Zoey couldn't help but be happy as she sat in her bed with a young and beautiful angel curled up beside her. Hell, beautiful wasn't even the right word to describe her after the weekend they'd just spent together. Zoey couldn't even begin to think of a word to fit her and the wonderful things they'd shared over the last few days. She actually had to resist the urge to wake the young woman with a kiss and remind herself that she'd earned her rest. No, Zoey would just have to sit there and enjoy the simple pleasure of gazing upon Angela's sleeping form until she awoke on her own.

Zoey really did feel that she owed the young woman a lot. She'd given her so much over the last few days and asked for so little in return. She'd helped her reawaken feelings Zoey had almost given up for dead over the last year. She'd helped her to remember just how wonderful could sex could be when you shared it with someone you cared for and loved and she did it all without even once asking for Zoey to return the favor. Of course, Zoey had done just that with both pleasure and zeal, but she hadn't had to and that in and of itself was something special and rare.

To think that Zoey had actually passed this all up on so many occasions before was almost too much to bear. Sure, she'd had her reasons, some silly and some not so much, but after all that had happened between them they all seemed so meaningless, so ridiculous that she'd actually apologized for them several times over the course of their weekend together only to have the apologies either politely laughed off or completely ignored in favor of more shared pleasure that made Zoey completely forget anything and everything that might bother her.

The reasons were valid, though. Well, some of them were. Like the fact that they worked together. That was going to be hard come Tuesday when the holiday was over and the restaurant they both worked at re-opened. Not in that awkward, one night stand kind of a way, but still she had a feeling that she might have a hard time hiding the way she now felt towards her young friend. Not that it would be a big deal with anyone who counted since her boss just wasn't the type to care about who was fucking who as long as the customers were happy and no one was fucking around while they were on the clock. Even the more unimportant, but cattier members of the wait staff that might care would eventually get over it. They always did.

There was also the fact that Zoey had a hard time thinking of Angela as anything but that cute, young woman who lived down the hall who was willing to watch her daughter for essentially pocket change. Technically, Angela was still that girl even now as she laid sleeping so peacefully in the nude next to Zoey, but in most ways she really wasn't. Sure, she still watched Jennifer on occasion, but there was one big difference: She was no longer a cute and seemingly innocent little fifteen year old, but instead she was now a beautiful and very worldly nineteen year old who cursed like a sailor, smoked weed, drank alcohol(on occasion)and wasn't at all shy about discussing sex in all its wild and infinitely fascinating forms with just about anyone willing to listen and she'd done all of that with Zoey since she realized that she and Zoey were kindred spirits in more ways then could be easily counted.

Of course, in a lot of ways, that's what made this whole situation inevitable as well as making the line that Zoey had drawn that much more ridiculous. After all, it was Zoey who let Angela drink with her once she turned eighteen, because, damn it, as far as Zoey was concerned she was an adult and it was her right. It was also Zoey who let her smoke weed with her once they both realized they were smokers one day after Zoey came back from a rough night out with her girlfriend at the time and threw her coat on the couch in frustration and knocked over Angela's backpack as she did so and then a quarter sack of weed suddenly appeared on the floor.

It was actually quite amusing when they both tried to ignore it and pretend it wasn't there even though they both knew the other had seen it fall to the floor. It wasn't until Zoey gave up on the charade and tried to pick it up and suddenly found herself being begged by Angela to please not tell her mother as well as apologizing for bringing it with her and swearing that she didn't smoke any of it while babysitting that Zoey finally realized that it wasn't hers. After that she couldn't help but laugh and took mercy on Angela by handing her the bag before grabbing her coat and pulling out her own quarter sack that was still snug and secure in the coat pocket.

After that Angela relaxed quite a bit and then they had a talk where Angela assured her that she really, truly hadn't smoked any while she was watching Jennifer and explained that she'd just picked it up right before she came over. Zoey thanked for that and Angela relaxed even more and then they talked a bit before Zoey decided to call it a night as they usually did, because even then (and this was a bit before Angela's 18th birthday) Zoey actually liked Angela as a person and knew that the feeling was mutual. Still, at the time Angela was still in high school and Jennifer was asleep in the next room. Zoey may not have been the strictest of people, but she did have her limits and getting high or drunk or even over caffeinated when she was in charge of her daughter's well being, even when she was sound asleep, was just not something she did.

It did open up their relationship quite a bit, though, and after that they definitely grew closer and eventually the inevitable happened and they smoked together. In fact, it was the same night that Zoey bought Angela a bottle of wine to celebrate her newly minted adulthood. Of course, Jennifer was with her father that week and it was hardly a night of drunken debauchery. It was a nice quiet night at Zoey's apartment with Angela and Zoey's soon to be ex-girlfriend, Carly.

