, I want him," she declared. "He loves me."

"Oh really?" Sam asked. "Then where is he? Why isn't he with you? God, Colby, why can't you just see what's right in front of you?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused, as Sam walked away, shaking his head.

"They look like they're having tons of fun," Ben remarked, sidling up to Tina. She jumped. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah well Ben, you could take some lessons from Sam," she retorted. "I better go see if Colby's okay." She walked away from him, and towards her friend. Colby looked up and saw her. She was near tears.

"Tina, hey," she said, trying to smile. She wiped one of her eyes.

"Hey Colbs, you wanna get outta here?" she asked. Colby nodded. The two girls left, and headed to the Chandler Mansion. They soon found themselves in the living room, eating freshly baked cookies and milk. The cookies weren't like Ruth Martin's, but they were still amazing.

"You must think this is so lame," Colby said. "But I love it here. It's the only place I've ever felt safe. You know? My dad and my mom and my brother, they're like really overprotective. So like, when I was younger I felt suffocated, but now I love it."

"I don't think its lame," Tina told her. "I know just what you mean. I've never had a real home, so wherever my mom is, that's home to me. It's where I feel safe."

"You close to her?" Colby asked.

"Ridiculously close," Tina said. "How bout you? Who you closest to?"

"JR," she responded quickly. "I know everyone thinks he's a jerk, but he's really not. And after all that crap went down with his other family, he got really close to me. I think he tried to use me to fill the gap you know? Our sisters Hayley and Skye live so far away, and Jamie was his brother, and then that was gone, so I was all that was left. I was like his replacement Jamie- but now I think he likes me for me."

"Yeah, see I don't get this whole JR and the Martins thing," Tina said. Colby shifted.

"Well okay," she started to explain, "JR's parents are my dad and Dixie Cooney. Jamie's parents are Tad Martin and Brooke English. Some stuff happened when JR was little where my dad tried to steal him or something, and Tad had to save Dixie from a mental institution, I don't know. No one's ever told me the whole story. But anyways, Tad and Dixie had this like, great romantic love affair. And they got married a bunch of times, and JR and Jamie grew up like brothers. But then Dixie died in like, this horrible accident. And JR and Tad and Jamie were destroyed. And so JR got even closer to Tad because of it too. But he lived with Dad and they didn't get along. So JR went to college far, far away. And while he was gone, Amanda Dillon came to town to go to PVU just like Jamie. The three of them had been friends since they were little, and Jamie and Amanda became good friends again. And Jamie totally fell for her, but didn't say anything. And then JR comes back to town, and he and Amanda immediately start this torrid love affair. Like, they were always breaking up and getting back together. JR's kinda like dad in that he's short-tempered and manipulative, and Amanda's kind of like her batshit crazy mom, so needless to say they were reckless together. So then one time they were broken up, Jamie told Amanda how he felt. And they got together. And JR felt totally betrayed because he thought Amanda was the love of his life. And so they weren't brothers anymore."

"That's so sad," Tina cried. "And they never spoke again?"

"Not civilly," Colby snorted. "JR saw the Martin's being happy for Jamie and Amanda as them picking Jamie over him. I think he was always a little insecure as to his place in that family."

"Poor JR," Tina sympathized. Colby was silent.

"What the hell is Sam's problem?" she finally exploded. "What the hell was he talking about? Sometimes I just don't understand him."

Tina considered her options. "Colby," she said slowly. "There's something you need to know. I know it, Maddie knows it, Ren and Danni and Dave know it, everyone knows it, everyone sees it but you."

"What is it?" Colby asked.

"Okay, well, say I'm casting a play to tell the saga of JR, Jamie, and Amanda," Tina started. "You would be Amanda, Peter would be JR, and Sam would be Jamie. Except it wouldn't just be the story of their lives it would be the story of yours." Colby was quiet.

"Are you saying you think Sam likes me?" she finally asked.

"No, I'm saying I'm positive that he loves you," Tina told her. "Look, maybe it wasn't my place, but, you had to know." Colby sipped her milk.

"That's impossible," she finally stated. "We're just friends. I think I'm going to sleep here tonight, and I'm kinda tired."

"Ok, well I better get going anyway," Tina replied. "Just think about what I said."