Long for me as I for you, forgetting what will be inevitable, the long black aftermath of pain.
- Malcolm Lowry

Back at the dorms, Paige and Pru were sitting on Paige's bed, and Paige was weeping inconsolably in loud sobs from deep within her gut, her head buried in the crook of her friend's shoulder. Pru just let held her and let her cry it out until, eventually, Paige lay down, placing her palms together in Pru's lap and her head on top of her hands. Pru ran a hand up and down over Paige's long, auburn locks, gently smoothing them.

They were silent for a long time.

Paige just stared at the boring, gray wall across the room from her. When she first moved into the dorms, she was resolved to brighten the look of the room with a combination of artwork and furnishings, but nothing could change the fact that the walls were plain, dingy, dull, and gray. Outside her window, all was gray as well, as a light rain had begun falling. Paige listened to the patter of the raindrops as they hit on her window, falling into the hypnotic spell of their monotonous rhythm, almost wishing that the rhythm would lull her to sleep before Pru started in again.

"You know," Pru began, "It really wasn't that bad. I'm sure that one day – "

"Don't you dare," Paige chided, "Don't you dare say that we'll laugh about this someday!"

"Paige, you're taking this too hard. Look on the bright side! She obviously knows who you are, and her friend must have said what she did for a reason!"

"I couldn't even look at her, Pru," Paige whined, ignoring her friend's reasoning. "How pathetic is that? Ugh! She must think I'm some silly, stupid…"

"She doesn't think that, Paige! Did you see the way that she came to your rescue?"

"Yeah, as if I were some pathetic puppy in a shelter. Women like that don't want a cute little pound-puppy." Pru couldn't help giggling at Paige's choice of words. Paige looked up at her with an unamused glare.

"Sorry," Pru squeaked. Paige continued.

"She wants someone confident and strong; someone who can sweep her off her feet and rock her world."

"And you know this because you've talked to her about it?"

Paige just rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying, Paige. Don't overthink this. Just talk to the girl. Maybe you'll hit it off, and maybe you'll be just friends, but anything's got to be better than this! Just talk to her!'

"I can't just talk to her, Pru," Paige whined. "Not after what happened this morning. Ugh… I can't even look at her."

Pru gave a half-smile of understanding, even though Paige was still staring straight ahead and couldn't see her. Paige could feel the comforting touch of Pru's hand, though, which she had begun smoothing over Paige's hair again.

"Why did I have to get up," Paige sniffled, her eyes once again moist? "I knew that we'd have to walk right past them. If we had just sat there till they left, if none of that had ever happened, then, maybe – maybe I could 'just talk to her.' But not now. Now… God – I've got to drop that seminar."

Pru pulled her friend up into a light hug, rubbing her back. "That's a week away. Don't even think about that, now. You'll feel much better by then, I promise. Hell – you'll feel better tomorrow morning. You just need a little perspective."

Paige sighed over Pru's shoulder. She knew that her friend meant well, but Pru couldn't be more wrong. Paige was truly grateful for her comforting words. She just wished she could believe them. Paige returned her head and hands to Pru's lap. The sun was beginning to poke through the clouds, pushing through the beads of rain on her window as if through a prism, projecting a faint rainbow on the dull, gray walls.

"Why are you pissed at me? You should be thanking me," Hanna reasoned, earning a sharp glare from her best friend. After the incident with the shy freshman, they didn't even bother to unpack their laptops and books. It was obvious that they weren't going to be able to get any studying done, so they sat and sipped their coffee, nibbling at their breakfast. "This is going to be that wacky, 'How we met' story that everybody's going to love hearing at your wedding!"

"Are you kidding me right now, Hanna? Did you see that poor girl? She was mortified. She's going to avoid me like the plague."

"Oh, please, she's home right now thinking, 'That hottie I've been crushing on all year touched my arm! Am I going to wear a traditional wedding dress or a tux when we say "I do?"'"

"Hanna, not everyone is like you. You saw her: She wasn't flattered, she was mortified! She's like a little lost puppy – you can't just go charging after it. You have to coax it gently, gain its trust, let it come to you…"

"So you admit it! You want to take that little puppy home with you!"

"Ugh! God, Hanna… Yes. I don't know; maybe? She's cute, right?"

"She's so cute, Em!"

Emily's senses – and her irritation – returned. "That's not the point, Han. The point is, you charged in there like some stupid, clumsy three-year-old, and you scared her back into the woods!"

"Okay – can we stop with the puppy metaphor, please? My brain's about to explode! Look, the point is, you guys would have wasted the entire semester off in your own little worlds if it weren't for me. I was the catalyst that brought the two of you together!"

"Really, Hanna? 'The catalyst?'"

"Yes. I'm allowed to use big words every now and then!"

"Anyway, we're not together."

"No…" Hanna drawled, her tone full of insinuation, "but you want to be!"

"Shit." Emily had enough pretending. "Yeah, I do," she conceded, smiling off into space.

"Ahhhh," Hanna sang out in a high-pitched tone, drawing her friend into a hug.

"So, Catalyst. Tell me: What am I supposed to do now?"

Hanna reached into Emily's backpack and retrieved her laptop. "You log onto facebook. I'll be right back!"

Emily powered up her laptop and signed in to the coffee shop's wifi. All the while, she watched Hanna work her magic on the barista at the front counter: Putting her hand on his shoulder as she tossed her head back in laughter at something the boy said; looking intently into his eyes as she made her plea; giving him the lightest hug before jogging back to their booth.

"Okay, he said her name's Paige. P-A-I-G-E. He left out the 'I' the first time he wrote her name on the coffee cup, and she corrected him. He thinks she's a freshman, because she only started coming to the shop at the beginning of this year. So, this should be easy – how many Paiges who go here could there be on facebook, right?"

"Hanna, I'm not going to facebook-stalk her!"

"Um, duh, Emily! Girls like us aren't stalkers! We're the stalkees!"

Emily cringed at the word. Hanna continued, oblivious, "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to send Paige a friend request, and, when she accepts, you're going to chat with her, apologize for your gorgeous friend who has no boundaries, and ask if you can make it up to her with coffee sometime. Let her come to you!"

Paige wasn't sure how long she had been asleep on her best friend's lap. Pru was still comfortingly stroking her hair when a tone on Paige's phone woke her. She dug the phone out of her pocket and slid it unlocked to find a facebook notification. When she opened it, she was sure that she was still dreaming: "You have a new friend request from Emily Fields."