Max opened her eyes and yawned. She stopped mid stretch and groaned mightily. She focused on a point of light on the wall opposite her bed. Ugh, my head. She sighed. At least Amy was the onlyone with me. She swung her feet off of the bed and onto the plush carpeted floor and got up. She followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen and poured herself a cup, then walked out of the front door and grabbed the paper. It was less singed than it normally was. The paperboy must have hit the force field at a perfect angle. She was looking forward to actually being able to read the whole thing. She sat down on the couch and sipped her coffee, glancing at the cover.

Max heard the snap-hiss of a lighter being lit. She looked up suddenly, and tried not to look surprised when she realized that at some point, Dominique had silently joined her on the couch. She took a sip of her black coffee, and a long drag of her cigarette. She blew out a cloud of smoke. "Zis place is so boring," said Dominique as she raised her eyebrows slightly.

Unfolding the paper and opening the cover, Max ignored her and began reading. There was a small, but interesting article on page 2 about how the notorious Lucy Diamond had resurfaced somewhere in Europe a few days ago after having been "in hiding" for nearly two years. She then went on to read some article about upcoming construction on one of the freeways near the Debs house, and a less interesting article about skirt lengths in the upcoming fashion season.

Amy padded down the stairs and headed to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes as she did so. Max heard the refrigerator door open and glasses clinking. The blender started up. Max frowned at the pain roaring in her head. Am I really hung over? I just had one drink. Ugh. She thought again about the piano incident from last night.

Amy appeared in the living room with some kind of smoothie and sat down in the arm chair across from the couch. She looked over at Max and smiled. Max gave her a meaningful look, trying to convey that if Amy said anything, she would be facing her own death. Amy just nodded, and gave Max a full on smile. She sipped her smoothie, and looked towards Dominique. "You're up early."

"I smelled ze coffee. And ze boy with me was...how you say? Pigging up ze bed." Amy giggled. I think you mean 'hogging'. "Zis is what I say, non?" Janet emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. She rolled her eyes at Dominique. "Speak English or French. Frenglish is not a language." Then Janet rolled her eyes at Dominique's cigarette. "During breakfast? Some people are eating!" Janet looked at Max. "Tell her to put it out please!"

Max turned her head to look at Dominique. "What? It is done anyway!" She blew a smoke ring towards Janet and crushed her cigarette out in the ashtray. She returned to sipping at her coffee. Amy smiled again at Max. Max furrowed her brow and said, "Why do you keep smiling at me?"

Now with a full on grin at Max, Amy declared, "You have a blind date tonight!" Max looked at Amy and said nothing. She looked at Janet, who looked anywhere but at Max for fear she'd burst into laughter. She looked at Dominique, who actually happened to look slightly less bored at the moment.

"Oh hell no! With who? Did I...The piano player?"

Amy laughed, "No! I made a, um, friend last night who says her friend would be perfect for you. Neither of you drink." Dominique chimed in, "You could use some fun. You are tres serieuse." Max sighed. It has certainly been a long time. "OK. But you ever do this again and..." Amy looked appropriately apologetic. "I know, you'll hunt me down and kill me." Janet frowned at Max. She turned to Dominique and said, "I got a new scarf last night! It's teal. It will match one of my new sweaters perfectly! Max, if you'd like to borrow...you know, for your date..." Max honestly didn't know whether to laugh or explode at Janet. Instead she put her hand to her head, and lifted the paper and hid between it's pages. Dom looked at Janet, raised one eyebrow, and said, "When 'ave you ever seen Max wear a sweater?" She got up and went to the kitchen for more coffee. Janet responded, "What? It wouldn't kill her to look nice." Max shook her paper, and turned the page, hands crumpling it where she held it. Janet opened her mouth to say more, thought better of it, and went back to eating her cereal instead. Amy held back a laugh and walked towards the stairs. Halfway up, she looked down at the black marker on her hand, blushed and smiled. She was definitely looking forward to this call.

Lucy's heart practically skipped two beats when her phone rang. She checked the call ID, and then her heart did skip two beats. It was just a number, no contact name. Is it her? She tried to calm herself down to a level that wouldn't be considered over-eager. "Hello?"

"Hi! It's um Amy. Bradshaw. From last night? At the piano bar? You know the one with..."

"Yeah I remember!" I couldn't forget if I tried! "I'm glad you called."

Amy could practically hear the smile in Lucy's voice. Then she realized she had a big dumb smile on her own face. This girl has quite the effect on you Bradshaw. "So...I talked to Max about the date with your friend. Is tonight ok?"

Yes! Not only did I manage to land blind date numero uno for Scud, but Amy called me! What a perfect morning. "Yeah tonight should be fine. How about 8pm at ah, I dunno, I've been out of town for a long time. What's a good place for them to go?"

Amy considered it for a moment. Max loved Mexican food. At least she can plan this at a place where it wouldn't be a total loss if it didn't work out. Max certainly loved to eat. "Nueva Merida. It's a quiet little Mexican place. That should be perfect."

Lucy grabbed a pencil and jotted it down on a piece of scrap paper. There was a silence on the line for a few seconds. Lucy took a chance. "Um so, hey, did you want to grab a bite with me later tonight?"

Amy bit her bottom lip, blushed and didn't answer right away. She couldn't. She was too busy deciding what the butterflies in her stomach signified when Lucy asked her to dinner. "Oh, ah, yeah. Yes. I would really like that. What time and where?"

Lucy knew Amy was biting her lip at that moment, and almost forgot to answer. She shook herself out of her daze and tapped her bottom lip with the pencil. I know the perfect place. "How about you meet me at that piano bar at say...7?"

"That's perfect."

At this point, the conversation was for all intents and purposes, over. Yet neither one of them seemed to want to hang up the phone. Amy felt like she wanted to say something, but didn't know what. She felt like just shared silence over the phone was more real communication than she and Bobby had had their entire relationship.

Lucy felt a small smile form on her face. "I was hoping you would call. Especially because I didn't get your number."

Amy blushed yet again, and smiled a shy smile. What is it with this girl making me blush constantly? "I'm glad I did. Max needs a date. Badly. But the night was cut short, and I wasn't really ready to leave when I did last night." Amy paused again, but now felt slightly awkward. "Um, ok, I'll see you later then."

Lucy sighed lightly, but she knew she had to talk to Scud about blind date number one. "Ok. See you at 7?"

"Yes, 7. Can't wait to see y-..." Amy blushed. This time her entire face, down her neck and top of her chest blushed bright red. Wha? Did I really just say that? Did I really just think that?

Yeah, I was right, she's into me. Lucy, cocky as ever at that confirmation, ended the phone call by saying, "I can't wait to see you either."

Amy looked down at the cellphone. What was that? I can't wait to see her? She had no doubt tonight would be interesting. She jumped as the phone, still in her hand, started to ring. Ugh. "You Are My Sunshine." I really hate this song. Amy hit ignore and laid back on her bed.