Seeing the tears Sky bit back at just the kindness she had shown by asking how he and Star were, Raina felt her heart miss a beat. She sighed softly as she thought back on the way this beautiful boy, and his equally beautiful not-sister had been treated for years now, and undeservedly so. With a deep breath, she took his wrist and pulled him up from the table with her.

“We goin somewhere?” Sky asked as he narrowed his eyes down at her.

“Come on” she smiled as she pulled him with her back into the cafe where his dad was still waiting in one of the rather long lines.

Not quite sure what she had in mind, Sky followed easily, only to hesitate slightly as she pulled him into the restroom with her. “Um, we re-applying our makeup?” he attempted the joke to cover his own surprise and hesitation.

“One, I really do feel shitty about the way me and my friends treated you for so long” she told him apologetically, squeezing his wrist slightly.

“It wasn’t like it was just you guys” he stated softly. Though he hadn’t actually lived those three years here, his imagination and memories of times in his other life, did well to fill in the blanks.

“And two, after you admitted that you and Star really did, have something” she decided on, “I then was finally sure you weren’t only into boys.”

“Guess it was a valid assumption” he wryly repeated his dad’s words, though blushed slightly as to why a girl who had just dragged him into a public restroom with her was so concerned with his sexual orientation.

“You are way too cute, or should I say, pretty?” she smiled up at him again as she pulled him into one of the stalls with her.

Not quite sure how he was supposed to react to a situation he never imagined in that place, with a former antagonist of his; he was more than a little caught off guard by her locking the stall door behind them and moving to begin unbuttoning the black crushed velvet pants he wore that day.

“Raina...” he swallowed a bit as she continued the task, “a latte would suffice, honestly” he tried to joke again, his breath catching as he easily hardened underneath the material as she finished with the final button.

“I’m pretty sure that reaction says otherwise” she teased as she moved to her knees to begin her task.

It was a good ten minutes or so later, when the two finally stepped out of the restroom together again. Sky looked more than a little flushed as he shook his head down at her, still not quite sure how any of the last ten minutes had even happened. As they stepped through the door, Sky was a little caught by Connor standing against the wall next to the restroom door looking back at his son and his pretty new companion with more than a bit of accusation on his face. That expression only deepened when Raina obviously wiped away a bit of her now smudged black lipstick and gave Sky a tiny kiss.

“Hope you decide to come here after all” she told him sweetly as she headed back outside to reclaim her abandoned coffee, blissfully unaware of Sky now swallowing a lump in his throat in response to his father still looking back at him with that look of impending implosion.

“Dad...” Sky choked as he looked after Raina, biting his lip guiltily.

“Just...don’t...don’t talk right now, Sky. Our food’s ready” Connor breathed with more than a bit of discomfort as he shook his head, grabbed their order from a nearby table, and started toward where they had parked the car. Sky turned a few more shades of red then as he rubbed his darkly made up eyes and steeled himself for what he was sure would be a more than uncomfortable breakfast.

It was nearly ten more minutes of them sitting in the parking lot, his dad chugging his coffee as Sky picked away at crumbs of his bagel, refusing to even let his dark eyes come up to meet Connor’s for any of those extremely painful minutes.

Finally, Connor attempted to speak, “and to think, I didn’t even know you were into girls til a couple weeks ago” he scoffed.

“Dad” Sky began, then just shook his head and turned his eyes back to the bagel again.

“I guess I should be happy that at least you and Star aren’t doing those things, but Sky....” he shook his head. “A complete stranger, in a public restroom? What the hell am I supposed to think about you doing that sort of thing. I mean, really? You are still only seventeen.”

“She used to go to our school” was the only defense Sky could come up with, though there was barely any volume to it.

“Oh I guess that makes it all better” Connor scoffed.

“Dad, it was just a bl---” though when he saw Connor’s face, he quickly decided against the rest of that sentence.

“The fact that you are so blasé about just a...” he shook his head, “in a public restroom, with practically a stranger? Especially after that bisexual bombshell a couple weeks ago?” he whispered the words, “I mean, are you doing that with random men too? Or just boys you went to school with?” Connor scoffed again.

“Dad please” Sky mumbled.

“I mean I feel like I don’t even know you anymore Sky. What the hell are you really doing when you’re out of my sight?”

Sky shook his head at that, “well, how much detail do you want, dad?” he asked pointedly, causing Connor to just scoff again.

“So I assume you’re having actual sex too, not just blow-jobs, right?” Connor scoffed again.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Sky shook his head again.

“I think you just did” Connor mumbled.

“What do you want me to say?” Sky sighed heavily, hand up, eyes still down.

“Well for starters how many people have you even done this kind of thing with, or done everything else with? How many women? How many men?” he forced himself to ask.

