Keely woke up and instantly noticed how warm the room was. Tia was fast asleep, lying on her stomach. She looked on her other side: Phil was on his back, fast asleep, his arm hanging off the side of the bed. She grinned and slowly sat up next to him, careful not to disturb her bedmates too much.

"Wake up, Mr. Differs," she cooed lightly. He didn't stir. She tried again. "Wake up wake up wake uuuuup..."

"...the dancing stones are restless..."

She tilted her head in confusion. "Dancing... what?"

He rolled his head to face her and slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Keel!" he greeted her. "What time is it?" He rubbed his eyes, then glanced over at his arm, dangling over the edge of the bed.

She glanced over at the clock on the nightstand beside Tia. "It is.... 11:49."

He nodded slowly. "Still kind of tired."

"You're always 'still kind of tired' when you wake up," she reminded him.

He rolled onto his side and rested his head on Keely's right thigh. "Oh," he muttered when he saw Tia looking back at him on Keely's other side. "I remember now."

"Please don't do that this early, with me in the room," Tia requested. She blinked a few times and folded her arms underneath herself.

"Tia! You're up!" Keely squealed.

"Thanks to you two..."

Phil slowly threw back the blankets, got out of bed, and sauntered to the bathroom. Tia propped herself onto her hands and knees and arched her back down, leaning back and stretching her arms out in front of her.

"Thanks to us two? It's almost noon!"

"Too early," she said in a muffled voice, her face pressed into the mattress.

Phil walked out of the bathroom, brushing his teeth, and saw Keely leaning forward, one hand raised high into the air. She saw him out of the corner of her periphery and shyly slunk back into a sitting position. He gave her a curious look. She shook her head in return.

"So, um... you and Owen..." Keely began awkwardly.

"Me and Owen," Tia muttered, picking her head up and bringing her upper body forward, resting on all fours. "Me....... and Owen."

"Yeah... what are you gonna do about you and Owen?"

"Dunno. He made his choice. I don't know if there's really much I can do about it at this point."

"Tha's righ," Phil garbled, careful not to spill any toothpaste out of his mouth.

"I... okay," Keely mumbled as Phil headed back into the bathroom. He heard a loud clap, followed by a yelp, accompanied by familiar giggling. When he went into the other room, Keely had a large grin plastered on her face, and Tia was sitting on her hands at the foot of the bed, her lips pressed together to try and suppress a smile.

"ANYway," Tia said, throwing a look at Keely over her shoulder. "Like I said... I gave him an ultimatum. He chose to throw it back in my face."

"Well, yeah, but..." She groaned in frustration. "This was supposed to be such an awesome trip though! I'd hate for it to be marred by something like this..."

Tia shrugged. "You know what? I'm not gonna let it get to me."

"At least talk to him though? I mean maybe it was just a split-second decision that he's really regretting...."

"I'll try. But... if it's not, it's okay, Keely."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Cause I'll be here if it's not..."

"I know, Keely..." She slowly stood up and headed to the door. "I'm just gonna head over there right now..."

"Good luck!" Keely called after her, with some hopelessness in her voice. Her shoulders drooped as the door shut. Phil walked over to the bed and knelt beside her. She was frowning and looking at her feet moving back and forth beneath the blankets.

"Come on, Keel, it'll be alright... Tia... always does what's best for herself. You know that."

She shrugged. "I guess so..."

"And it's better that they approach this right now than just ignoring it and pretending there's no problem, and then turning it into a huge debacle down the road... this trip might have been just what they needed. A change of context to let them see each other better...."

She looked over at him. "That's not what's gonna happen to us, right?"

"Don't even say that..."

"Right..." She nodded as her hands picked at each other nervously in her lap. "Of course not..."

"C'mon. Gimme that smile."

One corner of her mouth curled up slightly.

"I know you want to!"

"Stop it!" she laughed. "You're such a nerd..."

"Just a nerd?"

