"Emilia Lanier led a rather interesting life. She was the daughter of a Venetian Musician who was imported from Italy to Queen Elizabeth's court..." Professor Candrelle continued to speak about the English poet as Kat's eyes slowly drooped. The sheer length of a double period English Lit/Architecture class made it pure hell even if the material had been interesting in the first place.

Her eyes shot open as Candrelle slapped a pile of papers on the table. She glanced down at her watch and it was only 4:25. There was at least another hour to go. There must be some statute of limitations for keeping 23 people trapped in a Chapel basement, she thought as her impatience grew.

Her mind was only on the weekend. Friday she'd be going to visit her best friend Renee at Penn State University. She and Sylvia, the other third of their group from high school, would be making the three hour trek once again to party with their seldom seen best bud. The beginning of the semester was the only time they could really get away before the work started piling up plus it was tradition to make the hike to Pennsylvania, for Renee's birthday. They decided to make the best of it.

"Kathryn?"

It was only Tuesday and the weekend seemed closer then the end of class.

"Kathryn?"

But there was a different feeling to this weekend then any of the others she'd spent up at PSU since her freshman year. Now a sophomore, she had put a little safe distance between the present and past. She felt a lot of the angst that kept her emotionally bottled up slipping away and she was ready for some classic college fun.

"Kathryn???"

God, I can't wait. A sly smile tugged at her lips as she thought of the her last visit up to Penn State. She'd noticed Matt Vargen noticing her at a few of the house parties they'd gone to but never really had any intention of doing anything about it. She thought he was cute but it had been too soon. Matt Vargen...

"Kathryn McBride?!"

She was pulled from her pleasant thoughts by a very annoyed English Professor. "I've been calling your name for the past five minutes, Kathryn," Candrelle said annoyedly. "Can you explain that to me, please?"

What is this? High school? Kat thought as she searched for a defense. "No one really calls me "Kathryn", Professor. I didn't realize you were talking to me," she reasoned hoping the explanation would quell the vain that was bulging more than usual in the older woman's forehead.

"What, pray tell, would anyone call you if not by your name?"

"Kat, my whole life," she smiled sheepishly. "Or 'Kitty', but only if you happened to be my Grandma Qwyn," Kat laughed, her eyes shifting around the room anxiously.

Candrelle still looked displeased. Nervously, Kat continued, "Well you see the only people who call me Kathryn are on my father's side of the family."

The impatient professor raised one eyebrow as if to say So??

"Well its kind of a long story but needless to say I mentally block out anyone who calls me Kathryn," Kat babbled on with a quiver in her voice and a pleading look on her face not liking the amount of attention Candrelle was paying her or the two dozen eyes fixed on her.

"Well, Kat, can you please explain to the class what Ben Jonson is comparing the house to in "To Pendhurst?" Candrelle replied raising an eyebrow.

Again her mind searched as she speed-read the passage Candrelle referred to. "Nature?" she replied, trying to mask the triumph in her voice with uncertainty- not know which emotion was more likely to set the professor off. It was too early in the semester to have pegged all the woman's pet peeves.

"Right. Nature..." Candrelle continued her discussion moving her focus elsewhere, much to Kat's relief.

Ten to five.... This is agony! she screamed so loudly in her head she feared the rest of the class would hear. Kat adjusted her position in the the would-be comfortable cusioned seat. Perhaps I should pay attention. She glanced around at the others in the class. Some chewed gum, others drifted off into space, while the rest paid close attention to the discussion of the 17th century poem.

The "No Smoking" sign, the dry erase board, and even the thermostat all managed to steal her attention from Candrelle's riveting lecture on Country Homes and related poetry of Europe. She'd just managed to focus her attention on her eager professor when the blackboard behind the stringy, middle-aged woman caught her eye. There were curtains pulled back on either side. Why would you need curtains to cover a blackboard? She twirled her bic pen clumsily between the fingers of her right hand and tapped the nails of her left on the long wooden table they all sat around. She lazily slipped her Adidas flip-flops on and off her feet, feeling the carpeting beneath them and then, leaning back in her chair and glancing down at her exposed toes, concluded that a pedicure was in desperate need. 5:02 C'mon!

Matt Vargen. He was a Rugby star at PSU and the last time Kat had gone to visit Renee the year before, she'd had an undeniable attraction. She would never had made a move or given him the opportunity to simply because she wasn't ready... even for a no-strings hook-up. She just didn't feel right getting close to anyone. At the time, she had just gotten comfortable with being happy without the guilt.

