“No. No, no. Don’t worry about it… Hey, I’m just gonna change, okay? My room’s just down that hall. I didn’t take the one that my sister reserved for me upstairs. I think my mom should occupy that. Besides, it’s easier to sneak out the house down here, right?” She smiled and winked at Shane then turned around to have a change of clothing in the confines of her room.

Shane was left alone in the receiving area. She looked around and saw a bunch of family pictures – she realized that Carmen came from a big family and just smiled to herself seeing a younger Carmen in some of the framed photographs. “Cute.”

Without more photos to look at, Shane sat on the couch nearest her and tapped her foot on the carpeted floor. Carmen sure was taking much too long to change her clothes. Shane felt that familiar heartbeat, screaming there was something about to happen whether she did one thing or another – that she had no choice but to let fate or whatever it was to run its course. All she wanted to do was escape the impending feeling so she got up on her feet, walked along the hallway, and stopped in front of Carmen’s door.

Just as Shane was about to knock and open her mouth to tell Carmen that she had to leave, the door flew open, and Carmen appeared in front of her. She was wearing a white tank top that enveloped her upper body well, and really short shorts for the bottom. “Uhm, Shane?”

Shane’s mouth remained open at the sight of the girl that’s been occupying her mind for the past 24 hours. Although she had brought her arm down, she couldn’t seem to do anything else to make any muscle from any part of her body move.

Again, there was a door seducing Shane to do something. Instead of last night’s flight, this particular door invited her in, a complete turnaround from what took place inside her house about a full day ago. “I’m… I’m in fucking denial…”

It wasn’t out of impulse that Shane placed her hand on Carmen’s waist and gently pushed her inside the room. It was her choice, her decision to take two steps closer to what she really wanted but was kept at bay for too long. Using her foot, she closed the door behind them.