Freedom's Just Another Word

by snarcasm318

A/U: College is supposed to be their first taste of freedom, but for the last year Gail Peck had real freedom. Now she's back, within the grasp of her controlling parents, and forced to face the nightmares she's tried to leave behind. She's used to dealing with it alone, but does she have to?

19. Chapter 19

Ch. 19

A/N: As always, thank you wonderful readers for keeping up with this story and all the lovely reviews. So I started out writing a ridiculously long chapter that was a complete and total rollercoaster. It was too long so I needed to divide it into two parts. This one is a continuation of the last and a set-up for the next, which will finally end the semester and start winter break. I haven't been in the best mood while writing this chapter but I hope it makes sense...

---

Holly leaned against the wall outside of the Penny. She wished she had just stayed in her apartment like she had planned to, but now that was the last place she wanted to be. The alcohol she had consumed was enough to keep her warm as she took deep breaths of the cool night air. She wasn't sure what she thought she would accomplish by looking for Gail when it was clear the blonde had been avoiding her for over a week. Normally just seeing the girl was enough to cheer Holly up, but right now the thought of her was making Holly's stomach drop unpleasantly. Was she being a cat in a tree? But if she was then why? Holly hadn't ever pressured Gail into anything that she wasn't ready for, at least she didn't think she had. Or was this what everyone meant by the blonde hurting her? She raked her fingers through her long, wavy hair and closed her eyes before letting out a deep sigh. This night sucked.

"Holly?"

The brunette opened her eyes at the sound of her name. She glanced at the girl standing on the sidewalk in front of the bar. The other girl gestured to some people who headed in. Holly used the extra minute to figure out who she was and how they knew each other. It clicked. "Mariana?"

The curvy girl grinned widely, "Glad to see you remembered. Are you holding that wall up?"

Holly tilted her head in question. "What?" The shorter girl gestured to the wall Holly was still leaning against. "Oh, no, just needed some fresh air." But she didn't move from her slumped position. The wall was comfortable at the moment.

"Well, if you want to head back in I'll be more than happy to buy you a drink." Mariana offered with a flirtatious smile.

Holly glanced at the girl, she had already had a good amount to drink that night, but Jess raining on her parade and Lisa's betrayal had killed her buzz. Not to mention the fact that she still wasn't ready to head home. "Sure." Holly agreed pushing herself off her support structure and walking through the open door offered to her. Apparently it was enough alcohol to stop her from realizing that heading into the bar where Gail worked and all of her friends were was probably not the best decision.

---

The kiss finally broke and Chloe rested her forehead against Frankie's. "Infinitely better," She sighed contently.

"Mmhmm," Frankie agreed before going in for another kiss. She pulled Chloe in tighter; removing what little space had existed between them. This kiss was more intense than the previous ones, the embers that always seemed to burn between them bursting into flames. Chloe met her hungry lips with just as much ferocity, her fingers scratching at the thin hairs on the back of the brunette's neck. Deciding to test her luck once more, Frankie's tongue began to trace Chloe's top lip, seeking entrance. Chloe's lips parted, and Frankie swallowed up the moan that escaped her throat as their tongues began their own dance.

Chloe allowed Frankie to guide her towards the front door, letting out a small gasp as her back connected with the unmoving object. Frankie had one hand grasping Chloe's hip while the other dug into the wooden door as she tried to restrain herself from ravaging the redhead right then and there. Her thumb traced circles on the pronounced bone, feeling the satiny material of the red dress. While Frankie kept her hands mostly to herself, Chloe did the opposite. The freshman let her hands drop from Frankie's hair to her shoulders, before tracing their way down the senior's slim sides till they reached her toned ass and she pulled the other girl impossibly closer. Frankie kissed the freshman harder and was so distracted that she didn't feel Chloe's one hand dip into her pocket, retrieving her keys. She was confused when the sneak suddenly broke the kiss, pushing her away with a little force. Chloe could see the confusion mix with the lust in the darkened emerald eyes, but she simply smirked before spinning around to unlock the door. She stepped through the threshold, snapping on a light, before pivoting back around to meet the senior.

It was the sight of the entryway that caused Frankie to pause. She hesitated as she glanced towards the stairs, suddenly aware that someone else could be home. She had no idea what time it was or where everyone else had gone for the evening. She braced one hand on the doorframe, holding her weight as she contemplated what to do.

Chloe noticed the tension in the other girl's body. She stepped forward and gently touched the senior's arm. Her hand traveled down till it reached Frankie's hand and she intertwined their fingers. "No one's home CrankyPants." She softly reassured her and Chloe gave the hand a tug to pull Frankie in once more.

And she let her.

---

"So what brings you to the Penny?" Holly started the conversation after letting the grad student guide her towards an open booth.

"I was meeting some friends of mine." She gestured to a group of people seated close to the bar. "Some of them have a crush on the blonde bartender here." She glanced over at the counter. "Though it doesn't look like she's working tonight, that's weird."

Holly shouldn't have been surprised that people came to the Penny just to flirt with Gail, but that didn't mean she liked it. "Oh."

The girl mistook Holly's jealous tone. "But I'm not really into blondes," she offered quickly.

Holly knew that Mariana was interested in her. It had been obvious that first night they met. The only problem was that she wasn't really interested in her like that. Still all she had to do was sit, talk, drink, and flirt. Everyone else seemed to be able to do it so why couldn't she? Resolving to do just that she flashed a smile at the other girl, "So you promised me a drink."

Responding with a smile of her smile of her own, Mariana agreed, "I did, so what would you like?"

"Jack and coke." Holly had been drinking both whiskey and tequila earlier in the night with her friends, completely ignoring the poor choice of mixing liquor.

"My kind of girl." The shorter brunette complimented the drink choice before she headed off to the bar to retrieve the order.

After Mariana got them both a drink, the two girls slipped into easy conversation. The girl told Holly about her Master's classes and her plans for law school. She asked Holly questions about med school and her interests outside of academics. Turned out that Mariana enjoyed exercising outside too and offered to join Holly on one of her morning runs. But that just reminded Holly of her most recent running buddy. She tried to push thoughts of Gail out of her head by quickly downing the rest of her drink.

"How about a refill?" Mariana proposed as she polished off her drink as well.

Holly offered up her glass and watched the other girl walk away. She was pretty, smart, and quick-witted. It was easy to talk to her, and thus far, the conversation hadn't been awkward, though that may have had something to do with the booze. It's hard to feel uncomfortable with enough alcohol in your system. The only problem was that it wasn't enough to make Holly feel attracted to the girl. Oh well, right now she was determined to fake it.

When Mariana returned she slid further into the circular booth so that she was next to Holly rather than across from her. "Where were we?"

---

"Is that Holly?" Chris asked the table, causing everyone to spin around and look in the direction of the booth housing both brunettes.

"Looks like it." Dov conceded. He had his arm draped around Sue's chair, having invited her to hang out with the group as he worked up the nerve to ask her out on a more proper date. Chloe's practice date had helped but he still needed a bit more confidence in the form of some liquid courage. He had resolved to ask by the end of the night and had even forced Gail to agree to hold him to it. He was more than a little frightened of how the blonde would do just that, so he had plenty of motivation.

"Who's she with?" Nick asked, glancing at the seniors that were with them at the table, figuring they at least knew Holly longer than the rest of them. But both Jerry and Juliet shrugged.

"No idea." Juliet had never seen the girl before, nor could she remember her ever hanging out with Frankie and Holly over the years.

"Looks like a date." Sue pointed out, her interest piqued by the rest of the table's reaction to the two girls across the bar.

Jerry cringed a little at the thought, "Think Gail knows?" He had a soft spot for the blonde freshman for some reason, really ever since their mutual bonding at Ollie's birthday.

"Don't know, but if she doesn't then it looks like she's about to find out." Dov pointed to the door of the bar.

---

When Gail had left to help Andy she hadn't thought it would take long. The elder McNally didn't live terribly far and Andy had borrowed one of the guys' cars. She had to admit that the door had even given her a bit of a hard time too, and it hadn't helped that Andy's Dad had the chain lock on, which they also had to get off the door before they could get in. Once they were they had found Andy's dad on the floor with a gash on his head. He regained consciousness while the ambulance was on its way, but they still needed to take him for an evaluation. From the looks of it he had gotten wasted and fallen down, hitting his head on the coffee table in the process. Andy had been a combination of frustration, embarrassment, and worry by the time they had gotten him into the back of the ambulance. Gail had even managed to control her snark as she reassured the girl that he would be okay. She even offered to go with them. Andy appreciated the support, but told her to go back to work, and the blonde locked up the apartment as she left.

So by the time she got to the Penny, she felt the exhaustion settling into her bones. It had been over a week of not being able to sleep, plus, she had had class, and had already been working for half the night before she left. She rushed through the door of the bar without paying much mind to her friends as she hurried to relieve Charlie from bartending duties before her boss got any ideas to fire her.

"Glad to see you remembered you were working."

"Sorry, Charlie, did you miss your angel?" Gail flashed her boss a smile to match her wit. She thought about how Holly would've added the movie to their list. Crap, now she was thinking about Holly.

The boss shook his head at his bartender. The girl was lucky that the college crowd seemed to find her cute. Way too many people that night had asked him about where the blonde was, it seems they enjoy getting insulted while getting wasted. Plus, he could begrudgingly admit that she was a good worker, always covering shifts when he needed her, always closing up properly, it made it easier to deal with her smart mouth. Deciding to leave the bar in her capable hands, Charlie went back to his office.

