Christina Chase went up and down the row of fresh produce, spritzing the vegetables with fresh water from a bottle. Though she'd only been working in the grocery a few days, she had already fallen into a comfortable routine. Every morning, she woke up early to help Misha with breakfast. Afterwards, she sat with her aunt and uncle enjoyed the meal long before Nina woke up.

        Then, providing it wasn't snowing, Alek gave her a lesson on handling the truck on the way into town. Once at the store, Christina would set up the front while Alek managed things in the small warehouse in back.

        Christina was unsure if the cold February weather or the fact that it was Friday was responsible for the lack of customers. Once everything was in order, Christina scanned the store looking for something useful to do. She took the broom off the wall and started sweeping, though it was hardly necessary. As she swept, she saw her Saab pull up in front of the store. The fact that Andrei had been using Christina's car made her feel as though she was contributing to the family in some small way. At least now there was no need to juggle the use of the truck, nor was there a need to squeeze everyone into it.

        Christina waved at Andrei as Nina got out of the car. She hoped he would have stayed, too, but as soon as Nina got to the door, Andrei left. Other than giving Andrei the spare keys to her car the other morning, Christina had barely seen her older cousin. She'd come to terms that he was spending a lot of time with Steph, but she still wished he had some time left for her.

        "Hey Nina," Christina said as Nina entered the grocery store. "How was school today?"

        Nina shot her a cousin a look that said, "Do NOT pursue that question any further." Putting her book bag down behind the counter, she said, "Let's just say I'm happy it's the weekend."

        "I'm sorry Nina." She stopped there, not wanting to make Nina more upset than she already was.

        "So are you ever going to call Richard back?" Nina asked.

        "No," Christina said firmly. "I don't care if he calls every day for the next fifty years."

        "I can't screen your calls forever. Someday he's going to catch you."

        Holding up two fingers, Christina joked, "Let's give it twenty more years."

        Nina rolled her eyes as she took a seat in a chair behind the counter.

        Christina turned around as she heard the sound of the opening door. Lisa came in followed by Steph, who asked, "What's shakin', ladies?"

        "Not much," Christina answered, "It's dead today."

        "Same with the salon," Lisa said. "We just closed early."

        "Anyway," Steph cut in, "Leese here just had another wonderful phone call with Ollie, and we thought we'd go explain the situation to a hamburger."

        "What?" Nina asked.

        "The diner, kid-o. You two in?"

        "Yeah," Christina answered. "Lemme tell my uncle." In the back room, she saw Alek filling out a ledger, using a crate as a makeshift table. "Uncle Alek?" Christina called. When he looked up, she asked, "Steph and Lisa want Nina and I to go to the diner with them. Is that okay?"

        Checking his watch, Alek said, "It will be time for dinner in a few hours."

        "We're just going to hang out."

        Alek nodded, "Of course, Tina. but do not tell your aunt," he added with a grin.

        Christina shot him a smile before she went back into the front of the store. "We're all set," she said as she put on her coat.

        "I don't really want to go," Nina said.

        "Come on, Nina," Steph insisted.

        "You can't sit here and mope all day," Christina added.

        "Okay," Nina sighed as she got up.

        The four girls left the store and went outside onto the icy sidewalk. As they walked around the corner to Marge's diner, Lisa complimented Christina on her new coat, and Christina explained in great detail how she'd found it in the vintage clothing store in Dover. Nina, still unhappy at being coerced into engaging the rest of the world, lagged a few steps behind.

        As they entered the diner, Marge walked by carrying two large platters of food. Nearly every seat in the building was occupied, and the sound of groups of chattering teenagers bounced off the walls.

        Seeing a group of three kids vacating a booth, Steph called to Marge, "Hey Margie, we're gonna grab a seat."

        Scrambling from one table to another, Marge threw Steph a nod.

        The girls took their seats at the table; Lisa and Steph sat on one side while Nina and Christina sat on the other. They piled the used plates and silverware on the edge of the table and waited for the obviously overworked bus boy to collect them. After he had come and gone, Christina asked Lisa, "You didn't make up with Oliver yet?"

        "No," Lisa fumed. "He still wants Rachael to come to the wedding. I even told him that she was spying on me the other day, and he said I was paranoid."

        "Who's Rachael?" Nina asked.

        "Oliver's ex-girlfriend," Lisa quickly explained to Nina before continuing. "Oliver was supposed to leave his parents' house and come over tonight, but I told him not to bother."

        Marge came over with a notepad. "I forgot the menus," she sighed as she started to leave.

        Steph stopped her, saying, "I don't think we need any." Steph and Lisa ordered cheeseburgers while Christina ordered a large plate of french fries for herself and Nina.

        "What's with all these people?" Christina asked.

        "Everyone comes here on Fridays after school," Nina explained.

