The atmosphere in the Jeep was definitely more tense than the last time they'd ridden out to the woods at dusk for a party.

There were multiple reasons for it: it was a party and those could be a little nerve-wracking if you had anxiety problems, which most of them did. There was still the pall of Mae's recovered memory from the last party hanging over everything, even if they had cleared the air. It was going to be a bigger party, as it was officially Spring Break and a lot of college kids were visiting for the week. They all had people they didn't necessarily want to run into again, but might show up there. And Trent, Bea, and Ann all had creative endeavors they were going to be, to varying degrees, showing off at the party tonight.

Bea wanted to perform, and although she wasn't in the Jeep he still worried for her. She'd gone back and forth on it again and again before finally settling on the idea that she should do this, especially after a group chat had been formed in Chattrbox that was for people in Possum Springs that someone had started now that most of them had reliable internet had gotten wind of the fact that Bea was a singer. And basically the same thing had happened about Trent and his writing.

This was sort of a launch party for his two novels, and he'd been lucky enough to be able to have author copies of fifty paperback versions, twenty five of each, since they were print-on-demand. They had just barely arrived in time, showing up in the mail earlier today.

But even with all of this, Trent still noticed something off.

Mae and Ann had both been acting a little strange over the past few days. He had no idea what it was, and he didn't really have any conclusive evidence, nothing that pointed to anything in particular. It was just a lot of little notions, and just today, both of them, separately, had started teasing him just a little. He'd gotten to know them well by now, and he even knew what kind of teasing they were employing.

It was that 'I've got a surprise planned for you' sort of teasing.

So what was it they both had planned and been working on to surprise him with?

He supposed he'd find out.

"I hope Bea is doing okay," Mae said, looking out the window as they drove through the darkening woods. They were headed for a different location this time, one that was thankfully easy to find, since all they had to do was follow a straight road until it dead-ended.

"She'll be fine," Trent replied, but he wondered. She had been a bag of nerves when she'd gone off to get Angus and Gregg.

"I'll ask her if she wants to puff a little once we get there," Ann said. "I would've beforehand but, you know, driving."

"Yep," Trent said.

"Is it really that bad to take a puff or two before driving?" Mae asked. "I mean I feel like I could still drive while a little toasted…"

"First of all, you've never driven. Second of all: it's a path you just don't go down, Mae. Not even one step. Because 'I can drive while I'm little stoned' is a slippery path, and you'll find yourself justifying more and more as time goes on, because the problem is you don't really realize that you're as stoned or as drunk as you are, and you think you've got it, and hey, maybe you do, but maybe you don't," Ann explained. "So it's just a road you don't go down if you're smart. Promise me you won't, Mae. It's too risky."

"Okay, I promise," she said. "At least you don't have to worry about it with me and drinking since I fucking hate booze."

"Thank you," Ann replied.

"We're here," Trent said.

The road did terminate in a huge dirt parking lot, there was what looked like a park of some kind in a cleared out section of the woods. There were a few dozen cars there already, and lots of people were milling about the tables and playground equipment.

"Quite a bit bigger than last time," Mae murmured nervously.

"Yep," Trent agreed. "You okay?"

"Just hope Cole isn't here. I know we're, like, cool now or whatever, but it's still so weird seeing him," she said.

"Why is that, exactly? I mean is it the prom night thing?" Trent asked.

She sighed. "I mean, that's some of it, yeah. That's, like, a scar. It's just...so many little things. I was so fucking cringe back then. I guess I still am, I'm just a bit better about it and I care less now, but I just start getting overwhelmed with godawful memories of all the stupid shit I said to him."

"Stupid how?" Ann asked.

"Take your pick. Stupid like just stupid, or stupid like mean without realizing it, or stupid like fucking clueless, or stupid like a lame joke. We dated for like two months and I have no idea how he put up with me for that long," she replied.

Trent found a parking place and parked. "You must have some good memories with him," he replied. "I mean, why'd you ask him out in the first place?"

