A tense, stunned silence lingered between Josh and the woman before him as they continued to stare at one another in utter disbelief. Of all the people Josh could have expected to run into upon his return to human society, this individual would be absolutely last on the list, and now that fate seemed to have dealt him a more than unfavorable hand, he found himself frozen in shock as he was forced to stare into her vibrant green eyes. The two of them hadn't exactly parted ways on the best of terms, and Josh had no idea what this girl's reaction might be. Either way he looked at it though, there was no ideal way for her to act in this scenario, and Josh knew full well that she would have no compunction whatsoever about blowing his current cover.

Think, idiot, think he thought to himself, watching as the woman began to look him up and down, almost as if she was making sure he was real. There's gotta be something I can do to diffuse this whole situation...

"Uh..." he stammered, racking his brains for some sort of words to say, "Long time no see, it seems..."

Josh silently cursed himself as he watched her expression begin to shift, moving from one of disbelief to apparent anger at his words.Way to fuck this up even more, dumbass he thought.

"That... wasn't the right thing to say, was it?" he said lamely, desperately beginning to plan his backpedal from the previous comment, "I mean, I don't really know what you're feeling right now, so it's hard to think of what to say. But, let's be honest, it's not exactly easy to talk to someone you haven't seen in-"

His hasty monologue was interrupted as the girl reared back and landed a full on slap to his right cheek, forcing him to take a few steps back in shock.

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted, clutching his stinging cheek as his mind tried to process what just happened.

"You fucking asshole!" she shrieked, advancing so as to be able to yell at him better, "You lying bastard! Don't you dare talk to me like I'm some sort of old friend of yours from a long time ago, especially after you ran out on me when I took you to the hospital and probably helped save your worthless life!"

"Forgive my mistake of being cordial to you." Josh snarled, standing back up to his full height with his cheek red and still hurting, "I just figured maybe it'd be beneficial to the situation if I don't act like a jackass this time."

"What? So you didn't come back for a second shot at getting me in bed?" she yelled, leering at him as he towered over her, "Because I'm not making that mistake again, no matter how much you may want another 'helping of pussy'."

"Don't flatter yourself." Josh replied angrily, "I'm not here to see you."

"Oh, so you're here to use somebody else then?" the girl replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "How about you point them out to me so I can warn them what a piece of shit you really are."

"What is your fuckin' problem?"

"My fuckin' problem?! My fuckin' problem is you! It's been you for over a year now, after you faked that little scene when you were about to leave and then bolted from the hospital so you didn't have to face me when it was all said and done!"

"How do you know I was faking that?" Josh shouted in response, "You weren't in my body, you didn't see or feel what I felt when I went down. Who the hell are you to assume something like that?!"

"People who pass out like that don't just disappear for no reason!" the girl yelled back, angrily pointing a finger into Josh's chest as she continued to glare at him.

Josh was about to respond when he looked around and noticed that more than a few people had stopped to watch the scene between these two transpire. Shit... he thought, knowing that a crowd was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now, especially as he was being confronted by a very angry woman who would more than likely reveal who he really was at some point.

"Look," he began, lowering his voice so that it was almost a complete whisper, "we shouldn't be doing this right here. I understand you're angry with me, and I don't blame you for it, but we don't need to be making a scene like this, alright?"

"You think I give a fuck about making a scene?" she hissed, venom dripping from her words as she spoke.

"You work in the terminal though, don't you?" Josh asked, praying that he was guessing right.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't think it'd be in your best interest to get fired over this, now would it?" Josh replied, letting out a small internal sigh of relief that his guess has paid off.

The girl opened her mouth to respond once more, but quickly halted her tirade as she glanced around. Sure enough, her face lit up bright red as she took notice of all the people now gathered around herself and the young man before her. She gave a sheepish smile at everybody continuing to stare at her and Josh, nervously placing a hand on the back of her neck.

"Uh... Hello there, everyone." she said, false glee in her voice as she addressed the crowd, "We were just... discussing some things in private. Nothing really to see here."

Josh watched as several people began to make their way away from he and his angry companion, most wearing confused looks on their faces at not entirely understanding what they had just seen. After a short time, the girl turned back around and returned her angry gaze back up to Josh's face.

"You got lucky this time," she whispered, moving closer towards Josh and getting up into his face, "but we're not done here."

