As the door closed, Kate lay on the couch, crying. She was wondering why he would do this to her. She thought they had something special; they were going to last forever. How could there be another girl in his life. She did not get it. She had just seen him. Just gotten back from a trip to his house for a week. Then she remembered. That time he went to check on the boat. He was gone for nearly four hours. She couldn’t stand it anymore. She let out a sob. She realized it was useless being caught up on a boy she had lost, so she headed into her room and closed the door.

Jen seemed to be laughing hysterically at the grown man on screen crying, because his wife had just died. Mark said, “You’re just cold sometimes, Jen.” She replied, “I don’t care. Why should a grown man be crying, I haven’t cried since– I just don’t cry. So why should he?” Mark retorted, “It’s a bit different when a girl cries, and when a guy cries.”

“Oh? It is? I thought the only difference was that guys were actually emotionally stable, and didn’t need to cry to vent any particular emotion,” Jen said without batting an eye. Mark noted as he nodded at the clock, “You know, it’s pretty late. You should probably be getting home.” Jen spun around on the bar stool Mark had in his kitchen and suddenly remembered Kate. “Crap! When did it get to be 1 A.M…?!” She exclaimed as she ran out of the house, grabbing her motorcycle helmet off the ground on the way out.

What Jen returned to was far from what she left. She pulled into the driveway to see a few of Kate’s friends loading a large trailer, which was hooked up to Kate’s van. She took off her helmet as she stepped off her bike, and walked into the building, saying, “Hi,” to anyone she happened to see on the way up to Apartment 7. When she walked in, she saw the entire apartment bare. She remembered that today was the day the lease was up. She was confused, as was obviously visible on her face. She found Kate in the corner of the living room, helping direct her friends. Jen asked what was going on, and Kate said, almost too coolly, “I can’t stand to be in the same state as that idiot, so I’m moving into your old house. The one you grew up in. I spoke to your aunt, she was doing a good job taking care of the place, and she said we could stay there as long as we want. You can come too if you follow a few conditions.” Kate was almost a completely different person than the warm motherly figure that Jen had known since she had moved in. She could sense the wall that Kate was building around her, and for some reason, she cared.

“Y…Yeah… I’ll go,” Jen replied, almost instantaneously, spare a few stutters. Kate nodded, and said, “Your opinion in the situation doesn’t really matter… I already packed your things, and we’re leaving in about an hour, after everything is in the trailer.” Jen was in shock. Was this really the same cheerful, warm girl who had helped her to the toilet the same day? More importantly, is this how she, herself, had acted towards everyone, with the same cold demanding demeanor? Jen walked through the house, feeling like a ghost. Thinking back on how difficult life must have been on everyone around her, due to her own selfishness. She was ready to give anything to make up for how mean she had been. Jen noticed that everything was gone, and she heard Kate yell, “We’re leaving, come on!” So she slowly walked out to the van, got in the front seat, and reclined the back of the seat…