"Where'd Andy go?" Traci asked as she approached the bar. It was an insane night and she hadn't realized the bartender had disappeared till their friends had flagged her down as she ran between tables.

"I'm not her keeper." Gail dismissed the question as searched the bar for her apron that she had discarded in her haste to leave with Andy.

"You two left together." Traci pointed out as she dropped her tray onto the counter.

"Ask her later." The blonde suggested, finally finding what she was looking for. She wasn't sure what Andy told people about her family, but they weren't going to hear it from her.

Traci rolled her eyes, but she was in too much of hurry to argue about it. She grabbed the drinks Charlie had left for her and the food from the window before shooting off to one of her tables.

Gail threw her apron back on as the crowd at the bar started clamoring for her attention. She started mixing and pouring drinks as fast as she could. After a while, a familiar face joined the crowd at the counter.

"Hey," It was the first time Chris had spoken to Gail voluntarily in over a week.

The blonde eyed him warily. "Are we talking now?" She poured out shots and passed them to a group of people stationed next to the boy.

"I'm sorry for what I said, and for being a jerk the last couple of weeks. I was taking my frustration out on you and it wasn't fair."

"Don't worry about it."

"I just-I'm tired of arguing with everyone and defending myself." Chris continued. He really wanted his friend to know that he was sorry, but he also needed to unload a bit of this baggage he was carrying around with him. "I want to be a good dad and to do that I need to be there for my kid and his mom. It doesn't matter how I feel about Denise. It's the right thing to do." Chris hoped that if he could convince his best friends this was true then he could also convince himself.

Gail sighed and poured the boy his favorite drink, "Chris, I get that you don't want to leave them on their own but just think about how much more you'll be able to provide for your kid with a degree. You won't be stuck just being a cop."

Chris accepted the drink with a small smile, "I want to be a cop."

"I know." And she did. Everyone in the two houses wanted desperately to be cops. Well, maybe not Nick, she wasn't sure that he had decided yet what he would do. She remembered him mentioning the armed forces, but that was before he left for Vancouver all those years ago. That was (one of) the difference(s) between her and them: they chose this life, she was born into it. But that wasn't the point right now. "Still, think of the example you're setting for the kid."

"Look, I don't expect you to agree with my decision, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't make it any harder. I don't want to leave you guys either, but this is something I have to do. I love my life here, but I have a responsibility."

Gail knew that some responsibilities couldn't be ignored, not even when you hid across an ocean from them. So she nodded and let the conversation drop.

"Anyway, do you want to help tomorrow?" Chris asked, his boyish grin returning to his features. Gail hadn't seen that smile since Denise had dropped her bombshell.

It made her apprehensive and happy at the same time, but she had a reputation to keep so she maintained a straight face. "With what?"

"Decorating. Chloe and I are decorating the houses for Christmas."

Right, December had already begun. "Yeah, no." She hated this time of year; it was filled with fake merriment, crazed shopping, and forced family interactions. (Though, she did enjoy the lights and movies, not that she would admit that to anyone.) But she definitely was not about to actively participate in the insanity. Not to mention decorating sounded like physical labor, and well, that also went against her reputation.

Chris shrugged, "Your loss." He knew it had been a long shot to get his buddy to participate but he figured there was no harm in asking. Maybe one of these days she would take him up on an offer of group bonding before he left. He glanced around the bar as Gail went to serve other customers, and remembered the other reason he had come over. He waited till the blonde returned to give him a refill. "By the way is everything alright with Holly?"

Gail froze, "What? Why?" She had been steadfastly refusing to talk about her all week no matter how many people mentioned her. So she didn't understand why Chris, who had been purposefully ignoring her, would mention the brunette.

He gestured across the bar. The blue eyes glanced in the direction that the tall boy pointed. She could feel her heart beat faster at the sight of Holly, who she had deprived herself of for more than a week. Apparently, it hadn't been long enough for her to control her feelings because her body was responding of its own accord. But whatever excitement she felt was quickly replaced with an awful drop of her stomach as she noticed the other girl sitting close to Holly. Her Holly. Then she was struck by a new feeling as she watched the other girl reach forward to touch Holly's arm as the two laughed. The bartender slammed the bottle of the liquor she had been holding down hard onto the counter.

"Who the fuck is that?" Gail quietly growled to herself, unheard over the noise of the bar.

---

Mariana had just finished telling Holly a story about one of her guy friends embarrassing himself by hitting on her when they first met, but how they had become best friends after. During the story she had boldly made contact with the med student and was now flirtatiously trailing her hand up and down Holly's arm.

Holly had laughed harder at the story than she probably would have any other time, but the alcohol she had consumed made everything seem that much funnier. She could barely even feel the gentle touch of the other girl, hell, she could barely feel her face at that point, but she noticed the movement.

She cleared her throat, "You know what we need?" Mariana cocked an eyebrow and a smile, waiting for the answer. "Shots," Holly declared. She was still thinking too much right now and hoped the last bit of booze was all she would need. Her liver would probably hate her for tonight, but her brain needed to unwind.

The smaller brunette agreed quickly but decided not to give up her new real estate and flagged down one of the passing servers.

Traci stopped at the booth, her usual bright smile faltering as recognition dawned on her. She hadn't noticed Holly when she had been running around before, but now there was no mistaking the brunette or the fact that she was sitting awfully closely to someone who wasn't her housemate. Traci had to stop herself from looking over at the bar to see if Gail had noticed the little scene as well. "Holly." The waitress greeted curtly as she pulled out her pad of paper to take the order.

"T-Traci, hey, hi." Holly stumbled over her words; she had forgotten that Gail wasn't the only person who worked here. She suddenly looked in the direction that the rest of Gail's friends were seated and noticed how many of them were looking her way. Shit.

"What can I get for you?" Traci's penetrating stare remained fixed on Holly, who shifted uncomfortably under the knowing glare. She moved just enough to ensure that her companion was no longer touching her.

"Four Tequila shots please." Mariana placed the order as she watched the interaction between the waitress and Holly with piqued interest.

Traci nodded and headed off to grab some more orders. Once she was out of earshot, the grad student asked, "Ex-girlfriend?"

Holly was too busy thinking about what Traci would tell Gail about seeing her to be paying much attention to her companion. But the words eventually sank in. "What? No."

The other girl shrugged, "Oh, I just thought that with the way you two were acting and the fact that you moved away from me that maybe you two had a thing."

So she had noticed that Holly had put some distance between them. Holly reached for her glasses, but she wasn't wearing them. She forgot that she had opted for contacts that night. "She's just a friend who lives with some other friends of mine. She's also incredibly straight." Holly didn't know why she tacked on the last tidbit, but she wanted to drive the point home.

"So she's not phone girl?" The brunette remembered how Holly had lost all interest in her with a mere text. She still didn't know who the mystery girl was but she certainly had captured her curiosity, especially since the mere mention of her was enough to get the other girl flustered.

In case seeing Gail's friends wasn't enough, the direct reminder of the blonde from the girl next to her really distracted her. "No, she's not." Holly explained simply as Traci returned with the drinks. Holly downed her two shots in quick succession.

Mariana watched the other brunette with her own drink still in her hand. "So is she the reason you're here drinking with me right now?"

"You invited me to have a drink." Holly pointed out as she toyed with her empty shot glasses. There wasn't any silverware to play with so these would have to do.

The older girl continued her argument, "I invited you the other night and gave you my number, but tonight you accepted, so I'm just wondering what changed."

Holly sighed before looking up from the glassware she was playing with. "I was having a bad night and you're changing that. Can that be enough?" Yes, she was just trying to use the other girl as a distraction from the fact that Gail had lied to her and blown her off and from the things Jess had said to her. Maybe that was wrong, but being right hadn't gotten her anywhere either.

Mariana smiled before moving closer once more, "Glad to be of service."

---

Chris had returned to the group with more pitchers of beer and Gail had done her best to focus on serving the masses and not on the booth that housed Holly and her 'someone'. She had seen Traci stop at the table, but since the waitress came back with multiple orders, she wasn't sure which was theirs. She hoped it wasn't the tequila shots. She glanced back in her direction again and watched Holly's long neck become exposed as she threw her head back to take the shots. Damn it. "Anyone else waiting?" Gail impatiently tapped her fingers on the bar top, glancing around for a distraction.

She felt someone grab a hold of her hand and she steeled her gaze at the moron who would be dumb enough to touch her. "I'd wait all night long for you, sweetness." The guy drunkenly proclaimed.

"You're going to spend all night washing the pepper spray out of your eyes if you don't let go of me." She kept a smile on her face, even though her eyes held a warning that she wasn't joking.

The guy's smile dropped and he let go, grabbing his drink in a huff. His friends howled with laughter as the boy struck out and stormed away from the bar embarrassed. They collected their drinks and followed suit, clearing up some space in front of Gail. A table near the bar had joined in on the chorus of laughter and when Gail cocked an eyebrow in their direction they held up their drinks in salute of her. She shook her head and glanced across the bar at the person she had been staring at since Chris mentioned her, but this time she was caught.

Holly's slightly glazed vision turned in the direction of the bar at the ruckus Mariana's friends were making.

"Looks like she is working." The older girl commented as she noticed the bartender. Her phone started buzzing with texts from her friends. "Apparently she threatened some guy with pepper spray." She explained laughing.

