"I told you to stay away from her man! She's just as violent and crazy as Little Maria if not more."

Ash looked back at his best friend and wondered just how their friendship had survived this long.

Sure, Ash knew he was stupid.

It was quite clearly proven tonight to what extent his stupidity could reach, but Gary? Sometimes Ash felt Gary was on a whole other level where compassion and camaraderie ceased to exist.

The Junior Prez, however, failed to see the inopportune moment of his comments as he continued to compliment Serena's strength. "Check it out! Your eye's already starting to bruise."

"Do you ever shut up?" Ash growled.

Here he was, brokenhearted that Serena was indeed, dating Calem again, and feeling like he'd fallen further than the lowest pits of Hell itself while his so-called best friend was not helping the situation in the least.

"Now they're going to go tell Dawn and those three harpies are going to murder me!" Kaiwe wailed almost visibly shaking now. "Ugh why me?"

"'Cause you're not a real man," was Gary's response.

Meanwhile, as Ash continued to suffer mentally, his mind running the events of the past few minutes over and over, Brock just crossed his arms and shook his head.

"This sucks," Ash said wearily, gingerly touching the area underneath his left eye and cringing at the stinging sensation that shot up the side of his head. Gary was right. Serena sure packed a punch.

"You really blew it Ashy-boy," Gary commented.

"No? You think?"

"Gary, you're not helping," Brock reprimanded, arms still crossed.

"Gary?"

"Did he just say Gary?"

The men looked up and their eyes widened at the sight of two large, hulking men who had just come out of Rooney's and appeared to be bikers given their leather ensembles.

What they wanted with Gary, Ash thought. Perhaps Gary had messed with one of their girls.

One of the bikers came close. "Which one of you is Gary?"

Immediately three fingers pointed.

Gary frowned. "I appreciate your betrayal friends." Then he looked up at the man who was cracking his knuckles and shot him a prize-winning smile despite the fact that the man looked ready to strangle him using only one hand.

"I'm Gary. What can I do for you?"

The second biker stepped up and crossed his arms, the skull tattoo on his bicep grinning at the men. "You go out with a fortune teller tonight?"

Gary's forehead scrunched in confusion. Who were these guys and how did they know about his date with Crazy?

With a shrug, he replied nonchalantly, "Maybe. Maybe not. What's it to you?"

The first biker growled. "Yes or no question. So yes or no answer." He punched a fist into his hand.

Gary gulped nervously. "Fine. Yes. What of it?"

The two bikers exchanged some sort of look the other men couldn't interpret then the first one looked back down at Gary with a calculating grin.

"This," he said and Ash couldn't help but shut his eyes as the gigantic fist collided with Gary's face.

.......

As soon Calem had dropped Shauna and Serena off, the girls had immediately changed into their pajamas without discussion.

Shauna picked up the snack bars and tossed them aside carelessly.

"What did you do that for?"

"Girls night where we bash men and vow to eat junk food until our thighs explode does not include healthy stuff like those wheat bar things. That's what horses eat," she explained.

"But I like the fruit inside."

"No being healthy!"

"But – "

"No! Now, lets see what you've got in the kitchen for me to mix up."

"What do you mean?"

"Duh. Drinks. No pathetic fattening fest in which we drown our sorrows is complete without the appropriate beverages."

Serena waved a hand wearily signaling 'do what you must' and Shauna bustled away to the kitchen, intent on doing the only thing she could, for her friend at the moment which was just being there for her.

She didn't know what history was between Ash and Serena and Serena hadn't spoken in the car ride back. But from what she gathered from Serena's outburst was that Ash was not only some long lost friend but he had supposedly posed as someone named Alvin, thereby tricking both Serena and some other woman named Melody.

Shauna wondered if perhaps both 'Alvin' and Melody had been clients of Serena's.

Shauna pulled out several different fruit juices from the refrigerator, finding those to be the only drinks that Serena and Dawn owned. She eyed a small bottle of a thick red liquid.

As she poured syrupy drops into glasses, Shauna thought that the night seemed to have just begun with the run-in with the guys.

Back in the living room, Serena sighed and stabbed her spoon into her cartoon of rocky road. What a night. What a mess. Why did things have to turn so complicated? Serena failed to notice the apartment door opening and the entrance of her roommate until said roommate literally bounced onto the couch beside her.

"Serena!"

