Issue 1 Downtime

Chloe burst into the apartment, and slammed the door behind her, panting as she tried to calm herself, praying that no one had seen her coming out of Derek's dorm room.

"Chloe!" Lucy bubbled from the kitchen. "I made breakfast! It's pancakes! With chocolate! And bacon! With chocolate! I don't know if that last one works too well but we'll find out!"

"I"m not hungry" Chloe wailed "I can't eat. Not at a time like this!"

Lucy's head peeked out the door. "In the morning? When ELSE can we eat breakfast."

"I slept with Derek!" Chloe wailed "We got drunk and we went back to his room, and then I woke up and I was in his bed, and I was naked and Simon will find out that I had sex with Derek and he'll know that I'm a slut and never take me back and what am I going to do now."

"Um..." Lucy seemed to be giving this a lot of thought. "I guess that depends?"

"On what?" Chloe said, her eyes filling with tears "How can anything depend on anything."

"If Simon calls? I mean, if he doesn't call, he doesn't find anything out, right?"

"I'm not going to tell him, but what if someone saw me?"

Lucy's eyes went wide. "Did you have a camera on!?"

"No, of course I didn't have a bloody camera on." Chloe said "But someone might have seen me leaving his room. And there is only one reason why I'd be taking the walk of shame."

"You could have flown," Lucy pointed out.

"Yes, because I'm less noticeable shifted."

"Well yeah. I mean, then you're just a bird, and who's going to see where you took off from? I mean, if people recognize you, it's just 'oh, there's Chloe flying around, I wish I was that bloody cool to be able to turn into a bird!'"

"Or they'd say "Oh, look at Chloe flying out of Derek's window. Its rather early in the morning, she must have just woken up. In Derek's room. Where she and Derek had sex. We best make sure Simon knows she's moved on..."

"Oh, you've moved on now? Well then Simon should know that, right? So, like, he can hook up with whatever bloody little tart from that boobie-bar he's a sot for, right?"

"Lucy, will you please listen? I love Simon, and I don't want to move on. I also don't fancy everyone thinking that I'm a tart."

"Then why'd you shag Derek?" Lucy asked, cocking her head at Chloe. Then her eyes widened. "Ohhhh. Was it not good?"

"I don't even remember!" Chloe said "I was too drunk."

"Ooooh," Lucy said with a wince. "Well that makes it hard, you know? Because then you don't know what you want because you don't remember, and you don't even remember if HE wants to do it again because you could have been all spazzy and it could have been lousy and he'll deny that he shagged you ANYWAY which would make this ALL better, wouldn't it?"

"He is already trying to pretend nothing happened." Chloe said "He knows it was a mistake, too. So, yes, if no one saw me, it'll be fine."

Lucy winced again. "Oh wow, it was that bad?" Then she shook her head. "Well... if he's not saying anything, then what's the problem?"

"Because even if no one saw, even Derek never says anything, even if Simon never finds out, I'll know that I cheated on Simon. I"m a horrible, horrible person."

"But you're not a horrible person!" Lucy complained, stamping her foot. "Omigod the chocolate's gonna burn! Help me get it!"

Chloe ran in, and pulled the pan off the stove "But I am! I was unfaithful to Simon!"

"But you were drunk! It totally doesn't count if you do it when you're drunk! That's what all of those silly afternoon shows that mum watched told us, remember!"

"This is real life." Chloe said "And in real life, this counts. Simon will think I'm a tart. Derek will think I'm a tart."

"Simon can't call you a tart when he won't bloody call," Lucy grumbled.

"Don't bloody remind me." Chloe said "I keep hoping he will. I just want to give him the biggest hug."

"Have you called him?"