I wrapped my quilt around me but, tired as I was, I couldn’t fall asleep. Lazy thoughts kept circling in my brain, like leaves in a fountain, bobbing and spinning ‘til I sat up again and reached for my phone.

"What’s wrong?" Derek asked.

I felt myself frown. "Why do you always ask that? You make it sound like I only call you when there’s a crisis."

"Well, don’t you?"

Tears pricked at my eyes as I slid open the drawer of my night table and dug out some emergency chocolate. I’ve told you how Pisces tends to mimic all the other signs. Well, at the moment, I was feeling as moody as a crab. "No. Stop being mean."

"Has something happened that I don’t know about?" Derek asked cautiously.

I chomped on my chocolate macadamia bar for a moment. "Mmm. I took your advice."

"What advice?"

"The strip tease. Did you get that idea from Claire, by the way?"

"Did I--? What?"

"It seemed like such a… such a Claire thing when I was doing it."

"Oh, Jesus. Are you fucking kidding me?"

I could hear Derek moving around in his apartment and I closed my eyes to better imagine what the noises filtering through the phone might mean. Kitchen, I thought. Glass. Bottle. Pouring. I could imagine him standing at his counter, with the light from his faux Tiffany fixture spilling down on his dark hair, gilding it with a faint green-gold tinge. I could imagine him lifting one of his square glass tumblers to his lips, tossing his head back with a quick motion that would leave his hair in disarray.

"What are you drinking?" I asked, feeling thirsty, feeling like I was right there in his apartment with him, running my hand through his hair to comb it back into place, trailing my fingers down his cheek. He had a nice place, right above the studio. When the windows were open, you could hear the water and the wind chimes in the courtyard below. It was dark and mysterious--just like Derek. It was cozy, crammed with things he’d picked up on his travels. It was warm...

"Never mind what I’m drinking," Derek snapped, sounding not warm. "What happened?"

I sighed, breaking off another square of chocolate and popping it in my mouth. "Pretty much what you’d expect to happen, I guess. It worked. He got the message. He came over."

"You slept with him? Already?"

Well, I certainly wouldn’t put it like that. Sleep? No. Not even. Silence hummed over the line. I listened as Derek poured himself another drink.

"How was it?"

"It was great," I replied, sliding back down between the sheets. "But, you know, probably even soul mates don’t start out at the peak. Right?"

This time the silence stretched even longer.