        "Yes they do," Marge added in a frustrated voice. "And I would throw them all out if they weren't so good for business." Seeing that a boy was balancing by his foot on one of the front counter stools to impress a girl, Marge charged off as she said, "Henry Wilson, you get down from there right now!"

        Nina glared at Henry as he sat back down on his stool. "Boys are so stupid," she complained as she sulked.

        "And they grow up into stupid men," Lisa commiserated.

        "You still not over the break-up?" Steph asked Nina.

        Nina frowned, saying, "David's been spreading rumors about me in school."

        "Sorry, kid," Steph said compassionately. "High school was cruel to us all. I know it feels like the end of the world, but people have short memories. Next week, the nasty rumors will be about some other girl ... and they'll grow to a crescendo and give her an eating disorder."

        "I guess you're the only one of us in a decent relationship," Christina said as she looked at Steph.

        "'Fraid not, Stretch. I'm in exile from Guysville too."

        "You've got to be kidding!" Christina complained. "I can count on one finger how many times I've seen Andrei since I got back home."

        "He's not at my place," Steph insisted. "He started working for Conrad."

        "You're not serious," Christina joked.

        Steph shook her head. "I wish I was. He gave me this big speech about responsibility ... it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Anyway, he said he needed to get a real job, and next thing I know, he's slaving away every day at Old Man Conrad's."

        "I can't believe that," Christina said, "He hates Mr. Conrad." Looking at Nina, she asked, "She's kidding, right?"

        "Andrei started working at the garage after you went home. He's never home anymore, and he hasn't even been in the barn once."

        "And he sure ain't spending time with me," Steph complained. "Conrad's got him working late all the time. Andrei's even going out of his way to work on weekends, too."

        Christina was still contemplating the situation as Marge came by with their orders. She quickly placed cheeseburgers in front of Lisa and Steph, then put a large plate of french fries between Nina and Christina. After unloading their drinks, Marge rushed off to seat another group of teenagers who were waiting at the front door.

        "I don't get it," Christina said as she sipped her soda through a straw. "I leave town for one month, and everything's gone off the rails."

        "Andrei's got all these ideas about what he thinks he needs to do," Steph said, "But I just want things the way they were before. If he keeps this up ... I don't know ..."

        "Just be glad you're not engaged to him," Lisa added.

        "I'm never getting married," Nina said dramatically. "I don't even want to date another boy ever again. It's nothing but trouble."

        Steph raised her soda and held it out over the middle of the table. "I'll drink to that." Lisa, Christina, and finally Nina all raised their sodas and tapped them together, then took drinks.

        As the girls ate, they continued talking over the noise of the teenaged crowd that was packed into the diner. The noise was so loud that none of them noticed when David and three of his friends came into the building. As they went to the only empty booth in the room, one of David's friends, a large boy who had a double chin and was wearing a varsity football jacket, pointed out that Nina was sitting only three booths away. The large boy snickered over his shoulder at Nina and whispered some rude comments, as did David's other two friends. David, however, was less than enthusiastic about the cruel game, considering that both Nina and her older cousin were in the room.

        "We should do something," Lisa said as she finished off her cheeseburger.

        "Like what?" Steph asked.

        "I don't care- but something. I don't want to sit home all night and think about whatever Oliver is doing."

        "We could go to a movie," Christina offered.

        Nina didn't say anything. She was looking forward to a long and lonely night of hiding in her room.

        "Four busted relationships?" Steph opined, "A movie isn't gonna cut it. This calls for hard liquor and country music."

        "I have to do something," Lisa complained. "I don't care what."

        At that moment, the girls heard someone forcing a loud cough, as though they were trying to speak through it. Nina immediately hung her head on the table; this was the sound she'd heard in the hallways all day at school.

        The coughing sound came again, and the girls could distinctly make out the word, "Slut" embedded in it.

        Lisa and Steph turned around and Christina leaned over, discovering that the slut-coughs were coming from David's booth. The boys, with the exception of David, who making his best effort to hide behind his menu, were mercilessly teasing Nina.

        Without looking up, Nina cried, "I want to go home."

        Steph shot them an angry look and shouted, "That's a nice mouth you got on you. Just be glad Nina's brother isn't here."

        Christina sneered at David, then draped her arm around her cousin. "Don't let them get to you, Nina." She looked back at David, feeling a terrible rage growing in her chest.

        "Let's go," Nina insisted.

        Christina exchanged a look with Steph, who went to the front counter to settle the bill. As Lisa, Christina, and Nina put on their coats and went to the door the slut-coughs resumed. With each cough, Christina grew more furious. Lisa joined them up front and said, "Don't worry about it, Nina. People like that," she said as she looked back at Nina's tormentors, "always get what's coming to them eventually."

