Author's Note: Yes, finally, this is the last section of chapter ten. Expect the start of chapter eleven no later than Wednesday night! As for the identity of the guy... well, it's not rocket science. Think about people who've appeared in flashbacks who look like that, and take the conversation into consideration. Also, remember, the blonde woman called him "Pres." Hmmm...


Tacita slammed the glass onto the counter. “And she had the nerve to ask me for a ride afterwards!” she complained to Gideon, Sheridon, S, and… well, most of the bar. “After totally dissing my favorite guy friend for that rich jerk!”

“How much has she had to drink?” Sheridon whispered.

“Enough to complain to everyone,” Gideon replied. “Which means she’s not too far off from doing her spoken-word song trick.”

Sheridon flinched. “Argh. She keeps getting us kicked out of places by doing this! I mean, it’s bad enough she’s drinking while underage in my mom's bar, but…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Guess it’s my turn to wrangle her if she gets psycho?” S spoke up. Sheridon and Gideon nodded.

“Get cracking,” Gideon whispered. He pointed over to Tacita, who was standing on top of the barstool.

“Ladies and gents, I’d like to recite some lyrics,” Tacita announced. “Ahem. I'm packed and I'm holding. I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden and she lives for me. She says she lives for me-- ovation. She's got her own motivation, she comes round and she goes down--”

S slapped a hand over her mouth before she could continue reciting the lyrics to Semi-Charmed Life. “Okay, Tacita, that’s enough for one night,” he said, lifting her off of the stool.

“I’m not done yet!” Tacita whined.

“You are for tonight. You are plastered. I don’t trust you to be alone and plastered, so I guess I’m stuck playing babysitter to you again,” S scolded.

“Feel free to toss her in our room or Charise’s room,” Gideon said. “Charise told me she’s not coming home tonight.”

“Probably staying over at Dunstan’s house,” S said bitterly. He took a firm hold of Tacita’s arm. “Come on. We’re going to let you sleep off your drunkenness. You are going to have a nasty hangover tomorrow.”


Tacita obeyed-- a rarity when she was this drunk. S helped her into his car, buckled her in, and got into the driver’s seat. “Don’t unbuckle your seatbelt, or you’ll really get a splitting headache,” he warned, in a rare instance of dark humor, as he started the car and began driving down the street.

“S?” Tacita spoke up.

“Yeah?”

“I just don’t get you sometimes.”

“What?” S responded.

“You spent years and years mooning over a chick who takes your presence for granted. This afternoon, she totally ignored you singing a song confessing your feelings for her. And I bet despite that total example of b***hiness, you still love her.”

S flinched. Leave it to Tacita to be an observant drunk, as well as a mouthy one, he thought. To Tacita, he lied, “No. I think I’m starting to get over her.”

Tacita peered at S through narrowed eyes. “Liar.”

Neither of them spoke another word until they arrived at the rented home. “Okay, here we are,” S finally said. “Now, I’m going to get you inside and let you sleep. Now, I know Sheridon and Gideon would kill me if you puked on their stuff, and Charise wouldn’t be too thrilled either. So, I’m sticking you in my room.”


S led Tacita up to his room. “You get the bed. I’ll just crash on the floor,” he explained.

“You’ll get cold,” Tacita argued.

“No, I won’t. Besides, you need to be comfortable. There’s a trashcan right next to the bed, in case you can’t make it to the bathroom. Extra blankets are in the hallway closet… I think that’s all.”

Tacita sighed and hugged S. “You’re a good man,” she said. “Charise is an idiot for not seeing that.” She paused. “You know…” she said slowly, pensively, “I’ve liked you for a very long time. Liked you a lot.”

“That’s the alcohol talking. You have a boyfriend who you love very much and who loves you. You are just drunk,” S replied, trying to sound calm and stern.

“That‘s not it at all, and you know it!” Tacita argued.

“Look, whatever it is, you need to just sleep it off, and we’ll deal with your hangover and all in the morning, okay?” S started to turn away to start setting up his bed on the floor.

“Fine,” Tacita grumbled. “But before I go to bed, just one thing, okay? One thing.”


“What?” S asked, turning back around. To his astonishment, Tacita leaned in and gave him a brief kiss on the lips.

“Good night, S,” she said cheerfully, flopping onto the bed and wrapping the blankets around herself. S stood there, shocked.

My first kiss. My first kiss, and it was with Tacita. Not Charise, like I always figured it would be, he thought, finally snapping back to reality. He made his bed on the floor.



Charise made her way up the stairs, trying not to make them creak too much. It’s about seven in the morning, and they’ll be cranky if I wake them up! she thought.

Just then, she heard a door close and a woman humming to herself. Charise stood in the hallway, staring as Tacita made her way down the hall from S’s room. She had a slight smirk on her face.

“Tacita, what are you doing here?” Charise asked, trying not to be loud.

“Slept over.”

“Slept over?” Charise repeated.

“Yeah, it was S’s idea, since I had so much to drink.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I slept in his bed. It was real comfy. You know, he’s a really sweet guy. He took really good care of me,” Tacita said, stepping around Charise and walking down the stairs.

Charise watched Tacita, frowning. A slight furrow appeared between her eyebrows. She… and S…? Charise thought. She was surprised to realize that she felt jealous.