Regina wanted to scream.

How could she have done this? How could she have been so reckless? She was usually so careful to check through Dodie's pockets before she put the clothes in the wash, but the one time she forgot was the one time Dodie had something absolutely irreplaceable within them, something she could never forgive herself for ruining. Regina leaned against the washing machine, smoking a cigarette and just thinking. She finally picked up the cordless home phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" Adam asked, picking up the other line.

"It's me," Regina said, "I just fucked up big time."

"What happened?" Adam asked as Regina blew smoke out in front of herself and sighed.

"I just ruined my daughters favorite photo of her father," she said softly.

A pause.

"Boy, you're havin' a bad year," Adam said, making her actually crack a smile.

                                                                         ***

"This is awkward and uncomfortable," Palmer said, standing in the bathroom of her dorm, trying to put eyeliner on; she sighed and added, "This is why I never wear eye makeup. It's almost impossible to apply and it hurts like hell."

"You're such a baby," Anita said, sitting on the toilet seat and using a curling iron to work on her hair, "This is what women do to look nice, don't you wanna look nice?"

"I'd rather not go at all, to be honest."

"Yeah, and that's part of the problem. I'm all for your introversion, believe me, I get it, but at some point you have to interact with the real world even if it's only once a year or something," Anita said, "You've been hiding out since your dad died, and again, I get why, but maybe it's time to do something else?"

"I could hide out at home instead, if that sounds more acceptable," Palmer said, making Anita laugh as she turned and looked at Anita and asked, "Where's this coming from anyway? You're, like, the most introverted person I know. You jog, for christ sakes. That's the single most introverted athletic activity one can take up! What's gotten up your butt about going out all of a sudden?"

"Because," Anita said, standing up and setting the curler down on the sink counter as she gripped Palmer's shoulders and grinned, "You can't get laid staying at home, and I do occasionally getting laid. Now hurry up."

Palmer grimaced at this statement. She knew she could easily use the virgin card to get out of this if she so chose. She knew Anita wouldn't push her on it if she told her, but she wanted to help her friend have a good night. Palmer was torn. She looked back at herself in the mirror and sighed. She'd just not talk to anyone except Anita and Arthur, that was all. She'd stick to her guns, not drink and not go home with anyone. She'd done well this far in her life, why would tonight be any different?

                                                                             ***

"I gotta admit, this is a weird date," Adam said as he sat on the couch, sifting through a box of photos of Regina's dead husband. Regina chuckled a little from her spot on the floor as she did the same.

"Well, I'm sorry, I just can't get through all of these by myself before she gets home and I need to see if I can find another one of the photos to replace the one I wrecked," Regina said, picking up her glass from the table and sipping it.

"Why'd she even have it in her pocket?" Adam asked, "Was it show and tell or something?"

"I...honestly don't know. I've never known her to do it before," Regina said.

"She must really miss him," Adam said, making Regina sigh and shove her box away from her.

"You know, you'd think that, at this point, I'd be all the more careful," she said, "you'd think having your husband die in an accident would only make you extremely cautious here on in, and yet, here I am, destroying our daughters most prized possessions in a washing machine."

"It wasn't your fault, you said it yourself you had no idea it was in there."

"Yeah, because I didn't check," Regina said, "I always check. I don't know what I was thinking this afternoon. I just...completely spaced."

"I also don't think," Adam said, picking out another handful of photos and comparing them, "that it's fair to compare your approach to life to the thing that took your husband. Why should you alter the way you experience life just because of the way he left the world? That doesn't make any sense."

Regina sighed and shook her head. She knew Adam was trying to make her feel better, to make her feel less guilty, but it wasn't really working. Dodie was already having so many problems trying to adjust to a life without her father, the last thing Regina wanted to do was make it harder for her. Remove any reminders of the father she'd once had. Regina felt sick, but Adam stood up, walked over to her and sat across from her on the floor.

"Hey," he said, "it isn't your fault, alright? These things happen. If nothing else, have her pick a photo out herself, one that she'll want to keep to remember him by. It won't be the same, but it's something."

Regina nodded, not responding. Maybe Adam was right. Maybe this was the best option she had. Adam checked his watch and sighed.

"I should get going, she's gonna be here soon," he said, but as he stood, he felt Regina's hand gripping his wrist and puling him back down to the floor; he glanced at her and asked, "Yeah? You need something?"