"What exactly did you have in mind to continue this then?"

"There's an employee breakroom over there." she replied, pointing just to the right of the bathroom entrance, "I'll be waiting for you to be there in twenty minutes. And, if you don't show up by that time, I'll send a guard out to find you and drag your sorry ass there. Understood?"

Josh felt the need to retort, but knew fully well that he'd been backed into a corner that was nearly impossible to get out of at this point. Hesitantly, he nodded at her, causing a rather sinister smile to spread across her lips.

"Good." she said simply, turning and making her way towards the nearby hall leading towards the breakroom.

Josh watched as she rounded the corner and disappeared, leaving him standing in the now dispersing group of onlookers, his heart no longer in his throat as his stomach seemed to sink lower. Of all the goddamn people to run into in a place like this, it just had to be someone I fucked over... he thought to himself as he continued to stand there, unsure of what exactly he was going to do next. Much as he wanted to avoid having to talk to that girl again and merely move on with his life as he'd planned to do so before, he knew that he had a moral obligation to let her have her own moment of justice, however she may see fit to meter that justice. That, and he'd rather not be dragged away through the airport by security to something like that. As far as he was concerned, enough of a scene had been made already.

After some time of contemplating what had just happened, he glanced back over towards the deli and saw a rather bored looking Syd sitting there, his head perched on top of one of his hands as he perused his phone. Josh figured he ought to remain with Syd till he had to meet with the girl, if nothing else so he could have someone who could explain why his dead body turned up in the middle of LAX. Slowly, he made his way back towards the young man, who looked up as Josh approached the table, clearly looking more sullen than he had before leaving.

"What happened to you?" Syd asked as Josh pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table, "You took forever."

"I... ran into an old friend..." Josh said hesitantly, trying to skirt around the details of his recent encounter.

“Is that why you have a giant fucking red mark on one side of your face?” Syd asked, smirking a little as he pointed to Josh’s still red and sore cheek.

Josh laid his head in his hands in frustration, giving Syd all the answer he needed.

"I'm gonna guess you fucked yourself over on this one." Syd said simply.

"You don't even know the half of it..." Josh said through his fingers, hearing the echoing screams of the girl play over and over again in his head.

"So, what're you gonna do about it then?"

"I'm supposed to meet up with her in a few minutes." Josh replied, glancing back up towards Syd, "I'd really rather not though..."

"So don't." Syd said, putting his phone away in his pocket as he addressed Josh, "Fuck her. You don't have to do what she says. You're a grown man with the balls to say no, aren't you?"

"She said if I don't show up, she'll send security after me."

Syd glanced over at a nearby security guard, a rather hulking white man with a large tribal tattoo on his arm. Josh watched as Syd's uninterested look shifted to one of apparent fear.

"On second thought, you'd probably be better off seeing what she wants." Syd said, turning his gaze back towards Josh.

"Yeah..." Josh replied solemnly.

"You want me to call L and let him know he'll need a new assistant then?"

Josh shot Syd a scathing glare.

"Hey, I'm just sayin'."

Josh returned his face to his hands, dreading the thought of confronting this individual from his past he thought he'd left behind him long ago and far away. Just when it seemed he was on the path that would take him far away from the events in his life that haunted him daily, he gets a heavy reminder that he still can't run away from it all. I guess I can only hope that this'll be quick... he thought, trying hard not to dwell on what was most likely about to happen to him when he was finally forced to confront a victim of his sins.

Slowly and silently Josh made his way down the hallway leading towards the employee breakroom, his heart beginning to race as he imagined what this encounter would result in on his end. He wasn't afraid for his life or anything like that, but he was afraid of what she would possibly have to say or want to do to him after a year of stewing on what he'd done to her that night before he went off to Equestria. After walking down the narrow hallway for what seemed like an eternity, he stood before a large metal door with a plaque on it that read "Employee's Only". As he stood before the now somewhat ominous and looming door, he felt the urge to turn and run, to make his way completely out of the airport where she couldn't call him out and where he could hopefully find a place to isolate himself once again. However, that thought dissipated as quickly as it had come, mostly because he knew he'd already spent too much time trying to avoid everybody as it was. It'll do me no good to run again. he thought to himself as he stared at the door before him Besides, I kind of owe her this one...