        "The hell with eventually," Christina growled as she charged over to David's table.

        "Wait," Lisa said, though it had no effect on Christina.

        Christina stood at the foot of the booth and stared right through David. "You owe Nina an apology," she said.

        "Oh, now you owe her an apology," laughed the boy in the far corner.

        David, who appeared somewhat scared, looked over to his friends then back at Christina with new found bluster. "I don't owe her anything," he said defiantly.

        The large boy in the varsity jacket laughed cruelly like a hyena before a kill.

        "You really want to think about that," Christina fumed.

        "Christina, come on," Steph called from the door. Everyone had in the diner stopped what they were doing and stared at the confrontation.

         "Apologize," Christina insisted, the word heard clearly in every corner of the now silent diner.

        David looked around and saw that all eyes were on him. He looked over at Nina, then to his friends, and back to Christina. "No," he said, somewhat unsure of himself.

        Enraged, Christina grabbed David by the lapels of his jacket and hoisted him out of his seat. Before David had a chance to respond, Christina pushed him onto his back on top of the table, causing plates and glasses to spill over onto the floor and onto David's friends. Christina let go of David with her right hand and slammed her palm between his legs and squeezed.

        "Oh shit!" David wheezed as he felt Christina's fingers clench his balls through his jeans. Everyone in the room gasped. A few people stood up so they could get a better view of what was going on.

        "We already had the conversation about consequences," Christina growled.

        David's chubby friend stood up, spaghetti rolling off his pants, and grunted.

        "Who are you?" Christina shot at the boy.

        "Paul."

        "Sit down, Paul." Christina had the same tone in her voice that a dog trainer would use to illustrate who was in charge. Paul sat down instantly.

        "Please let go!" David coughed.

        "What made you think spreading lies about my cousin was a good idea?"

        "I didn't-" David started, but he stopped as he felt Christina start to twist. "I'm sorry!" he pleaded.

        "Sorry for what?" Christina yelled.

        "I'm sorry I lied!"

        "The truth is you never got ANYWHERE with Nina," Christina shouted. "She turned you down, and you lied. Isn't that right?" The boy didn't say anything, so Christina gave his balls another twist, repeating, "Isn't that right?"

        "Yes!" David cried, "I made it all up!"

        Christina let go of the boy, who slowly rolled over and fell to the floor. Bent over, he held his balls while he waited for the pain to stop.

        Turning around, Christina saw that all the teenagers in the diner were staring at her. One group of girls at the front counter started to clap, and soon the whole place exploded with applause and cheers.

        She went to the front counter where Marge was standing and took some money out of her purse. "I'm sorry about the broken plates," she said with a hint of embarrassment as she handed the money to Marge, "Let me know if that's not enough."

        Without counting the money, Marge replied, "I'm sure it's fine."

        Christina nodded, then joined Steph, Lisa, and Nina at the front door.

        "Holy crap!" Steph gasped as they all left the diner. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."

        Christina put her arm around Nina and asked, "Are you okay?" Nina responded with only a meek nod. "We'd better get back to the store," Christina said to Steph.

        "Okay," Steph said, as she and Lisa went in the opposite direction back to the salon. She called, "We'll call you later if we end up doing anything."

        Christina waved at Steph and Lisa, then walked Nina back to the grocery store. When they got to the door, Nina turned around and hugged her older cousin. "I'm really glad you're home," she said.

        Christina held her, "Are you okay?"

        "Yeah."

        Christina gave Nina a squeeze and said, "Go on inside. I've got to go take care of something."

        "What?" Nina asked.

        "I'm going to talk to your brother."

        After waiting for Nina to go back into the store, Christina made her way across town to Mr. Conrad's service station. As Christina stood shivering on the sidewalk, she could not believe what she was seeing. Behind the windowed garage doors, she saw Andrei dressed in filthy overalls, rolling a tire across the length of the garage. He dropped the tire on the floor next to a car on a lift, then directed his attention upwards.

        Looking around the frozen lot, Christina saw her Saab parked in the rear of the station. Andrei was definitely working for Mr. Conrad, though Christina couldn't fathom why he would do such a thing.

        Christina charged into Mr. Conrad's station and right past the dingy office and into the garage.

        "What are you doing?" Christina said to Andrei's back.

        Without stopping what he was doing, he answered, "Working," as though he'd expected to have this conversation sooner or later.

        "No," Christina said testily, "What are you doing, working here?"

        Andrei put down his wrench and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a greasy rag before turning around to face his cousin. He let out a long sigh that expressed his unwillingness to engage her.

        When Andrei didn't answer, Christina demanded, "Why are you working for Mr. Conrad?"

        "Can we talk about this later?"

        "When later? I have hardly seen you since I got home!" Andrei gritted his teeth as Christina continued. "And now I hear you're not even spending time with Steph?"