She groaned. "I don't know. There was something about him that I was attracted to, I guess. He was pretty nice and he seemed more grown up, but like...I don't know, maybe it was this part of me that was trying to be 'normal', because that's a 'normal' thing to go for. He was responsible, he was popular, he was, ugh, cute. And there was absolutely a part of me that was like 'fuck you hot, preppy bitches I am actually dating the popular cute dude' and it felt good but also bad because then it was like, I wasn't really dating him for him." She unbuckled her seatbelt suddenly. "I don't want to talk about it. It was a mess."

"Okay, sorry I just...wanted to know," Trent replied.

"It's fine. I love you." She kissed him suddenly and then opened the door. "Now I'mma go find someone, bye!" she said as she hopped out.

"Who?" he asked.

"It's a mystery!" she replied and then slammed the door and ran off.

"Huh," Trent said. "What do you think that was about?"

"No idea, but I also have to go find someone," Ann replied. She passed him the weed pipe and opened the door. "Come find me later."

And then she was gone.

"Huh," Trent said to the empty car. Definitely something going on. He tried to push away the worry that it was something bad or something he wasn't going to like, then pocketed the weed pipe, got out, locked his car down, and then shut the door and headed deeper into the parking lot. The sun was nearly gone by now, twilight fading, and there was a chill on the air. It was still mid-March, which meant a time where the cold could settle in without warning. Hell, they might still get snow. It wasn't impossible.

He looked around for Bea's car and, after a moment, saw it rolling into the lot. He walked over to where she parked.

Gregg and Angus got out the back while she popped the trunk and then headed around to it.

"Hey, where's Mae and Ann?" Angus asked.

"I got ditched already," Trent replied.

Gregg laughed. "Sucks, dude."

"They got people they wanna meet, you know anything about that?"

"No," Angus replied after considering it.

"Maybe they both decided the time has come to get revenge on some jerk," Gregg said.

Bea laughed grimly. "Maybe Ann's ex showed up. Here, would someone help me with this?" Bea asked.

"Not it! Love you Angus!" Gregg said, and then zipped off.

Angus sighed. "I'll help."

"Same," Trent said.

"I love Gregg, but sometimes he's a dick," Bea said as she pulled out a hefty speaker and passed it to Angus. "No offense."

"No, you're right. But we're all dicks sometimes," Angus said.

"That we are. God, I know I've been enough of a fucking bitch over the past year," Bea muttered, passing a second speaker to Trent. She then grabbed a laptop case. "God, I'm nervous."

"Ann gave me the pipe in case you wanna hit it and chill," Trent said as they started heading for the party.

"Honestly I think it'd help me relax more if you hit it and laid some pipe," Bea replied, then suddenly looked around. "Fuck, did I say that out loud?"

Angus laughed. "Yes, you did."

She sighed. "This relationship is making me stupid."

"Is it such a terrible price to pay?" Trent replied.

"I guess I got enough brains, I can spare a little for some happiness," she said. "Oh, thank God, they actually got the tables pushed together like they said they were gonna."

"I can see Jackie over there, they definitely did it, because no one's gonna say no to her," Trent replied.

"Yep. Jackie's so amped about this. She's really into making music and has always tried to encourage me to do something similar and now that I'm actually doing it...anyway, I owe a lot to her," Bea said.

"Is she going to be performing?" he asked.

"No, she swore off performing in Possum Springs after some...unpleasantness."

"Oh."

"Yeah. But she seems to have kind of...bullied? That doesn't seem like the right word. Forced her way into the social hierarchy, which is fucking impressive."

"Extremely."

They came up to the 'stage' and Jackie and a few others who were hanging around.

"So you got the mic," Bea said, looking up at it. It stood, almost looking lonely, in the center of the stage.

"I got it, and it can do the thing you want," Jackie replied. "I have to admit I'm so curious to hear this."

"Apparently everyone is. I think I hit on something good but, like, I don't know. I just hope I don't fuck it up. I've been practicing it and I think I've got it down but…" Bea shrugged helplessly.

"You've got this, Bea. You're amazing and diligent and super smart," Trent replied as he set the speaker on the stage. Angus did the same on the other side.

"Uh...thanks," Bea murmured.

Jackie laughed. "Oh wow you're actually blushing Bea."

"Shut it," Bea growled. She sat on the table stage after testing it a bit. "It's, like, stable, right?"

"Very," Jackie replied, "I made sure. I've done this before."

"Thanks."