Reluctantly, he reached out and grabbed the handle. Right as his palm made made contact with the cold metal of the knob, he heard a voice nearby and turned to see a large, African American security guard strutting up to him, scowling down at Josh as he made his way towards the young man.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, stopping short of Josh and standing over him in a rather menacing fashion.

"I..." Josh stammered, looking up at the hulking figure he was now confronted with, "I was told to meet someone here..."

"No you weren't." the guard replied simply, glaring down at Josh, "Can't you read? That sign says 'Employees Only', which means no one but employees can go in there. No exceptions."

"Look," Josh began, his fear being replaced by annoyance as the guard finished his condescending tirade, "I don't even really wanna be here. But, if I don't, the girl in there's gonna send a guy like you after me to drag me here. I'd much rather walk in there on my own power than be tossed in like a ragdoll."

The guard raised a skeptical eyebrow at Josh before glancing towards the door.

"You know her?" he asked, gesturing at the door.

"You could say that..." Josh replied simply.

The guard narrowed his eyes at Josh, who was trying his hardest not to look intimidated or afraid as his inner voice was screaming in his head.

"What's her name then?"

Josh opened his mouth to retort, but found no words that could attempt to ease the situation. However, he was no idiot, and knew full well how best to get out of that question.

"Do you know her name?" he asked after a short time, hoping that his voice sounded confident enough to baffle the guard.

"I asked you first." the guard replied simply, leaning in closer and glaring even harder at Josh, who felt his heart sink even lower than it already had.

The young man opened and closed his mouth in a vain attempt to find something, anything, he could fire back with. Despite his effort, he had to eventually allow himself to accept the fact that this would not be a barrier he could sneak his way past like he had so far since returning to earth.

"Okay, so I don't exactly remember her name," Josh said after gathering himself, "but you've gotta believe me. I wouldn't be standing here, pleading with you to let me in there if I had no reason for it."

"And what exactly would that reason be?"

"I... I owe it to her to do this." Josh hesitated, reasoning that there was no point in trying to disguise the truth of his reasoning from the guard anymore, "Last time we met, I made a huge mistake, and we didn't leave off on the best of terms. I need to be in there to talk to her, if nothing else for her to have at least a sense of closure and the ability to say what she didn't get to before, to release her frustrations on the person who caused them. That's why I need to be in there."

The guard's facial features softened as Josh finished his explanation. He let out a slight grunt of interest as Josh was forced to stand there, silent and hopeful that he had at least made enough of a compelling argument for the guard to consider what he'd said. As he watched the huge man before him, he could practically see the gears turning in his head as he glanced back towards the door, his now softened gaze lingering on it for what seemed like forever until he turned his attention back towards Josh and smirked a little.

"Tell you what," he said, grabbing his key card and swiping it past the card reader, causing it to emit a small beep, "you do seem pretty determined, so you can go in. But, I'll be waiting out here and listening to everything. I hear anything even slightly odd, and being thrown in that room is gonna be far from what you ought to worry about, understood?"

Josh nodded quickly, to which the guard opened up the door and gestured inside. The young man stepped around the guard and made his way inside, peering back at the entryway just in time to see the door slam shut, causing a rather uncharacteristic echo to fill the once silent room. Josh winced a little as the sound died off, slowly turning back around to face what he'd never thought he'd have to face again. He glanced all around the tiny room, from the cork board on the wall with several papers pinned to it to the counters on the opposite side laden with a coffee pot and small microwave.

After taking in his surroundings, he glanced towards the opposite side of the room, the sinking feeling in his stomach gaining as his eyes fell upon whom he’d come here to see in the first place. Sitting at the far end of a cluster of white plastic tables was the girl he'd encountered earlier, who admittedly seemed less intense than Josh had left her, but who almost immediately regained her previous glare upon laying eyes on Josh again. Once again, he began to try and think of anything he could possibly say to take a least a little tension away from the situation, and once again, he found nothing that would be more than idle, bullshit chatter.

"You actually showed up." the girl noted after some time of silence between the two of them.

"Yeah." Josh replied lamely, trying his hardest to break the uneasy feeling all around at least in his own mind, "Sorry I didn't give you the chance to have me thrown in here like you'd wanted."

Almost immediately, Josh cringed at his own response upon seeing the girl fold her arms and glare at him more intensely, which he didn't think could be possible.