But Holly didn't laugh as her brain barely processed the words; it was too focused on the girl across the bar that was staring right back at her. She couldn't look away as those enigmatic blue eyes that she could feel were locked on her.

"You alright?" Mariana asked when she realized that Holly had been staring at the bar without paying her any attention.

Holly climbed out of the booth, "Ummm...yeah, how about I get us a couple more drinks?" The alcohol had really hit Holly when she stood up, but now that she had seen Gail she couldn't resist the urge to go talk to her.

"Sure, your choice." Mariana replied but Holly was already walking away.

Gail watched as Holly weaved a very unsteady path over towards her. Clearly the brunette had drank more than just a couple of shots. The usual excitement she felt at being in Holly's presence was dimmed as she noticed the way Holly's companion watched her as well.

"You're here?" The question tumbled from Holly's lips the second she was within earshot of the bartender.

"Of course I'm here Holly, I'm working like I do every Thursday." The blonde gestured around her to the bar that occupied most of her free time lately.

The explanation didn't make sense to Holly. She knew Gail always worked Thursdays and that the blonde had told her she would be working when they spoke earlier in the night, yet she hadn't been there when Holly first arrived. "But you weren't here?" That was the only point her alcohol sodden brain could focus on.

"So you thought I was lying." Gail was torn between being angry and hurt that Holly would assume that she would lie.

Holly could feel herself wilting under Gail's intense glare, "You've been avoiding me."

Gail could see the hurt flash across Holly's face even if her words were a bit slurred. It should've been enough to quell the stampede in her chest, but she didn't want to admit that that had been exactly what she had been doing. "I've been busy with work and school, I told you that too. Not everything revolves around you, Holly." Except this time it did. Gail had been actively avoiding the brunette since she embarrassed herself at the clinic.

The last sentence was enough to wipe away the hurt and replace it with anger, although that may have also had something to do with the whiskey. Holly wasn't a self-centered person. No, she was the complete opposite, but Gail's words still stung. "God, coming here was such a mistake." Holly didn't mean to say the words aloud but her filter had vanished more than a few drinks ago.

"Not hospitable enough for you Holly? Maybe next time you should take your date to a different bar." Yep, there was the real reason for the blonde's hostility.

Holly had completely forgotten about the girl she had left in the booth. "I came here to see you." That was what brought Holly to the bar in the first place.

"Really, because you have a funny way of showing it." Gail was trying to maintain the bite to her words but the hurt was starting to creep in. She hadn't expected Holly to just move on like that but it shouldn't have been a surprise. No one ever chose Gail.

Holly opened her mouth to fight back but was interrupted by a hand on the small of her back.

"Hey, you ready to ditch this place?" Mariana asked as she smiled at Holly, purposefully avoiding looking in Gail's direction.

Holly didn't take her eyes off of Gail trying to gauge her reaction and failing miserably at reading the stony face. She didn't have any fight left in her. "Sure." She replied and turned to head out.

Gail watched as the unknown brunette guided Holly through the crowded bar. She hadn't noticed her ex approach till he spoke up.

"Are you going to go after her?" Nick asked as he placed the empty pitchers on the bartop. He had come over for refills and caught the tailend of the argument between Gail and Holly.

Gail turned her ire towards the boy in front of her, who had the audacity to smile right now. "Why would I do that Nicholas?" She questioned with snarl.

"Gail, I know you, you wouldn't let anyone get close to you unless you wanted them to. You should go after her." He had known the blonde for years and despite their rocky romantic relationship, he still thought he knew her better than most people.

Gail deflated at Nick's explanation. She wanted to go after Holly. She wanted to stop her from hooking up with whoever that girl was, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Whatever." Gail ended the conversation as she refilled the pitchers and sent her ex-boyfriend away.

---

Frankie let Chloe pull her into the house they shared. Their bodies connected and the freshman initiated their kiss. Frankie smiled into the redhead's lips as she moved her hands up to tangle in the messy red curls. The awful night was suddenly shaping up. She could feel Chloe's cold fingers slip under her shirt and Frankie broke the kiss as she hissed at the sudden contact, the muscles of her stomach tightening in response. "Cold" she muttered when Chloe's face scrunched up in confusion.

Chloe let out a soft chuckle, "Really? Most people find me warm. But I'll just take my hands back." She started to remove her hands from under Frankie's shirt, even though she really wanted to continue tracing the taut muscles beneath her fingers.

Frankie's hands darted to the slender wrists, holding them in place. "Don't you dare," she warned before attacking Chloe's lips once more.

The two girls stumbled back through the foyer till they reached the wall near the stairs. This time Chloe gained the upper hand as she spun them around trapping Frankie against the wall. As if Frankie wasn't already turned on enough, the sudden shift in dominance was enough to make her nearly combust. Chloe's hands rested on the older girl's sides before moving up to brush the bottom of her breasts. Frankie moaned and one of her hands drifted to the small of Chloe's back to pull her closer.

But just as quickly as things heated up, the freshman was pulling back once more. She stepped out of Frankie's embrace as the senior's eyes opened in confusion at the sudden loss of contact.

"I need a shower." Chloe declared as she started up the stairs.

Frankie was still leaning against the wall, catching her breath, as she watched the redhead ascend.

"You coming?" Chloe called out as she bypassed her floor and continued up the next set of stairs.

The brunette bolted up the stairs. She caught sight of Chloe reaching behind herself to undo the zipper of her dress once she reached the top floor. Frankie stepped forward and caught her hand. She took the small piece of metal and slowly pulled it down, her lips exploring each newly exposed piece of skin. Once unzipped Chloe stepped out of the dress and turned around, a mischievous smile on her face as Frankie's eyes hungrily took in the sight of her in the matching set of purple bra and panties she had worn just for her. As Frankie reached forward once more, Chloe stepped back into the bathroom. Frankie went to follow as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

The brunette stayed in the doorway as she angrily pulled the phone from her pocket not bothering to see whom it was that had the audacity to call her right now as she furiously stabbed at the accept button. "Someone had better be dying," she growled into the phone as she listened to the water start in the bathroom.

Frankie could only partially focus as Juliet explained that Holly had clearly been drinking a lot and was at the Penny with some girl while Gail looked like she was about to murder someone. Unsure of what any of it had to do with her, Frankie could barely contain her groan as she watched Chloe's back and she undid her bra before reaching down to her panties. She tore her eyes away as Juliet shouted into the phone for her attention. She technically owed both Gail and Holly for helping her out while she had been drunk but couldn't they have picked a better night? Doing something she never thought she would, she told Juliette that she would be there soon.

Chloe had already stepped into the shower when Frankie re-entered the bathroom. The redhead popped her head out as she heard the noise. "Why are you still wearing clothes?" Chloe asked as her eyes trailed over the senior who still had on every article of clothing she had left the house in.

"Because apparently it's my job to pick up Holly's drunk ass from the bar before Gail kills whoever it is she's been drinking with." Frankie grumbled. She couldn't believe that she was about to abandon the naked girl that was waiting for her to go play driver.

"I thought she was at the club?" Chloe distinctly remembered storming by the brunette on their way out.

"Me too." Frankie huffed; she so wanted to climb into the shower, not deal with her friends' drama.

Chloe frowned, "And you have to go right now?" She had other plans for the rest of the night, plans that did not involve being left alone.

"Unfortunately," Frankie conceded before adding hopefully, "But can we pick this back up later?"

"I don't know, you're leaving a girl all alone and wet over here." Chloe smirked as she watched her words wash over the senior. If she was going to get left behind, she certainly wasn't going to make it easy.

Frankie internally groaned, "Believe me when I tell you that this is the last thing I want to do right now."

Chloe nodded before she dodged back under the water again. "Say hi to Holly for me," she called out. She could hear Frankie let out a sigh before the door clicked shut. Letting out a disappointed sigh of her own the freshman reached forward and shifted the handle to cold water.

---

Once outside of the bar, Holly could still feel the irrational anger pumping through her body from her argument with Gail, even though she knew in the back of her mind that she had messed up. She had assumed the blonde had lied to her and she had stupidly accepted drinks with another girl in a place that Gail could easily see her. No, it wasn't stupid. Gail had definitely been ignoring her and technically they weren't dating so Holly had every right to get drinks with whomever she wanted. Hell, she had the right to do whatever she wanted, so she was going to do just that, "Want to head over to mine?"

The other girl smirked at her as she crossed her arms and leaned on one hip, "I do but I'm not going to."

Well that wasn't the answer Holly had been expecting. Mariana had been flirting with Holly since they first met, what changed? She looked at the other girl, or tried to even though her focus was becoming a bit hazier, "Why not?"

"Because you have had way more to drink than me and I really don't like playing second fiddle to anyone." Mariana wasn't stupid, she knew that whole night Holly had been using her as some sort of distraction and even though they had been drinking together, it was obvious that the other girl had a lot more than her before they ran into one another. She was at the point that she was slightly sloppy though Mariana had to admit she was pretty impressed with how well she was holding it together (though she wasn't exactly sober either to really judge). But the Holly hadn't even been able to look at her when she asked her back to her place.

"You're not second fiddle." It was a weak argument at best but Holly wasn't at her best, she just trying to salvage a crappy night.

"That's sweet of you to say, but I have eyes." Mariana replied with a gentle smile before pointing out what had become obvious to her, "So, the bartender is phone girl."