        "I said we can talk about this later," he barked as he turned around to get back to his work.

        "No," Christina said angrily, "We're going to talk about it right now! Why are you working for Mr. Conrad?"

        "Christina," Andrei snapped, "I don't have time to argue with you right now. I work here now, and that's all there is to it. And I have a lot to get done tonight, so please just let me get back to it."

        When Andrei started to get back to work Christina shouted, "Don't you dare turn your back on me! Why are you wasting your time here?"

        "Wasting my time?" Andrei said. "All I ever do is waste my time! I finally get my shit together, and everyone is giving me a hard time. Now I have to hear it from you, too?"

        Unaffected by the anger in her cousin's voice, Christina closed the distance between them and poked him in the chest with her finger. "Yes, you DO have to hear it from me. I just spent the afternoon with Steph and she's very unhappy. And I can't imagine that you actually want to work here, so what the hell is going on?"

        "You wouldn't understand."

        "Try me. Why on Earth are you spending all of your time here? What about Steph? What about all your projects in the barn?"

        "I'm not going to waste my time playing games in the barn all day anymore."

        Christina couldn't believe what she was hearing. She'd heard words like that before, but from her uncle, never from Andrei.

        Andrei shook his head angrily and went back to work.

        "Well, it stops right now!" Christina demanded.

        "Excuse me?" Andrei said as he turned back around.

        "You heard me! You're quitting."

        "No I'm not," Andrei dismissed.

        "What's all this noise about? And what's she doing here?" Mr. Conrad called from the door.

        "It's nothing, Conrad," Andrei said.

        "You're quitting," Christina repeated firmly.

        Andrei said, "No I'm not!"

        "Yes, you are!"

        "You're quitting?" Conrad snapped.

        "No!" Andrei shouted. "I'm not quitting!"

        "Then stop chatting and get back to work ... or you're fired," Mr. Conrad answered.

        "Conrad," Andrei shouted, "Just give me a minute here, okay?"

        "Alright!" the old man exploded angrily. As he returned to his office he muttered, "People coming in an' shouting ... sayin' they're quitting and not following through ... that's the problem with kids these days ... can't foller through on nothin'!"

        "Christina," Andrei said, trying to remain calm, "We can talk later. I'm busy right now."

        "You're quitting," Christina repeated in a more civil tone.

        "Says who?"

        "Says who? Says me!"

        Andrei laughed in spite of the serious tone in his cousin's voice and said, "I don't think so."

        "Oh, so you get to walk into the Handi-Mart and tell people that I'm quitting, but I can't tell you when to a quit a job that is completely wrong for you?"

        "That's about the size of it."

        "And why's that exactly?"

        "Well, you know ..."

        "No, really ... enlighten me."

        "'Cause ... that job wasn't safe for you."

        "And why's that?"

        "You know ... cause you're a ... "

        Christina punched Andrei as hard as she could in the shoulder, though it hardly made an impact on her large cousin. "Don't you even say it!" she shouted. Christina put her face as close as she could to Andrei's without standing on her toes and threatened, "You ARE quitting and we ARE going to talk about it later." She started to leave but turned around and added, "And I'll see you at dinner tonight."

        Andrei opened his mouth but Christina raised her finger at him and he decided against speaking.

        Christina stormed out of the service station and back out onto the sidewalk feeling oddly empowered. Between assaulting David and shouting at Andrei, It had definitely been a strange afternoon.

        That night, the entire family, including Andrei, had dinner together. Andrei didn't say much during the meal and spent most of the time trying not to make direct eye contact with his cousin. After dinner was finished and Christina had helped her aunt clean up, she went to corner Andrei in the living room. Before she could get out a word, the doorbell rang.

        She shot Andrei a look that told him he wasn't allowed to go anywhere, then went to the door to see who it was. Opening the door, she found Steph and Lisa outside. "Hey, come on in," Christina said.

        "Thanks, Stretch," Steph said as she rubbed her arms and stepped into the warm house. "There's my guy," she said to Andrei. Andrei went over to Steph and she pulled him down for a long kiss.

        Hearing the sound of the doorbell, Nina came out from hiding in her room and sat on the stairs to see what was going on.

        "Hello, Stephanie," Misha called from the kitchen.

        "Hey Mrs. L.," she called back. Turning her attention to her boyfriend she asked, "So ... what do you say to you and me for dinner at my place tomorrow?"

        "Sure," Andrei grinned. "I think I can get off by seven."

        "Seven?" Steph pouted. "Why not pull a Fred Flintstone and slide down that brontosaurus at quitting time like everyone else?"

        "What?"

        "Right," Steph laughed, "I keep forgetting about the no T.V. situation. How about five, and we can make a whole night of it?"