Trent began looking around, scanning the area to see if he could scope out Mae or Ann. More people had shown up while they were getting set up. After a moment, he did see Ann. She was talking with a wolf woman who was vaguely familiar, and looked a bit older, maybe even a little older than Ann. They seemed to be standing apart from everyone else, and seemed like they were discussing something confidential. He suddenly wondered if this was Claire. He knew that she had made friends with a Telezoft employee with that name and had been talking with her more over the past few weeks over texting and sometimes over the phone.

Maybe she wanted to hang out. He kept looking, hunting for Mae, but couldn't see her anywhere at all. There were a lot of people and she was pretty short, maybe even the shortest person at the party, but still, he was starting to worry. After everything that had happened…

"What the fuck…" he muttered as he saw something, what he thought was a flash of light, off in the darkened woods on the other side of the clearing.

"What?" Bea asked.

"Thought I saw something," he replied.

"I'm going to go find Gregg," Angus said, "unless you need help with anything else?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks, Angus."

"No problem. Good to see you, Jackie."

"You too, Angus."

Trent's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket, unlocked it, saw he had a text from Mae. All it said was I got a present 4 u boyfriend!

While he was processing that, a pic suddenly popped up on their timeline. His eyes widened. "Whoa, holy shit," he whispered, staring at the screen. He found himself staring at a pair of really, really nice orange-furred tits. Whoever it was that was flashing the camera had pulled a gray t-shirt up over them.

"What's going on?" Bea asked, looking up from her laptop.

"I got, uh, something. That I can't show you," he replied.

"Whatever it is, it's got you mesmerized. Wait, why can't you show me? I'm your gir-" she hesitated, looked around, "you're really good friend."

"It's a, uh," he cleared his throat, "nude pic."

"From who?"

"Mae."

"Oh." She rolled her eyes and went back to work, then furrowed her brow and looked back up. "Wait, why can't you show that to me? I see Mae naked like every day now."

"Ew," Jackie muttered.

"Jackie, don't be a prude," Bea said.

"It's not prudishness that warrants my 'ew'," Jackie replied.

"Then don't be a bitch." Jackie huffed in irritation and crossed her arms, but held her tongue.

"It's not of Mae," he replied.

"Who the hell is it of then?"

"I have no idea but she has some awesome tits," he replied.

"What the fuck-where is Mae?" she asked.

"Not sure."

"Is there fur?" Bea asked.

"Yeah…"

"What color?"

"Orange. Light orange." He frowned. The color of the fur actually looked kind of familiar.

Bea was silent for a few seconds.

"What?" Jackie asked.

"Oh tell me you didn't, Mae," Bea whispered suddenly.

"What? What's wrong? Who do you think this is?" he asked. He finally texted Where are you?

"I-nothing. I have to focus."

Trent wanted to press her, because she seemed to know something, but she was busy.

"Yo, where's these books at?!" someone called.

"Go be an author, sweetheart," Bea murmured.

"Uh...all right."

"Save me some," Jackie said, "I would appreciate it."

He glanced at her in mid-stride back towards his Jeep, caught off-guard. He hadn't expected Jackie to show anything more than polite interest in his works. "Sure," he replied, then hurried off. "Books are coming!" he called.

"Are you the guy? The writer?" someone, a cat in glasses, asked.

"Yeah that's him," the bulldog who had been at the other party said.

"I am indeed me," Trent replied, eliciting a few chuckles. "I gotta get the books. There's two of them, and I've only got about twenty five of each, so, you know, probably not enough for everyone. Only follow me if you give a shit about horror novels."

"What's it about?" someone asked as they began following after him back to the parking lot.

"One of of them's about ghosts, like angry ghosts. It's really gory-you ever see Thirteen Ghosts? It's kind of like that."

"Yeah, that movie kicked ass!" someone shouted.

"They never did a fucking sequel to it," someone else complained.

"That shit was so sick, when that guy got cut in half by the glass and you could see like everything…"

"That reminds me of the House on Haunted Hill remake, when he spins that guy around in the chair and his fucking face is like hollowed out…"

He listened to them start talking about all the late nineties and early two thousands horror movies they had watched, knowing they weren't supposed to and doing it anyway and scaring the shit out of themselves, and couldn't help but grin. He'd done that, too. With a lot of movies. He got his trunk open again and pulled out the boxes, setting them on the edge.

