3 months later

Zo stood outside of the Planet smoking a cigarette. She had earphones covering her ears as music blasted out. She yawned as if it were 6 in the morning when it was really 11 on a Sunday morning. Zo turned around and looked through a window at Carmen, Shane, Jenny, Tina, Alice and Dana. They were all talking and laughing. She squinted her eyes slightly and took another drag, then sighed quietly to herself.

“Congratulations, Alice! I think that is so great that you are one of the music consultants for Rolling Stone.” Tina smiled widely.

Alice began to thank Tina, when Shane interrupted her. “I’m not so sure. Have you heard Al’s taste in music?”

“Fuck you, Shane.” Alice said through clenched teeth, while Dana and Carmen bit back laughter. Dana stopped when Alice glared at her. “Should we talk about your music tastes? Hmmm, Miss Kenny G?”

Dana’s mouth opened. “Listen, I only own his Christmas album.”

“That you play all year long.” Alice’s mouth curved into a smirk as the other women laughed.

Carmen watched Zo as she smoked. Zo was dressed in khaki postal pants that hung off her boyish hips and a black tank top. She smiled to herself as Zo began to sing the words of whatever song she was listening to. The girl that the women had taken to calling “the pixie” was nodding her head to a beat that only she heard.

Shane glanced at Zo, but took a second look when the pixie began to bounce up and down in the air. She had her eyes closed tightly and she began to do the running man and then the cabbage patch dances.

“Oh-My-God!” Alice croaked before laughing.

“Kriss Kross will make you jump jump! A daddy mac will make you jump jump!” Zo sang loudly and twirled around before holding her hand in the air and screaming. “Woo!”

She twirled around again and bumped into Billie, who had walked up behind her. Zo’s clear blue eyes popped open and widened with shock. She felt her cheeks get hot with embarrassment. Billie caught the blonde and burst into laughter.

Zo backed away and pulled the earphones off her ears quickly. “Don’t you just love Kriss Kross?”

She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through her hair.

“I prefer Sir-Mix-A lot myself.” Billie grinned.

Zo nodded and looked into the window seeing all of the women laughing hysterically. Shane was bent over laughing into her hands.

Zo sighed. “Great.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zo and Billie walked into the Planet, sitting down with the other women. Jenny’s eyes stayed on Billie as she leaned back into her chair. Jenny had become smitten with Billie. Something about Velvet’s sister being who she was and never apologizing for it made Jenny’s heart pound. But Billie never made a move for the small beauty, nor did she ever show any interest in Jenny.

Shane was still laughing when Zo sat down. She closed her eyes and waited for comments to begin.

“So let me get this straight. You think that me liking Kenny G and listening to him in the privacy of my own home is worse than pixie here enjoying the talents ofI’m sorry who were you listening to?” Dana looked at Zo.

Zo mumbled. “Kriss Kross.”

“I didn’t hear that.” Dana leaned forward cupping her ear.

“Kriss Kross.” Zo said louder.

“Right.. She was enjoying the talents of Kriss Kross and dancing to it in public?” Dana asked looking from woman to woman.

“Wait a minute. Did you say you like Kenny G?” Zo choked out and reached for Carmen’s coffee cup and started taking a drink.

Dana groaned and rolled her eyes. Tina smirked and then looked over at Billie.

“Did Velvet make it to Seattle ok?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah. She also said she would be meeting up with” Billie tried to think of the name.

“Andie?” Carmen said to her.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Billie nodded.

Zo looked over at Shane, whose smile faded when she heard Andie’s name. Zo sat back and tugged on her bottom lip gently. She didn’t want Shane to go into hiding again because she had just recently begun to hang out with everyone. Shane avoided all but Zo for two months. She would come to Shane’s apartment to find the brunette refusing to get out of bed or watching terrible Kung Fu movies. One time Zo found Shane in her closet sitting still with a cold stare. Mazzy Star was blasting in the apartment. Zo promised to tell the others to give Shane some time. Which they all respected.

She remembered the day Andie left; Zo had gone to the apartment that was now hers. She stopped in the doorway of the bedroom, where she saw the tall brunette sleeping holding a pillow tightly and curled up in a ball. She saw a piece of paper lying next to Shane. Zo walked silently to the side of the bed and picked up the note. She tossed it to the side and looked down at Shane. She climbed onto the bed gently and placed her hand on Shane’s bare shoulder. Shane flinched and jerked up instantly.

“Andie?” Shane said still half asleep. She looked at Zo and realized that it was not Andie.

Zo shook her head.