Holly realized that she had been busted but still wasn't ready to admit it, "What do you mean?"

"Come on Holly, I know that we only just met but it was pretty obvious from the way you were looking at her. And hey, I don't blame you, she is great to look at." Hell, the bartender was the reason her friends had chosen that particular bar that night in the first place.

"I wasn't looking at her in any way." Holly continued her adamant denial, even though the words sounded hollow even to her.

Mariana simply shook her head in passive refute, "Fine, I saw the way she was looking at you."

"And how did she look at me?" Because as far as Holly was concerned she could only see the way the blonde had unleashed icy daggers on her during their argument. It had easily been the polar opposite of how she had looked at her not even two weeks before.

Mariana chuckled, "Like you're the only person in the room that matters. I've seen her blow off a lot of people, myself included."

Holly slumped against the wall once more. She wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but she was starting to feel worse by the minute. It was equal parts the conversation and the copious amounts of alcohol she had consumed. She wanted to continue arguing but Mariana was already talking again.

"Anyway, I should get going, I think I'm just gonna grab a cab. Are you okay to get home?" After Mariana asked the question she caught sight of Frankie getting out of the car that had just pulled up in front of the bar.

Holly was oblivious to Frankie's presence but she nodded, "Yeah, I'm good." She was far from it, but she was embarrassed enough at being turned down that she didn't want to admit it.

"Goodnight, Holly. Call me if first chair opens up." Mariana pressed a kiss to Holly's cheek before hailing a cab.

Holly let out a sigh as she brushed her dark hair out of her face. Rejected, again, this was the icing on the shitcake that the night had turned out to be. She looked up at the night sky; she was surprised at how many stars she could make out despite the city lights. But then the world started to spin and she realized that it was about to be an even longer night before she spewed her guts all over the concrete.

"You are so disgusting." Frankie told Holly as she approached her friend. She had caught the end of the conversation between Mariana and Holly when she had arrived, but had opted to hang out by her car rather than draw attention to herself. She recognized the girl that Holly was with as the girl from the bar, the one who had been friends with Vicky, the waitress who had thrown water on Chloe. Yeah, she had already dealt with enough crazy that night she didn't need any more of it.

"What are you-" But Holly's question was interrupted as she started to retch again.

"I got a call that you were wasted and pissing off the bartender." Frankie explained as she moved forward to hold her friend's hair as she finished emptying the contents of her stomach.

Finally done Holly groaned and leaned back against the wall. It was a good wall, very solid and dependable. She didn't know what she would've done tonight without it (probably made friends with the sidewalk).

"Did you let it all out? Because if you puke in my car I'm making you detail it."

Holly nodded and gave her wall a small pat before she let herself get led to Frankie's car. Frankie drove in silence as her friend almost instantly fell asleep beside her. She was going to give her an earful tomorrow when she had sobered up and could really appreciate Frankie's sacrifice. When she pulled up in front of Holly's apartment, Rachel was waiting outside as promised. Frankie had enough foresight to text her from Holly's phone before they left the bar.

"She's all yours," Frankie called out as she went around the car to help Rachel get Holly out of the vehicle.

"Lucky me." Rachel grumbled as she took the brunt of Holly's weight. "What happened at the Penny?"

"No clue. Just got a call to get her. I had to cut a date short for this so you're going to owe me, Stewart."

"Aye, aye captain." Holly gave a mock salute as she started to topple over before Rachel caught a hold of her once more.

Frankie smirked at the Gail-ism Holly had just displayed. She had clearly been spending a lot of time with the blonde. She glanced between the two roommates, "Can you get her in?"

Rachel nodded, "I'll manage. Thanks for dropping her off." She then turned her attention to her roommate, "Come on boozer."

Frankie gave one last wave before hopping back in her car. Maybe when she got home, Chloe would be waiting for her.

---

Holly struggled to keep her eyes open as the world continued to spin around her. Getting out of Frankie's car had been a miracle in itself, but now Rachel was trying to convince her to walk up the steps leading to their building door. "Ugh, Rach, I don't want to go upstairs."

"Clearly," Rachel grumbled as she shifted uncomfortably under her friend's weight. Not only was Holly taller than her, but she was also getting a firsthand lesson of the fact that muscle weighed a hell of a lot more than fat, especially when owner of said muscle could barely stand. She was going to need some kind of cooperation to steer her friend up to their apartment now that Frankie had left. "Why not?"

Holly gestured wildly towards the building, "Those stairs look dangerous and I see two sets of them, and I still don't want to see Lisa."

"Holly..." Rachel's tone was sympathetic even if she was frustrated that they were still standing outside.

"And I really don't want to see two of her." She continued to vent.

Rachel barked out a laugh, "No one does. She's not home. Now will you come up?"

Holly nodded and with a lot of effort and only one fall on her ass in the building lobby, she let Rachel guide her up to their apartment. She had been seated at the island in their kitchen as the other medical student was trying to ply her with as much water as she could force down.

"Want to tell me what happened tonight?" Rachel asked as she refilled Holly's glass of water again.

Holly covered her face with her hands as bits and pieces of the night flashed into her mind. She felt nauseous once more.

"I screwed up."

Holly's voice was muffled by the hands she had covering her face, but Rachel had still caught it

"It wasn't your fault that Jess was there, Lisa and her had conspired against you, it wasn't right and you already had some drinks, I would want to drink more too after that."

"What? Oh, yeah there's that but I meant I screwed up with Gail."

"What do you mean?"

"I went to the Penny to find her and when she wasn't there I started drinking with some girl I met the other week with Frankie. And she is pretty and smart, and funny. We were talking and laughing and drinking. But she wasn't Gail and I wanted her to be. Then Gail was there and she was mad at me and I couldn't explain it but then I was mad too. And what am I supposed to do now?" Tears were starting to collect in the dark brown eyes as her drunken ramble concluded.

Rachel reached out to her friend and rubbed soothing circles on her back, "Why don't you talk to Gail in the morning?" Maybe once she was sober she could sort all this out

"Because she's avoiding me." That was the bitter truth.

"Things will be different tomorrow, come on drink some more water, brush your teeth, and get to bed."

Holly hoped her friend was right.

---

When Frankie returned from getting Holly home, the house was dark. It didn't look like the rest of the housemates had gotten back yet. Whether they were at the bar still or the Mancave was anyone's guess. Unfortunately, there was also no light on for Chloe either. She stopped by the redhead's closed door and tried knocking lightly, in order to not wake her if she was sleeping. When she had gotten no response she had decided to retreat to her own room. One date was all that she had asked for and the universe had blown up the entire night in her face.

She sullenly opened the door to her room and was stopped in her tracks by the sight of a guest in her bed. One would think that she would be used to having unexpected visitors since Gail made it a habit of spending nearly as much time in Frankie's bed as her own, but this time it was a mop of red hair spilling out across her pillow.

Chloe glanced up from the tablet in her lap at the noise of the door. The small smile on her face grew three sizes. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Took you a while huh?"

"Well I had to make sure Holly didn't puke in my car."

"Were you successful?"

Frankie nodded, she was still perched in the doorway as she studied the girl in her bed. Chloe had one of her bright smiles on her face, but her eyes were darker than usual as she trailed them over Frankie, who was still wearing her outfit from earlier in the night. Frankie could only see that Chloe had changed into a t-shirt, actually it was one of her old t-shirts and she was lounging in the bed as if it belonged to her. "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing up here Muppet?"

Chloe shrugged and smiled teasingly, "Wanted to see exactly how many notches are really in your bedpost."

But the joke fell flat with Frankie as it reminded her of the argument with Juliet. She frowned and walked stiffly from the doorway to her closet to look for clothes to change into. "Right."

Noticing the shift in tone, Chloe quickly went to assure the other girl that she was playing, "I was just kidding Cranky."

Frankie abandoned the search to fix the girl in her bed with a serious look, "I'm not trying to turn you into a notch."

Chloe smiled wider and moved out from under the covers. She shifted so that she was resting on her knees at the edge of the bed facing Frankie, "And what if I want you to?" The flirtatious tone was unmistakable.

Frankie smirked as she made her way over to the bed, stopping only a few centimeters in front of the freshman. Now that she could see all of her, Frankie couldn't help but notice that the shirt was the only thing covering Chloe and it barely reached the bottom of her ass. She rested her hands on Chloe's sides just above her petite waist, which caused the shirt to ride up ever so slightly more, "So you came up here to seduce me?"

Chloe's hands moved up to lock at the back of Frankie's neck, "Is it working?"

"Might be." Frankie conceded as moved her hands to Chloe's bare thighs, enjoying the feel of the smooth skin as she slowly slid her fingers higher.

Chloe's breath hitched at the contact and her voice lowered, but her teasing smile never faded, "Good, but that isn't why I came up here."

Frankie's hands continued their slow ascent, desire fogging her brain as she became more and more curious about how little clothing the other girl was really wearing. "It's not?" She asked in a husky voice, her eyes locked firmly on Chloe's.

"No. I came up here to break your damn bedpost," Chloe declared before pulling Frankie in for a searing kiss.

Forget her body, it was the kind of kiss that set her soul on fire.

