Eleanor & Justin are clearly in heaven on their own, so Xtina happily hangs out with Coby, his new little girlfriend having cleared the scene.

"C'mon, let me show you my place," Coby says, tickling her. "Don't do that, Coby," she giggles, "I don't want your girlfriend to slap me again." She doesn't know why, but she misses the ticklings more than anything.

"Listen, Ti, go easy with the 'g' word around Hayley, okay?" Coby says to her as he's showing her his living room. Xtina raises her eyebrow. "The 'g' word?" she asks. "Look, she's not my girlfriend, it's going to be hard enough to convince her of that without my friends telling her she is. I want to keep her where I can have her around without it becoming some kind of 'girlfriend' thing. Okay?" Xtina is horrified, he sounds like such an asshole, not the Coby she knows. "That's horrible, Coby. You're not like that," she insists, refusing to believe him. "Ti, what I had with you was special, I've never had a girlfriend I was like, faithful to or whatever," he says, caressing her shoulder. "Usually I'm kind of a dog. Hayley's nice & all, but I don't want her getting too posesive."

Blonde hair, blue eyes: he's not usually her type. But Coby is so beautiful, even when he's telling her he's a jerk to every other girl except her, Xtina loves him. He takes her face in his hands, and she melts inside, hoping he'll kiss her. But instead he invites her to see the sunset from his bedroom.

And the kiss waits until they are upstairs, happening as naturally as if they were still lovers, as if Rainier had never come into her life.

Xtina nearly pushes Coby into the bed, and makes love to him with demading passion. She loses herself in the sex, like it was all there ever was & all there will ever be. But it inevitably ends. "Stay with me, Ti," Coby whispers as she collapses next to him, resting against him. She's happy with him when they are alone together in their private world. But when her friends wonder what she sees in the 'surfer boy', when his friends want to know what is up with the 'weird' chick, that's when it falls apart. "I can't Coby," she says quietly, getting out of bed, putting on her clothes, "I should go see how Justin & Eleanor are doing. We can't do this again, Coby," she says, heading towards his door, unable to look back at him, to actually face him while she says it. As much as she might prefer to stay, Rainier is clearly more 'right' for her than Coby could be. Right?

There's nothing else at this party for Xtina, as soon as she gets downstairs, she finds Eleanor & Justin & tells them she's ready to leave as soon as they are. They never wanted to come in the first place, so they're ready now. Justin picks Eleanor up & carries her to the car. Xtina watched Justin try to win Eleanor's affection unsuccessfully for a year, so she's not surprised by his doting attention to her as a lover. It's Eleanor she watches in amazement...the girl who wanted to stay a virgin forever, never have a lover or a husband, now she's not just 'with' Justin, she just about lives for him. The traffic is heavy and the drive from Venice to Hollywood takes over an hour: Xtina sits in the backseat, watching them, his eyes as much on her as on the road, taking her hand in his at every red light, she leans across the seat to whisper to him, and he laughs & kisses her. Xtina would like to be happy for Eleanor, but she's too busy wishing the car would explode so this whole thing could be done with.

NEXT