Now she felt like she may be able to let herself go at bit. She missed how it felt to be held that way a boy holds you when he wants to kiss you. That way he hold you when he wants to protect you. She just hoped she wouldn't freeze up again.

5:20 Get me out of here! she whimpered under her breath. The class was having some discussion of symbolic fruit and Kat, deciding she wanted no part of that, retreated back into her daydreaming. The organist upstairs in the chapel was rehearsing. This, too, was a more interesting distraction then the topic at hand. I hope Candrelle didn't decided to talk about something important today, she thought as she laughed sarcastically under her breath.

The was only the first meeting of the class and Kat was already dying. The first half of the class had been slides of architecture which wasn't too bad for the daughter an artist. But the poetry was killer. She just didn't have the patience for flowery language. She just wished people would say what they meant.

Candrelle gave them a five minute break. Kat stumbled out of her chair and into the Scholar's lounge across the hall for the awaiting hot chocolate. Not an ideal beverage for the early September weather but it was always nice come December. The three hour class would be over in fifteen minutes and they were given a break only now. She brought her Swiss Miss back into the meeting room and class resumed promptly.

They moved on to "The Description of Cookham." Could anything be more agonizing?? These last five minutes or so would be the longest, no doubt. Everyone else vigorously took notes as Kat fained note-taking by doodling "Matt Vargen" all over her notebook. She couldn't even remember doing such a thing in high school but she rationalized that it was just a distraction from the boredom.

The class wound down as slowly as she had dreaded but nonetheless, in fifteen minutes, she was finally free. Kat took a deep breath as she strode out of the room, breathing her first breath of free air in three hours. She had only twenty minutes to get back to the dorm, get changed, and get to soccer practice. Maybe those sprints will wake me up.

"C'mon Kit-Kat!" the assistant coach, Sean Degenaro, shouted snidely as Kat trotted onto the field a good ten minutes late. "The world doesn't revolve around you Kit-Kat." She shot him her He-called-me-Kit-Kat look wrestling a chuckle from the man whose bushy head of hair led Kat to give him his own annoying nickname. "Sorry, Waldo, but I told you I have late class on Tuesdays."

The first day of practice freshman year, they developed a playful coach-player rivalry. He gave her the same nickname he used to call his baby sister, and, sensing that it made his young inferior cringe, he kept with it. He even changed her team-merchandise order form so that it said "Kit-Kat" on both her equipment bag and team jacket. She resigned herself to the fact that she'd be "Kit-Kat" until graduation but still gave him hell for it. As she began her sprints she felt energized and by the time they began to scrimmage she was downright hyper.

Kat had been a high school soccer icon: All-state four years in a row and led a once floundering team to three consecutive State titles. She was recruited by numerous schools and, though Columbia, her dream school, was the last to call, she'd held out for them. She received almost full financial assistance and couldn't pack her bags fast enough. After her college debut yielded a double hat-trick the hype generated around her was enough that the athletic department was able to raise admission for women's soccer an impressive 35%. Everyone knew her face due to the fact that it appeared in the school paper's sport section every other day. She liked the attention and wasn't about to deny it. It had been a while since she'd gotten some positive attention and she no longer felt the urge to cringe when people looked at her.

"Ice those ankles down, Kit-Kat" Waldo ordered. "We have an Ivy League game tomorrow night. Harvard descends upon us once again."

Kat collapsed onto her bed and moaned loudly. She glanced over to her roommate, Jordan, who was hard at work typing a paper. Realizing she'd gotten no response, Kat upped her dying-animalesque groan a few decibels.

"You OK, Hon?" asked Jordan, never taking her eyes away from the computer screen.

"I'm tired!!" Kat screamed obnoxiously.

"Oh yeah?" Jordan retorted, uninterested.

"Yes!" she cried flinging one of her pillows at the door and flopping around onto her stomach. "And I have homework, and rehearsal tonight, and a session with Sheridan tomorrow morning, and I don't want to do any of it!" whined the 19 year-old into her other pillow.

Jordan kept typing. The truth was that Jordan was just as annoyingly loud as Kat but went into a pure, unadultorated scholastic trance when she had work to do. In about an hour she'd be bouncing off the walls, whining that her calculus teacher doesn't speak English when Kat would be attempting to get work done.

