It was a little after 1 in the morning. Jenny and Moira had gone upstairs to one of the guest rooms to have some time to themselves. Alice was knocked out cold in the living room for drinking more than she could handle and for obsessing over the fact that Dana was already dating Lara; while Papi and Liv were having a conversation about their schools’ basketball teams and cheerleaders.

Carmen had gone to the bathroom to freshen up. She had finished washing her face and she took one of the mini-towels placed on the rack positioned beside the sink. Before she could wipe her face with it, she looked into the little bottles of fragrance oils, and found a favorite scent of hers.

The door to the bathroom swung open, and Shane found Carmen in front of the mirror. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were in here. Sorry.” She started turning around to give Carmen her privacy but she was stopped. So she went straight in and half-closed the door behind her.

“No. It’s okay. I’ll be out soon.” Carmen finished drying her face with the towel before dropping it into the hamper. She headed toward the door and stopped in front of Shane. “You have a really lovely house. Thanks for inviting me over, Shane.” She smiled.

Shane didn’t smile or reply back. She just looked straight into Carmen’s eyes.

“Uhm, Shane? Could you excuse me?” Carmen asked as Shane was blocking the door even though it wasn’t really closed at all.

Shane snapped out of whatever state she was in and went back to being on earth. “Oh. Oh. I’m sorry…” She moved to the left almost the same instant that Carmen slid to the right; and when she tried to go to the opposite side, Carmen also did and the both of them laughed at each other. “Oh, fuck.” Shane said in between their laughter. “I think we’re both drunk.”

“Maybe…”

After a while, they grew silent and just stood there, eyes on each other. It was awkward all right but neither of them responded right away to the lingering uneasiness. Shane’s heart skipped a beat and she could feel that Carmen’s was beating faster than normal.

Shane raised her hand and attempted to place it on Carmen’s left cheek to perhaps, give her a kiss on the lips. Before it even touched Carmen’s skin, her head jerked back a little – telling Shane otherwise so she dropped her hand a second following that movement.

A heavy sigh broke out from Shane – whether it was a sigh of relief for not being able to accomplish the kiss or a sign of disappointment, she didn’t know and had no plans of trying to find out.

“I uhm, I have to go…” Carmen told Shane, looking down on her feet.

Shane grabbed Carmen by the arm when she started heading out the bathroom. “Carmen.” Their faces were just a few inches apart. Shane leaned in closer, and closer – now, just several millimeters distant.

Carmen didn’t back away this time and even the minutest of movements directed forward would make their lips meet. The two of them hesitated; but they knew what was bound to happen if only either one had the guts to actually do something about it.

They remained in that position for a few more seconds, glancing at each other’s mouths and back at their eyes with the time that they had. But Shane pulled back, resisting the desire to brush Carmen’s luscious lips with hers.

“I’m sorry…” Shane said softly, then let go of Carmen’s arm.