"So," Josh said after a time, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, the sinking feeling in his stomach increasing one thousandfold as he was forced to stare at the angry woman at the other end of the room, "you wanna ... go first? I think you've earned it more than me."

The girl gave no response as Josh finished speaking, forcing the most uncomfortable silence into the room than Josh had ever experienced in his life. She merely stood there, arms crossed and continuing to glare at the young man across from her. The feeling of tension was nearing the point of agony as Josh was forced to remain standing there, waiting and silently praying that she would at least start yelling soon, if nothing else to make some sort of noise that would take away the quiet. After what seemed like an eternity in which Josh began to feel what little sanity he had left collapse from the maddening silence, the girl finally spoke.

"It's been over a year since that night." she began, venom dripping from her words that would make a cobra jealous, "Over one full year since you ran out on me, after you collapsed, I took you to the hospital, and I waited in that godforsaken lobby all night to make sure you were okay, only to hear from the doctors that you just disappeared."

"You... you waited there for me?" Josh asked, not having even thought that she would do so after what he'd intended to do before collapsing.

"Of course I did!" she shouted, glaring at him even harder than before, "I wasn't just gonna drop you off and run away!"

"But why stay?" Josh inquired, "I mean... the last thing I said to you wasn't exactly a show of kindness."

"I..." the girl stammered as her eyes grew a little wider and her face became heavily flushed, "I thought... that if I were to stay and wait for you, show you that I was the one who helped you and that I didn't just abandon you... Maybe..."

Her voice trailed off as she spoke, but Josh knew full well what she was intending by her actions, and it only served to make him feel even worse than before. Before, he would have said she was disillusioned, possibly even stupid in thinking that he'd want to be in a relationship after a one night stand, and at the time he certainly thought so. Now, however, as he looked into her eyes and saw the pain and anger that came from crushed hopes, guilt that had plagued him for so long came rushing back at realizing what his leaving had done to her, whether he'd intended to or not.

"I'll admit that I probably had my expectations set too high." she continued, forcing Josh's attention back towards her and out of his own introspection, "I mean, when I looked back on it, it seemed like a hell of a long shot that things would work out anyway. But, I had at least hoped that you and I could work things out, that we at least wouldn't end things on bad terms... But no. You couldn't even give me that, could you?"

At this point, her voice, which had begun to waver considerably as she spoke, rose up once more, the malice she'd had back in the terminal returning with a vengeance.

"I... I didn't abandon you." Josh said, struggling to find his own words as he felt her gaze completely wash over him and steal his ability to speak.

"Then what happened, Josh?!" she yelled, banging her fist on the table, causing him to cringe as she shouted at him again, "What in the hell happened that made you just 'disappear' into thin fucking air?"

Josh opened his mouth to retort, but immediately fell silent, knowing full well that he couldn't divulge the truth to her, and no lie he could think up would possibly justify what she was accusing him of. He was forced back into the same tense silence he so despised, his gaze dropping to the ground once more in shame.

"People don't just happen to disappear." she continued after he failed to answer her inquiry, her speech slow and methodical as she continued her rant against him, "I hear the doctor say that you're gone after you already tried to get away from me before and what else am I supposed to think? That you just went for a midnight stroll after being rushed into the ER by nearly every nurse and doctor in the hospital a few hours earlier?" Contrary to what most people may think about me, I'm not just some dumb whore. I can put two and two together."

Josh had all but given up on trying to respond as he looked back into enraged face of the girl opposite him. Her eyes were full of not just anger, but also a heavy amount of hurt, a sight which caused Josh's already sunken heart to fall even lower than before.

"You really hurt me, Josh." she continued, her voice low and intense as she continued, "I went home that morning, alone, sleep deprived, and feeling lower than I ever had before in my life. It took a really long time for me to be able to move on from that, to not feel like some sort of worthless piece of meat that just exists for the sake of being used by anyone who feels like it. And I was able to move on, eventually, enough so to the point that I didn't have to dwell on that night like I'd become so accustomed to over the months. I finally was able to move past what had happened and could live with myself again."

She narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at Josh as she resumed in a malicious tone.

"Then, I saw you in the terminal, looked back up into your eyes for the first time in over a year, and all I could feel was every single one of those feelings I'd tried so hard to eliminate coming back to me, all the sadness and anger I'd managed to suppress flooding back into my mind..." she said, tears beginning to well up in her bright green eyes.