---

Gail finished closing up the bar with Charlie. He offered her a ride home since it was after 2am but she refused. She wanted to walk, needing the exercise even though she could feel the swelling in her feet and the fatigue that had seeped into every muscle of her body weighing her down. Not sleeping would do that. Tonight though, seeing Holly drinking and laughing with another girl had felt like someone had dropped her heart into a bucket of ice and that weighed heavier than any other muscle in her body. But what was she supposed to do? She knew that the brunette had been drunk, but she said she had come to see her. Helping stupid McNally out had apparently resulted in her deciding to hook up with some other girl right in front of her. Seriously? Of all the places, she had to come to where Gail worked.

Gail made it home without any issues but no closer to an answer as to why Holly would act the way she did. Why had she been looking for Gail in the first place and why would she give up so easily? It shouldn't have surprised Gail; really, she wasn't the person that people stuck around for. She didn't bother grabbing anything from the kitchen having lost her appetite, and instead went straight to her room. She wasn't surprised to find her roommate's bed empty. She had mentioned having a date, and even though she refused to say who she wasn't fooling Gail. The blonde couldn't help feeling a little jealous as she stripped from her work clothes and collapsed in bed. She hoped that the exhaustion would drown out the thoughts in her head.

She could see them from where she was standing. It's not like they were hiding or anything, just sitting on the steps outside of the house talking closely and laughing. She could see her push a lock of hair behind her ear before she leaned forward slowly, but that was enough for her. She didn't need to see anymore, she needed more booze. So that's where she was headed but she didn't get very far when a door slammed into her...

Gail awoke with a start as she heard Chloe trying to stealthily slip back into their room. The sun was up but a glance at the phone told her it was only 6:30am. She let out a sigh and brushed her hair back as her fingers grazed the rough skin on her forehead. She hadn't had that particular dream in a while and every time before now it had always featured Nick and Andy. It was the moment that had sent her back into that house for more alcohol and the reason she went upstairs in the first place. But this time her dream had replaced her ex and their friend with Holly and the girl she had been with at the bar. Was it weird that this dream hurt more?

---

The next morning Frankie came downstairs in a pair of boy-shorts and her shirt from the night before partially buttoned. She had been too lazy to grab a different shirt when that one had been laying on her floor where it had been unceremoniously discarded by a certain captivating vixen. She had slept in after the night's activities, which only ended because the freshman had decided to return to her bed before anyone woke up. Now she needed coffee, but she hadn't expected to see all of her friends in the kitchen. She paused for a second in the hallway, opening and closing her fists as she briefly contemplated turning back, but her need for caffeine overruled any desire to avoid questions. So she decided to just ignore them as she headed to the coffee pot. Her friends' conversation mysteriously stopped as she breezed by. She could feel their eyes on her, annoying her. "What?" She demanded without looking at any of them as the freshly brewed liquid filled her cup.

"Nothing," Jerry said trying to mask his grin with the coffee mug Juliet had just given him.

"Okay then." Frankie said, turning around and taking a sip as she settled against the counter.

Sammy zeroed in on his friend with a devilish grin, "I've got a question."

Frankie glared at the boy, "I keep telling you, your voice will drop once puberty hits." Both Juliet and Jerry snickered at the comment.

But Swarek ignored the barb, "Not a good night, Frankenstein?"

Frankie rolled her eyes at the nickname, "Better than yours, I'm sure, Sammy."

"So who were you with?"

"What's it to you?"

Sammy's sly grin widened, "Well I heard Price was missing too."

She kept her face unreadable, "Wouldn't know, I'm not her keeper." She hoped that would be the end of the interrogation.

But the boy refused to drop the topic, "So you two weren't together?"

"She was pissed at me for someone's comments." Frankie volleyed a glare in Juliet's direction for added emphasis. The other senior frowned but kept her mouth shut.

Sammy pressed on, "So then where were you?"

"A club."

"Alone?"

"Holly was there." The two were firing off the questions and answers at lightning speed. Frankie knew that any hesitation would be seen as an admission, but she also wanted to steer the conversation in a different direction so she volunteered something she knew would get them off on a tangent. "Also ran into Gabi and Jess."

Juliet couldn't stay quiet any longer as she voiced all of their concerns, "Oh god, you didn't get swept back up in that chaos did you?"

"No." The skeptical looks the other three gave told Frankie that they didn't believe her. "Really, I swear that I did not get pulled back into Hurricane Gabi."

"That's good because you two used to fight as loud as you used to fu-"

"Sammy!" Juliet cut off her friend.

But Frankie was unaffected by the comment as she coolly replied, "Do you need some pointers on how to get a woman to moan Sammy?" She shot a mocking smile at her friend.

As Sam puffed up in response, Jerry broke into the conversation to stop the two from getting into a pissing contest, one where Frankie would obviously win and Sammy would sulk the rest of the afternoon, "We're going to head to the library and work on our project for Jarvis' class. Do you want to come with us?"

"No."

"You never hang out with us." Jerry pointed out to his friend. It also didn't hurt that the boys were struggling with their case and could use both of the girls' input.

"So whiny, god." Frankie complained as she drained the rest of her mug.

"So you're coming."

"No."

"We'll carry you out if we have to." Jerry warned with his own devilish grin as Sam nodded in agreement.

It wouldn't be the first time that had happened and Frankie didn't have the energy to wrestle the boys. "Fine, let me put on pants," she conceded as she headed to the stairs.

"Don't take forever!" Sam hollered after her.

"You're the ones that want my company, you can wait."

"Five minutes Anderson, or we're invading your room." He shouted and settled back in the kitchen.

"So are you two still not talking?" Jerry asked Juliet as she tidied up the kitchen while they waited.

Juliet let out a sigh, "I'm talking, Frankie's mostly ignoring me." Things were still tense but at least now Frankie would be in the same room as her, and she had answered her call the night before. That had surprised Juliet; she had been prepared to leave a message about Holly after everyone at the table had pushed her to call Frankie when they noticed how much the med student had been drinking.

"I thought you told Gail already?" Sam asked.

"I did," Juliet confirmed before adding bitterly, "Not that I had to since she already knew."

Both boys were shocked, but Jerry was the one to speak up, "Wait, Frankie told her?" They had never actually believed that she would go through with the threat.

"No, she guessed on her own."

"So why is Frankie still avoiding you?"

Juliet simply shrugged and boys decided to drop the topic since their friend was obviously hurting from it. After a while, Jerry checked the time and he rock-paper-scissored Sam for who would be the one to approach the dragon upstairs. He lost.

"Your five minutes are up Francine." Jerry shouted up the stairs, so that his friend would hear him.

"Call me that again, Jerome, and you'll be surgically removing my shoe from your ass."

"Touchy," Jerry muttered as he settled back down on his stool.

Juliet rolled her eyes, "I'll go up." The boys wished her luck on her way up the stairs.

Juliet knocked on the open door and leaned against the frame, "Hey."

"I'm not going to hurry up just because I have an audience."

"What did you end up doing last night before I called?" Juliet asked as she glanced around the messy room. She noticed that the sheets had been stripped off Frankie's bed and that more than a few articles of clothing were strewn about.

"None of your business." Frankie replied coldly as she pulled on a pair of jeans.

Juliet couldn't take the snippiness anymore, "Frankie, I don't want to keep fighting with you. I'm sorry ok, I'm sorry for messing things up between you and Chloe and I'm sorry for not telling you about Nick."

"And why didn't you?"

"I just didn't want things to get messed up. These girls are the first ones to not treat me like a traitor, I didn't want anyone to find out and for them to start looking at me like that." Juliet, like the rest of her friends, didn't care much about what other people thought but it had been pretty brutal on campus for a while.

Frankie could feel herself softening a bit at her friend's insecurity. There was no doubt that Juliet had the done the right thing two years ago but it had cost her a lot with regards to her reputation. Frankie, Sam, and Jerry had done their best to help defend her but college kids could be vicious. "These are different circumstances."

"End result would be the same. I wanted to keep senior year drama free but not at the expense of our friendship."

Frankie rolled her eyes, she was tired of fighting too but wasn't in the mood for all these feelings. So she ushered her friend towards the stairs, "Let's go, before the boys storm up here and raid my closet."

---

"Can you please just answer her calls?" Steve pleaded with his sister. He had picked her up for lunch that day and taken her to the shooting range for some sibling bonding. Between her schoolwork and job and his weird shiftwork, he hadn't had much time to hang out with the blonder Peck. It also hadn't helped that their mother had been on his ass about her. He had been working hard to keep her out of Gail's hair so she could enjoy the college experience but with the holidays and break swiftly approaching his baby sister was going to have to deal with her eventually.

"No." Gail replied resolutely and even crossed her arms for added defense. Gail only answered about one out of every ten calls her mother placed and it was only out of self-preservation so that the Superintendent didn't invade her house, or job, or send a patrol car after her.

"Gail, she's not as bad as you make her out to be."

"Not to you Golden Boy, but our mother hates me."

"She doesn't hate you, she just wants what's best for you."

"With absolutely no consideration for what I want. She only tolerates me because I'm a reflection of her. And she doesn't like what she sees. I'm not Peck enough for her."

Steve really hated the way that their parents' ambitions had shattered his sister's confidence in herself. They had always pushed them both, probably harder than most parents would but Steve decided to just use it as motivation to become a great cop, but Gail wanted to push back. It was definitely easier for him because he wanted this life and to live up to the Peck dynasty, but he also wanted his sister on board. "You don't have to do what they want," The sulking girl nodded before he continued, "But are you really telling me you don't want to be a cop?"

