Only after the park closed did Jodi realized they had just spent six hours together, and that it had been such a wonderful experience that time had flown by. Feeling strangely protective of the younger woman, the artist had offered to walk Mary home. On the subway, Mary had slipped her arm around Jodi’s and rested her head on the artist’s shoulder. Surprisingly, Jodi found that gesture a thousand times more intimate than making out with a stranger in the middle of a club. The soft breathes she felt on her skin were strangely soothing, and she found no need to fill the time with smartass comments or inane conversation, so she allowed herself to relax as they rode the subway in silence.

The silence continued as they started to walk, arm in arm, towards the building where Mary lived, but it wasn’t uncomfortable; it was the silence of two people that were just content to be with each other. And Jodi found her level of comfort with the situation to be slightly unnerving.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Mary’s mouth moving. “Did you say something?”

The girl stopped in front of an old brick building, and Jodi did the same. Turning to face her date, Mary announced, “This is it. Care to walk me inside?” Jodi could see a tinge of sadness in those eyes, but there were other emotions playing there that she could not identify.

Jodi couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the fact that the date was drawing to a close. She nodded, and followed the blonde up the stairs to the building’s lobby. It didn’t look that much different from where Jodi lived, except for the lack of a crackhead asleep on the stairs.

Mary stood by the lobby doors and released Jodi to search her purse for her keys. Finding them after a few unsuccessful tries, the young woman opened the door and stepped inside the building.

Jodi was unsure about how to proceed. At this moment of the night, she would usually be drunkenly staggering into a woman’s apartment, shedding their clothing as they walked towards the bedroom and, if they were lucky, actually reaching it. But with Mary? It had been years since Jodi had been in this particular position, and she wasn’t quite sure she remembered how it was supposed to go.