It begins to dawn on Xtina that maybe slapping Gavin in the face was a kind of final straw for him, and that she could wait in vain for him to call her forever. She can't try getting Eleanor to find out what is going on for her, but she can take a bus out to Echo Park herself & "drop by". As she gets off the bus, she runs into Gavin's housemate Zach. Gavin always used to tell Xtina that she underestimated Zach, judging him by his rock-n-roll hair & slacker look. Gavin was more than right, everytime she runs into him, he's talking about science & technology stuff that she can't quite grasp. But he does have some very useful, though completely devastating news for her. "No, Gavin isn't home now...he hardly spends a night here anymore now that he has his new girlfriend. Diego's started calling him 'Gavin the friendly ghost', actually." Xtina's face must have fallen, because Zach immediately follows up with, "I'm sorry, did I say something I shouldn't have? You & Gavin broke up a while ago, didn't you?" and he sighs & rolls his eyes, "I was always getting in trouble like that with my college roomates, couldn't keep their multiple girlfriends straight, Tiffany, Lindsay, Brittany, they all looked the same to me..." Xtina then tries knocking on Eleanor's door, because now she needs a shoulder to cry on, but no one is home there either, they all probably have classes. So it's a long & lonely bus ride back to Hollywood for Xtina, & not a single person to confide in.

How could he have found a new girlfriend already? How could Eleanor not have told her? Xtina vents her anger at herself & the world on canvas. This one, she calls "Righteous Fury on Purple Stripes" and it sells for 103 simoleons. But thrill of selling her art does nothing to alleviate the pain. She threw Gavin away assuming he'd stay crumpled on her floor, waiting for her to change her mind, and now she regrets that mistake. Ready finally to call him & apologize, it's already too late. Someone else has him now.

One of these days, Xtina is going to remember to lock her door. Coby barges into her room as she's setting up a new canvas, and says, "Hey, I was thinking since you probably don't have any plans for Valentine's Day..." Xtina doesn't let him finish: outraged, she yells at him that she doesn't need a pity date for Valentine's Day, and she can feel the tears starting in the back of her eyes. She doesn't want to cry in front of Coby. But he explains that he needs someone to go with him to his sister Heather's wedding, and pretty much pleads with Xtina to come with him. Well, that's different. And though she doesn't usually care for weddings or made up holidays like Valentine's Day, she also has no plans for that day except to sulk, and she'd really like to get Coby out of her room now before she starts crying, so she tells him she'll go.

Xtina knows Coby just a little & Heather hardly at all. That Heather would have her wedding conducted entirely in Spanish is a big suprise for her. When Coby leans over asks Xtina to translate for him, she is even more shocked. And why would Coby assume Xtina speaks Spanish? "I don't know, because you're so smart," he answers her. Well, that's a compliment, better than him telling her she looks 'smoking hot' in her gown, which is what he said as they were heading out to Topanga this morning.

Luckily, this is a small family affair & Xtina hangs out by the punch bowl alot, talking to Coby & being endlessly pestered & interrupted by the kids running around. Finally, when it gets good & dark, Coby tells her they can go now. But he wants to get a drink before they head back into Hollywood. Xtina is not shy about public display or shocking people by being outrageous, but she definitely doesn't like the idea of being seen with Coby dressed as though for the prom. So he suggests they go to Venice, where no one she knows will see them. Obviously, he doesn't care what his surfer friends think of the waiter tux he's wearing.

NEXT