"Just...not yet, don't go yet," she said quietly.

So he didn't.

                                                                             ***

Palmer had never gone to parties in high school.

She'd never attended any kind of bashes, get togethers, soirees or any other kind of social activity in which her peers were not only there in number but also with the sole intention to hook up with one another, aided by the worlds greatest liar, alcohol. Standing there by the table, glass bottle of root beer in her hand, Palmer felt...out of place. Anita, however, looked exactly like she belonged here, despite coming off as far more antisocial than Palmer ever outwardly appeared. Arthur finally came back to their side after talking with a few of his classmates across the hall.

"I'm so uncomfortable with seeing classmates outside of class," Arthur said, "In high school, you saw these people for a set number of hours during the day, the week, but now it's like they're roommates and I hate having such regular contact with them."

"I know the feeling," Palmer said quietly, lifting her drink to her lips and sipping, adding, "I'm not a big fan of these meet and greet things myself. I just don't really feel all that interested in meeting anyone who isn't already a part of my social circle."

"Your social circle consists of two people," Anita said, pushing some chips from the bowl on the table into her mouth, saying while chewing, "that's not a social circle, it's like a social triangle."

"You'd have been a brilliant mathematician," Arthur said, making Palmer snort with laughter.

Arthur then spotted a professor he enjoyed speaking to, so he went off to talk with them, while Anita headed to the designated dance space, leaving Palmer all by her lonesome. She leaned against the table, folding her arms, her eyes scanning the room before dropping her sight to her shoes so nobody could mistake her for looking for companionship. She sipped her drink again and sighed, shaking her bouncy blonde hair.

"It's a sickening display of excess isn't it?" a voice asked from nearby, and she turned to see a young, lanky man standing by her at the table; he continued with, "I mean, we wait so long to be adults that as soon as we're given any kind of freedom, we immediately overdo it. This restriction is what creates addiction in the end. People wait so long to drink or whatever that they then eventually become alcoholics."

"Boy, those are some conversational skills you've got there," Palmer said, smirking.

"I'm just saying that, like, we wait to be adults because we think it'll be more fun, but all the fun that comes with being an adult seems to be hurting yourself to the point of wrecking your life," the man said, "I just...I guess I don't really understand the appeal of screwing yourself up for the future for pleasure in the immediate pleasure."

Palmer looked at him again. He had short brown hair, rectangular glasses and light stubble. He was wearing a white button down shirt with a thin black tie, and black slacks. He looked more like an office worker than a student, but he was about her age, she could tell. Either way, he was far less creepy than most of the guys she had seen that evening thus far.

"So what's your idea of a good time? Staying in, playing solitaire? Cause that was what my evening was going to be until my friend dragged me here," Palmer said.

"Actually that sounds nice, yes," the man said, holding his hand out so she shook it and he added, smiling, "I'm Eric."

"Hi Eric, Palmer."

"Actually, I'm more a Go Fish guy myself," Eric said, adjusting his glasses, "but that's just me."

Palmer laughed a little, which in turn made him laugh a little too. Maybe Anita was right. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to socialize now and then.

                                                                               ***

The front door opened and Dodie entered the house. She stopped in the foyer as she saw the boxes and photos strewn across the living room floor, then let her bookbag slid down to the floor as she approached the room, only to find her mother lying on the couch. Dodie shook her mom gently, who looked up at her and smiled warmly.

"Hi Doodlebug," she said.

"What is all this?" Dodie asked.

"These are photos of your dad," Regina said, "um...I was hoping you might be interested in going through these and finding a photo or two that you liked and wanted to keep for yourself."

Dodie knelt on the floor and started going through the pictures, while Regina sat upright on the couch and watched. She was genuinely terrified at telling Dodie about the ruined picture from her pants pocket, but she knew it was better to just get it out and done with than dance around the subject.

"Why would I-" Dodie started when her mother interrupted.

"Because I accidentally washed your pants with your photo in them and I'm so sorry and I didn't know and I totally understand if you never wanna talk to me again and we can find you a foster family with a better foster mom and-"

"Mom!" Dodie said loudly, laughing, "What...what photo?"

"...the...the one of your dad and you at 2nd grade bake sale, remember? He had the ducky apron on and...and I'm so so sorry, Doodlebug, I just totally forgot to check your pants before I washed them and I have been freaking out all day about this."