        "Steph ... I really don't think-"

        "I know," Steph said dejectedly. "You don't think." She turned to Christina and said, "Leese and I came for you. Get your things; we've got plans."

        "Where are we going?" Christina asked.

        "You'll see," Steph teased. Seeing Nina on the stairs, she added, "You too, kid-o."

        Nina didn't look enthusiastic about the idea, but Christina said, "Come on, Nina."

        She got up and put on her coat, joining the other girls at the front door.

        Alek came out of the master bedroom to see what the noise was all about and saw Christina putting on her coat.

        Christina said, "Nina and I are going out for a little while, Uncle Alek. We'll be back before it gets too late."

        "Oh no, you won't," Steph joked as she shoved the girls out the front door. Steph backed out of the door calling, "No worries Mr. L! It's the weekend, and you know what they say about girls ... We just wanna have fun and all that. I'll take good care of them. I promise!"

        Without waiting for an answer, Steph closed the front door and jogged through the freezing winter night to her running car. She hopped into the drivers seat, saying,, "Buckle up, ladies," to Christina and Nina who were stuffed into the back.

        "What are we doing?" Nina asked.

        "What are we doing?" Steph repeated. "Tonight, we're striking back!"

        "Against who?"

        "Men!" Lisa laughed.

        "That's right," Steph gave Lisa a high five.

        Steph drove at a questionable speed down the long gravel driveway and into town. Parking the car on the side of the deserted street in front of the salon, she hopped out. Lisa went to the front door of the salon and unlocked it while Nina and Christina got out of the back seat.

        Christina hopped up and down on her toes in the cold while she waited for Lisa to open the door. Once they were inside, Lisa started turning on all the lights while Steph jumped up onto one of the salon chairs and spun around once.

        "Ladies!" she shouted to the group as though she were a politician speaking at a rally, "We've got a problem! We've got trouble!"

        "Trouble!" Lisa shouted as she took her place next to Nina and Christina after turning on all the lights in the place.

        "Oh, we've got TROUBLE!" Steph continued. "Right here in Oak Grove! With a capitol 'T'! That rhymes with 'P'! And that stands for ... " she said as she looked around. " ... Men," she answered as she stepped off the chair.

        "That doesn't spell men," Christina said.

        "No, but 'P' spells something else that men have. Leese will draw you a picture later," she joked. "Listen to me girls, and listen good. Who is it that runs things around here? Who are the movers and shakers? The makers and the shapers? The people responsible for all of modern society?"

        "Women!" Nina shouted, much to Christina's surprise.

        "That's right, kid-o," Steph said without losing the energy of her rant. "Why, men will go on all day about the wars they've won or the bridges they've built, but I tell you sisters, they wouldn't have made that bridge unless a woman told them to get to the other side of that river in the first place."

        "That's right!" Lisa laughed as she took a bottle of wine off the counter and popped the cork. She took a swig and handed the bottle to Christina.

        "And what do we get for all our trouble?" Steph continued. "Boyfriends who are too busy with work. Men who are sneakin' around your back with other girls." She looked at Nina, "Creeps who spread lies about you." She took the bottle of wine from Christina's hand and took a drink. Steph looked at her directly as she said, "Fathers who think they can control our lives."

        Christina looked around, wondering what she'd gotten herself into.

        "Steph put the bottle back down on a counter and added, "Oh, and lawyers, too."

        "Lawyers?" Christina asked.

        Steph stumbled back up onto the salon chair and quipped, "What? 'Lawyer' isn't enough of a complaint?" She resumed pontificating from her makeshift pulpit , "Ladies, tonight we're here to declare our emancipation! Tonight we celebrate our independence!"

        "Woo!" Lisa called from the choir.

        Christina looked over at her cousin and saw that she was being swept up in Steph's crusade. "How are we doing that?" she asked rationally.

        "Lisa," Steph asked as she pointed at her coworker, "What was the one thing you always wanted to do, but Oliver said you couldn't?"

        Lisa, having obviously been prepped for the night's events, shouted back, "I wanted to get my belly button pierced."

        "And why didn't you?" Steph called back like a preacher asking a parishoner to testify.

        "He said it was trashy."

        "Typical man," Steph said she hopped back off the chair. "But that ends right now!" She spun the chair around and motioned for Lisa to sit in it. Once Lisa was seated, she spun the chair around three times, chanting, "We're gonna wash, wash, wash that man right outa your hair, and send him on his way!" as though it were an incantation.

        Steph went back to the counter and retrieved a plastic case. She opened it in her palm revealing four belly button rings. One of them was a purple lilly with six petals. The second was a butterfly-like fairy with four artificial gems set in for wings. The third was a string of three blue stars, and the last was a golden heart dangling on it's side from a chain, inlaid with faux diamonds.

