"I don't think I want to go."

Nancy was sitting at her vanity, brushing mascara over her lashes, when she saw Bess's reflection in the mirror. She pushed the wand back into the mascara stick and turned around.

"Bess, you are so going."

Bess sighed and slumped dejectedly on Nancy's mostly made bed. "I mean, it'd be bad enough if I didn't know he was going to be there..."

"So you broke up with him."

Bess ducked her head and Nancy sighed. "You didn't."

"Well, once I figured out it was a false alarm, I just... it's not like it was real."

"And that gave him the right to just blow you off the way he did? Even when we all thought it was true?"

Bess ran her hand through her hair and shoved it back. "We haven't even been dating that long," she muttered. "I can't blame him for freaking out."

Nancy turned back to the mirror and took in the look on her face, forced herself to relax the tightening at the corner of her lips. "Can I blame him, then?"

"Please, Nan..."

Nancy gave up on her makeup and came over to the bed to sit beside her friend. "Look... do you honestly think he's worth it? I mean, how many times did you talk to him after you told him?"

Bess's expression shuttered. "I don't want to talk about this."

Nancy looked down at her hands. "Okay," she managed. "Okay, we won't talk about it. Will you do my eyeliner?"

"You guys ready yet?" George called from the other room, and Nancy studied Bess in the mirror before her friend walked over to join her.

"Not quite," Nancy called back.

Bess looked at Nancy's outfit, then dug through her makeup and picked out one of her eyeliner pencils. She knelt down and Nancy opened her eyes wide, and they began the usual routine. Nancy opened her mouth and searched Bess's eyes, and Bess fought to keep a straight face and hand before she giggled.

"You don't really think he's so horrible... okay, close your mouth," Bess said, standing up to see if her lines were even.

Nancy blinked, then looked obediently up at Bess. "I think he could have reacted better," Nancy said cautiously. "Did you... Bess..." she sighed. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad. Really, I'm not."

Bess sat down at the foot of Nancy's bed. "I'm not... I'm just sad," she said softly. "But that doesn't mean I'm about to give up on him, Nan. He's a lot of fun, and he cares about me. I know he cares about me."

Have you ever heard him say it? Nancy pressed her lips together and looked away for a minute, before she forced a smile. "Okay," she said, and the phone rang in the other room, and she caught the sudden twinned look of hope and fear on Bess's face.

"So you think maybe now you'll want to go?"

Nancy brushed off her knees and stood, and Bess followed, looking down at her strappy sandals. "I guess it'd be a shame to let you two have all the fun..."

"Nancy! Phone!"

She exchanged another look with Bess. "Good news, or bad?"

Bess shook her head. "Don't look at me. Any psychic powers I've ever had were totally sapped by this past week."

Nancy ran on the balls of her feet, her thin heels slapping on the hardwood, into the living room, where she scooped the receiver off the couch. "Hello?"

"Hey babe."

"Hey," Nancy replied, chuckling silently when Bess mouthed Ned's name and playfully rolled her eyes. "Tell me you're just calling to confirm."

"I'm... I want you guys to go on without me."

Nancy looked down at the gleam of her fingernails, her toenails, her freshly shaved legs. "But you're just going to be late."

"Yeah." Ned sighed. "Yeah, I hope so. It's just, I'm working on this huge account, and we have to do this presentation... and..."

"It's okay," Nancy said. "I mean... would you be... what if I just stayed in tonight, if you promise to call me..."

"Oh, I will definitely call you," he said, sighing in relief. "I'm so sorry. I mean, if you guys still want to go out..."

Nancy avoided looking at Bess, who had lifted a throw pillow and was poised to hit her with it. "No... I mean, Bess might, but--"

Nancy shrieked as Bess brought the pillow down and knocked the wind out of her with it, and George hurried in, still threading a wire earring through her earlobe.

"Nancy!"

"Sorry," Nancy laughed into the phone, picking up the other pillow and holding it poised threateningly in Bess's direction, but they both knew she was only bluffing. "I think we're gonna end up having a pillow fight, actually."

"Now you're just trying to get me to come over."

Nancy laughed. "I don't even want to know what you're picturing."

"No, you probably don't," Ned admitted. "Look... I swear, I'll call you back..."

"It's fine," Nancy assured him. "It's fine. But thanks for letting me know."

"You mean 'thanks for letting me know' in an 'you're an asshole' way, don't you."

"No, because your name's not Kent," Nancy said, almost under her breath, as Bess and George chased each other into the kitchen. "You'd better call me later."

"I will."

"Because otherwise, I will come find you."

"With a pillow, right?"

"Don't push it, Nickerson."

She could hear him smiling. "Maybe later."

"Work hard, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."