"Oh, that photo," Dodie said, sitting on her knees, "That's not my favorite. That was just the one I wanted to show to class for show and tell because we were talking about being embarrassed by our parents. I mean, it was a funny picture, but it wasn't my favorite."

Regina felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. She softly excused herself and stood up, picking up the house phone as she made her way to the hall bathroom and dialed Adam, who answered on the 2nd ring.

"Heyo," he said.

"You were right, you son of a bitch," Regina said.

"I appreciate vindication, but not when it comes with being sworn at, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Adam asked.

"It was for show and tell," Regina said quietly, "How do you know my kids better than I do?"

"I should know them pretty well, you talk about them all the time. You're a good mom, Reggie," Adam said, and Regina felt herself blush. How lucky she was, she felt, to have a guy in her life like Adam right now. She finished up her call in the bathroom, then went back to the living room, where she found Dodie looking at a picture.

"I like this one," Dodie said, "It's dad riding a bike. He looks young."

"That's from college," Regina said, "You can have it."

Dodie smiled and tucked the photo in her shirt pocket.

"Hey," Regina said, leaning forward on the floor, "Would you mind if a friend of mine came over for dinner? I think you'd like him."

                                                                               ***

Palmer heard her bedroom door open, and she tried to open her eyes but everything was blurry. She finally managed to get one eye open, and saw a fuzzy outline of Anita stumbling into the room, digging through a basket of clothes until she pulled something out.

"What're you doing?" Palmer asked.

"Just borrowing a sweater for a jog this morning," Anita said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. Where'd you vanish to last night?"

That's when it all came back to Palmer. Her and Eric coming back to her dorm for a card game or two, both totally sober, both virgins. They played a couple hands of each game, and before she knew it, they were on the couch, making out. It was Palmer, actually, who'd instigated it, and who'd then insisted they go to her bedroom. She started to blush, then she looked around the room and realized she didn't see Eric, or anything belonging to a man, anywhere in her sight.

"I have to go, but we'll talk later," Anita said, pulling her headphones on and tying the sweater around her waist as she headed out to her jog.

Palmer groggily stood up, in a band t-shirt that once belonged to her father and a pair of sleep shorts. She stumbled her way to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, fixed her hair a little, then headed to the living room and kitchen area, where she found Anita leaving just as Arthur entered. He smiled as he put his backpack down on the table and looked at her.

"Good morning!" he said brightly.

"How are so goddamned chipper?" she asked, before squinting and following up with, "Hey, did you see a guy I was talking with last night? Or, like, even around here at some point?"

"No, why?" Arthur asked, walking to the fridge and pulling out an apple, biting into it.

"...no reason," Palmer said.

Had she really just given her virginity to the first nice boy she'd spent even a little bit of time with? Still, she'd been the one to suggest it, and it could've happened with someone worse. But why hadn't he stuck around? Why hadn't he said anything? She never even got his last name, for fucks sake. She sat down at the table as Arthur poured her a mug of coffee.

"So, you have fun last night? Was Anita right?" Arthur asked.

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill her," Palmer muttered.

                                                                             ***

The next morning, Dodie awoke to the smell of pancakes, something she hadn't had in ages.

As she got up that Saturday morning, and raced downstairs to the kitchen, she found instead her mother sitting at the table and drinking coffee, reading a book. Behind the stove was her mothers friend Adam, who had left the previous night but was now back. Dodie seated herself at the table and looked between them.

"Did you come over here just to cook breakfast?" Dodie asked.

"People love to help in times of loss," Adam said, "Now, do you want chocolate chips in your pancakes or not?"

Dodie waited a minute, then nodded, grinning as Adam got to work putting chocolate chips into the batter. She looked at her mom, who reached over and stroked her hair before going back to her book. Dodie pulled her knees up on the chair and hugged them to her chest as she watched Adam cook.

"You wanna see how a professional makes pancakes?" Adam asked, and motioned for her to join him, "Come on, come over here, check this out."

Dodie quickly got up and joined him at the stove, as he taught her his trade secrets of pancake making. Regina just sat at the table, occasionally glancing over and smiling to herself. For the first time in months, this house once again felt like a home.

Turns out you really can get anything at the grocery store, she thought.