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Wellspring Arms & Meditation Centre, Wednesday

It occurred to her that acting fine--just fine thanks--during the rest of the week was severely undermined by the fact that she insisted on working here. It made Wellspring Arms more than a wee bit awkward, really, and her mood was dark as she went around the store and fussed with the plants.

And, you know, tried not to think too hard. Stupid Cable. Stupid baby.

Whatever.

Wellspring Arms is Open.

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"Me neither," Lana admitted. "But just because we don't agree about things doesn't mean you're not a good teacher. Or friend."

"Unless you'd rather not be either."

It was a bit funny, the way that made her feel better. After the last two weeks though, she'd take what she could get.

"We don't agree about things," she said after a long moment of just looking at Lana. "But that doesn't mean I won't try to be a good teacher, or that I'd want to stop being a friend."

"That's what I hoped you'd say," Lana said, looking relieved.

She glanced down a little. Glad, and--and it was nice to feel useful.

When she looked up again, Ino quirked a grin at Lana, clasping her hands behind her back. "So then," she said, "tell me what you've been up to?"

"Uh..." Lana made a face. "Sleeping with another guy I don't really know? Though at least I knew this one a little bit."

"Oh really?" Ino leaned against the counter, looking interested. "If you don't mind me asking, um, why?"

"I don't know," Lana said with a sigh. "Because he was nice to me?"

"Well," she tried to think of something to say to that... "um, does he go to school here?"

"Yeah. He's a senior, too. Dragged me to prom and..." she shrugged. "The ironic thing? His ex-girlfriend started dating my ex-boyfriend that night."

Ino really really wished she listened to radio.

"So," she said, with a tilt of her head. "Do I get a name, or what? Enquiring minds want to know."

"Shawn," Lana said. "Shawn Farrell. But really you can't say anything. I... when I started the thing with Lucas we agreed that neither of us would sleep with anyone else while we were doing this. I don't want him to know."

"I can keep a secret," she said confidently, "and, really, since I've never met either guy I'm unlikely to wind up, you know, saying anything to them."

Lana nodded. "Yeah. ... I really need to stop doing this. Though, Anders says if I'm not hurting anyone or in danger..."

"If Lucas found out, do you think it'd still be not hurting anyone?" Ino asked pointedly. "This is one situation where I've got a bit of experience at least. Never ever assume the boy won't care if you sleep with someone else." She'd made that mistake. "I mean, done is done, and fun is fun, but if you promised Lucas you wouldn't then... maybe you should think about that?"

"I know," Lana said very quietly. "I feel terrible about that. He's - Lucas has been so good to me and I wouldn't ever want to hurt him. I don't know what happened prom night. I can't even blame it on drinking too much."

Ino shrugged. "Because you wanted to? I mean, that doesn't make it right, though I seriously don't have the right to say things about this all things considered, with Kabuto and Michael. But, you know, if it only happened once? Then you've got two options. Tell him, and yeah, maybe he'll get angry. Or bury it so deep that no one'll ever hear about it."

"I don't want to tell him," Lana said softly. "I don't want to hurt him and I don't want to lose him as a friend. I... if it was something I thought would happen again I'd tell him about it and apologize and say I wanted to drop the benefits part of our arrangement. But I don't think it is."

"Then bury it," she said. "Don't tell people--the more who know, the more chance there is that it'll get out. Who all knows? You mentioned Anders, and Shawn obviously, then me. Anyone else?"

"God, no," Lana said. "There's no one else I'd tell. And it didn't make radio. I checked. Even though I never listen, I checked the next day. If it had I would have gone straight to Lucas and told him everything."

...

...

...

That got staring. "No one else you'd tell?" Ino blinked at her incredulously. "Me?"

She might be a bit stuck on that point. And touched. And not sure how to--what to--think.

"You and Anders..." Lana shrugged uncomfortably. "Since I've been back it's been hard talking to a lot of my old friends. Anders doesn't judge or tell me how I ought to feel or act and he's not hurt by my talking about that time. And you... I don't know. You listen and you're here and you're good to me. The only other person... well, I'm not going to walk up to Summer and tell her I slept with her ex."

'... and you're good to me.'

Ino swallowed, blinking rapidly and ducking her head to hide tears. "I'm not that good," she said, "not really. Though I can see why you'd not want to tell Summer that."

Yeah. Talk about awkward.

"Ino?" Lana said, stepping forward and reaching out to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Ino said quickly, rubbing at her eyes. "Nothing. Not r-really. Just... a bad few weeks, and what you said... it just, meant a lot."

It helped, a bit--against how useless she'd been feeling lately. How much of an after-thought...

"I'm okay." Long breath. "Promise." Maybe.

"I'm sorry you've had a bad few weeks," Lana said sincerely. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Wellspring Arms & Meditation Centre, Wednesday

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