Chapter 1: The Point is Not Worth Arguing

"Hey, where are you going?" Gavin asks as Stina slips her discarded underwear back on, "I thought you'd spend the night."

"I had a great time, Gav, but I'm going to head back home," Stina answers, and slides out of his bed.

"Don't go," Gavin insists, stopping her before she puts on her clothes, "I want to wake up next to you. We can go to breakfast."

Stina sighs. It's what they always do, and she's just tired of it.

"Why do you have to be so damn clingy?" she demands, turning in him in sudden anger, "I just want to go home, okay?"

"Why are you so hostile?" he asks, "What is going on with you? Everything was fine just a minute ago..."

"Everything is not fine," Stina growls, "Look, this just isn't working. I think we've run our course and it's time to move on."

"Move on?" Gavin is truly floored by this sudden announcement, "I thought we were happy together. We get along great, hell, we've been together a month without a single fight..."

"Yeah, and now we're done," Stina sighs. It had been great at the beginning. Stina had a crush on Gavin from the first moment she saw him. He was the TA in her freshman painting class, and it had been an enormous thrill when he took notice of her. Hooking up with him provided all the excitement of the forbidden teacher-student relationship, without having to sleep with one of her gross old professors. But once the relationship fell into a routine, the thrill was gone, and Gavin became just another guy.

"Fine, then, go if you want," Gavin answers sharply. Stina is surprised by his anger, mild as it is. He makes such a point of remaining calm in every circumstance, always talking about his dharma or whatever, and Stina has never seen anyone get a rise out of him. For a moment, she reconsiders her decision to break things off; maybe Gavin isn't as dull as he makes himself appear to be, after all.

But he ruins it by quickly backing down. "At least let me give you a ride home," he offers, "It's not safe to take the bus at this hour.

"I said we're done," Stina refuses the ride, "I'm not going to sit in car with you all the way to Hollywood, while you try to work things out. No way."

"Have it your way, Stina," Gavin gives up and crawls back into his bed, defeated, "Be careful out there."

While Gavin goes back to sleep, Stina takes a minute to fix her make up in his mirror. Of course, he's too nice to tell her to get the fuck out already.

On her way out, she sees one of Gavin's housemates, Justin, on the computer in the living room.

"Hey," Stina purrs. Unlike Gavin, Justin is dangerous, exciting. Well, he seems like he might be, anyway. Stina doesn't really know him that well, and Gavin says he keeps to himself. He'd definitely be worth getting to know, Stina thinks, and starts heading toward him.

Justin barely glances at her, "You're Eleanor's friend," he says.

Stina is surprised he'd associate her with Eleanor before identifying her as Gavin's girlfriend. Then she remembers Eleanor telling her about the crush Justin evidently has on her. Plumbob only knows why, Stina thinks regretfully, Eleanor is as dull as a girl can get.

As Stina loiters about behind him, Justin turns briefly in her direction, "Go fuck off now and leave me alone," he growls.

She's clearly not going to get anything here, Stina decides, and walks away. Instead going out the front door and heading to the bus stop, she heads out back. Her encounter with Justin reminded her that her good friend Eleanor rents the guest cottage behind Gavin's house, and Stina would really prefer to not have to take the bus to Hollywood at this hour. If she's lucky, Eleanor will still be up and will let Stina crash at her place.

Eleanor is indeed up, indulging in some late night chat in a private chat room, divulging her darkest fantasies to a man (she thinks it's a man, anyway, but you can never really be sure, and the reality doesn't matter in this situation) she's been 'seeing' like this for some time.

Engaged as she is in her private pleasure, Eleanor is not particularly pleased by the tapping on her door. "It's open," she invites Stina in reluctantly. "Unexpected visitor," she types quickly, "Tomorrow?"

"Until tomorrow, princess," comes the reply.

"I broke up with Gavin," Stina announces as Eleanor closes her laptop, "Can I crash here?"

Eleanor's guest cottage is a studio, she doesn't even have a couch. Which means Stina's 'crashing' will require sharing a bed. The invasion of her privacy makes her shudder slightly, but it would be terribly rude to refuse. "Sure. Fine," she answers, and wonders if she should invest in a sleeping bag, just in case.

"So, what happened?" Eleanor asks as Stina seats herself on the stool next to her. Knowing Stina as she does, Eleanor has already guessed what happened, and she doesn't really care one way or the other about her friend's tumultuous love life, but Stina is going to tell her about whether she asks or not, so she might as well feign interest.

"He's just so clingy," Stina sighs, "And it was, like, the same thing every night. We'd go out, go to his place to fuck, wake up and fuck again, then go to breakfast. I'm just tired of it."

"Well, isn't that what relationships are, basically?" Eleanor asks.

Stina rolls her eyes, "You're such a virgin," she mocks, "You've never been in love. You have no idea what it's like to fall head over heels for someone, the excitement of the chase..."

"Well, if you are any example of what love and sex are about, I'm glad I've chosen to abstain," Eleanor answers.

"Jealous," Stina accuses. Eleanor decides the point is not worth arguing.