Coby comes home from surfing to find some long-haired European hitting on Xtina. Coby lashes out at the new guy, and Ti takes him aside, explaining this guy lives in Nico's old apartment, right next door to him. "He's just being friendly," she says, but Coby isn't buying it. This guy is clearly after his girl. What worries Coby is that this new guy is dead on Ti's type, and she can't even hide how attracted she is to him.

He can't even be in the hottub with Ti without this guy joining them and flirting with her. Every time he goes surfing now he worries about what this guy is up to with his girl.

(At this point in the story, Coby gets a new head, a little blonder, a little prettier. This is explained on Coby's Chapter Menu page)

Coby never catches him actually doing anything overtly romantic, it's just the way he talks to her, the way she looks back at him...it's like a stab in the heart. He comes into the kitchen to get some dinner and there they are, Ti's cheeks flushed with excitement, like she's just been kissed. Coby tries to pretend not to notice this new guy is after his girl, but it's very hard. As he sits down to eat, he tells Ti he got his brother-in-law to agree to work on her car. She hasn't even been driving it lately, she worries about it breaking down so much.

Coby takes a day off surfing to drive with Xtina out to Topanga to get her car worked on. If it weren't such a long drive, Coby would visit his stepsister more often. Though she isn't really related to him, in many ways she's his only real family. This is the first time he's really spoken to her at length since he returned from his last Colorado trip, and he's got so much to tell her about the competition.

Ulises has got the car fixed, great news. "Dude, I need your advice about this girl," Coby says in a low & desperate tone. His brother-in-law laughs, "I already told you I'm the last guy you want to ask about girls. I'm just lucky Heather didn't dump me when I stood her up on our second date. Don't use me as a role model." Coby isn't daunted, he knows dozens of guys who tried and failed to get Heather to date them, Ulises obviously knows something if he managed to get Heather to marry him. "Listen, this new guy moved into our building & he's after her. And she likes him, I can tell...," he confides, hoping for any kind of advice. "Ouch," Ulises says, wincing, "That's rough. I don't know what to tell you, except you have to compete for her. You've been in competitions before," his brother-in-law laughs, obviously not taking Coby's predicament very seriously. But he's got a point with the competition thing...

"Your car is all set," he tells Ti, thinking about Heather's wedding day, about that night on the beach in Venice, Ti crying in his arms about her ex-boyfriend. He knew going into this, the dangers of a relationship on the rebound. Already she seems to be slipping away from him.

Coby has still got some fight left in him, and she hasn't completely slipped out of his hands yet. "Let's get a drink on the way home," he suggests.