Part 1

She looked at the photograph in her hand, his smile almost leaping off the page, the twinkle in his good eye practically visible even though she knew that logically, it was only a photograph; a camera couldn't actually capture something that only she could see when he looked into her eyes and she was sucked into that bottomless swell of emotions between them.

Jesus, what the hell was wrong with her? She set the photo down with a scoff. Bottomless swell? Get a freaking hold of yourself, Lina. Seriously. She berated herself for another minute as she walked to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee.

Brown cardboard boxes littered the small apartment, most of them sealed with that disgusting clear packing tape that always smelled like glue, while a few were still propped open with various items that didn't fit anywhere else. Her books, her movies, her random knick-knacks that just never really belonged—everything was moving to a new home, somewhere far away from here.

From him.

Part 2

"Two more, Lina! You can do it!"

Carolina's hand trembled as she lifted the shot glass away from the scratched bar counter, aiming it for her mouth. Well, at least she was fairly confident it was moving in the direction of her mouth. She had lost the ability to really tell quite a few shots ago.

Her throat burned as the alcohol flowed into her body, and she felt her head begin to pound as she reached for the final shot. Her best friends Dakota and CT were cheering on either side of her. Regret was already raging through every square inch of her body, but she couldn't quit with only one birthday shot left.

She tossed her head back as she swallowed, fighting the urge to immediately expel the liquid. Cheers filled her ears and she grinned, forcing herself to blink a few times as she slammed the glass down onto the counter.

"Happy fucking twenty-sixth birthday to me!" she yelled, watching as the bar began to elongate and rotate. CT started happily screaming profanities at the top of her lungs while Dakota grabbed both of them by an arm, dragging them back to their booth where their bags and mostly-empty beers were waiting.

"Maybe you two should calm down before we get kicked out," she warned. Carolina raised an eyebrow; Dakota was never the reasonable one. Then again, neither was she, and CT was more out of control than anyone, but it was still out of character.

"It's my fucking birthday, bitch!" Carolina leaned back in the booth and let out of whistle. "And I'm only mostly trashed. We need to fix that."

"We should hit up another bar, this one's dead," CT announced suddenly, a huge smile spread across her face. "Unless there's anyone here you wanna grind on before the night's over, Lina?"

She shook her head. "Tonight's ladies night, you guys! I want a birthday without all the shitty boy drama. The three of us are single at the same time for the first time in ever and I want to live it up!"

CT slapped the table, causing their beer glasses to rattle. "You got it! I'll get one last shot for myself and we'll hit up another bar, sound good?"

"Perfect."

She disappeared and Dakota slumped down in the booth, resting her head on the tabletop. "Jesus, she wears me out," she complained. Carolina laughed and inspected the people packed around the nearby tables and booths. A few of the guys were pretty cute, but none really stood out. CT was already at the bar, angling her body at the bartender to get quicker service. She was practically falling out of her top, she was bent over so far.

"We can ditch her."

"I'd love to, but you know she'd find us instantly."

"True. You doing okay?"

Dakota nodded, rubbing her eyes. "I feel so old. Its only 1am and I want to go to bed already."

"I could use a quick nap, but Connie will never let us go home this early."

"I know…"

"Okay guys!" Suddenly CT was standing at the table and downing another shot. "We good to go? There's a new bar around the corner that's supposed to be full of hot guys at this time of night!"

"Sure, why not?" Carolina grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, adjusting her top. Dakota followed suit and they squeezed through the throng of people out into the street.

Carolina took a deep breath of fresh air and let out a yell. "Are we ready, girls?" she hollered, linking arms with the other two so that she was in the middle. "Let's party it up!"

"Fuck yeah!" CT screamed, breaking away to run ahead of them. "Last one there has to do body shots!"

"Body shots? Did we travel back to 1996?" Dakota laughed, shaking her head. "I'll go keep an eye on her. You good?"

Carolina nodded. "Go, please. Someone needs to watch her so she doesn't punch another bouncer. I don't want a repeat of your twenty-sixth birthday."

"Got that right. See you there!" Dakota took off after CT. Carolina walked to the curb and sat down roughly, holding her purse in her lap. She just needed a break before the next massive crowd, and the chilly night air felt fantastic.

"Everything okay?"

She looked up to see a young man in a gray polo shirt and jeans smiling down at her. The sleeves were edged with yellow and she glanced down, realizing it matched his yellow and gray Chuck Taylors. "I'm fine, thanks. Just needed a break."

"Yeah, same here. My friends are kind of pissing me off. Yours too?"

