While they wait for their drinks, Coby & Xtina gossip about their neighbor, Nico. Coby complains that Nico's been playing his guitar all through the night, keeping him awake, so Xtina explains to him what she's seen in the tabloids, about Nico's affair with Jackie Oh! from F Hole, and how Jackie has now been appearing in the tabloids with another guy, no doubt breaking their neighbor's heart. "Wow, that's harsh," Coby says, "But I didn't think you read that tabloid crap...." Xtina looks down at her drink, "I don't, usually, but since I found out Gavin has a new girl, I do anything to keep my mind off it..." Xtina has been doing her best to keep her pain & despair locked up inside her where no one can see it, but it isn't easy. Just alluding to Gavin's new girlfriend makes her stomach churn & tears well up in her eyes.

Coby gets up & gives her a big hug, telling her she's got to get over Gavin & move on. And he tells her she's too smart to be reading the tabloids. It's the second time today that he's made reference to her being 'smart'...she's not sure exactly what he thinks of her or what he's basing his opinion on, since they know so little of each other, but it's a thought that gets filed away toward the back of her mind, because right now she's concentrating on not crying. "Hey, guess what I have in my pocket?" Coby says. Is he trying to to be funny? "Don't be disgusting, Coby," she says pulling away. Well, at least he did stop her tears in their tracks. "No, seriously," he says with a laugh, "I snagged some of my sister's stash...you want to go down to the beach with me?"

The night is dark & quiet, and the beach is empty. "Thanks for coming out with me today, Ti," Coby says, "I would have been bored silly without you to hang with all day. And I owe you big time, anytime you need me for anything, I'm there." Xtina tells him it was not a big deal, really, and in fact she was grateful to have something to do, anything to keep her from thinking about Gavin all day. The pale moonlight, which always glowed so beautifully off Gavin's skin, shone in his dark hair, looks completly different on the sun-loving Coby, making him look serious & slightly sullen. Xtina thinks she'd like to confide in him fully, confess how badly she screwed things up..he's become a true friend, maybe a better friend than she's ever had, and she'd like to able to talk to someone who doesn't already know it all.

She looks him in the eyes & finds she hasn't got the words to say, she's full of emotions that have no description. And there comes one of those moments that makes Xtina so sure that her life is being controlled by an external force, as Coby leans in to kiss her, as she feels herself fall back on the blanket & accept his kiss, surely, this is all being directed from somewhere else, for in what rational universe would a surfer dude like Coby get together with someone like her?....So now she know what it is like to kiss Coby: where Gavin was an unstoppable hurricane of passion, Coby is a tropical breeze that thrills & tickles, where Gavin consumes you body & soul, Coby nibbles at your edges....

But it's wrong, flat out on it's face wrong, and Xtina cannot let it go any further. She pushes Coby away and tells him he cannot ever tell anyone what just happened. "I know you don't think much of me, Ti, but I'm way past needing to go brag to my friends every time I kiss a girl....I'm not going to tell anyone," Coby responds, sighing a little. Xtina could have handled an angry retort, or a bitter joke, anything, but what he said, 'I know you don't think much of me'. It's like he's held up a mirror to her, for her to see how cruel she has been to him & everyone else, too, but especially to him, when he has been her only real friend since she lost Gavin. It's all too much for her to hold in now, and she breaks down, sobbing & crying. She doesn't deserve Gavin, she doesn't even deserve Coby....

Despite all that, Coby puts his arm around her & apologizes. "How can you be so nice to me, when I'm always so mean to you?," she groans, burying her face in his lapel. "You're mean to everyone, Ti, I don't take it personally," he says. Again, she feels the stab in her heart, how can he be so cruel to her? Her tears fall now uncontrollably, her sobs wrack her whole body, and Coby holds her very tightly, trying to contain her, even kissing her head the way her mother used to do...."Hey, Ti, we're friends, right? You can say anything to me, just, don't cry Ti, okay?" he says to her. She feels like he'll kill her with his kindness, and she tells him she hates him. She says it over & over, crying into his chest, as though she's bound and determined to treat him so badly that even he will leave her, alone and friendless. But he just repeats, "I know, Ti," quietly, rocking her against him, "But I'm still your friend, okay? So just go ahead & let it out. I'll still be your friend tomorrow, okay, Ti?" The way he keeps emphasizing that he's her friend, the way his big hands hold her firmly, the way he continually uses this new nickname he's bestowed on her, it finally gets through to her that, as odd & mismatched as it is, there is some security to be found in this relationship, that somehow she's managed to make him her friend, though she doesn't deserve it. She stops crying & telling him she hates him, resting her head on his shoulder & comforting herself against the warmth of his chest.

"He said he would love me forever...he's already got a new girl...." she sighs, her voice trembling as she tries to confess the real problem, what is really making her so miserable, but as she speaks she feels a renewed gushing of tears, and she cannot go on.

"Ti, you're just hurting yourself by wasting all this emotion on him," Coby says as he squeezes her shoulders "If he's got another girl, you really should forget him & move on. I know you don't want to hear it, & you probably hate me twice as much for saying it..but this your life & you've only got so much time to waste." It's true, she doesn't want to hear it, but she's also realizing that like it or not, Coby is right. And despite her misery & pain, she also couldn't help but notice that during this episode, Coby's voice & accent was markedly different from his usual surfer insouciance. There is more to him than he lets on, she thinks, he wears a sunny dispostion the same way she wears black lipstick: it's a mask worn to deceive. But what is he hiding beneath that facade?

Xtina finally regains her strength enough to lift herself out of Coby's arms. "You aren't as dumb as you pretend to be, Coby," she says to him. "And I'm sorry I said I hate you....I don't hate you." "I know, Ti, I know," he answers, "Let's go home."

Something passes between them as they look each other in the eyes, but neither of them speaks of it. Xtina watches silently as Coby drives, left hand on the wheel, right hand moving from the gear shift to his forehead to her leg, gently caressing her & then pulling back. It's not a grabby or sexual move on his part at all, she can see he's not even aware of what he's doing, any more than he's aware of the way his jaw muscles work themselves fretfully. He's lost in thought, & Xtina dares not ask what he's thinking.

NEXT