It wasn't that. Gail wasn't entirely against joining the force. For as much as she hated people, she didn't mind the idea of protecting those who needed it and the concept of service was ingrained into her DNA at this point. But she knew she would never be able to live up to her parents' expectations of her and she feared how bad it would be when she finally crumbled under the pressure. So quitting now before the inevitable was her best bet. "That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Well I love it."

"Good for you."

Steve shook his head at his sister. A part of him had been hoping that she wasn't still so set against policing because it was going to make the next thing he had to tell her worse. "Since you won't answer Mom's calls, I guess I should be the one that gives you the heads up."

"What now?"

"She signed you up to intern at the station during your winter break."

"She did what?" Gail furiously asked. She directed all her anger and frustration of her mother trying to dictate her life at the messenger.

Steve quickly tried to calm his sister, "She was originally going to have you with her at the big building but I convinced her you would learn more at 15."

"You should've convinced her that my time would be better spent earning money."

"You know how she is once she makes up her mind. She said that if you had time to work and volunteer at the hospital you also had time for this. Look it could've been worse, at least this way you get to hang out with me."

"Oh joy." Gail sarcastically mumbled as she slumped further in her seat. She knew that her brother was right and that she would rather be with him than forced into spending each and every day shadowing their mother and listening to all the ways she needed to change. But that didn't equate to being happy about the situation.

"Come on, I'm awesome." Steve flashed his sister one of his cheesy grins.

"You suck."

"Well you also get to hang out with Oliver."

That was the only bright spot. At least Oliver would fill her up with doughnuts and coffee to make her feel better about her month long prison sentence. "Fine."

"That's the spirit." Steve flashed his sister a genuine grin and decided to change the subject. "So is it ok if I ask your girlfriend to come to the party with me at the end of the year?"

Ugh in case the holidays weren't bad enough there was also the New Year's Day party her parents hosted, but now Steve brought up another subject that was eating away at her: Holly. "She's your girlfriend not mine."

"Just wanted to make sure it was ok with you that she keeps up the charade."

"Like I said she's not my girlfriend."

"Little sister you do know that you can talk to me about it right? I know you like Holly way more than I've seen you like anyone ever."

"Doesn't matter, she was on a date last night."

"What? With who?" Steve stared at his sister in complete shock. As far as he knew Holly had only been interested in Gail. He slammed his breaks when he caught sight of the red light out of the corner of his eye.

"Watch the road before you get us both killed. God how did you ever pass the driving test?" Gail gruffly complained as she lurched forward into the locked seatbelt and braced herself.

"Don't change the subject."

"I don't know Steven, why don't you ask her since she's your buddy."

"Gail, Holly is into you and she doesn't hook up with more than one girl at a time. She's a serial monogamist."

"Well maybe you should tell her that." Gail bitterly replied. She couldn't get the image of Holly flirting and drinking with the girl in the booth last night out of her head.

"I will."

"Oh no you won't" The look in her brother's face told her that he had ever intention of following through with the plan to talk to Holly. "Don't make me castrate you. Mom would really despise me if I ruined her only chance for perfect grandchildren."

"Look, I'm sure it wasn't what it looked like. Just talk to Holly."

"What does it matter? It's not like I could bring her there as my date anyway. I can't exactly explain to Mom and Dad that I'm seeing your girlfriend."

"They wouldn't believe it anyway." Steve cockily replied to rile up his sister. They loved teasing each other about who was the better Peck.

Gail opened her mouth to retort as they pulled up in front of her house but her train of thought completely derailed. "Oh god." She said in horror as she glanced at her house.

"Oh man, this is great." Steve pulled out his phone to snap a picture. "Ollie is going to love this."

"I am surrounded by losers." Gail shook her head in disbelief at the innumerable objects littering the lawn in front of her house and the boys'.

Steve laughed, "Alright, hurry up and grab your stuff and I'll drop you off before my shift because I'm the best big brother in the world."

Gail rolled her eyes, "You're lucky I hate walking."

---

The seniors were on their way home from studying. They wanted to drop off their stuff before they went out drinking. They slowed as they approached both houses, which were currently covered in enough lights to blind them all. Everywhere they looked there were candy canes, elves, reindeer, and at each house was at least one Santa incarnation.

"What the hell?" Frankie was tempted to punch the elf closest to her hand.

"It looks like the North Pole threw up all over the place." Sammy's face mirrored the same look of disgust as Frankie's.

"Price." Both girls said in unison, as they continued to stare at all the decorations covering their house.

"Diaz." The boys echoed, as they looked over their own.

"Well, guess it's that time of the year again." Jerry chuckled as he slapped Sam on the back. The boys' house had never really been decorated in the past since none of them could ever be bothered and the girls that used to live next door weren't as close with them.

"Unfortunately." Frankie muttered. It wasn't the decorations that were really bothering her, over-the-top though they may be. She just hated the holiday and didn't want the reminder of it.

"Don't be a Grinch." Juliet teased as she bumped Frankie with her elbow.

"Bah hum bug." The senior deadpanned, earning a chuckle from the others.

"That's a Scrooge." Jerry jested.

Sam recovered faster than Frankie and joined in on the raillery, "Going to be a problem with your girlfriend being head of the Christmas cheer committee, Anderson." The three had been ruthlessly teasing Frankie all day about Chloe, trying to get her to admit that something was going on between the two of them.

But Frankie continued to deflect. "Shut up, Swarek. Last time I checked Andy loves this time of year. Or are you with Marlo now?"

The two seniors continued to bicker for a bit while their best friends ignored them and inspected the two houses. Jerry and Juliet were more than accustomed to the way their moody best friends only became sullener the nearer the holiday became. They would both be going home to places they just didn't belong and weren't really wanted, but nevertheless they always went back for Christmas.

"Just because you two hate Christmas doesn't mean you have to ruin it for the rest of them." Juliet fixed them both with a warning look. She didn't want the two to diminish the hard work that the freshmen had clearly put into the houses. Plus, with Diaz leaving she was sure they were just using the decorations as a distraction.

Sam and Frankie rolled their eyes. "Yes, Mom," they sang in unison. Juliet swatted at both of them for their mocking.

"Guess we should start planning the party," Jerry pointed out. They threw a party at their house every year to celebrate the end of finals but this year they were planning on going all out and inviting as much of the school as they could. The girls just didn't know it yet.

"We'll talk about it at the bar, come on let's get a move on, the beer isn't going to drink itself." Sam headed into Santa's workshop, trying carefully not to let the holiday cheer physically touch him. It got ruined when Jerry picked up a candy cane to whack him with and the two started sword fighting with the decorations.

"Ten bucks says one of them electrocutes himself." Frankie stuck out her hand for the wager.

"Twenty says one of them gets hit in the eye." Juliet countered and the two shook on it before heading into their own Christmas festival.

---

By the time Steve dropped Gail off at the Penny for her shift, she could feel the knots in her stomach. Not only had he reminded her of the other annual Peck party, but he had also dropped the internship bomb. Her mother must not have mentioned it in any of her messages, knowing that it would give Gail time to try to think of a way out of it. But how she would do that was beyond her at the moment. So she tried to focus on her job as the crowd at the bar was already starting to grow.

She was arranging the bottles for the night. She liked them in a specific order but Charlie had moved most of them the night before when he was covering for her, so she was moving them back. She kept her head down as she felt Traci move behind her, not bothering to look up until Traci hit her lightly on the ass with the apron she was holding in greeting as she passed.

"Did you talk to Holly?" Traci asked as she tied her apron around her waist. She grabbed a new notepad and tray and started to arrange an order on it that she had picked up from the waitress who had just clocked out.

"Why does everyone want to know about Holly? You guys like her so much you can talk to her." Gail grumbled as she finished her display.

"I'll take your bad mood as a no." Traci was getting used to her caustic friend's disposition, having realized by now that her bark was worse than her bite. "You should talk to her."

"Why's that?" Gail demanded, glaring at Traci in defiance. She had been here the night before, had seen Holly out on a date, hell she had even served them their drinks, so why should Gail talk to Holly.

"Because she seemed to make you happy and everyone deserves to be happy Gail, even you." Traci gave Gail one of her warm smiles before grabbing her tray and heading off to feed the patrons.

Gail watched her walk away with a frown on her face as the words washed over her. She pulled out her cellphone and stared at the contact that she hadn't stopped thinking about. But it was a Friday night and Holly was probably out on another date and that thought returned her phone to her back pocket. She let herself get swallowed up in the busyness of the barroom to distract herself.

It was about halfway through her shift when the losers she lived with made their grand entrance. It looked like even the seniors had decided to hang out too. She briefly wondered why Jerry had a bandage on one hand and Sammy had an icepack on his eye, but she would have to ask later. She watched as the large group scared people away from their tables. She chuckled at their antics knowing that they couldn't see her where she was as she served a couple of customers. Once she was done she poured out a couple of pitchers and caught Traci's attention, who came over to collect the drinks for their friends. As the waitress walked off, Frankie grabbed a stool in front of Gail.

"You know she didn't go home with her."

"What are you talking about Anderson?" Gail asked as she held up a bottle of whiskey in her right hand and tequila in her left.

Frankie pointed to the tequila and watched as Gail poured out the shot for her. She took it before answering. "Holly didn't go home with that girl." Frankie explained slowly since her friend was being dense.

"Whatever."

