"Why are we doing this again?" Camilla said, pouting as she clung to Dominic's neck in the empty classroom.

"If we want Forger to believe we've had a fight and I'm devasted, he'll have to either see it happen or hear about it through the rumor mill, and the only way to make that happen…" Dominic said.

"…is to have a public fight at school. I know. I just," she looked away from him and lowered her voice, "I don't want to."

Dominic grinned with too many pearly teeth. "Is the great Camilla Bronson going to miss me?"

"Yes, you ass. You don't get to tease me about that when we're dating."

Dominic chuckled softly. "I'm going to miss you, too. But it's only for the school day. I'll call you as soon as I get back from Forger's."

"Promise?" She looked up at him.

"I promise."

She sighed. "Okay, let's do this." She disentangled her arms and began moving her leg to step away.

Dominic pulled her back into a tight hug which he released her from after stealing a kiss. "Sorry, I just needed that."

"Damn it, Dominic. It's impossible to be mad at you when you're so sincere all the time."

"Sorry, babe. I'll try to channel the ass side of me."

She rolled her eyes as she left the room before him and began storming off, as they'd planned. He chased after her calling out her name which she ignored until they got to the courtyard.

"What?" she said loudly as she turned around.

"Camilla, please tell me why you're upset," he said.

"You know why!" she turned to leave.

He grabbed her wrist to hold her in place. "No if I did, we wouldn't be having this argument."

"Don't do that!"

"What?"

"Don't act like I'm the one who's being unreasonable. You know what you did, and you can't just charm your way out of it like you always do. Not this time," she said turning back to face them.

"What do you mean 'like I always do?' The only thing I always do is try to pacify you. And you know what? You are being unreasonable. I don't know what I did, and you're pouting like a child and expecting me to read your mind. I don't have ESP, babe."

"Always try to pacify me? What like I'm some monster who can't control herself? Wow, Dominic. Fuck you. You know I'm working on that in recovery. How dare you bring that up here!"

"God, Camilla, when are you going to stop using recovery as a crutch."

She forcefully threw her captured wrist down to free it from his grasp. "Don't talk to me. I don't want to see you right now."

"What does that mean?"

"It means if you don't give me some space, you're going to be ineligible for ELS, asshole."

"Fine!"

"Fine!" She walked away.

Dominic watched her storm off. As much as he loathed being apart from her for a school day, he had to admit that seeing her glare at him like that made him want her more. They would have to explore that later.

Loid brought out coffee for his two friends: Frankie sat on the right side of the couch looking uncomfortable about being that close to Dominic who sat on the left side looking only marginally happier than his Zominic state. "I heard there was a fight. What happened?" Loid said.

"I don't know," Dominic said with a far-off expression.

"Look, I appreciate you letting us come over, but you know how I get about this kind of stuff. Can I borrow your desk to catch up on some algebra problems?" Frankie said.

Loid rolled his eyes. 'Of course, Frankie would be conveniently allergic to feelings right now. I just hope he's better with Ludmila.' "Fine." Loid settled back in the armchair, positioning himself as non-threateningly as he could. "So, Dominic, let's go through it from the beginning."

Frankie brought his backpack with him into Loid's room. He'd been here often enough that he knew exactly where his best friend was most likely to hide his journal: under the loose floorboard inside the storage compartment under the window seat. He started there, tossing Loid's Eden sweater and a number of pillows off before opening the compartment and shifting the soccer ball and other odds and ends out of the way. He pulled up the floorboard and eagerly freed the notebook. Bringing it up to the light, he looked at it closer. 'A notebook of music staves? I didn't know Loid played an instrument.' It was a notebook filled with the beginnings of a suite for Yor on piano. 'Well, that's embarrassing, but she doesn't read music, and there's no way in hell he'll play it for her now.' He put it back and covered his tracks. 'Where else would he put a journal?'

He checked the cliché places: under the bed, in the closet, behind the row of books on the bookshelf. Nothing. 'Come on, Franklin. You've known the guy for years. Think like Loid. Where would he put the journal?' His gaze fell on the desk, and it was suddenly so obvious. 'The only people who come into this apartment are Loid, his mother, and me usually. And he trusts us not to look.' There stacked neatly on the desk between two psychology books was a plain green leather-bound book. Frankie picked it up, and turned to the first page. It detailed the day before Loid and Yor officially met. A Friday in which nothing of interest happened except that Yor entered his classroom during one of the classes they didn't have together for an errand which caused Loid to be so distracted by her beauty that he fell out of his chair and made and ass of himself. Frankie brought a hand to his mouth to stifle his chuckle. 'Cute, but not good enough.' He kept flipping through until he found a section that exceeded his expectations which he ripped out of the journal and put in his backpack. 'Sorry, buddy.'

When Frankie re-entered the living room, Loid was explaining the concept of perspective to Dominic and suggesting that Camilla perceived the event differently. Dominic, seeing Frankie in the corner of his eye, jumped up and said, "You're exactly right! I bet she saw me giving directions to that 9th grader and took it completely differently! I have to talk to her."

"Wait! I don't know…" Loid said as Dominic rushed out the door.

"Yeah, he's gonna do it. Thanks anyways," Frankie said and walked to the door.

Loid looked perplexed. "You're going too?"

"Yeah, I've got a date to plan."

Loid looked more perplexed. "Since when?"

"Monday."

"So where are you taking her?"

"I have no fucking clue which is why I need to research my girlfriend tonight."

"Have you considered asking her what she wants?"

"Tried that. She said, 'surprise me.'"

Loid shook his head sympathetically. "Godspeed, my friend."