        "Lisa," Steph said ceremonially, "Are you ready?"

        Lisa eyed the belly button rings and confessed, "No."

        Steph handed Lisa the case and shooed her out of the salon chair. Steph sank into the chair, unbuttoned the top of her jeans, and pulled up her shirt to expose her belly button. "As usual," she joked, "I'll be the first one into the breach, and drag the rest of you into the future." She motioned for the wine which Lisa handed to her. She took another swig, "Gimme the stars."

        Lisa went into the back room and returned wearing a pair of latex gloves and wheeling in a steel tray full of supplies. She adjusted the chair to recline Steph's chair backward. Then, using a cotton swab, she cleaned the area inside and around Steph's belly button. Christina got a queasy feeling in her tummy as she watched Lisa spray some sort of solution on the area then take a needle out from a sealed package. She looked away as Lisa pulled up the top of Steph's navel with a pair of specialized pliers and placed the needle on the extended fold of skin. When she looked back, Lisa was cleaning the bar of the ring which had now been cleanly inserted through Steph's navel.

        "Nothing to it," Steph grunted as Lisa helped her to her feet. She went into the back room and returned wearing a pair of latex gloves. "So," she said as she looked around, "Who's next?"

        All eyes were on Lisa, but after a moment of silence which felt like an hour to Christina, Nina shouted, "Me! Do me next."

        Steph patted the chair and Nina hopped in.

        "Whoa, hold on," Christina protested. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

        "Oh come on!" complained Nina.

        "I don't think your Mom will be happy about this."

        "Ah," Steph mused, "But Nina has you to break the news gently for her. I hear you're good at talking your aunt into letting Nina expand her horizons." Nina opened the fly of her jeans and lifted her shirt, and Steph started to clean the girl's navel.

        Christina spun around on her heels and covered her eyes with her hands. She wasn't going to watch this happen, At least that way, she reasoned, she'd have plausible deniability.

         "I want the fairy," she heard Nina say. It was followed shortly by a tiny squeal, and she knew it was too late.

        "Come on, Leese," Steph goaded, "If Thumbelina can do it, so can you."

        Nina tapped Christina on the side of the arm, and she looked back at her younger cousin's belly. "It didn't hurt too bad," she insisted.

        Christina looked over and saw Lisa taking another drink from the wine bottle before getting back into the chair.

        "Okay, okay, okay!" Lisa repeated to herself. "I want the flower," she said.

        "Right you are, madam," Steph said as she went to work on Lisa's exposed navel. "Let's see what ol' Ollie has to say when he sees this ..."

        Christina watched as Steph expertly pierced Lisa's belly button and installed the flower adorned bolt.

        Lisa got out of the chair and appraised her midsection in the wall of mirrors that lines the salon. "Oh, that kicks ass!" she gushed.

        Steph turned her attention to Christina and said, "I guess that means you get the heart."

        "Oh no," Christina laughed as she held up her hands. "Not me."

        "Come on," Steph teased, "You're a townie, now. One of us. You want to blend in, right?"

        Christina shook her head as she said, "My uncle would never allow me to-"

        "Didya not get the mission statement of the evening? Men don't call the shots. We do."

        Christina looked at Steph and pondered what she was saying. She looked over at Lisa and Nina, then held out her hand. "Gimme the bottle!" she said. She took a long drink then handed it back to Lisa before she sat down in the chair and exposed her belly button.

        "Wait," she said as Steph started to clean her. "Shouldn't we get a professional or something?"

        "You're looking at her, Blondie." Steph laughed as she sprayed Christina's navel.

        Christina closed her eyes as she felt the clamp of the pliers and the painful sensation of her skin being stretched. She tensed all the muscles in her face as she felt the pressure of the needle, though it was not nearly as painful as the clamping pliers.

        "All set," Steph said as she started to clean the area again.

        Christina stood up and looked in the mirror at the delicate gold heart now dangling from her belly button. She looked back at the other girls and laughed, finally getting into the spirit.

        After Steph gave them a quick rundown of how to take care of their new piercings, the four girls went upstairs to Steph's apartment. Steph went to the kitchen to make some popcorn while Lisa went to the television. With the open bottle of wine in one hand, Lisa ruffled through Steph's DVD library.

        "What about this?" Lisa said as she held a DVD above her head.

        Steph came out of the kitchen and squinted at the movie in Lisa's hand. "Grease? Oh no. You know what happens when you watch that."

        "What happens?" Christina asked.

        "What happens is I have to live through a week of Lisa singing 'You're the One that I Want' at work."

        Lisa took a drink from the bottle and said, "Nah, I'll get it all out of my system tonight."

        "Pick something else," Steph said.

        Lisa turned to Christina and Nina and said, "What do you think?"

