For as much as I loved Liza, I knew I couldn't hold on forever. If Trina hadn't stuck her head in, I was about to tell her that. I've always had a hard time with knowing when to let go of things I'm attached to. She was no exception.

After seeing her make eyes at Ade, I knew what was missing from the image I'd built up in my head - as well as realizing I'd built an image up in my head. Somewhere along the way, I'd made myself believe that coming here, swooping in and saving the day, and bringing her home would make her fall in love with me. I was so wrong.

Liza walked out of the room, leaving me to myself again. I was thankful of that because, truth be told, I didn't want to be around her right now. It wasn't because I was heartbroken - I refused to let that be true - but it was because I felt like a fool. Why was I even here if not to win her over? I knew someone that could be useful to them, but what good was that?

I rubbed my face and then ran my hands aggressively through my hair. "So stupid," I muttered.

"Hey, only me and Liza are allowed to call you that," Fiona said quietly, making me jump. When I looked up she was standing by the door, looking sheepish. I hadn't heard her come in. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just coming to check on you. You kinda went awol on us after we ate."

I sighed. Was everyone going to parade through here asking me questions? Maybe I should have just had my little pity party out there in front of a room full of strangers. "I just needed a moment with myself." I stood and faced Fiona.

"Oh," she said. She sounded disappointed. "Should I go?"

I shrugged. "You don't have to if you don't want to." We just looked at each other. She raised an eyebrow as she closed the door. I tried to smooth my hair down as I realized that it probably was a mess.

There was a short silence that felt kind of awkward. Fiona finally broke it. "What's up? You never tell me anything about what's going on with you."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "It's kind of a long story." She sat down, looking at me expectantly with her sparkling brown eyes. I snorted a little laugh and settled down into the chair next to her. I shook my head as I put my thoughts in order. "I need to let go," I said, leaning my head on the back of the chair and closing my eyes. "I think I'm holding on too tight. She doesn't want me right now, and if I keep holding on like this she never will." We were in silence for a long time, so my thoughts finally caught up with what I was saying. I sat up and looked at Fiona, who seemed to be mulling something over in her own mind. "Do you think she'll ever want me?"

She brought her eyes up to meet mine, but looked away again. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I can't answer that, Kyle." I watched her bite her bottom lip and noticed for the first time it was slightly chapped. "Kyle," she said finally, turning to me though she wouldn't look at me. "You're holding onto a flame for someone who will never share it. I don't think you see or care that it's burning you. You need to let her go. Yes, it's good to be concerned. Yes, it's okay to worry about her. But you have to see she's her own person and she can take care of herself. Right now, she's out there, falling for Ade, and any fool can see he's taken with her." Her eyes finally met mine and they were wet though no tears had fallen. "You need to look around you and see what you have that you've been ignoring."

All the implications that we'd slung at each other hit me at full force. First, I was kicking myself for saying to stay if she wanted and then not seeing how she reacted. Secondly, what I've been ignoring? She could only be talking about herself. My first reaction to that was that she was maybe talking about someone else, but as the first tear made its way down her cheek, I knew it was her. She was talking about herself. And she was clearly hurting.

What I did, right now, would make or break anything we could possibly have. Did I want to turn her away and risk wishing I hadn't? Or did I want to take the chance, right now, to take her offer and run with it?

"Don't cry," I whispered, sliding my chair closer and wrapping my arms around her. She buried her face in my chest, reminding me of a couple of times when Liza did that, before I could feel my shirt becoming damp. Her hands were gripping my shirt. I rested my cheek on top of her head, surprised to find natural instincts kicking in and everything feeling right in a way I didn't think it would.

Did I want to turn her down or take her offer?

I can see myself wanting this, I thought as I dropped a kiss on the top of her head. Definitely. Her hair smelled like flowers and a warm spring day. I smiled as I felt her arms slide to my middle and wrap around me. Her shoulders weren't shaking and I could only hear faint sniffles now. She turned her head so her ear was against me. I knew she could hear my heart. She had to hear when it started beating just a little faster.

---

Since no one really told us anything, we knew hanging out in the living room would be useless, but we did it anyway. Liza and Trina were having their little conference that apparently no one else was invited to while Liza kept looking over at us. Ade and Trevor weren't in the room. The other couple was sitting in a chair together, watching TV. Fiona and I made it a point to not even touch where the others could see, so we sat on opposite ends of the couch.

During a lull in their conversation, I stood and walked over to Liza and Trina. They glanced up at me as I sat down, but otherwise didn't react. "So tomorrow should be less busy," Trina said.

"What are you guys planning?"

Liza gave me a small smile. "We're discussing our plans to get into Vitality tomorrow."

I nodded. "So how are you going to do it?"

