A taxi came down their side of the road. Griff hailed it and opened the door for Joan. He put her in the backseat and gave the driver the name of the hotel.

“Thank you,” Joan said, her hand on the edge of the open window. She was overwhelmed with love for him. Love in the sense that she trusted him, and saw all the good in his heart, and cared about him and wanted only good things to ever happen to him. Love in the sense that she would always be on his side, even if he was wrong, in the sense that he was one of the people on this Earth she believed in. And in that moment, the swelling in her heart was unbearable. Absolutely unbearable.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He shook his head. “No, don’t be. I’ll be okay. Give me a little while and I’ll be just fine.”

She nodded.

“You looked gorgeous tonight, Joan,” he said. And then he tapped the cab’s roof. And off she went.

As the cab drove away, Joan touched her lips. Her lipstick was smeared. And her lips felt as if they were tender, buzzing not with satisfaction but with longing.

That night, Joan dreamt of things she’d never dreamt of before.

—

She woke up to the fog of morning. The bright sun coming through the window was a shock to her cloudy vision. She reached for her sunglasses on the nightstand and put them on. A loud pounding on her door forced her to finally get out of bed.

She was naked, which surprised her. She grabbed a robe from the closet and then turned to see that the bed was covered in sketches. She’d used up the entire hotel stationery pad. Joan looked at them, trying to remember drawing them.

Every single sketch was of Raven.

Raven smiling at her. Raven dancing. Raven with her top off. Raven’s hips and her stomach.

Joan gathered them all up frantically as the pounding continued. “Be right there!”

“Open up, Joan! You’re late for the bus.” Vanessa.

“I’m coming!” Joan stuffed all of the sketches in the nightstand.

“Everyone can’t wait to see what you look like hungover,” Vanessa said loudly out in the hall.

Joan cringed. “Please be quiet until I get to the door!”

Finally, she opened it.

Vanessa turned to see her and only then did Joan realize she had not yet looked in the mirror. She glanced down. Her robe was loose, a deep V showing the borders of her chest. Vanessa looked at it and then back up at Joan’s face. Joan pulled her robe tighter.

“It’s worse than I thought,” Vanessa said, smirking.

Joan smoothed her hair down and let her in.