Frankie had been talking to Holly via text all day and not only was she currently owed one favor no questions asked, she had also gotten the play-by-play of last night, at least as much as the med student remembered of it. She also knew that Gail had been avoiding Holly before the incident at the Penny. "Look, I don't know what's been going on between the two of you or what your problem is but last night she ran into Jess at some club. She came here looking for you and ran into someone she knew, that's who she was drinking with. But last night I was the one who took her home." Frankie left out the part where she was partly responsible for introducing the two in the first place.

"I thought you had a date with the Princess?"

Frankie ignored the question like she had been all day, "Point is, that Holly didn't go home with anyone, so don't be all pissy with her."

Gail decided to ignore the advice and concentrate on the topic that Frankie was clearly ignoring, hoping to fluster her friend. "You know the two of you should really be more discrete. I heard Chloe come back into the room." She poured out another shot for Frankie.

"Maybe you should try patching things up with Holly and then you won't have to spend so much time in your own bed." Frankie countered.

Gail smirked at the brunette's admittance. It was confirmation enough that Chloe had been with Frankie last night. "Maybe you should focus on your own lovelife and stay out of mine."

Frankie glanced back the table where their friends were and smirked when she noticed that there was an empty seat next to Chloe, she wondered if it was intentional. Regardless, she intended to put it to use. "Gladly," She grabbed her shot and sauntered off to join the others.

Gail wasn't entirely sure what to make of the information Frankie gave her. But now she knew that Holly hadn't actually gone home with the other girl and that she had had a run in with McD. She could feel her phone weighing heavily in her pocket and she had to resist the urge again to text the brunette.

---

By the end of her shift, Gail was ready to go home, but her friends had forced Traci and her to join them. Neither one was closing, but it was still midnight by the time they were both off their shifts. Her friends were well lubricated by this point and luckily were too distracted talking about some party and the Christmas decorations to bother her about Holly. She sipped her beer as she stared at her phone, contemplating again to reach out to the brunette. But it's not like the other girl had reached out to her either. In fact, it was the first day since they started really hanging out that she hadn't heard from her at all. That realization gave her a new sinking feeling.

"You should text her." Chloe's bright voice interrupted Gail's inner musings.

Damn it, apparently Chloe wasn't distracted enough, "Isn't there something shiny you should be looking at Princess," Gail asked, vocalizing every ounce of annoyance she felt at yet another person giving her Holly advice.

Chloe didn't need anything shiny when she already had Frankie to play with. She had enjoyed teasing the senior seated next to her the whole night. She had purposefully had conversations with everyone else at the table while tracing the inseam of Frankie's jeans. More than a few times, she had been swatted away when she had gotten too close to the apex of Frankie's thighs. She had heard Frankie struggle to maintain her composure while talking and the couple of looks the brunette had given her had assured her that there would be payback tonight. Chloe was looking forward to it. But in the meantime she was going to torture her roommate as well. "Holly likes you, you like Holly, I don't know why you two haven't been hanging out but it's a waste. Text her."

"Stay out of my business."

"Text her."

"Give it a rest."

"Text her."

"Shut it, Price."

"Text her."

"NO!" The sharpness of Gail's voice caught everyone's attention as they all turned to stare at the arguing roommates.

"If you don't then I will." Chloe taunted as she snatched the phone from the table before shooting out of her seat.

Gail was in hot pursuit, "I'll break every one of your fucking fingers, Price, give me back my goddamn phone." But before she could reach the redhead, Nick caught a hold of her. "Let go of me Collins."

"No way, Peck, you want to get to her you gotta go through me first."

Gail struggled against her ex-boyfriend but the damn boy was stronger than her, "Seriously Collins, I'll kill you, and kill her with your fucking dead body!"

The group at the table laughed at the reference to The Heat, and for a second Gail wondered if Holly would've added it to their movie list if she were here. Then she remembered that there were more important things to think about like slaughtering her roommate.

"What do you think her passcode is?" Chloe mused as she resumed her seat and shifted back into Frankie, further out of Gail's reach. Making good use of an excuse for more contact with the senior.

"Her birthday?" Chris suggested, shifting Gail's ire towards him.

Always a good guess, but then Chloe realized that she had no idea when her roommate was born, "Anyone know when that is?"

Both Andy and Nick supplied the digits; McNally winced slightly when she noticed the look Gail was giving her.

"Nope."

"Try Holly's birthday." The group suggested and Frankie supplied the numbers.

"How about spelling out P-E-C-K, 7-3-2-5." Dov offered.

"Epstein, how does it feel to know you're not going to live long enough to ask Sue out?" Gail glared at the pale boy who gulped. He had lucked out the night before when Gail had been distracted and couldn't embarrass him as she had hoped when he had chickened out, again.

Gail knew they were never going to get it, she had used a random number generator, which had given her 8-7-2-7, but she still wanted her phone back before they locked her out and she had to reset the damn thing.

"Crap, I'm locked out. Hey CrankyPants can I borrow your phone please." Chloe tossed Gail's phone on the table but Nick didn't release the death grip he had on the blonde, even when she stopped struggling, knowing that the second she got a hold of Chloe the redhead might actually be killed.

Frankie glanced between the fuming Gail and the smiling Chloe as she unlocked her phone and opened up to Holly's contact info, which Chloe copied into her own. "You should've started with my phone, I don't think you're going to be able to sleep safely in your bed tonight."

"Guess I'll have to find somewhere else to go." Chloe replied with a smirk. She saw the glint in Frankie's eye at her comment and couldn't help feeling a bit smug; no, she definitely didn't have to worry about her roommate for tonight.

"Chloe you might want to run, because I don't know how much longer I can hold on to the beast here." Nick warned as Gail resumed her struggling. The rest of the group laughed at the wrestling pair, causing the blonde to fume even more.

"Just give me a sec to send this."

Gail tried desperately to get out of Nick's hold and to reach Chloe before she sent out any messages, "Goddamn it, Price, there's not going to be anything left of you by the time I'm done."

"There, sent, too late now." Chloe taunted before Gail was released. Rather than deal with her roommate she immediately grabbed her phone, reset the code, and sent a text to Holly telling her to ignore anything Chloe may have said before storming out of the bar and away from all the traitors.

Once Gail exited, and Chloe's life was no longer in immediate peril, Frankie glanced over her shoulder at the phone in her hand, "You didn't send anything."

Chloe smiled wider, "Nope, but she just did."

---

Gail was back at her house in a flash, her anger causing her feet to pound the pavement at nearly a jog. She was torn between plotting her revenge and worrying about what exactly Chloe had sent. She kept her eyes glued to her phone as she waited for a response to her text. But the delivered message under the text taunted her as her phone silently rested in her palm.

She reached her front door and realized that she didn't want to go in, so she continued her angry march on her porch as she started to pace. She knew she needed to calm down but it was Holly and the backstabbing barflies had just conspired to text her when Gail was still upset with her. What right did they have to butt into her life? If Holly had wanted to talk to Gail then she would've texted, and if Gail wanted to talk to her then she would've. Well, that's not entirely true Gail did want to talk to Holly she just didn't know what to say. But that wasn't the point, the point was that she was going to get them back for their betrayal and it would have to be slow and when they least expected it.

Today was turning out to be a crappy day; then again every day had been lately with Gail's inability to sleep through the night. But that day in particular had started out decently when she was shooting shit with Steve before she found out about the internship. So in case she wasn't dreading winter break and the holidays enough, she now had to spend her days at the station. She knew there was no real way out of it; her mother had made the decision, which meant to hell with everything else. She could blow it off but not showing up would just make things worse for her in the end. Then at the bar she had to deal with the idiots she lived with bringing up Holly, with her roommate even texting her. Plus, she actually had to exert herself against Nick and had probably earned a few bruises from the match. But now the worst part was that she had texted Holly and still hadn't gotten a response. She didn't want to admit it but she did want to talk to the brunette, and even more so she wanted to see her.

She stopped pacing and stared at the front door of her house. She didn't want to be there, not right now. She didn't want to lay in bed staring at her ceiling dreading the moment that sleep took her to whatever dark place her mind wanted to trap her in. She needed to do something else. The bar wasn't an option, so she decided to turn around and keep walking in the other direction.

It didn't take long for Gail to end up outside of Holly's building, and even less for someone else to let her in. What did take a long time was for her to screw up the courage to actually knock on the med student's door. She stood there outside the door for at least 15 minutes just staring at it. She knew that anyone who walked by would probably think she was a creeper but she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing there. She just knew that the urge to see Holly and to wipe the memory from the night before from her mind was overwhelming. Frankie had told her that Holly had gone home alone, but that wasn't enough to erase the image of Holly out with someone else from her brain. Stupid brain.

She could hear a couple of voices laughing as they stumbled off the elevator.

"Gail?" Rachel asked between giggles as the guy she was with continued to tickle her sides.

"Hi Rachel."

"Holly know you're standing out here?" Rachel had tried to convince her friend to come out with just her earlier that night but she had staunchly refused. Not that it surprised her, Holly had refused to leave her room that entire day partly from her hangover and partly because she didn't want to run into Lisa. It had taken a while to even convince Holly to let her in, but once she did Rachel was able to coax the full story of last night out of her and convince her to eat something. So she knew all about Holly's conversation with Jess, her search for Gail, her drinking/flirting with some grad student, and her confrontation with Gail before leaving with said grad student. The story was disjointed and Holly couldn't remember all of it, but she had gotten the gist that her normally smart friend had made a series of poor choices. So when Holly had decided to stay in tonight, Rachel had suggested her reaching out to Gail to explain, she must have done so if the blonde was standing on her doorstep.