Trina, without batting an eye, flashed me two ID cards with the Vitality logo. "I reprogrammed these so that they'll both work and show the number of the employee that last left the area. We should be able to both get into the server room."

I looked at Liza. "I thought you did it alone?"

She nodded. "I did, but it would be better with two. We can watch each other's backs."

"Okay." A small weight I'd been trying to ignore lifted from my shoulders. "How are you even going to get in, though? I mean, it's not like you can just stroll in like nothing happened."

Liza nodded. "That's true." She turned to Trina. "What do you think we should do?"

She rubbed her cheek as she stared thoughtfully at the wall. We were all silent for a long minute. "The girl that cut your hair - she's an MUA, too. I know that makeup done right can make you look like another person."

Liza pondered this, then nodded. I shook my head. "How? Liza, I've seen you with and without makeup - you don't look that different."

She grinned at me, seeming to hold back a laugh. "No, Kyle, not like what I do. I just do my makeup to enhance certain things about my face, like my eyes." She flapped a hand at me. "You'll see."

"What's an MUA?" I asked, knowing I probably sounded daft.

"It stands for makeup artist," Liza told me, fondness coloring her tone. "They typically do your makeup for things like plays or weddings or other stuff like that. Just wait - you'll see."

---

Sleeping wasn't as easy as one might think. I was sharing a room with two other guys, and one of them was trying to take Liza from-

I stopped that thought. She wasn't mine - never had been. She was free to do what she wanted. I had to accept that. Besides, Fiona and I... had a thing. I wasn't sure what to call it. I wasn't sure I 100% wanted it, but I 100% wanted to see where this went and that was good enough for me.

Fiona was a great person, and I'd known her for a while now. She was pretty, but in a different way than Liza. Where Liza was light, Fiona was dark. Fiona was smart, as was Liza. Where Liza and I knew everything about each other - or almost everything, as I was now finding out she'd kept some things to herself - Fiona was a mystery. We had Liza in common, but that was all. I didn't know much more about her. 

In a way, that was appealing.

My thoughts seemed to be never ending, always circling back to the same thing: will Liza be okay?

Intellectually, I knew she probably would. After all, she was last time and they had this all planned out. Right?

Even if we weren't together, I was still a concerned friend, and that concern felt like it kept me up all night. I knew it didn't when the doorbell roused me from sleep. Somehow my mind had let sleep come at some point.

I ambled downstairs, finding the girls already there. The two guys I shared a room with had been snoring loudly, so I figured they hadn't heard the doorbell. 

"Sorry I'm a little late," said a girl with purple streaks in her hair. I figured she must be who they called an MUA. "I couldn't find the highlighter I wanted."

Mildly confused, I came all the way down the stairs and tapped Liza on the shoulder. She gave me a smile when she turned. "Morning, sleepyhead," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "Right, as if I could sleep at all with two other guys snoring loud enough to wake up all of Dallas."

Fiona pressed her lips together, fighting a giggle, and Liza rolled her eyes. Trina and the other girl walked into the kitchen, ignoring us. Liza shook her head and followed them.

I'd never truly watched any girl put on makeup, so watching the girl - Shay - work was kind of mesmerizing. I watched her smear on lots of products that made me glad I didn't wear any of it. I honestly didn't know how girls could stand it. 

While I watched, I felt someone touch my hand under the table. I glanced over and Fiona gave me a shy smile. I'd never seen her nervous that I could remember, but nervousness seemed to radiate from her. I gave her hand a light squeeze and a smile and she relaxed, her smile becoming more of a happy smile than a shy one. I wanted to lift it to give the back of her hand a kiss, but I felt just a little weird doing it in front of Liza, so I left our hands resting on my leg. 

Thirty minutes later, Shay said she was done. Liza and Trina turned to us. My eyebrows shot up, surprised. While I could still tell it was them, they looked very... different.

Liza grinned at me. It was definitely her. "How does it look?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "Not like you," I told her honestly.

"That's the point," Trina said, annoyed. She took the mirror Shay handed her and inspected her reflection. "Looks good." She passed it to Liza, who nodded in agreement.

"Thank you so much, Shay," she said. 

"I need to set it quickly," Shay said. "That way it'll last a while. I used all long-wear products, so it should be good for a while, but this will help." She pulled something full of liquid out of her bag and began spraying it all over their faces.

"What is that?" I asked, unable to stop myself this time.

Shay glanced at me. "It's called setting spray."

"What does it do?"

She sighed as she handed Liza and Trina something to fan their faces with. "It dampens all the powder on their face. When you wet the powders used on the face, they dry harder."

"But it's not all powders on their faces," I pointed out.

She gave an exasperated noise and began to shove things into her bag. "I'm done here."