At this point, the girl fell completely silent and her body slouched and she collapsed into her chair as tears began to fall from her eyes and splash onto the table. Her gentle frame trembled as she was overcome by the very emotions she'd spoken of before. Josh watched as she seemed to transform from a ferocious woman into a scared and sad girl, one whose only mistake had been seeking a good time. Josh had to fight his own urge to cry as he was forced to watch this poor individual lose herself in the regrets of a night long passed.

In Equestria, he was given an opportunity to start things over, to not be haunted by the ghosts of his past. Even after he'd confided to Vinyl and the rest of his friends everything he could about his time on earth, they'd all told him the same thing: that the past was just that, and as long as he kept in mind the mistakes he made before, he wouldn't repeat them there. He'd seriously taken their words to heart, and always kept his memories in the back of his mind, never forgetting but not focusing on them all hours of the day like he had before he'd left Equestria the first time. This had worked well, and his mind was at almost complete ease the entire time he was in his adopted home.

Now, however, his mind was far from at ease as he stared across the long table at the product of his own callous behavior, at the sad and broken soul who had been forced to deal with the consequences of his idiotic actions. He wished that he could do what he'd always done with Vinyl whenever the two of them had gotten into any type of argument, where he'd simply talk the mare down from her emotions and remind her that he loved her. That, however, was an option so far off the table that it was floating in the deepest, darkest recesses of space and time. Nothing he could think of seemed like any type of viable option, and more and more, Josh was beginning to think that this would be one situation he had no chance of fixing, that it'd be one more deep regret that he'd be forced to live with day in and day out.

"I... I'm so sorry..."

The girl lifted her head up and locked eyes with Josh, who winced as he realized that he'd just spoken out his once internalized thought.

"W-what did you say?" she asked, her green eyes staring right through the young man before her once more, albeit with a bit of a softer glare this time.

Josh silently cursed himself for muttering that and quickly began to rattle his brain in the hopes that he could salvage or maybe even deflect from what had just happened. His effort was in vain, however, and he sighed as he came to a final realization that his grave had been dug, and there was no stopping him from falling in. *May as well say something though...*

"I'm... sorry." he said after a short silence, trying his best to regain what composure he could as he began to speak, "I know that that doesn't mean much, but I truly am. The man you ran into that night was a very different version of me. I was... cocky, inconsiderate, so full of a sense of entitlement at my accomplishments that I didn't care who I affected or how. You were nothing more than a simple victim of my stupidity, and you didn't deserve what you had happen to you."

Josh paused as he watched the once intense glare the girl had on him soften completely, almost bringing forth a look of confusion as the young man began his speech. He tried hard to think of how to phrase what he wanted to say next, knowing that he had to skate around the truth and still put up a convincing story.

"I know you find it hard to believe, but I swear on my life, I did not abandon you in the hospital that night." he continued, "When I collapsed, that was genuine, and as to what exactly happened to me later... I'm not even sure what it was. All I know is that I was taken somewhere far away from here, somewhere where nobody knew who I was or what I was, and all I wanted the minute I got there was to return home. My attitude followed me, and I came very close to making the same mistakes there as I had here. But I was shown so much love from the time I arrived by everyone, a kind of love I hadn't known in a long time. It made me rethink my life, the things I'd said and done in my time here, and I was filled with so much regret at realizing just how much of a negative impact I'd had on the paths I'd happened across of others. If it hadn't been for my friends and the fantastic person I'd met while I was there, I don't know that I'd ever have been able to sleep soundly again..."

He halted his speech for a second time as the happy and loving faces of his friends and Vinyl flashed before his eyes, causing a slight lump to form in his throat. *Come on, man.* he thought, trying his best to regain

his wavering composure *You're supposed to be the strong one here...*

"The love and kindness they showed me helped me move beyond all my guilt, helped me to be able to live with myself despite everything. I never allowed myself to forget it all, but I didn't dwell on it all hours like I'd begun to."

"Why aren't you there then?" the girl asked, cutting Josh off as he was about to continue.

Again, Josh lost his words as he tried his best to think about how to phrase his answer. She hadn't asked in a malicious or angry tone, a factor that only contributed even more to his inability to speak.