Gail just shrugged, she technically didn't know if Holly was even home since she had just decided to come over. But she also didn't want to admit to Holly's roommate that she was being creepy.

The nonresponse didn't seem to bother Rachel, then again she was distracted both by the alcohol she had drank and the guy who had his arms wrapped around her. So she continued on with her original plan and unlocked her front door, "Come on in."

Gail let the couple in ahead of her so that they could disappear into Rachel's room and it would give her a chance to speak to Holly without an audience. She waited till she heard the door shut and lock click before she approached Holly's closed door. There was a dim light on in the room so she knocked softly.

There was no answer so she knocked again a little harder. This time a bleary-eyed, disheveled Holly opened her door. Seeing Holly look so disoriented and flustered was actually really adorable. She had on a pair of sweats that were hanging low on her hips and a tight t-shirt that didn't quite reach the top of them, a sliver of skin showing each time she moved. Even like this, Holly was sexy. She offered a tentative, "Hey."

"Gail?" Holly blinked and moved her glasses off her face to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. She had no idea how the blonde had gotten into her apartment and wasn't entirely convinced she was actually awake right then, "What are you doing here?"

"I ummm...got off work and didn't really feel like being at home and I don't know I just thought that maybe you would be awake. But clearly I woke you up and I shouldn't have come so I'm just gonna go now." Gail turned to head back across the apartment, mentally berating herself for the impulsive decision to go there.

"Wait. Don't go." Holly wanted to reach out and physically stop Gail from leaving but she was still feeling a bit sluggish. "Please," she added in a hushed voice, just above a whisper.

The 'please' is what got Gail to stop moving. She turned around, "Really, we can talk another time, I didn't realize you were sleeping."

"I was ummm..studying..." Holly brushed her hands through her hair, hoping to smooth it out and give herself some semblance of being kempt.

"Do you always study with her eyes closed?"

Holly could feel the smile tugging at her lips at Gail's snarky tone, she had missed the banter over the last couple of week, "Only when the mood strikes me."

"Learning through osmosis?"

"Technically passive diffusion, osmosis only refers to the passive movement of water from hypotonic areas to hypertonic areas to even out the gradient."

Gail watched the way Holly's brain started to fire off faster as it shifted into nerd mode. The brunette might not even know her own name when she wakes up but she could give a whole science lesson. She could barely suppress the smirk on her face at the other girl's babbling. "Guess it works then."

"Mmhmmm," Holly murmured as she leaned against her doorframe, she was starting to feel more awake at least. "How'd you get in here?"

Gail gestured over her shoulder in the direction of Rachel's bedroom, "I bumped into Rachel in the hallway and she let me in."

"Do you make it habit to hang out in the hallways of apartment buildings?" Holly tried to keep her tone light and teasing.

"Just this one," Gail retorted before looking down at the floor, suddenly a bit embarrassed at showing up unannounced. "Ummm...did you get my text?"

Holly scrunched up her forehead in confusion. She had been hoping Gail would text her all day but she hadn't heard from her. She had tried to text the blonde a bunch of times but her embarrassment and guilt made all of her messages sound insane so she deleted each one without sending any. She reached for the pockets of her sweats but they were both empty so she moved into her room in search of her phone.

Gail walked over but hovered in the doorframe as she watched Holly dig through the papers and books spread across her desk and bed.

"I don't know what Price might have texted you, but whatever it was can you just delete it?"

Finally finding her phone, Holly opened up her messages and only found one unread. "Chloe didn't text me."

Gail had been nervously fidgeting while she waited for Holly to find her phone but she froze at that revelation, "She didn't?"

"No, only unread message I have is from you." Holly walked over and held out her phone for Gail to see. The message was the one from Gail warning Holly about Price.

"She's so dead when I get a hold of her." Gail couldn't believe the sneakiness of her roommate. Price was going to wish she had never been born by the time the blonde was down with her.

Holly had no idea what was going on or why Chloe would text her in the first place, as far as she knew the redhead didn't even have her number, "What did you think she said?"

Gail let out an angry sigh. "I have no idea, but I figured it would be something stupid and probably inappropriate."

Holly may not have gotten any text, but whatever Chloe had done had convinced Gail to come see her so she was grateful. She needed to talk to the blonde about last night and as hard as it was it was better to do it in person. "Well, I'm glad that it brought you over here. I need to apologize about yesterday. That girl you saw she was just someone I had met once before." Holly tried to maintain eye contact with the sharp blue eyes that were studying her carefully. She wanted Gail to know how sorry she was.

"Who you decided to take home with you?" Gail pointed out, the bitter words slipping off her tongue as she threw Holly's actions back in her face.

"I didn't take anyone home with me." Holly could vaguely remember leaving the bar with Mariana but she didn't remember much of the conversation outside before getting into Frankie's car.

"Because Frankie took you home." Gail still didn't know why Frankie had been there, but if she hadn't then maybe she wouldn't have been alone. She could feel the jealousy eating away at her, the thought of Holly with someone else made Gail's blood boil.

Holly had made a series of stupid decisions, the first one being going out with Lisa and Rachel at all. She had drank way more than she usually does, but she had been upset and just wanted to not think for awhile. "I'm really sorry about last night, Gail, I was already drunk when I got to the bar and ran into her. I had been looking for you but when you weren't there..."

"You decided to move on. By the way I was helping McNally with something, that's why I wasn't at the bar, but I had been there from the time I got out of class." Gail's tone had even more bite to it than she intended but the thought that Holly would so willingly throw her away like everyone else cut deeply.

The guilt hit Holly even harder, Gail hadn't lied to her, she had been helping a friend. It explained why Gail had appeared when she had been drinking with Mariana. It made Holly feel even worse about the choices she made. "Gail I wasn't moving on, I just was having a bad night, first I ran into Jess then I went to see you and you had been avoiding me and I just thought that you didn't want to see me anymore or something." Holly's voice had gotten quieter as her insecurity got the better of her once more.

Gail started to protest. "I wasn't..."

"Please don't say you weren't avoiding me. You were acting differently and I had no idea what I did."

It was true, Gail had been acting differently towards Holly but it was because she had been overwhelmed by how much she was starting to want Holly around. When she had been freaked out over the needle, Holly had been able to calm her. The best nights sleep she had gotten all year revolved around hanging out with Holly. And when she didn't see her the last two weeks she had actually missed her. Gail wasn't used to feeling this strongly about anyone and she hoped that with a little distance she could control it. But she couldn't admit that now. So she went with another half-truth instead, "You didn't do anything. I was just busy and stressed."

Holly had a feeling it was something more, but she didn't know whether or not to push the subject. She knew that Gail had a tendency to be more open around her but she figured it was because she didn't feel like she needed to constantly be on guard. She didn't want her to feel that way now either. So she just nodded.

Gail didn't like the look on Holly's face; it was filled with worry and insecurity. She hated that she had been the one to put it there. Holly had actually thought that Gail didn't want her when it was the opposite problem: she wanted her too much. "I did want to see you."

The words washed over Holly providing some relief, "You did?"

Gail took a tentative step forward so that she was close enough to touch Holly if she wanted to. When Holly moved a little closer as well, Gail felt a bit braver and reached out to hold Holly's hand. "I did. I was happy to see you at the bar till I noticed you weren't alone." She took a breath before continuing on, "I didn't like seeing you with someone else."

Holly didn't want anyone else and she needed Gail to understand that. "Even when I was talking to her I kept thinking about you. You were the only person I wanted to be with last night."

Gail didn't know if that made her feel better about last night or worse, but right now she just wanted to burn the whole night from her memory. She moved closer to Holly, dropping her voice she asked, "And what about tonight? Am I the person you want to be with tonight?"

Holly could feel her breath catch as Gail invaded her space. They were close enough that Holly could feel the heat radiating off the other girl and she wanted nothing more than to kiss her. "Y-yes." She mentally cursed herself for how uncool she sounded.

The answer was all the incentive Gail needed to tug Holly in for a passionate kiss. Her hands moving to Holly's waist to pull their bodies together as Holly's hands moved up to tangle themselves in the long blonde waves. Their mouths moved relentlessly against one another. The kisses were demanding, possessive, as if Gail wanted nothing more than for Holly to forget any other girls existed in this world. There was no resistance as Gail guided Holly back to her bed. As Gail pushed Holly down roughly, the brunette bounced back up, pushing into Gail but breaking the kiss with a hiss of pain as she landed on the sharp edge of a textbook.

"Sorry," Gail murmured as she tried to sweep the books and notes off the bed as quickly as she could with one hand while the other held Holly tightly against her, their legs still tangled together and her lips quickly moving to Holly's neck, knowing how much it drives the brunette wild. Her mouth sucked at the smooth skin harshly, willing to leave a mark, and wanting people to see it and know that Holly was taken. Gail started to move the kisses downward, set on leaving more marks, ones only for Holly to see, ones to remind her of exactly who gave them.

Holly let Gail take control of her body, knowing it was something they both wanted. When Holly had been with other girls their jealousy had usually resulted in fighting and hurtful words not passionate embraces and greedy caresses. But as Gail touched Holly in ways that Holly didn't even know she liked she decided that the blonde had a much better way of showing her feelings.

---

A/N: Still writing the next chapter but it won't be a long wait this time. Should be posted by next week.