Jordan and Kat weren't best friends. The were roommates, love doctors, and social directors for each other. Kat, however, resolved this year to try to stay away from the frat parties they frequented last year and to find something else to do. They were okay in the beginning but after a few beer sludge weekends had ruined several of her shoes she wanted to find some other people and places to expand her social horizons. However, after pledging Alpha Chi Omega with Jordan the previous semester, she was expected to show her face at a fair amount of Greek functions. Sometimes she wondered how she ever let Jordan guilt her into even rushing let alone pledging.

The two had been roommates the year before and decided since they got along so well, why mess with a good thing? They were already planning their third year at "Chi house", a posh brownstone located a bit too far from campus for Kat's taste- again the guilt. The girls could trust each other but had no "best friend" issues so it was easy for them to live together. They knew it would work out when Kat managed to tolerate Jordan's boyfriend and Jordan managed to tolerate Kat's tendency to come and go at all hours of the night.

Jordan Mahoney and Greg Masterson were inseparable. Greg lived over two hours away and was there almost every other day. With the amount of time that soccer, classes, and the numerous other activities she was involved in took up combined with the fact that she didn't sleep much and spent the majority of her nights either walking around or in the cafe across the street, Kat didn't begrudge her roommate however much alone time she needed with her boyfriend. Kat and Jordan and Kat just seemed to mesh. They took it as a sign.

"C'mon Biznatch... What's taking you so long?" Kat joked to the furiously typing girl across the room. Jordan shot her a fiery glance eliciting a slight giggle from the exhausted who then buried her face in her down pillow. "Is Greg coming today?" Kat muffled voice inquired.

"Yeah, that's why I want to get this done."

"Ahh, I see," Kat said knowingly. She usually looked forward to Greg coming up. It meant that the two would go out to dinner and Kat would uncharacteristically have the room to herself for an hour or two. She was used to being on her own and there was a lot of comfort in solitude for her. She loved to be around people but sometimes it just got to be too much. When she was alone she could turn up the music and dance around the room like an idiot to 80s pop songs (which Jordan couldn't stand). She could watch a movie without all of her roomie's inane questions. Jordan was, by far, the most annoying person to watch a movie with. She could even do a little homework in peace and quite. Tonight, though, she wouldn't get to enjoy that little perk because of rehearsal.

"He should be here soon. I just need to get this last Brit Lit paper out of the way," Jordan groaned.

"So shut up and do it, Biznatch!" teased Kat.

"You're a Biznatch, Biznatch!" laughed Jordan.

"We through that word around far too much," laughed Kat, still unmoved from the position she fell into fifteen minutes before.

"Don't you have homework?"

"Yes..." Kat, ever the procrastinator, replied sheepishly.

"Well do it and stop bothering me!" Jordan wailed jokingly.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Bye guys... Don't do anything I'd do!" grinned Kat as she flung her bag over her shoulder and started for the door. "Bye!" Jordan and Greg said in unison. Kat flashed a wicked smile at the pair and meaningfully closed the door behind her. She skipped playfully to her next-door neighbors door. "Erin! Get you're ass out here!" she called, laughing and banging on the door.

"OK! OK!" Erin squealed from behind the door. The door flung open, revealing Erin still running around getting ready with her roommate, Lisa, predictably on the phone with her boyfriend. "I'm ready, I'm ready..." said a frenzied Erin still jutting back and forth between her mirror and her closet.

"Hi Dave!!" Kat called toward the phone. "He says hi..." Lisa said distracted by whatever he'd been saying before Kat's interruption.

Lisa and Erin had also lived together the year before and made up to the rest of Kat and Jordan's central circle of friends. The foursome had lobbied hard to be placed as neighbors again even though neither Erin nor Lisa had chosen to rush with them. The housing department was uncharacteristically supportive of their request.

Erin and Kat were both in the Universities's winter drama, "Hamlet" and were late for the first rehearsal.

"C'mon!"

"I'm ready, I'm ready!"

"Bye Lees!" they both called as the hurried out the door.

He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders

Of his affection to me.

POLONIUS.

Affection! Pooh! You speak like a green girl,

Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

OPHELIA.

I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

POLONIUS.

Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;

That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,

Which are not sterling.

Tender yourself more dearly;

Or-- not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,

Running it thus-- you'll tender me a fool!

OPHELIA.

My lord, he hath importuned me with love

In honorable fashion.

POLONIUS.

Ay, fashion you may call't; go to, go to.

OPHELIA.

And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,

With almost all the holy vows in heaven.