"What's the other one about?" someone asked as he got the boxes opened.

"You ever seen Event Horizon? It's a lot like that. Haunted space ship, well space station in this one, but same vibe," he replied.

"Dude, that movie fucked me up," someone else said, and there were several murmurs of agreement.

When Trent turned around, holding up copies of the books, (he thought the cover for the ghost one had come out okay, but the space horror had been super cool), he was shocked to see over half the people there had gathered into a crowd. There had to be thirty people there.

"Oh, wow, all of you are that into it?" he asked.

"Yeah! I don't think there's ever been a horror writer in Possum Springs," one of the college students replied.

"Well...awesome. Okay, uh, I guess come up and tell me what you want," Trent replied.

The first person up was the cat with glasses. He felt a momentary hesitation as she looked at him with a strange sort of intensity. She was pretty cute. He made himself focus. "Uh, which one do you want? Or both?" he asked.

"Both," she replied. When he handed them to her, she hesitated. "Will you sign them?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure." He reached down and started checking his pockets, pulled out the weed pipe on accident, chuckled and slipped it back into his pocket. "Whoops. No one saw that," he said, and several of them laughed. "Shit, uh, anyone got a pen?"

"I do," someone else, a tall stork in a dark coat and hiking books, said, and pressed a pen into his hand.

"Thanks." He paused as he opened the first book, considering it for a moment. This was an absolutely surreal moment. "Uh...what should I write? I've never done this before. Uh, what's your name?" he asked.

"Lily," she replied, "and whatever comes to mind."

He paused for a bit longer, then wrote Thank you, Lily, for being an early adopter. It wasn't the most original but it felt oddly appropriate. He wrote To Lily, I hope this is scary in the second book, and gave them both to her. She laughed when she read the second one.

"Thank you," she said. She looked like she wanted to say something more, then abruptly stepped away and the next person stepped up.

The next twenty minutes were a strange, surreal time. He hadn't actually expected more than perhaps one or two people to be interested in this. How many times had he heard stories of authors, and not necessarily small time newbies, sitting at bookstores, bored for hours without a single visitor, trying to do a book signing? He'd basically pulled this out of his ass and here he had thirty strangers who wanted his books. It probably had to do with the fact that it was a bit of a spectacle, and they were free, but mostly he just thought it was right time, right place. And it wasn't like he was winning the lottery or hitting the NYT Bestsellers list.

But it almost felt like it.

Being at the center of attention like this was totally unreal, and felt not exactly like he had expected it to. He gave away and signed every single book, although at the very end just barely remembered to hold back a copy of each for Jackie. There were still half a dozen people around, which he had to disappoint, but he ended up writing down their names and promised that he'd get more delivered and get them to them somehow.

When they left, there were still people hanging around, but he knew all of them. Bea and Jackie had come over, and Ann had come over with her friend Claire at some point, and Mae was coming over with an orange-furred fox girl in a black leather jacket studded with spikes and a gray shirt underneath and-

Oh shit. This was who had been showing off their tits.

From the way Mae and her were smiling at him, their grins a bit wicked, he had no idea what exactly to expect. And the fox looked weirdly familiar, too. She was really hot in a rough sort of way. He looked at Bea as something occurred to him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, like, steal the spotlight, I didn't think that would happen."

"Trent, don't apologize, that was awesome. Everyone wanted your books. That's so fucking cool," Bea replied.

"And hot," Mae said.

"Where'd you get off to, and who's this?" Trent replied, feeling even more awkward now because he had seen this stranger's tits and they knew he'd seen their tits and seemed really amused by it.

"This is-" Mae began.

But Bea cut her off. "Jen." She crossed her arms. "Mae, what exactly are you up to?"

"Wait, did you see-aw, crap," Mae whispered. Jen laughed softly. "You showed her?"

"What's going on, exactly?" Ann asked.

"Nothing," Mae replied quickly.

"I didn't show her but she knows," Trent murmured.

Jen just laughed again. "Whew boy, what a fun party," she said.

"Oh, God. Don't tell Gregg. Okay? Please?" Mae groaned, looking around.