"Not everyone... was so loving to me." he said simply, not wanting to think too much about what had transpired for fear that it would cause him to lose his composure he'd fought so hard to try and maintain throughout this time, "I didn't want to come back, but the choice wasn't mine to make, and so here I find myself, standing in this room with you, ashamed and full of regret. I wish so badly that I could take away what I did that night, to make it so that you and I never had crossed paths. But I can't, and... and the only thing I can do is say that I'm sorry..."

Josh kept his eyes trained on the girl as he finished speaking, waiting for some type of response from her. Her face registered a rather neutral emotion, one nearly bordering on confusion, but he was awaiting another outburst. More than likely, she would call him out for being a liar, citing that she wouldn't be stupid enough to believe a story that ridiculous. Then, she'd follow up with questions that he couldn't honestly answer without him revealing the truth of his time in Equestria, which would of course put him even further into the already gaping hole he found himself in at the moment. After a time of silence, she glanced back up at him, her green eyes meeting his own for what seemed like the thousandth time, and Josh awaited the torrent that he was sure would come soon.

"What was her name?" she asked quietly.

Josh's mouth fell open in disbelief and confusion as he registered her question in his head. He stared intently at the girl, seeing all traces of her previous anger gone, now replaced by an unexpected calm and neutral look. The young man was so taken aback by her unexpected response that, for a second, he found himself completely mute.

"H-her name's... Vinyl." he replied, still in shock that she wasn't screaming at him anymore.

"That's a bit of an unusual name." the girl said, letting out a little chuckle as a slight smile spread across her lips.

Now, Josh felt his sunken heart begin to rise back up, and a sense of relief began to flow through him, causing his previous tension to completely melt away. The smile he saw on her face was not one that seemed forced or disingenuous. She truly seemed to be more at ease, thus causing her previous target of anger to feel the same.

"She's a bit of an unusual girl." Josh replied, chuckling himself.

The girl smiled even wider than before, her expression completely softened from its previous appearance, and together she and Josh shared their first amiable moment since they'd seen one another over a year ago. Josh felt his entire body completely relax as the tension all around released itself in mere moments. He hadn't expected a response like this from someone who only a few minutes ago would have called for his head, and he didn't care. Probably better not to complain about not getting my head chewed off anyway.

"What's she like?" asked the girl.

Josh paused once again, not entirely sure how to answer the question. This was one thing he'd tried to avoid once with Liam, the emotional wounds having been too fresh to be able to delve into describing his marefriend, the pony he had been ripped away from so violently and suddenly. I can't avoid thinking about her though, he thought to himself and why wouldn't I want to? I love her more than anything, and it wouldn't be right to try and suppress her memory just because I miss her.

"She's..." Josh paused, wracking his brain as he tried to think how to describe Vinyl properly, "short, kinda pale, and has the craziest blue hair you've ever seen."

"Really?" the girl asked, giggling a little as she registered his response.

"Yeah, two-toned too." he said, smiling wide as he saw the image of his marefriend flash before his eyes.

"What else?"

Now, Josh was truly thrown for a loop. How could he possibly explain more about her and do her memory any justice? Words only told so much, and they weren't even remotely sufficient to explain how incredible Vinyl had been and still was.

"... Loving." Josh replied simply, "Incredibly loving. And kind. And... and she's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Josh again felt a lump form in his throat and tears began to well up behind his eyes as he thought about Vinyl once more. He closed his eyes for a second in an attempt to force the tears back, only to see his marefriend's beautiful face stare back at him, smiling, silently relaying the same message of love over and over again to the human as he looked deep into her large, crimson-magenta eyes. He had to stop himself from trying to reach out and touch her, to attempt to hold her once more. A smile spread across his own face again as he locked eyes with the loving mare, who continued to stare back at him, reminding him of what he'd always known: that no matter what, she would love him without question, without a single trace of doubt.

"You know, it's really not fair."

Josh came crashing back to reality from his sudden reverie, opening his eyes and losing the image of Vinyl as he did so. His gaze was greeted by the form of the girl opposite him, who had her arms folded and had a type of playful pout on her face.

"What's not fair?" Josh asked, starting to feel slight unease creep back into his mind as he wondered where this conversation was headed.

"I spent so much time thinking about the day I'd see you again, when I'd finally be able to confront you about that night." she said, "I had the scenario planned out in my head the whole way. I knew what I'd say to you at first, and I even figured out what I'd do to turn it all back to you in case you tried to throw it back in my face or pass it off like it was nothing. But... but I hadn't planned on you... being sorry..."

