In Love with the Prince (of Darkness, That Is)

The morning came far too quickly for Dreama's liking, and it brought guilt with it.

She woke with one leg hanging off the bed, Thomas's hand resting against her hip. Still slightly groggy, and a little hung-over, it took a second for the full recollection of the night before to sink in.

She felt sick and had to hold her breath to keep from throwing up.

Once her stomach felt stable, Dreama slid out of the bed, slowly so as not to wake Thomas, and pulled on her clothes before sneaking into the living room to use the phone.

"Hello?"

"Gem, I need to come over."

"It's seven o'clock in the morning, Dray!"

"I know. I'm sorry. Can I come over?"

"What's happened? And why are you whispering?"

"I'll explain later."

"I'll leave the door open."

"Thank you."

Dreama hung up the phone and ran out the door, headed for the bus stop.

*~*~*

"Okay, spill, girlie. What happened?"

Dreama sighed, collapsing onto the bed deside Gemini. "Tom happened."

"You slept with him, didn't you?" Gemini said, deadpan.

"Yeah."

"Idiot."

"Shut up. I screwed up, and I know it. I need your help."

"With what?"

Dreama bit her lip. "Getting Taylor back."

"Are you sure?"

"No!"

Gemini sighed and reached for her sketchpad, on the nightstand. "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this. Time for a T-chart."

"What?"

"We're going to draw up a list of pros and cons, and rate them on a scale of ten. Whichever has more points is the one that means more, and will decide what you should do."

"That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

"It works all the time in the movies."

"Which this is not."

"Details! Let's go. We'll start with the cons. Gimme some dirt!"

Dreama felt that the idea was stupid, but she sighed and thought about it. "He lied to me."

"Scale of one to ten?"

"Twenty."

Gemini chuckled and wrote it down. "Too true. What else?"

"He's sick. What do you think that rates?"

"Depends. What are we talking about here?"

"Well... I don't know if it's fatal in and of itself, but I know it can cause cancer, which, you know... is."

"I'd say five, then. It's not a deal-breaker, but you should at least be cautious."

"Okay."

"Anything else?"

"He's unemployed."

"Seven."

Dreama laughed. "And he lives with his parents."

"Ew. But only a three--his parents are loaded."

Dreama had to laugh again. "I think that's everything."

"Good. Final tally...." She grimaced. "Thirty-five. Moving away from depression... pros?"

"He's hot."

Gemini laughed. "True, but only worth a two."

"He's rich."

"Another two. Thirty-two to go for pros to win."

"He did come clean about everything."

"Five."

"He apologised for hurting me."

"One. It's a given, but he also seems to spend a lot of time doing that."

"He said he loves me."

"Doesn't count. I need proof."

"Gem!"

"I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here. The words mean nothing and you know it."

"Well, he did buy me the bracelet."

"Okay, I'll give him four for proving that he knows you. And another one because it was expensive." She checked the chart. "Twenty to tie."

Dreama bit her lip and looked down, sighing.

After a few minutes, Gem sighed, too. "Dray, if you can't think of anything else, your answer is pretty clear."

"It's not that."

"Then what is there?"

"I.... Gem, I love him. Like, head-over-heels, stop-my-heart-before-he-breaks-it kind of love him."

Gemini clicked her tongue and wrote a number on the paper.

"You've never been able to say anything like that before."

"I know."

"That's worth more than anything he's done to you, I must admit."

"You think so?"

"Twenty-one, no doubt. Go get him, baby girl."