"Ew, yeah, don't tell Gregg," Jen agreed, then giggled.

"Fine," Bea said.

"You all are-I will never understand this," Jackie muttered.

"What's going on?" Ann asked.

"Nothing. Ignore all this," Mae replied.

Shit. That was why Jen looked familiar! She reminded him of Gregg. Was she his...sister? No, he would've known about a sister, right? Cousin, maybe?

Well, this could get awkward.

"Anyway, uh, let's shift focus," Mae replied. "Ann, I see you have a new friend and-Donna?"

"Hi, Mae," the wolf woman replied. "It's Claire nowadays. I like it better than Donna. It's my middle name."

"I'm so sorry I killed your bird," Mae said.

"It's okay, Mae. I know it was an accident," Claire replied.

"Wait, you killed her bird?" Ann asked.

"Yeah what, when?" Bea asked.

"Like a decade ago! It was an accident! I didn't know it was mace I thought it was perfume!" Mae cried.

"Oh wow," Trent muttered. "That's…" He shook his head and decided to try and forcefully correct the conversation. He offered his hand to Claire. "I'm Trent Sinclair."

"Claire Whitmore," she replied.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too," she replied awkwardly.

He offered his hand to Jen. "Good to meet you, too, Jen."

"Yep," she said, still extremely amused by all this. She seemed a little tipsy. "I'm just Jen. I heard a lot about you from Mae." She giggled. "Like, a lot. Like, whew boy," she fanned herself, "so much."

"Uh...okay." He shook his head. "Fuck, so much is happening right now."

"Would you be cool with it if me and Trent and Claire chilled in the Jeep for a bit? She was hoping to try some of our, uh...medicine," Ann asked.

"Yeah, I still got stuff to set up anyway," Bea said. "Come see me when you're done." She shot a look at Mae and Jen. Mae seemed caught between feeling awkward and Jen's infectious giggling, then quickly regaining her wicked smile, like she had something devious planned.

Bea and Jackie headed back to the stage.

"Well, come see us when you can too, Trent," Mae said, "Jen and I would really like to talk to you. Alone."

"Uh…" Ann looked at Mae and Jen, then at Trent, then at Claire, who frowned and looked down at her feet. "Why?" she asked finally.

"It's...private," Mae replied, regaining her awkwardness.

"Oh shit," Ann muttered softly.

"What? What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Mae asked.

"No, just...go on. We'll have to talk later."

"Are you mad at me?" Mae asked.

"No, Mae, I'm not mad. Just-things may have gotten complicated, but it's fine. Go on, enjoy the party. I'm sure Jen wants to talk with Gregg," Ann replied.

"Yeah, that cousin of mine never calls...there he is! Come on, Mae," Jen said, and headed off. Mae lingered briefly, then headed off after her.

"Uh, okay, I guess I could use some medicine after all that," Trent said.

"Same," Claire murmured.

They climbed into the Jeep and shut all the doors, ended up folding down the backseat and sitting in the extra space it afforded them. They all sat cross-legged in a rough triangle, facing each other. Trent lit up the weed pipe, took a puff, and passed it to Claire, who accepted it tentatively, staring at it for a long moment.

"It's, uh, safe," he said.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Claire," Ann said. "I just thought you'd appreciate it."

"I want to, it's just been awhile, and if Ham Panther or Telezoft ever decide to drug test...oh fuck it," she muttered and took a long, hard pull on it. She breathed out a large cloud of smoke, then sighed heavily and passed it to Ann. "God, that's better."

Ann laughed as she accepted it and puffed on it.

Claire looked at Trent for a long moment, then pursed her lips. "I'm sorry this is so awkward. I was hoping our first meeting would be less awkward."

"Uh...well, it's fine," he replied. "I'm dating Mae. I've endured so many awkward, uncomfortable, or insane things over the past four months that I'm...I've gotten over a lot of it. I've learned to just recover and keep going."

"That's good," she said. "I wish I'd learned that at your age."

Another moment passed as they passed the pipe around. He tried to remember what he knew of Claire, but not a lot came up. Ann had referenced her a few times. He knew that she worked for both the Ham Panther and Telezoft, neither of which sounded particularly enjoyable. He was vaguely aware that she might have some problems with depression. Besides that and the fact that she lived in Possum Springs, he was drawing a blank otherwise.