"Dawn!"

"Shauna!"

"Kitchen!"

"Oh my. you guys aren't going to believe what happened!" Dawn gushed and Serena raised an eyebrow. She set down her ice cream and went for the cheese puffs.

Shauna returned to the living room carrying a tray with several glasses, all with mixed fruit drinks of varying colors but all tinged with red and set it down on the table with a slight 'clink.'

"You kissed your boy tonight?"

Dawn's eyes widened. "Ohmy Shauna! Yes! How did you know? are you a psychic!"

"You caught me. I'm a fortune teller and a psychic."

"Really?"

"No Dawn! I'm just observant. Watch," Shauna said and shot a mischievous smirk at Serena. "Shall we do a full physical analysis sere? First the hair. All tousled and wild like someone has run their hands through it.

Serena managed to crack a smile despite her gloom, enjoying the blush spreading on Dawn's face as Shauna continued.

"Next, the cheeks. Rosier than a rose and not from the embarrassment that I'm causing. Eyes are twinkling with delight. But the clincher is the lips."

"What's wrong with my lips?" Dawn exclaimed, her hand flying over her mouth.

"Oh nothing," Shauna said with a wink to Serena who grinned. "Just that your lipstick is pretty much gone and whatever is left is smudged terribly."

"So?" Dawn cried rubbing at her mouth. "Just cause my hair's messy and my lipstick's smudged doesn't mean I was kissing someone!"

Serena had to laugh. "Why are you getting so upset? Didn't you want to tell us about what happened to you tonight anyway?"

"Oh. This is true."

The three women shared a laugh and Dawn launched into her story.

"He loves me!" Dawn finished. She grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it fiercely, as though the pillow were Lucas. "He's loved me all along!"

"Well he certainly loves your lips," Shauna commented slyly which resulted in her getting a pillow thrown at her.

"I'm happy for you, really," Serena said smiling at her friend.

Serena was beginning to see that love really did have many ways of being expressed or being forced into expression and sometimes it wasn't always as simple as it was with her matchmaking service.

"Waitha minuth," Shauna said pulling her spoon from her mouth. She swallowed her ice cream and repeated, "Wait a minute. Dawn, I'm glad you got your love live straightened out and that the dumb boss figured out his feelings but back it up. You mentioned Kaiwe. Kissing the singer we saw at The Indigo?"

Dawn nodded. "He doesn't even know her name but he's got it bad for her!"

"Wow," Shauna said tapping her chin. "He was staring at her while we were there the other night but I didn't think he'd just run up to her and give her a smooch!"

"Poor thing ran off crying. Said she already had her heart-broken that night as it is. I guess she got dumped just before kaiwe ran into her."

"Aw. She should be here with us."

As her friends discussed who this mystery woman might be and if Kaiwe would try to find her, Serena thought back to their words. They had said the woman was a singer and she had just been dumped.

It can't be...

"Shauna," Serena said looking up quickly. Shauna raised her eyebrows in response, unable to speak as she stuffed a large brownie chunk in her mouth. "The woman we saw running out of the restaurant today, was she the singer from The Indigo?"

Shauna chewed thoughtfully then swallowed. "Hmm. Now that you mention it, they could be the same person. Maybe. I hadn't really paid much attention and the woman tonight was more dressed up. But, hmm...same hair color, similar facial features, same height. Yeah. If I close my eyes and picture them, I guess they are one in the same. Wait a minute,"

Shauna's eyes widened as she just realized the connection Serena was making. "Are you saying, that woman that we saw crying and I'm assuming is your client is the same one kaiwe fell in love with?"

"Oh it gets even better."

"Do tell."

"Three guesses as to who I had set up the singer with."

Shauna dropped the cookie she was holding. "No!"

"Oh yes."

"Are there secret cameras following us around or something? Are we on one of those reality TV shows?"

Here, Dawn finally spoke up, completely confused about what the other two were talking about. "Mind filling me in here?" She glanced down at the coffee table and for the first time noticed it was covered in junk food and Serena's mixed concoctions that had yet to be drunk. "And what's with the slumber party snacks? Dates not go so well?"

Before either Serena or Shauna could even try to begin explaining the night's events and the revelations that had been made, a knock on the door sounded causing everyone to look at one another in surprise. Who was visiting past midnight? Dawn stood up and offered to get it. She looked through the peephole and gasped.