"Shit..."  Steve said, starting to pull the car over, "He must've seen me swerve!"

"Oh god, Steve...I'm so sorry!"  Paige said, quickly re-fastening her seatbelt, "This is all my fault..."

"Don't worry about it."  He told her, "I'll handle it."  He reached over and gave her thigh an affectionate squeeze.

The police officer took his own sweet time coming up to the driver's side window. He sauntered up, and leaned down as Steve rolled the window down, peering in at Steve and Paige with beady little eyes.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Steve asked, clutching at the steering wheel nervously.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, son..." The officer said, "You damned near drove off the road back there."

"Yes, I realize that, sir..." Steve said, trying to come up with an excuse, "I was...I was distracted..."

"I noticed that too..." The officer nodded, "You might want to tell your girlfriend over there to keep the sex acts in the bedroom from now on. You're likely to kill someone that way."

Steve and Paige both blushed, and the officer laughed.

"Don't worry about it, kids..." He said, reaching in to pat Steve on the shoulder, "Just keep your eyes on the road from now on, okay?"

Steve nodded, and Paige followed suit, thinking it better to stay quiet for the moment. The officer walked back to his car, chuckling to himself, and left a stunned Steve and Paige to collect their thoughts.

After a long, uncomfortable silence...Paige began to giggle. Steve looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, before he too, started laughing. Soon, they were both laughing hysterically at what had just transpired.

After their laughter had calmed down, Steve looked over at her. He reached over and pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear.

"Maybe that was a sign that it's time for me to take you home..." He said quietly.

Paige nodded, "I guess now is as good a time as any." Her heart was sinking into the pit of her stomach at the thought of leaving him behind, but she knew that the time would have to come eventually.

"Will I be able to get your number?" He asked as they set off again, "So we can maybe hook up next time I'm in town?"

With all her heart, she wanted to tell him yes...but there was something that was stopping her from doing so. She knew that her relationship with Steve wasn't going to go any further than this one, wonderful night...and she wanted to keep her memories as they were.

"I don't think that's such a great idea, Steve..." She told him quietly, "I think maybe we should just leave things as they are."

Steve nodded, but his face showed that he was disappointed in the prospect of not getting to see her again. He stayed quiet though, realizing that she must have had her reasons for saying no.

The sun was only a couple of hours away from coming up as they made the trek back to her apartment. They drove in silence, him with his hand on her thigh, her staring out the window at the passing landscape.

Lex awoke later that night, and found Chris curled up in a ball next to her, sleeping soundly, albeit a little coldly. Lex smiled warmly at him, and pulled the blanket off herself, putting it over him.

She got up out of the bed gingerly, so as not to wake him up. Then she made her way through the clothes over to the desk, where she found the hotel stationery and a pen. She sat down at the desk and composed a short letter to him, so he wouldn't be surprised when he woke up to find her gone.

Dear Chris,

Lex

She folded up the letter and lay it next to his head on the pillow. She then scavanged around on the floor looking for her clothes. She managed to find them all finally, and got dressed in the bathroom.

Once dressed, she went to the door, and stood for a long moment, watching Chris sleep. Then when she started to feel the urge to go back in and crawl back in bed with him, she stepped out into the hallway, and shut the door behind her.

Lex blinked back tears as she made her way to the elevator. But then she realized how un-like her it would be to cry over a one-night-stand, and collected herself. She got on the elevator, and knew immediately where she was going. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I followed Justin to the door to see him out, wrapped in a towel. He pulled the door open, and turned to me, flashing me that million dollar smile.

"Thanks Liz..." He said, almost coyly, "I had a great time."

I smiled and nodded, feeling a bit strange about the whole situation, but not wanting to tip Justin off to that fact. I wanted him to think that I was as blase about it as he was.

"I did too, Justin..." I replied.

He reached back behind my head with one hand, and lay a gentle kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and relished the feeling of his lips on my skin that one last time.

"Goodbye now, Liz..." He said...stepping out the door. I walked up to the door and watched him down the stairs, a melancholy sadness filling me as I watched him disappear around the corner of the building.

I realized how silly I was being...That I was actually kinda SAD to see him walk out like that...I mean, common sense told me that what had happened between Justin and I was nothing more than meaningless casual sex....but, it was GOOD meaningless casual sex. And I suppose that, more than anything was what made me so sad to see him go.

I decided that the best thing to do was to just play it off as though it meant nothing to me. So, with that in mind, I went about my business. I went into the bathroom, and dropped my towel in front of the mirror, and started to get into the shower.

As I lifted my leg to step into the tub, I felt a slight pain in my hip. And turning back to the mirror to see what it was, I started to laugh. There, on my left hip, was a darkening purple bruise...in the perfect shape of three fingers.