"Just drank too much. It's my birthday."

"Oh! Happy birthday, random person!" He tilted an imaginary hat to her and she giggled. "I would have gotten you something, but you know, that would have been awfully forward of me, considering we just met thirty seconds ago."

"That's quite all right." Carolina stood, brushing off her skirt and readjusting her purse on her shoulder. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lina."

"David, but everyone calls me Wash. Long story."

They shook hands and she smiled at him, tilting her head in the opposite direction. "I'm supposed to be meeting my friends at a different bar. Maybe we'll run into each other?"

"I'll sure try, but—"

"God dammit, Wash, we leave you alone for five minutes and you're already hitting on strangers?"

They both turned to see two young men stumbling towards them. One was a hair taller than the other, his brown hair slightly shaggy, leaning heavily into the other man, blonde and all smiles. The brunette staggered away and to the right, coming to rest against a nearby lamppost, turning his face away.

"You're incorrigible," he slurred, shaking his head.

"Whoa, who's been teaching you the big words?" Wash teased, putting his hands on his hips.

"Shut the fuck up, I know words too," he muttered.

"Hey now, come on. We're celebrating your release from that hellhole known as the Army, so be nice to us or we won't buy you any more drinks."

"I think I'm good," he replied, his face paling a little.

"Is he going to be okay?" Carolina asked, stepping forward.

"This asshole? He's gonna be just fine," the blonde replied, roughly slapping him on the back. Ignoring his groans, the man continued. "Hey, nice to meet you by the way."

"Oh, sorry!" Wash blushed slightly. "This is…Lina," he said, obviously proud that he was sober enough to remember her name two minutes after he heard it. "Lina, this is North."

"North?"

"Yeah, my parents were from Canada, so people thought it was funny to call me North because of the Great North. Just…whatever, it stuck."

"Aw, that's cute!"

North grinned. "Cute nickname for a cute guy, right?"

"Uh, I don't—"

Carolina was thankfully saved from having to come up with a reply as their friend chose that moment to empty the entirety of his alcohol-filled stomach onto the street beside them. He collapsed to his knees, coughing and gagging as Wash knelt down beside him, patting his back.

"Man, I bet that felt good."

"Shut up," he coughed out, leaning over further to vomit some more. North scratched his neck, shaking his head.

"Looks like he's not quite up to par these days, huh?"

"Dude, he was in the Army, doesn't that usually make people super good at drinking?" Wash replied, still rubbing his friend's back.

Carolina raised her hand a little, trying to ignore the stench a few feet away. "Uh, I've gotta go find my friends, are you guys okay here on your own?"

"Well, aren't you sweet? Of course I'll be fine," North said, reaching out his hand. She took it awkwardly and he gripped her hand more firmly than she expected, suddenly pulling her forward into a bear hug. Startled, she nearly stumbled and fell but caught her balance as she moved away, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Uh, I was more worried about that one," she said, shaking her head. "But good to know."

"Come on, man, you don't do that to strangers," Wash said, standing up. He walked over to Carolina and stuck out his hand. She shook it, leaning back slightly as though afraid he was going to hug her as well. "It was great to meet you, Lina."

"You too, Wash. Make sure your friend gets home safely, all right? You take care too, North," she added awkwardly.

"Yeah, fine, no goodbyes for me," their friend muttered from the curb where he was leaning back on his heels, trying to wipe his mouth on a newspaper he'd probably found on the ground. "I'm good, whatever, no one cares."

"Drink some water," she said, waving. "Have a good night!"

"Night, Lina!" North called out, waving back as she walked away backwards for a few steps. She watched Wash bend down to help their friend to his feet and turned around, trying to remember what bar Dakota had said they'd be at next.

"Oh my god, what took you so long?" CT yelled over the blasting dubstep trance hip-hop something mix that was pumping through the speakers.

It had taken Carolina another twenty minutes to figure out where they had gone, since no one had actually told her the name of the bar and neither of them was answering their phones. Finally she'd found a bar a couple of blocks away that sounded unfamiliar and gotten inside relatively quickly, finding the two of them dancing upstairs with a couple of quite attractive men, she had to admit.

"Thanks for not telling me where you were going!" she yelled back, trying to act mad.

Dakota grabbed her arm and leaned in. "We found some guys, sorry!" It was her version of an apology and Carolina was used to it, so she shrugged and started tapping her foot to the beat. Soon she was dancing with some brunette guy who kept trying to grind on her, and she moved away to be closer to CT, busy grinding on her own new toy. She rolled her eyes and lost herself in the music, quickly forgetting her annoyance.