Except…

She did look oddly familiar, though he knew they'd never met before today. It was possible he'd seen her around town, but...no, it was something else.

"So, uh...what's actually up? I'm sorry, my brain's a little scrambled. A lot happening just recently," he asked finally.

"Well, I've sort of known Claire since high school, we kept in touch off and on since, and we reconnected when I visited Telezoft to think about applying, and we've been talking ever since," Ann said. "And she's…"

"I'm really depressed and lonely and I don't really have anyone else I can talk to about this. I've got some friends at Telezoft but, like, they don't get it, you know? They're good and patient, for the most part, but they just don't understand," Claire said.

"Depression is the kind of thing where you don't really understand it until you've been hit with it," Trent replied.

She nodded. "Yeah. Yes. Exactly. Talking with Ann...helped. And she kept saying I should meet her boyfriend...and girlfriend, and other friends. Maybe hang out, maybe do other things…" Claire murmured. They both still seemed awkward.

"Other things like what? That sounds...intentional," Trent replied. They both looked at each other awkwardly, as if trying to ask the other how to proceed. "Whatever it is, I'm probably down."

"This is weird," Claire murmured.

"Yeah, it was kinda weird the first time for me, too," Ann said. "I'd advise just taking the plunge."

Trent waited. Obviously she wanted something from him.

Claire sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She refocused on Trent after taking another hit from the pipe. "Okay, so, I want to hang out with you. I mean, I want to hang out with all of you, but I want to hang out with you specifically because...ugh, this sounds so shallow…" she groaned, then she seemed to steel herself. "Whatever. I want someone to have sex with, who is safe, and doesn't want commitment, and also not that often."

Trent opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, but no words were coming out. Ann giggled and passed him back the pipe. He looked at it for a moment, then accepted it and took a puff. Finally, he generated the coherency to say: "Are you sure?"

Claire laughed. "Pretty sure," she said. "If you aren't into me, it's fine, but Ann said you'd probably be attracted to me...I don't know, I kinda think I look like a plain Jane if there ever was one, but…" She shrugged.

"So, like, I'm down to fuck," he replied. "Just so we're clear on that. You're...really pretty. Like, you're hot. I just-this caught me off guard. Especially after what just happened with Mae."

"What was that about?" Ann asked. "Because if I'm reading the situation right, Mae's trying to hook you up with Jen?"

"I don't know for sure but almost certainly yes," he replied. "It's...kinda stressing me out."

"Wow, what a problem to have," Claire said. "Having all these people who want to fuck you." He and Ann looked at her. She sighed. "Sorry, I'm...bitter. And angry. And sad. Mostly sad."

"No, I totally get it. I was there before I moved to Possum Springs. Fucking no one wanted to date me, let alone sleep with me. I have no idea why it's working as well as it is here," Trent replied.

"You caught lightning in a bottle, but beyond the initial impression, you actually are kind, caring, patient, fun, and romantic. And you eat pussy and your idea of foreplay is more than just taking a girl's bra off," Ann said.

"Wow, I haven't had oral in like...eight years," Claire muttered.

"I will totally go down on you."

She laughed and looked down in that way Bea or Ann sometimes did when he was complimenting them or saying something overtly sexual. "Uh...thanks. It'd be really appreciated."

"That being said, a few other thoughts come to mind. The first being: I have to talk with Mae and...my other girlfriend about this."

She hesitated, then looked at him. "Wait, you have a third girlfriend? Who?!"

"It's private. We haven't really gone public with it. I mean you'll find out if we go ahead with this and I'd really appreciate it if you'd not talk about it."

"I don't gossip," Claire replied. "At all...what's the other thing?"

"Are you like, actually attracted to me? Or do you want to sleep with me because I'm safe and available?" he asked.

"I'm attracted to you," she said.

"All right. I just wanted to check. I mean, I'd-" He froze as she looked at him a certain way, tilted her head just right, and the light from the moon caught her features in just the right way, and abruptly it clicked why she looked so familiar. "Oh my God."

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Are you...do you have a brother?" he asked.

