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An eyebrow quirked. "I don't know, maybe mama might think you really manned up. That or made a shameful harlot out of me and that my papa was gonna come after you with a shotgun. That's how my mom and dad got married, you know!" There was a cheerful sort of pride in her voice. Begotten on the wrong side of the blanket, though reversed halfway by a hasty marriage in backwoods Kansas. God Bless the USA!

Fingers pushed at her ring again as Audrey considered and then smiled very, very widely. "I have it! You should work at a candy shop." There was a teasingly wicked glint in her amber eyes, fatigued though they were, as the girl continued. "You're so sweet and hey! Maybe now that I've been stolen from you in most nefarious fashion, you can find yourself a real girlfriend." The fact that Zac was predominately interested in the male sex was not one of the things Audrey was remotely aware of.

Her gaydar was a bit off.

There was an owlish blink from the patient in her hospital bed before a snort erupted. From there it broadened into downright giggles and -- literally -- side-splitting laughter that echoed out into the hallway. It all halted breathlessly as pain tore through the teen and she groped for the button that would pump morphine into her body. She used it so rarely these days that it was bound to alert a nurse and their time was limited.

She was already tired and the drugs? They put her tiny body under in minutes. "Ah that was a good one! I'm such a catch that when you lost me nothing would do so you had to go gay. Oh Zac you're really precious. I'm really glad you came, I needed a laugh like that!" Poor Audrey was tramping all over his worshipful idealism that was meant in truest compliment. It wasn't that she couldn't see him as gay.

It was just she didn't think she was that great!

The colors he turned were also rather inspired. "You look like a sunset. Pink, red, purple. I like the colors." Drugs also made her tongue thick and loose, two things that Audrey hated beyond all things. Yep, definitely time to just put her head back and rest. So she did.

Unfortunately for Zac's stammering confession in a moment of ripe courage, it had taken more minutes than the drugs coursing through Audrey's blood could afford. Her eyes had drooped slowly and her brain tripped straight through his words to smile and murmur her way into sleep. It was all incomprehensible, and whether or not she'd actually heard the words he stammered out so bashfully was a mystery.

What she would have said without the benefit of a fogged mind and injury would perhaps always be a mystery. Poor Zac could only watch as her eyes closed and head tipped back more fully onto the pillow. Audrey was deep into her dreams again but at least free of pain and the awkwardness of a friend who wanted more.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.