"No... you're my nerd..." She smiled and looked over at him. He grinned in reply and slowly leaned towards her, closing his eyes.

"....Shower time!" she exclaimed, clapping him on the shoulder and bounding out of bed. He slowly opened his eyes and smirked as he watched her bounce to the bathroom and stick her tongue out at him. He laughed.

- - -

By the time Owen woke up, Via was already up and putting her shoes on.

"Oh. You're awake," she observed after hearing him stirring.

He groaned and sat up. "I was really hoping last night was a dream."

"I know what you mean. What are you going to do about Tia?"

"Well..." He scratched his head. "That's a damn good question."

"Waitin' on a damn good answer."

"I... she is not gonna like talking to me, is she?" he asked, hopelessly.

Via slowly nodded. "That's a fair assumption."

He sighed. "She's just so hard-headed sometimes. She drives me up the wall."

"Well... 'When two great forces oppose each other, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield'..."

"So... you're saying I shouldn't fight it."

"I don't think it's a stretch to say that Tia's diplomatic faculties may be in short supply... but just... just talk to her, Owen."

"Didn't she tell me it was over if I walked out that door?"

"Do you think she would've gone all aggro on me if she meant it?"

"....Well..." He scratched the back of his neck as he tried to avoid eye contact with her.

"Oh. Brilliant. Thanks, Owen."

"I mean... I don't know. Maybe you're right."

"She obviously wants this to work between you."

"...so what should I do?"

"Well..." she began delicately, "...that depends on if you want it to work out... and whether you think you two can make it work out..."

"Right..."

"Obviously a solid relationship is built on more than resentment..."

"Yeah... I think I get it..."

"Right. Sorry."

He sighed. "I think you're right... I should end it..."

Via looked down as she smiled softly to herself. "If that's what you think is best..."

He nodded slowly. "Guess it was bound to happen eventually... I just hope I'm doing the right thing."

"You're not..."

"What?!"

"There is no right thing to do... because there is no wrong thing to do."

Owen furrowed his brow as he considered what she said.

"I should be off," she announced as she stood up and headed to the door. "I might even get back to my room before Seth wakes up. At least that would help avoid any awkward conversations."

"Right... well I'll probably see you later today or tonight or something...."

"Mmh...." She paused at the door and looked over her shoulder at him. "Good luck. With Tia and everything."

He was staring fixedly at a particularly plain section of the blankets on the bed. "Yeah, thanks..."

She sighed as she watched his distracted gaze for a second, then shook her head and left the room.

Just as she was about to open the door to her room, a voice from behind her startled her.

"Via!"

She turned around and tensed up slightly upon seeing Tia approaching her.

"Tia."

"Look... about last night..."

"What of it?"

"I'm sorry."

This caught Via off-guard, but she was careful not to let it show. She slowly nodded. "...Okay."

"I was fed up with Owen acting like that, and then you came in, and I reacted... badly. But in my defense, you can be a royal pain in the ass..."

She pressed her lips together. "I'm sorry, is there a point to this?"

"Okay, so, I admit I might have gone too far, but ...you were sort of asking for it..."

"Right."

Tia raised her eyebrows. "That's it? 'Right'?"

"I was pushing your buttons, you reacted accordingly." Via shrugged.

"No, you're not supposed to just... accept it like that..."

"Oh I'm not?"

"No, you--... I don't..." Tia sighed, exasperated.

"I don't see what's so hard about this. I'm not mad about what you did. You should be happy, really."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not holding a grudge?"

"No, why aren't you mad? I beat the crap out of you!"

Via laughed. "Well, I wouldn't go that far, I mean—" She cut herself off abruptly when she saw Tia's expression (a mixture of confusion and annoyance) and cleared her throat. "I just don't see any point in harboring a grudge for something like this. You were worked up and I had been badgering you for some time... you snapped. Simple as that."

"I... I guess... Again. Sorry. ...I think."

"Don't worry about it."

Tia nodded and slowly walked away. Via sighed, unlocked the door, and headed into her room.