        Christina shrugged and Nina said, "I've never seen it."

        "You've never seen it?" Lisa balked. "Did you year that Steph? She's never seen it." She turned back to Nina and said, "Not once?"

        "Fine! Indoctrinate another one," Steph called as she went back into the kitchen to respond to the beeping microwave oven. "I swear, it would kill that family to have a television."

        An hour later, the four girls were sitting together in their pajamas. Lisa, having clearly been informed of the night's activities beforehand, had brought a pair of her own. Nina borrowed a pair of green boxer pajamas from Steph, and Christina was wearing one of her nightshirts. On Christina, the nightshirt barely made it down to her thighs. The three older girls each held a glass of wine, and Nina sat between Steph and Christina with a half empty bowl of popcorn in her lap.

        At Lisa's inebriated insistence, they were all singing along with "We Go Together". Even Nina, with the help of a lyrics sheet, was keeping up with the older girls. As the song ended, Nina looked between Steph and Christina and asked, "Can I try some wine?"

        "Yeah ..." Steph shrugged. "Maybe just a sip."

        "No way," Christina said. "Nina's only fifteen. I already have to explain the belly button, now you want to add underaged drinking?"

        "Says the twenty-year-old!" Lisa laughed.

        "Yeah Stretch," Steph joked, "Where's the moral high ground on this one?"

        Christina thought about it for a moment and said, "Okay, but just a sip."

        Christina handed her glass to Nina who took it and studied the liquid like a chemistry student would examine an unknown solution in a test tube. She swirled it twice then took a sip of the liquid. After a rough swallow, Nina slid her tongue against the roof of her mouth and coughed, "You like this stuff?"

        The older girls laughed and Steph explained, "It gets better with practice."

        Christina took the glass back from her cousin. giving her a tipsy nod as she finished off the glass. "So, what is going on with Andrei?" Christina complained. "I went to see him today, and he was so grumpy."

        "Who knows?" Steph complained with a frown. "I mean, I've tried to talk to him, but he never tells me what he's really thinking. He's made up his mind that he wants to get a 'real' job," Steph said as she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers, "and move out of the house, and he is just hell bent on it. Never even asked me what I thought- just jumped right in."

        "I told you ..." Lisa said as though she were pointing out something painfully obvious. I did the chart after your first date ..."

        "What chart?" Nina asked.

        "Andrei's a Scorpio." Lisa explained. "This is classic Scorpio. They're secretive and intense."

        Steph complained, "The problem is, he doesn't ask me what I want."

        "What do you want?" Christina asked.

        Steph shrugged and said, "... I just want to see him. I mean, what's the point if he's never around?"

        Christina frowned as she said, "I know what you mean."

        "I'm telling you," Lisa continued, frustrated that the rest of the girls weren't paying attention, "He's a Scorpio. On the upside, they're loyal, but you have to remember that they like to run things their own way. And they don't talk about their feelings."

        "I don't need a psychic friends network," Steph complained, "I just need to crack his head open and scoop the crazy out."

        "At least he's loyal," Lisa said, picking up her previously ignored thread. "Oliver is still talking about Rachael coming to the wedding." Lisa thought back to the woman in the salon and complained, "I can't believe she came to spy on me."

        "She was a piece of work, that's for sure." Steph agreed.

        Lisa's cell phone rang, and all eyes focused on the girls' purse. Lisa cast a glance down the couch as though the noise was both unexpected and unwelcome. She cast a look to the others then retrieved her phone from her purse.

        "Hello," she said as she answered the phone. She took the phone from her ear and placed her palm over the face. "It's Oliver," she whispered to the curious bunch of girls sitting on the couch. "No, I'm not home," she continued into the receiver. "No, I'm at Steph's ... You can't come here ... no ... I said I don't want to see you ..."

        Steph, Nina, and Christina watched Lisa intently as she paced the length of the living room, listening to the other side of the unheard conversation.

        Lisa pressed end on the phone and faced the others. "He's on the way here." She glanced towards the windows and said, "He just got into town."

        Steph put down her drink and rushed to the windows. She opened the middle one, and stuck her head out into the freezing night air. "Green Jeep?" she called.

        "Yes," answered Lisa.

        Steph pulled herself back in and slammed the window shut. Her cheeks were reddened from the wind, but she didn't stop for a moment to warm up. She grabbed the remote control, turned off the television, then addressed the crowd. "Close ranks!" she shouted as though she were a commander on a battlefield. "Lisa," she said, turning to her friend, "Stand by the door."

        Lisa stood in front of the door and fiddled nervously with her cell phone a few times before tossing it back towards her purse on the couch.

        "Close ranks?" Nina asked.