"OK, guys! I'm going to stop you there!" Mr. Rattner, the director, called out to Kat and David Kelly who'd been reading the parts of Ophelia and Polonius. "It's getting pretty late. We'll continue the read-through tomorrow night. Cast, see Ethan for the details. I'm going to go rumble with the with the production manager about the set budget," Rattner said with a gruff chuckle.

The room began to fill with din as everyone began gathering their things and asking Ethan what the deal was for the next rehearsal.

"Great job, Kat," gushed Kevin Roarke, a senior theater major and good friend of Kat and Erin's. "There are very few people in this world who can deliver Shakespearean lines their first time out with such grace and charm and..."

"OK! OK! What exactly are you sucking up to me for, Roarke?" Kat laughed cutting off Kevin's praise.

"Can't a friend just support another friend?" Kevin smiled, his expression steadily moving toward "Cat who ate the Canary" territory.

"No," Kat laughed. "Ethan, what time tomorrow?" She said moving her attention away from Kevin for he moment.

"9:30 at Pierce, Kat," Ethan smiled from across the table.

Ethan and Kat had known each other since long before the Columbia University Players. He was almost four years older but the two had managed to strike up a friendship years before when Kat had lived in SoHo with her mom. Ethan and his parents had occupied the loft across the hall from the "McBride girls" as Ethan's dad called them. He had aspirations of being an actor and director and used to perform for Kat and give her little parts in the plays he'd write. They lost track of each other after Kat moved in with her Dad uptown but reconnected at Columbia. A graduated drama major, Ethan had gotten a job as a teacher's aide and general gofer in the drama department. It paid the bills (kind of) while Ethan attempted to pound out his first brilliant script.

"I knew you had it in you," Kevin continued as she made her way around the table to chat with Ethan before she left.

"Thank you," she said tersely suppressing a laugh. "Now what do you want?"

"Nothing, I just think that an actress with your skill must pour a lot of energy into stellar performances such as the one I just witnessed."

"Jeeze, Kat. I think your a hit," Erin stated tossing a sideways glance at Kevin.

"We'll see in a few months," Kat said shaking her head ruefully. "This is only the first day. Now please enough with the dramatics, just tell me where this is all going," Kat laughed turning to face Kevin who'd been following her as she made her way toward Ethan.

"I just think that you need a little relaxation, a little fun," Kevin smiled slyly, "... a little down time at Flannery's?" he added with a hopeful air in his voice.

"No. No way," Kat shook her head emphatically. "I'm not going to Flannery's tonight. I'll be right back Erin, I'm gonna go say goodnight to Ethan."

"OK, hurry though, I have a lot of work to do tonight. I'll wait outside," Erin said backing towards to door.

"OK, I'll be right there," Kat called over her shoulder as she strode toward Ethan who had his back turned to her.

Kat mischievously crept up behind Ethan with a grin on her face that nearly always spelled trouble. He was explaining something to Cameron Fulton who was playing Laertes. She crept closer and closer until she was directly behind him and then in one deft movement, she bent her knees causing Ethan's own knees to buckle.

"What the!" he cried whirling around to find Kat doubled over in laughter.

"Got you again!" she said in-between giggles.

"Just remember, Kat," Ethan said ominously and regaining composure, "Ethan Richards let's no prank, of any size, go unreturned." His stern countenance relaxed into a brilliant smile as he pulled the still giggling Kat into a tight hug.

"I just wanted to say goodnight... In my own "Kat" way," she laughed pulling away.

"We haven't hung out in way too long, little girl," Ethan smiled pointing his finger playfully at Kat's nose.

"I know, I know," she said lowering her head in mock shame.

"What are you up to this weekend?"

"Well, I'm going up to visit Renee, soooo..."

"OK, OK... I guess I'll just have o get our quality time on stage."

"Guess so. Well I have to get going before Erin has an aneurysm."

"OK, babes," Ethan said pulling her into another hug. "I'll catch ya tomorrow, all right?"

Kat pulled away and looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. It was a long time since Ethan had seen that spark of life that used to light up every room she walked into.

"You got it," she said reaching up and pinching his nose. She turned and jogged toward the exit to find Kevin propped up against the doorjamb. She shook her head as she slowed into steady stride. "I'm am NOT going to Flannery's with you. END OF STORY!"