Josh watched as the girl before him reverted to a sudden timid state, her body slouched down and her eyes low as she stared up at him with a somewhat ashamed look on her face. The young man let out a small sigh of relief and a chuckle as he watched this once ferocious looking woman transform before his very eyes into the polar opposite of herself.

"Well, if it'll make you feel any better, you can still yell at me if you want to." he joked, hoping he could raise her apparently depleted spirits back up.

"Thanks, but I'll pass." she responded, smiling back up at him again, "Clearly it doesn't help the situation."

"It certainly is cathartic though."

Together, the two shared another small bout of jovial chuckling before falling into another round of silence. Josh watched intently as the girl sat in her chair, eyes apparently trained on a point somewhere on the table before her, clearly doing her best to process her own thoughts on the situation.

"What about you?" Josh inquired after a short time, drawing the girl's attention back towards himself, "Did you find anyone?"

"... No, I didn't." she replied simply, locking eyes with Josh for a brief second, "I came... close, but nothing was ever able to last long."

"Oh... I'm... sorry to hear that." Josh responded, feeling a sudden pang of guilt tug at his heart.

"It's not your fault." she said quietly, "I guess I'm just not meant to be in a sustained relationship..."

"Aw, come on." Josh said softly, "Don't think like that. There's someone out there for everybody, it just takes time to find them sometimes."

"Easy for you to say. You've already found someone."

"Tell you what," Josh said, staring intently into the girl's eyes as he spoke, "I know there's someone out there for you. I don't know who, I don't know where, but there's definitely someone. And if you ever need help finding them, don't be afraid to try and contact me."

"Are you offering to be my wingman?" she asked, smirking and raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm a great wingman." Josh retorted, playfully jabbing a finger at her.

She let out a series of giggles that quickly devolved into a small laughing fit. Josh couldn't help but smile as he watched her try to stifle her laughter and he was forced to do the same.

"I'll hold you to that." she said after a short time, wiping a small, mirthful tear from her own eye.

Josh nodded in response as her eyes drifted from him to the clock on the wall across the room.

"Oh God!" she suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her seat, eyes trained on the clock, "I'm late! I took too long a break!"

"Were you planning on taking a short one?" Josh asked as the girl rushed across the room towards the door behind him.

"I figured I'd have ran out of here in anger a long time ago." she responded playfully as she passed by him.

Josh watched as she reached the door and paused, turning back around to face him.

"Hey Josh," she began, staring deep into his blue eyes, "thanks again for coming and talking to me. I know it probably wasn't something you were looking forward to... Especially after I hit you out there..."

"It's not a problem." he said, smirking at her, "Besides, you're not the first person who's ever hit me for something stupid I did, and you'll probably not be the last."

For a second, another amiable silence fell before the girl rushed forward and wrapped her petite arms around Josh, hugging him tightly. Josh was confused for a second, but quickly returned her gesture, embracing her much in the way he would a little sister. After a few moments, the two split apart and gave one another kind and jovial smile.

"Vinyl's very lucky to have you, Josh." she said, "If you ever have the chance to see her again, tell her I said that."

Josh nodded, and the girl turned back around, placing her hand on the door handle and turning it to head out.

"Wait!" Josh called out, suddenly remembering something.

She paused and turned to look at him one more time, a puzzled look on her face.

"Um... Could you... tell me your name again?" he asked awkwardly.

"It's Katherine." she replied, giving one last smile before opening up the door and rushing out, leaving Josh to simply repeat her name as the door shut behind her.

Josh stood in the now empty room, going over what had just transpired once again in his head. He'd walked in here expecting just what he'd gotten, a reprimand that reminded him of what a fool he'd been long ago and far away. However, he could have in no way expected for this individual, this poor, unfortunate girl who he'd violated to completely turn from a state of anger to a type of silent forgiveness, the kind that Josh could have only dreamed of once before. He felt a sense of freedom wash over him as he heard her name repeated over and over again in his mind, a feeling he'd not known for a very long time. He knew what awaited him once he opened up the door and headed out of this room, back out to what would undoubtedly be a very upset Syd and a whole world of uncertainties. But this time, in this tiny room in the middle of an LAX terminal, he'd achieved at least one small victory, made one step in the right direction, and he was determined to celebrate his accomplishment for as long as he could, regardless of what was to come.