“Come in,” she hears muffled from the other side.

She opens the door and takes a step in to find Shane sitting on her bed reading. “Hey.”

“Hey, how was the rest of your night?” Shane asks closing her book.

“It was ok,” Carmen answers leaning against the door. “Pretty ordinary.”

“Did Jenny come home with you?”

“No, Alice said she saw her leaving with some girl. I assumed she probably came back here, but maybe they went to her place…”

Shane let’s out a small laugh. “Good for her.”

“I’m sorry about tonight when that gir – ”

“Oh no, please. Don’t be sorry, it’s totally cool.”

“I didn’t mean for you to waste your money, I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t even worry about it, Kit was giving me drinks on the house. Just thought I would share the wealth with my new roommate.”

“Oh…” Carmen looks at her feet. “Well thanks then.” They are silent for a moment. Carmen looks up and meets Shane’s eyes; they hold the gaze a moment longer before Shane breaks it and opens her book.  “Right, well… I’ll let you get back to reading. Good night.”

“Night.”

Carmen closes the door behind her and presses her back against it resting for a moment before she makes the trek back to the living room. She lies on her bed, covering herself with her blanket. She turns over, hugging her pillow. She smells it and smiles as she closes her eyes.

A few minutes pass of listening to silence before Carmen sits up frustrated. She looks through her backpack and takes out her iPod. She starts to listen to music, attempting to clear her mind.

Hours linger on, Carmen looks at the clock to find it’s already 3:30. She closes her eyes tightly and yawns. When her eyes flutter back open she sees Shane’s outline making its way to the refrigerator. Carmen takes out her earphones as Shane cracks open a beer.

“So instead of a milk bottle, you have beer…” Carmen laughs. “Interesting.”

“Jesus. You scared the shit out of me,” Shane says catching her breath.

“I didn’t think you got scared,” Carmen teases her.

“What are you doing sitting in the dark anyway?”

“Listening to music.”

“Oh.”

“Can’t sleep either?” Carmen asks.

“Sometimes I wonder if I ever actually do sleep,” Shane laughs and takes a swig of her beer. “Good night.”

She turns to leave. “Wait! If you’re up, and I’m up… we might as well be up together?” Shane turns around and Carmen can see she’s contemplating it in her mind. “Come on, keep me company.” Carmen pats the couch beside her.

Shane sighs and starts to walk over to her. “You win.”