"I can't.. I have actual homework to do tonight," pleaded Kat as Kevin tugged her by her jacket sleeves towards Flannery's Tavern, the bar the Alpha Chi's frequented. It was named after a Senior sister, Flannery Riley, who's father owned several taverns around Manhattan. They were all named after his daughters, Flannery's, Bridget's, Colleen's, and Kathleen's. Kat wasn't much of a drinker but when a bunch of sisters would go, she'd usually hangout and nurse a rum and coke or something.

"C'mon Kat! One beer!" Kevin pleaded back.

"There is no reason to drink beer if your not going to get drunk, Roarke," stated Kat definitively. "It just doesn't taste good enough," she smiled.

"Pleeeese!!" Kevin continued to plead with his patented extended lower lip and puppy-dog eyes.

Kat glanced over to Erin who stood propped against a parking meter, arms crossed, impatiently awaiting some backbone from her friend.

"I really have a lot of work... Are you coming home with me or what?" Erin said glancing at her watch.

"She's right, Kev," Kat shrugged. "If I don't get home and start procrastinating , I'll never get any work done."

Kevin released her horribly stretched-out sleeves and slumped his shoulders, defeated. "Fine," he stated. "Leave me alone to drown my sorrows."

"What are you talking about, froog?" Kat questioned, shaking her head, completely lost.

"I dunno... Just my last ditch effort," he replied smiling and shaking his head at the pathetic effort. "I'll see you tomorrow, Roarke!" Kat called over her shoulder as she and Erin strode toward the bus stop.

"Later girls!" he called as he backed into the door and rolled into Flannery's.

"He likes you," Erin stated knowingly.

"Yes, Erin... people usually do like their friends," she replied knowing exactly what her friend was getting at.

"No... I mean he likes you like a girl," Erin said poking her friend in the ribs.

Kat instantly thought of a conversation she'd had with a friend in high school. She had run into her first kiss in the bakery around the corner from school. After explaining their history to her companions, it prompted Renee to question Kat if she still liked him "like a boy." She thought this was so funny that the it had become a catch phrase among her friends. However she never heard it from anyone else. This evoked a soft chuckle from her but she instantly stifled it. She was tired and wasn't in the mood to tell Erin the story. She knew if she'd have laughed as obnoxiously as she wanted to and didn't tell why, there'd be hell to pay.

"Yeah, I'm sure Kevin likes me, just like he likes anything with the right plumbing." With that she dismissed Erin's accusation.

"Hey guys. And how did you spend your evening?" Kat winked at the pair laying on Jordan's bed watching The Birdcage as she plopped her bag down on her bed.

"Hey, hon," Jordan said pausing her favorite movie. "We just ate at Friday's and came back here... And now were watching a movie."

"Something tells me your skipping over the best parts," Kat laughed turning her attention to the frozen screen.

"Hey isn't that Ally McBeal?"

"Yeah, that's Calista Flockheart. I was just saying how inhumanly thin she is."

"And I was just telling her to stop talking!" Greg laughed. Jordan proceeded to bash him over the head with a pillow. "Well it's the truth! You've seen this movie about 5000 times. What could you possible have to say that you haven't said already? Kat back me up. Isn't she the most annoying person to watch a movie with?"

"Oh no. Don't get me involved in this. I have to live with her," Kat laughed as she got changed behind the Japanese screen she's gotten for Greg visits. "And it would seem I have to live with you to, Greg! God, don't you have a home?" she asked, her eyes dancing with humor as she stepping from behind the screen.

"How can I go home when my baby's here?" he said pulling Jordan into a hug.

"Never can stay mad at you," Jordan laughed.

"Ewww!" Kat squealed as she crawled into bed. "You guys are gross." She laughed at the couple across the room but inside she wanted what they had. "Can you guys turn that down a bit? I have a session with Sheridan in the morning."

"OK, hon."

"Thanks." As Kat turned off the light above she thought about what Erin had said. Kevin doesn't like me. Besides I just don't feel that way about him. As she curled up with Peanut, her favorite stuffed animal, she couldn't get the thought out of her head. How do I let someone get close to me again?

"Will somebody please get that?" a groggy voice pleaded from underneath a pillow. The shrill ringing of a cell phone wouldn't normally be enough to shake JC Chasez from one of his comatose sleeps but this time someone had left his phone right next to his ear.

"It's mine!" called his friend, Joe Fatone, from the common room next door. The two were part of the pop fivesome, 'Nsync, who were in New York for the next week or so. The MTV Music Awards had been the night before and they had a few interviews and other engagements throughout the rest of their stay. They had the day off to recuperate, though, and JC did not appreciate the interruption.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Joe mumbled as he jogged into the room. He snatched up his phone from the night stand and collapsed onto the bed beside JC eliciting a loud groan in objection from the young man.