"Ugh, yes. I do. My younger brother. He's an asshole. His dumbass got himself fired recently...uh, why?"

"Ohhhhhh...shit," Ann murmured. She let out a wild laugh. "Wow!"

"What? What's going on?"

"Your brother is Chris?" he asked. "Who got fired from the Pickaxe?"

"Yeah and-" Her eyes widened. "Wait, are you the guy who gave him a black eye!?"

"It was technically Mae who gave him the black eye, she decked him, but I did slam his head into the counter...he was threatening Bea and he came at us with a boxcutter!"

"Dude, oh my God, you pissed him off so bad! My attraction to you just shot up. My brother is a fucking dick and I remember thinking 'wow he finally got what he deserved'. Holy shit, Trent, this is awesome."

"If he ever found out you were fucking his sister and B-" Ann cut herself off.

"Wait, is it Bea? Is she your third girlfriend?" Claire asked.

"I can't confirm or deny," Trent replied.

"Oh my fucking lord! Wow, that is-talk about a coincidence. Also, wait, a boxcutter? As in, he threatened you with a boxcutter?" she asked, her eyebrows raising.

"Yeah. Like, he legit came at us. I'm pretty sure he would have actually stabbed me with it. He was, like...he was kind of crazy."

"Holy shit I'm going to kick his ass, he didn't mentioned that. Of course he didn't mention that. Fucking asshole, God. Now I also kind of want to fuck you just on principle alone." She laughed, then lost her smile. "But if your other girlfriend is trying to hook you up with someone else, maybe it's not the best time...why are both your girlfriends trying to hook you up at the same time?" she asked.

"I didn't know," Ann said. "I really didn't know Mae was gonna do this. I'm sorry, Claire, I didn't want this to be complicated."

"It doesn't have to be," Trent replied. "If I remember right, Jen is visiting from college. She won't be here long."

"Hmm. I think you're just trying to get as much pussy as possible," Claire said, crossing her arms.

"Claire," Ann said.

She sighed and hugged her knees to her chest, resting her forehead on them. "Sorry. I'm a bitch sometimes. My last boyfriend cheated on me."

"Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry," Trent said. "And, I mean, like, yeah, obviously I'd rather sleep with two women instead of one if that's on the table, but it's not like I'll treat you any different. And, like, you're coming to me for string-free sex. Like you're quite literally asking to use me like a sex toy, which I'm not even against, it's just, I feel like it's really not fair-"

"No, you're right. You're right. I'm sorry," she said, holding up her hands. "I'm cranky. And kind of jealous. That fox girl, Jen? She looks so fucking hot, and she's gonna hook up with the guy I'm trying to hook up with, it's just-ugh."

"We don't even know if that's gonna happen," Trent said. "Also, uh, like I said, keep that on the down-low." He looked at Ann. "I mean, can I assume that you've vetted her? We trust Claire?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't have even made the offer otherwise."

Trent sighed and rubbed at his eyes for a moment. "Sorry," he muttered, "rude to talk about people when they're right there, just-this is a lot."

"I know. I didn't actually think I'd have the guts to have this conversation but, well, here we are…"

"So where do we go? I mean, are you still down for this?" he asked. "Again, seriously no pressure if you aren't. I won't be mad."

"He's serious," Ann said. "I guess, if you trust me, you should trust him."

"I do trust you, Ann…" Claire murmured. She sighed. "How about we just table this discussion for now and go enjoy the party? This is the first time I've actually been to a party and I'm hoping it'll be dark enough that everyone won't realize I don't belong here because I aged out of this shit a few years ago."

"Come on, you're like two years older than me," Ann said. "Unless you think I aged out of college kid parties in the woods."

"...no comment."

"Gee, thanks."

Trent began to respond but his phone buzzed. He checked it and found a message from Bea. I know you're busy but I'm about to start and I know how much you love drooling over me when I sing and God forbid I deprive you of that.

"So. Much. Fucking. Sass," he muttered as he put his phone away.

"Bea?" Ann asked. "Or Mae?"

"Bea. She's getting ready to start."

"Oh shit! She's gonna sing my song!"

"I want to hear this," Claire said, giving Trent back the pipe. He killed it and put it back in his pocket.

"Come on, let's go."