Carmen’s heart beat loudly as she lightly tapped her fingernails on Helena’s door.  What am I going to say? She wondered.  She hadn’t even given herself a chance to think through what she might want to say to Helena and she was afraid of now losing her nerve.  Just as she was about to turn back around and forget about confronting her friend, Helena swung the door open.  She had changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top but her hair still hung in wet ropes.  The two stared at each other for what seemed like hours.  Carmen opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.  Instead, Helena spoke up. 

“Carmen.  I’m soooo sorry you had to see that!” she exclaimed while trying to hide a smile.  “I hope you weren’t too embarrassed.  My God!  I’m going to have to remember to be more modest in the future.”

Carmen was stunned by Helena’s take on the situation.  When she had run to her room, Carmen assumed Helena had been embarrassed, but here she was apologizing, hoping Carmen wasn’t embarrassed.  Don’t apologize, she thought to herself.  I love what I saw.  But she found she couldn’t voice these thoughts. 

“Um, that’s ok Hel.  I just wanted to make sure you weren’t mad at me,” she stammered. 

“Oh, sweetheart.  Of course I’m not mad at you.  It was an accident.  Really.  It’s harmless,” Helena reassured her.  “Now come on.  Let’s have our coffee.”

The two sat down to enjoy a morning chat while Helena internally scolded herself for being so careless.  It was true, she really wasn’t embarrassed, but she couldn’t understand why she had reacted in such a way.  Because it’s Carmen, a little voice reminded her.  Helena chose to ignore the thought.  There was no way she was going to get involved with her roommate.  The fact that the idea had even crossed her mind seemed ridiculous. 

After they had their coffee, they finished getting ready.  Helena was searching for her keys when something caught her eye.  Peeking out from under the growing pile of papers on the coffee table was the business card Carmen had been looking for.  Helena read the name.  “Andrew Sheffield?” she pondered out loud.  Carmen heard her from the other room.