        Steph grabbed Nina by the hand and tugged her to her feet. "Like this," Steph instructed. She positioned Nina several feet behind Lisa, and facing the door. "You, too, Stretch," she told Christina. Christina followed, though somewhat unsteadily after her night of drinking. Steph arranged them side by side and said, "Fold your arms." She folder her arms in front of her as a demonstration. "And get your game face on."

        "What's that?" Nina asked.

        "Look ... you know ... stern. Like that look your Dad gets sometimes."

        "Like this?" Nina asked as she scowled.

        "Pretty good." Turning to Christina, Steph instructed, "You too, Blondie."

        When Christina made a half hearted sneer, Steph shook her head disapprovingly. "Just think about your boyfriend," Steph encouraged.

        "He's NOT my boyfriend!" Christina sneered.

        "That's it," Steph said as she pointed at Christina. "That's the face." Without giving Christina further opportunity to protest, she took her place in the ranks to Nina's left and stared at the door.

        When the doorbell buzzed, Lisa cast a glance back at the assembled phalanx. It rang again and Steph whispered, "Leese, the button."

        "Oh, right," Lisa said as she pressed the button on the wall to unlock the door.

        The sound of heavy boots on the old wooden stairs echoed from the other side of the door until it reached the second floor. There was a silence that seemed to last for minutes, then it was broken by a knock on the door. Lisa opened the door, and Oliver stood before her in a thick parka. He pulled off his tight wool cap, revealing his buzz cut.

        "Can I come in?" he asked.

        Lisa shrugged, but moved aside allowing him to enter the apartment.

        He walked into the room, but stopped in his tracks as she saw the line of disapproving stares that met him. Oliver had joined the Marines after high school. He'd gone through the brutal training and pushed his body to it's physical limits. He'd been deployed to distant shores and faced the real prospect of death. Somehow, none of that had prepared him for the three angry girls that faced him in their pajamas.

        He lingered on their faces for a moment, and found that he was beginning to lose his nerve. He had practiced a speech in his head perhaps twenty times on the drive from Dover. There was something about how Lisa was being stubborn and unreasonable. There was another part about how she should think about things rationally. That part he'd worded exceptionally well, though at the moment, he didn't remember any of it. Turning to Lisa, he said, "I'm sorry."

        Lisa folded her arms in the same fashion as the other girls and said, "Sorry?"

        "Yeah ..." Oliver said very uncomfortably. He was acutely aware of the other girls in the room and asked. "Can we talk about this in private?"

        "If you've got something to say, you can say it in front of all of us.

        Oliver cast an uneasy look at Steph, Nina, and Christina to see if they still had those looks on their faces. Of course they did, and Oliver pulled at the wool cap that he held tightly in his hands. Their silence made it all the more unnerving.

        "I'm sorry," Oliver started again as he faced his fiancée. You told me how having Rachael at the wedding would make you feel, and I didn't listen." Taking a deep breath, he raised his chest and continued, "And I think it's completely unreasonable, I mean, it's not like you have anything to worry about-" He shot a quick glance to his right, seeing the girls flanking him, and quickly deflated. "But that doesn't matter," he said sincerely. He stepped forward and took Lisa's hands in his. "The thing is, that's the way you feel, and I should have paid attention. Lisa, I don't care if Rachael doesn't come, or my Mom or Dad ... or that uncle of yours with that weird thing with his eye ..."

        "Uncle Min's eye is not lazy," she complained with a half smile.

        "I don't care who's there as long as you are," Oliver continued. "Because at the end of the day, you're the only one who matters to me, and I need you.

        There was a silence that was broken by a high-pitched, "Aaaaw" by Nina. Steph elbowed the younger girl and the cranky scowl returned to her face.

        Oliver stared at Lisa, waiting for a response, but she was too busy basking in the moment. After a few moments, he said, "Can we go somewhere private now?"

        Lisa nodded then said, "Yeah ... Let me get changed; I'll be right back." Lisa practically glided past the other girls as she went to Steph's bedroom.

        "That was a pretty good speech, Ollie," Steph remarked with a playful tone.

        Oliver's cheeks turned slightly more red than they had been from the cold, and he smirked uncomfortably. As the minutes passed, Oliver alternated between looking into the kitchen, at the plants, and at the squashed wool cap in his hands; anywhere but at the girls who still stood before him.

        "Okay, let's go," Lisa said as she emerged from Steph's bedroom after what felt like two lifetimes to Oliver. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, I'm sure," Lisa called as Oliver helped her with her coat.

        "Oh I'm sure," Steph called as Oliver tried to speed his fiancée out of the door as quickly as possible. Steph closed the door after them and leaned backward against it and said, "Well, that's one happy ending."

---

Edited into coherence by Holly H. Hart.
Thanks to Sephrena Miller for taking an early read.
Hope you enjoyed it. If you liked it or hated it, please leave a tasty comment.
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