"Oh, c'mon, Joey! Get off!" JC growled.

"SHHHH!" Joe hissed dramatically. "Hello?"

"Hey Joe! Its Ethan."

"Oh, man! Hey! Jeeze, I meant to call, E. We've just been so swamped."

"Yeah, Yeah, I bet. Swamped with hot chicks!"

"Something like that. Not always as good as it sounds. What have you been doing? Still at Columbia?"

"Yeah. They gave me a job in the drama department... TA... AD Its not quite so glamorous as say.... 'high-spirited boy pop'..."

"Hey now..."

"But its something to do while I write my masterpiece."

"Still working on that piece of crap?"

"Hey now..."

"Just kidding. AD Huh? As in Assistant Director?

"Affirmative."

"AD-ed anything lately?"

"Actually, we just started something new."

"Oh yeah? What does the Director let you do? Nothing more strenuous than fetching coffee, I hope."

"Oh I guess the constant temptation of jail bait has given you a sense of humor, Fatone?"

"OK... Seriously. What play?"

"It Hamlet... Kind of ala Baz Luhrman."

"I don't understand your "director" speak. Was that last part English?"

"Baz Luhrman did the Romeo and Juliet with DiCaprio."

"Didn't he also do the sunscreen song?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. OK. So its Hamlet with Shakespeare words and 90's clothes?"

"Give the boy a prize."

"Aren't they making a movie like that with Ethan Hawke?"

"I don't want to talk about that," Ethan said in mock frustration. "Besides, this way it saves on costume budget."

"Sounds great. Anyway, E-man... I think we're going out to some club tonight if you feel like gracing your old friend with your presence."

"Well I have rehearsal from 9:30-11:30 if you want to spot me until then?"

"Yeah, sure... We probably won't even get it together until then anyway. We could swing by the university and pick you up... And any cute coeds you'd like to bring along."

"Never change."

"Damn skippy."

"The theater is right next to my old dorm... Remember how to get there?"

"It'll come back to me... Wait... Yeah I got it."

"You sure now?"

"Yeah."

"OK, well it the Dean Pierce Theater, you can't miss it."

"Dean Pierce, got it."

"Listen, I gotta get going. I have a class to baby-sit... The professor has come down with a case of the "I-don't-feel-like-lecturing" bug. Its very serious."

"OK, man," Joey chuckled. "11:30... Pierce.. See you later."

"Later."

"JC, wake up!" Joey said tucking his cell into the front pocket of his jeans. "JC..." He turned to find his friend had already risen and left the room. "Hey guys!" Joe said as he strode back toward the common room. Chris Kirkpatrick and Justin Timberlake sat on the floor in front of the TV battling the dark side on Play Station while Lance Bass sat on the couch, idly flipping through a magazine.

"What?" they replied in uninterested unison.

"That was Ethan on the phone. He's gonna chill with us tonight," he informed the boys, plopping onto one of the our overstuffed armchairs scattered about the room.

"Cool...Oh man! You can NOT do that!" Justin yelled throwing himself into the older man next to him while frantically pushing buttons on his controller.

"Quit it, Curly! I'm not doing anything but whooping your ass!" Chris laughed, pushing back.

"Yes you are! Your cheating!"

"You always say that when I'm kicking your butt."

"Whatever."

"Ah Ha! Jester's Dead!"

"OK... Fine!" Justin said tossing his controller aside, defeated. "Just please, no more Top Gun references!"

"See you say you don't like them, but I know you better," laughed Chris as he turned off the TV.

"Where's JC?" Joey said, suddenly confused.

"Went down the hall to get a soda," Lance replied not taking his eyes off the flipping pages.

"God, we exhausted the mini bar already?" Joe laughed.

"Yup," replied Justin and he sat down on the unoccupied end of the couch.

"Ah," Joe nodded. Almost immediately the door opened revealing JC, coke in hand, still looking asleep. "Hey C, I'm sorry about before," Joey said with a guilty smile.

"Its okay," JC yawned. "Who was on the phone anyway?"

"Ethan. He's coming out with us tonight. We have to pick him up at the university at 11:30 at the Dean Something Theater," Joey recited.

"Dean Something Theater, huh?" Justin laughed.

"Don't worry I know exactly where I'm going."

lildev3@hotmail.com