“And I doubt you really want me to answer any of those questions either” Sky scoffed as Connor just glared back at him.

“Well I’m assuming that means the answer is definitely more than fucking one or two, isn’t it?” Connor asked more loudly.

“Again, do you really...” Sky just shook his head as Connor scoffed again.

“Who are you, Sky? This is not the shy, awkward boy who tried to...” Connor bit back the rest of that sentence.

“Tried to what?” Sky finally looked up.

Connor couldn’t help looking over at Sky’s wrist before speaking again, “is this your new method of trying to throw your life away now?”

“By getting a blow-job in a bathroom? Seems like a pretty strange method of suicide” Sky scoffed.

Connor glared again, “by doing potentially life-shattering activities with complete strangers, like it means nothing. Disease? Pregnancy? Going into a dark room with the wrong person? Is this how you’re trying to tempt fate now, Sky?”

Sky was quiet for a long moment as he tried to force back his emotions as best he could then, “there’s just so much you don’t understand” he whispered.

“Well, we’re in agreement there” Connor sighed.

Star was busy scowling down at her phone where she had been waiting a good ten minutes on Sky to return her last text now. It was bad enough to have to spend the day alone with their mother; but it was worse without even having the distraction of some kind of constant communication with the boy who was her other half, literally.

“Look, we’re here” Brie interrupted her vigilance of the screen of her phone as Star looked up and paled slightly as they pulled into the campus that she had lived next to that entire summer. Of course, that was in a different reality. But the way that living arrangement had ended, as well as a few other factors, did give her a bit of discomfort.

“Here?” was all Star could say as her mom turned the car into the lot of the student center.

“I thought this was your first choice, actually” Brie replied as she shut off the engine.

“Times change” Star mumbled as she scowled down at her phone once more.

Brie just shook her head, “I’m gonna head into the center and find some campus maps and a tour schedule, you coming with or would you rather stare at your phone for another hour?”

“Phone’s good” Star answered distractedly. Brie just shook her head with another sigh as she exited the car and headed toward the building.

Another scowl as Star noted her bars dropping there where they had parked under a rather large tree. With a huff, she gathered her black spiked purse and phone and also left the car to go find a seat on a bench outside the door her mother had just gone through.

Star was still continuing to glare at her silent phone that Saturday morning when she heard a young woman speaking to her as she approached, “Is that you, Star?” Kali chuckled as she moved toward the bench where Star looked up and paled even more.

“Kali?”

“Hey, that’s right, you’re heading to big bad college next year aren’t you?” Kali smiled as she took a seat rather close to the younger girl.

“So you remember me, I take it?”

“Funny” Kali smiled as she brushed a long lock from Star’s cheek.

“So what exactly do you remember about me? I mean, it’s been a while, right?” Star attempted to garner some piece of information about the version of herself that this version of Kali was apparently acquainted with.

“Couple years I guess. Why did you and your beautiful brother stop coming to the club anyway? I heard some stuff, but never knew what really happened” Kali asked her conversationally as she continued to gently twirl one of Star’s long locks around her black-tipped fingers.

Star swallowed slightly as her eyes moved down to the other girl’s hand as she tried to find a response that would be appropriate, “things just got kind of bad for Sky and I. We didn’t really feel like partying much anymore” she attempted.

“That’s a shame. The two of you were definitely missed” Kali smiled over at her again, “I’m just sad that I graduate here this year, so even if you do come...” she then just smirked as she looked down on the last word.

Star blushed slightly at the innuendo before trying to find another response, “well, this is just one of those tour weekend things. Still got another year of high school hell” she attempted a smile. All the while trying to force away the memories of the nights Kali and she, and Kali’s boyfriend, and Kali’s friends had all spent pleasing each other in various ways. After all, that was in a different reality, and it ended very badly. She had no clue how much, if any of that had happened here. Though she was pretty sure that at least the last bit hadn’t. However, the way Kali was interacting with her, did make her wonder how much of the other stuff happened here too.

“Well I have got to get across campus, but...” she stated as she covered Star’s hand in hers before sliding the phone out of Star’s hand and into her own. She then typed a number into the phone before gently placing it back in Star’s hand, allowing her fingertips to move over the other girl’s pale skin for another long moment, “don’t be such a stranger anymore, ok?” she smiled again before leaning in to place a long kiss over Star’s lips, deliberately sliding that studded tongue inside the other girl’s mouth for enough of a moment to make Star’s memories from the other world much clearer.

When Kali ended the kiss at last, she left Star more than a bit breathless. Kali then simply stood and smiled again before heading off to wherever she needed to be right then. Only when Star looked up again, she saw Brie standing there with a few hundred shocked questions on her face.