Shane is in the bathroom examining her bruised eye in the mirror. She winces as she brushes away some blood with a facecloth. She sits down on the toilet seat and puts her head in her hands. She doesn’t cry, she just sits there for a minute or two, runs her hands through her hair and stands up. As she heads for the door she stops in front of the mirror once more. She turns and looks at herself, she seems to be staring deeply into her own eyes. Her eyes are glossy but she doesn’t let a tear fall. She gathers herself and opens the door.

Immediately after walking out of the bathroom Shane bumps into Carmen and Carmen drops some CD’s that she’s carrying. Carmen says “Oh my god. Shane, I didn’t see you I’m sorry. Jenny said I could borrow these CD’s but she wasn’t home so Mark let me in.” Shane scrambles to pick up the CD’s and mumbles a “sorry” as Carmen kneels down to help pick them up. Shane hands Carmen the CD’s. They both stand up. Shane stares at the floor avoiding eye-contact trying to hide her black eye from Carmen. Shane’s eyes dart back and forth as she keeps her head down. “I’ve gotta go” she whispers as she starts to walk away. Before she can get anywhere Carmen stops her, “Wait, Shane, let me talk to you.” She pauses, turns back towards Carmen and looks her straight in the eyes.

“Oh my god Shane, what happened, who did this to you? I’ll kill ‘em. Tell me who did this!” Carmen exclaims as she brushes her fingers against Shane’s cheek.

Shane pushes her hand away gently, points at her and says softly, “You did this.” Shane lets her arm fall back down to her side and continues to look into Carmen’s eyes. Carmen is left momentarily speechless. She takes a deep breath before saying anything. “Shane, I know I really laid it on thick yesterday but how can you be blaming this on me? What do I have to do with whatever happened to you? Huh”

“Look, I’m not blaming you for anything. I understand why you went off on me like that, I do. I get it. If you want to go on thinking I’m just some player who doesn’t care about anyone else, that’s fine. It’s just that… next time, try looking a little bit harder.” Shane touches the side of Carmen’s face and tucks a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Because…you did this.” She says pointing to her own face. Before Carmen can respond Shane’s cellphone rings. Shane looks at her phone and says to Carmen, “Sorry. I’ve gotta go it’s my boss, Veronica.”
Shane walks down the hall answering her phone.

Carmen stands there with tears in her eyes. She has never seen Shane open up that much before. Sure, it wasn’t much but it was more than she expected. Still trying to decipher Shane’s statement Carmen wipes the tears from her eyes and heads for the door.