JC held me in his arms, and softly kissed my nose. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. He was silent for a moment. “It’s hard to believe we’ve only known each other for two months.”

“I know,” I agreed quietly. “That’s never happened before.” His eyes searched mine, and I saw a hint of confusion in them.

He drew in a breath. “What do you mean?”

I sighed. “I’ve never . . . had a real relationship before. Plenty of little ones, they only lasted a week or so, but none this long.” I paused. “And none of them made me feel this way, either,” I admitted.

JC smiled. “I’ve only felt this way one other time. And I don’t know, but I think -“ he stopped short. “I love you Mere,” he finished. A shocked look must sweeped onto my face, and he immediately said, “You don’t have to say it, you know. Not if you aren’t ready. But I love you.”

I managed a tiny smile. “I don’t know what to say.” I looked down at us, and suddenly felt inadequate. I moved away from JC, and hastily pulled covers over on top of my exposed body. He exhaled lightly and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

“Mere, don’t feel any pressure to tell me you love me back. I know that . . . this is new to you.” He stopped, and I wondered if he was about to jump up and run away from me. He leaned over, and grabbed some of the covers. “No pressure at all,” he repeated, turning onto his side.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms tighter around my waist, still shaken by his unexpected announcement. That certainly had never happened before.

***

Sunlight streamed in through the window of the apartment. Susie’s eyes fluttered open, and she widened her eyes in confusion. Oh my god, where am I? she asked herself. She sat up, and the blanket on top of her fell, and she saw that she was nude. Oh God, oh God, oh God. What’s going on? Next to her, lay a man she was certain she’d never seen before. She quickly grabbed the bedspread, and covered herself.

The man moved, and began to wake up. Susie closed her eyes and counted to ten, afraid of what was going to happen.

“Hey baby,” his voice entered her head. “Last night was the best.” He yawned, and put his arm around her. She shivered, suddenly very cold. He put his lips near her ear. "You want to, uh, go at it again? Before you leave?" She didn’t answer him, and he said, “Well, you don’t have to leave at all, if you don’t want."

Susie inched away from him, scared. “What -“ she coughed, trying to clear her throat. “What happened last night?” Her words pounded into her brain, and she touched her throbbing temple. It was obvious that she had a hangover.

“You don’t remember?” he asked. She looked over at him, feebly, and shook her head no. “Well, you were kind of resistant, but gave in. And I gotta tell you. For not even knowing what you were doing . . . you were one great lay, baby.” He gave her a filthy, disgusting smile, obviously proud of what had happened.

***

“Have you seen Susie?” Laura asked, getting up off of the floor, and jumping on the bed that Lance was in. Her back ached, from sleeping on the floor, but she didn’t care.

Lance opened his eyes, and looked at his girlfriend. “No, I haven’t. Why?”

Laura cracked a grin. “Well, she went home with some unknown guy she met at the bar!” she sing-songed. “And she hasn’t come back yet.”

Lance groaned, and rubbed his eyes. “How do you know that she isn’t in your room?”

Laura laughed. “Because Meredith and JC are in there! Duh. That’s why I came in here, remember?” She looked at his facial expression, and snickered. “Of course you don’t.” She paused, an evil thought entering her head. “Boy, then that means you don’t remember what we did . . . “

“What are you talking about?”

“After I came here last night.” she leaned into his ear, and said, “Right in front of Joey and everything.” She grinned as Lance’s eyes widened.

Joey sat up. “You did not! Stop lying to him,” he told her.

Laura laughed evilly. “You’re no fun. I wonder when Susie’ll get back, from her . . . escapade.” She raised her eyebrows up and down, comically.

“Please, don’t remind us again. We’ve heard about it more than enough,” Joey said.

“You sound jealous, Mr. Fatone.” A shocked look came onto his face, and Laura smiled innocently. “I’m right aren’t I? You like Susie.”

Joey opened his mouth to protest, but there was a knock at the door. Joey looked at Laura, and got up, and stalked to the door, evidently irritated.

Laura bent down and kissed Lance on his nose. “I was just joking. I slept on the floor.”

“Oh my God. Susie, what’s wrong?” The door closed, and Laura and Lance looked up to see Joey leading a sobbing Susie in through the door. Laura got up off the bed, and ran past her, out the door. Susie sat trembling on the bed, and put her head into her hands.

Joey kneeled down in front of her. “Susie,” he whispered, taking her hands in his, “what happened?”

She stared into his eyes. “I don’t know. I - I didn’t even remember,” Susie said, shaking her head. “Who he was. I don’t know who he was. He just . . . he told me I was good . . . He was so cruel.” She tried to continue talking, but her words were covered by wails.

***

“Do you know what happened?” I asked, running down the hallway after Laura.

“No, for the fifth time! She just got here, and was crying, and everything. I have no idea what’s going on. I came immediately to get you!” We stopped in front of Justin and Chris’s room, and banged on the door.

“What?” Chris grumpily asked, throwing the door wide open. He looked at us through one eye.

Laura was out of breath, so I said, “Something’s wrong with Susie. We don’t know, but she’s nearly hysterical in Lance and Joey’s room.”

Chris looked over at Justin, still asleep. “I’ll get Justin, and we’ll be right there. We’ll also get Justin’s mom, and Lance’s. You go ahead,” he told us. He closed the door, and we took off again, down the hall. We came to a stop at the room, and Laura jerked the door open.

We saw Susie crying on the bed, Joey holding her hands. I raced over to her, and held her.

“Honey, what happened?” I asked. Joey looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. Lance came behind me, and helped me get up.

“Come here,” he said, leading Laura, JC and I over by the bathroom. I saw Joey get up, and sit by Susie, wrapping his arms around her. He looked at us nervously. “Susie went home with a guy last night - Laura knew that. But she didn’t, obviously. She woke up this morning, about an hour ago, in his bed, not knowing where she was.” He took a breath. “He raped her. He even said that she resisted and all that.” Lance paused, still shook up. “He didn’t even . . . deny it.”