It seemed like the right thing to do, just walk away & leave it all behind, before she got too attached. She never meant to stay up there very long anyway, she never meant to stay anywhere very long. After college, she was going to travel the world, the apartment in Frisco was supposed to be just temporary, but it became a permanent reality, like the job in the darkroom, like...like everything. And now she's back in L.A., in a skanky Hollywood apt, with nothing except the most necessary things, her cameras, her desk: she left everything else behind, starting over. She's settled her minimal possessions into place, thinks about looking up the friends she left behind when she left for Berkley: of them all, she really only needs to see Heather, and if Rebecca knows Heather, she hasn't moved from the house in Topanga Canyon her mother bought her when she got pregnant. She thinks about calling her former best friend, but finds herself at her desk, writing the letter she should have written before she left. In fact, she should have done a lot more than that. They always said Shannon would do this to her, disappear one day without a word....how surprised everyone will be, she thinks, when they discover she did it to Shannon. Rebecca crumples the half-written letter & decides to go find a bar, see new people, not think about the people gone by, to move forward, not back.

So much is changed since she was last in this sprawl of a city: her favorite places are gone, and in their place are Gaps & Starbucks, over & over, with billboards the size of buildings. She finds a nightclub on Melrose to check out: the shops may all just be mall franchises now, but at least there is the club scene. Rebecca wants to start new, but she doesn't get as far as the bar without running into a familiar face: Coby, Heather's little brother. He's not a kid anymore, he's actually in this bar legally, she thinks, calculating his age as he rushes over to greet her. Always enthusiastic, he still has the same high level of energy she remembers from high shool. "Becca, I can't believe it's you! What are you doing here?" he asks. "I heard this was a great place to party," she quips, wanting to keep the mood as light as possible. Because she feels like she's still carrying too much baggage.

"Becca, it's so good to see you again," he says with a sigh, like he actually missed her. He rushes questions at her, "When did you get back? Where are you staying? Are you here for good? Have you called Heather?" giving her no time to answer any one, until he breaks into a charming smile & says, "Let me buy you a drink." Coby certainly has grown into quite the hottie, Rebecca thinks, a little surprised at herself. But it's been so long since there has been anyone else but Shannon, and Rebecca just isn't like that, she's not into long-term plans & settling down. Rebecca shakes herself out of yesterday, and follows Coby to the bar.

Once they get a table, she is able to answer his questions, telling him she just got into town today, she has a place in Hollywood. And she asks him about Heather. "Dude, get this, Heather is married," Coby says with a ridiculous smile. Rebecca doesn't believe him, Heather would never...but could things have changed so much? "Did she marry that drummer, her kid's father?" Rebecca guesses, and Coby just smiles wider. "No, it gets better, the dude she married is a cop," he laughs, obviously finding the whole thing funny. But Rebecca's insides are twisting: what the hell happened to Heather while she was gone? "Heather married el puerco? You're shitting me....," she says, not expressing her revulsion by half. Coby swears it's true, laughing at her all the while, like this is some joke.

"What did Heather do with her plants? I thought I had a sure thing when I came back to L.A....I can't believe she's out of business," Rebecca says, keeping the tone light, though she's really less concerned about getting hooked up than she is about this bizarre turnaround in Heather, someone she thought she knew in & out. But Coby tells her Heather still grows & sells, "You know how she feels about her plants," he laughs. Rebecca laughs, too, but she doesn't think this is funny at all. "I thought I knew how she felt about cops, too, Coby. Seriously, what is up with that?" she asks, wondering what kind of cop marries a pot dealer? Did he force her into it, threaten to take her in if she didn't? But why? What kind of crooked deal is he running, anyway? "She loves him, Becky," Coby answers, and Rebecca just does not believe that. Maybe that is what Heather is telling people, but Rebecca will have to see this for herself.

"Lighten up, Becca, Heather is happy, there's nothing to 'look into'," Coby laughs, and Rebecca realizes she spoke her disbelief out loud. Coby changes the subject, tells her about this nightclub, that it was recently remodeled: clearly, he's done talking about his sister now. It's just as well, she'll go to Heather herself to learn what she needs to know. She didn't remark when he called her 'Becky', she didn't kick him in the shins like she used to do when he would use that least favorite form of her name, but Rebecca did notice, and she's noticing glances from him now, and the way his voice is pitched...Would she do that? she wonders, her best friend's little brother? But is Heather even her 'best friend' when they haven't spoken in years? She'd like to make some kind of definitive step away from Shannon, to make the break seem more real, because she half expects at every minute to see his familiar figure step out from the shadows behind her. But getting tangled up with her L.A. past might not be the best idea, either.....

NEXT