Surprisingly non-horribly? That's... Unexpected.

The world seems to stop for a moment, as Elizabeth pulls back from you as if burned, and you think about what exactly you look like right now; hair mussed, clothing disheveled, face flushed... Yeah, it was pretty damned obvious what the two of you had just done.

You'd just slept with the woman that you were about to introduce to Taylor as a potential girlfriend, and she'd just walked in on you doing so. You were scum. No, you were complete scum.

And you hated to even think about this when you considered how much this mattered to Taylor - and Elizabeth, though you'd just met her - but... You kind of had to talk them into dating anyway, because a part of your soul was on the line here.

"Um, I can come back if this is a bad time?..." Taylor says awkwardly, "I was just... Heading to my room... I, um, hadn't expected to see you until lunch?... Knock if you need me?..."

Elizabeth looks like she's about to curl up and die, and honestly, you weren't feeling much better. You wouldn't call yourself a prude, even if you weren't a hundredth of the "slut" that you "aspired to be" ten minutes ago, but... Having sex in a public space like this was way, way, way over the line for you, and your best friend had seen!

But if you were to let the embarrassment get to you now, Elizabeth would probably disappear on you, and you'd lose your chance. Definitely for the day, and possibly for good if she started avoiding you after this. You'd screwed up, badly, but... You couldn't just let it end like this. Not for them, and not for you.

"Um, wait..." You say hesitantly, wondering what, precisely, was the right way to broach this...

"We need to talk," You rally, "Taylor, this is Elizabeth; Elizabeth, this is Taylor."

Elizabeth, for her part, clams up as she looks at you with a mix of mortification and outrage. You understand, certainly, but damn it, you don't have a choice!

Taylor, by contrast, looks very uncertain as to where you're going with this.

"Nice to meet you?..." Taylor asks uncertainly, "Wait, we had Theory of Statistics together, didn't we?"

"Y, yes, we did..." Elizabeth whispered to the ground, "I, I'm surprised you r, remember me..."

"Well, statistically speaking, if I paid attention to three quarters of the faces in the class..." Taylor jokes, trying to ease the tension.

"That's not how statistics work, and you know it!" Elizabeth snapped, jerking her head back upwards, You're not controlling for any of the - ah!"

And just as quickly, she's staring back at the floor again, face redder than ever.

Still, it was enough to break the ice. Things were still awkward, but now it didn't feel strange to keep talking.

"The two of us met in Ms. Devlin's office," You start - and then stop, wondering just how much you should say.

"Ah, so that's why the..." Taylor trails off, just gesturing at the couch.

"Yeah, exactly," You say, wincing, "Sorry."

"Hey, no need to apologize to me," Taylor says, raising her hands, "You're two healthy, adult women; what you do is up to you. A bit public, maybe, but if you're comfortable with that..."

You blush, and fight the urge to protest that you're not. Taylor knew that, right? She knew that you weren't that kind of slut!

But no, you couldn't get distracted arguing that point - you had to clearly explain yourself here.

"No, not for that... Though, um, that too," You say, appalled that you'd done something so horrible to your best friend, "I meant... She was here because I was supposed to introduce her to you..."

"Mission accomplished?" Taylor replied, tilting her head with a touch of confusion, "It's not the most put-together of first impressions, I admit, but if she'd like to freshen up a bit, I can come back in ten minutes and forget this ever happened..."

"It's okay, Maya," Elizabeth says to the floor, "I... I'll just disappear. I'll go away and never come back, and never trouble her again. It's what I deserve..."

Taylor's eyes widen as she looks to you, clearly at a loss at such a dramatic response. For your own part, you wish you could just repeat Elizabeth's sentiment, at least for a time... But someone has to finish explaining.

"I," You start, then **** yourself to continue, "I, um, had hoped... Hoped to introduce her to you as a potential g, girlfriend... B, before I screwed up, but I stillhopeitworksout!"

You want to curl up in shame and disappear for reals now, your duty discharged, but... Aside from the physical impossibility, that would also be pretty unfair to both of them. You owed it to Taylor to be there for her to yell at.

Taylor just freezes in place as she stares at you, then at Elizabeth, and then at you again, repeating the process for what feels like several minutes.

"So..." Taylor finally says, "Let me get this straight. You met Elizabeth in Ms. Devlin's office, somehow this turned to the topic of dating, you invited her back to our lounge, and then you started making out with her? And then you still decide that this is a great time to bring up the idea of us dating?"

"It sounds bad..." You start to say, then shake your head as you correct yourself, "No, it is bad, but... I pretty much **** Elizabeth into it, and I don't think that I could actually get her to talk to me again, so it's now or never. And I've been looking for a good girlfriend for you for years; I'd feel even worse if I just let this possibility die, even if I'm the absolute worst person for pushing ahead here."

"You're not wrong," Taylor sighs, as she looks at Elizabeth, "And honestly, I was thinking the same thing. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding the situation. Do you mind following me to my room for a minute, Elizabeth?"

"What?" Elizabeth replies, head jerking upwards, "But you're cool and awesome and amazing, and I - I'm a total piece of shit! You should be furious with me right now!"

"Maybe?" Taylor answered, shrugging, "I agree that this is a pretty bad first impression, but I still don't know the first thing about you. And Ms. Devlin apparently has some weird thing going on with her office, so I wouldn't know if you'd have done something like this normally. So yeah, we should talk for a bit first. It's time I started getting more proactive with relationships anyway."

You blink a bit in surprise, but you're not certain how to delicately question Taylor's decision - she just... Let this go pretty easily. Did you build this up too much in your head? No, this was definitely something she should be super-pissed with you about... Right? Normal people didn't just, make out with people they were trying to set up with someone else, right?

You think she made the right decision here, but... You're still completely lost. And before you can find the right words, she'd pulled Elizabeth down the hall.