That night was actually just full of milestones in their friendship because not only did it mark the first time Zoey treated Angela like a full, real equal, but it was also the night that Zoey learned exactly why Angela had kind of latched herself on to Zoey when Angela, in all innocence and completely unaware of the fact that Zoey was planning on breaking up with Carly as soon as she could, admitted somewhat absent-mindedly that she was jealous of them and then went on, in wonderful and touchingly awkward drunken soliloquy, to come out to them in a way that was both touching and heart breaking to Zoey, but somehow amusing to Carly.

Oddly, this all led directly to Zoey finally breaking it off with Carly. Not just because she was busy rolling her eyes and laughing while Zoey was encouraging her young friend and listening to her spill her heart. No, it was thanks to Carly's behavior after Angela fell asleep on the couch when Carly simply insisted on being a bitch and making fun of Angela instead of going to sleep. Why? Well, partially she was just a mean drunk, but the real problem was the fact that Zoey was not willing to let her fuck the young girl who had just spilled her heart to them.

Really, this wasn't the most unreasonable of requests on Carly's part. One of the fun things about Carly was the fact that she was quite the sexual adventurer and for awhile that was exactly what Zoey needed in her life. Sure, she'd been divorced for a few years before they'd met and she'd been out of the closet and fairly active sexually ever since, but it wasn't until Zoey met Carly that she finally allowed herself to fully open up and for awhile she'd welcomed it. All of it. The threesomes, the rough sex, the toys and the what not, but eventually it became a bit of a drag when she realized that it would never end and that Carly just wasn't the type to settle down and chill. She was just always on and she had no limits.

Zoey, however, did and one of those limits involved not taking advantage of people who'd just opened themselves up to her (even though she'd actually suspected it for quite some time before that) and who were too messed up to even maintain consciousness. Not that Carly cared as she begged and teased and whined until she realized Zoey wasn't going to bend and then she started being a cunt until Zoey got sick out of it and then the fight started. An hour and half later and Angela was wide awake again as Carly made a scene of packing up her things as Zoey kicked her out for what turned out to be the last time leaving Zoey to smoke one more joint with her young friend who then got a turn to listen to Zoey vent until the weed and tiredness made it impossible and instead the thirty year old divorcee and the then newly minted eighteen year old just ended up laughing stupidly at some dumb movie on the television before falling asleep together on the couch.

After all that Zoey's and Angela's friendship just seemed to deepen at a rapid pace, but in a purely platonic way. Really, it was almost like a big sister/little sister type of relationship except for the fact that Zoey doubted that her sisters (who were both straight as arrows and boring as hell) would have helped hook her up with any girls like Zoey helped Angela. Not too many, but definitely more than she hooked herself up with until she realized that Angela was quite capable of picking up girls all on her own. Hell, before long Angela was actually helping Zoey hook up more than Zoey was helping her. Of course, neither of them met anyone they were willing to get serious about (at least not for very long), but they didn't care. For some reason neither of them seemed to be interested in that at the time.

And, of course beyond the helping each other have sex with random and occasionally unsuspecting women, it was Zoey who helped Angela get a job waiting tables at the Backstreet. In fact, she basically made her boss give Angela a shot when one of the college girls he'd hired more for her looks than any actually ability to even do the most basic tasks required of her job was caught stealing from the till. He refused at first because he was kind of pissed at himself for thinking with his penis and wanted to make amends by hiring someone with actual experience waiting tables. Zoey, however, managed to convince him otherwise by promising to train her herself and then personally vouched for her young friend by swearing that she'd even pay for any dishes she might break. When that didn't work she hinted that she might leave herself and try out the new place that had opened up just down the road and he finally caved with the added condition that she get her ass back to work and leave him the fuck alone before he changed his mind and let her try her luck at finding another job.

Luckily Angela worked out quite well. She didn't even break a single plate until a month after she'd started and that was more the fault of some moron who decided that it would be a good idea to stand right in front of the door to the kitchen so he could chat with his buddy. Zoey's boss, who was usually a hard ass, didn't even think of making Zoey live up to her word on that one, because by that time he actually quite liked Angela. He even had a bit of an obvious crush on her which was more than a little amusing considering the fact that he knew he had no chance with her, but he still let the cute, young woman wrap him around her little finger.

Zoey was even happy to realize that working with Angela didn't even have any negative effects on their friendship. Quite the opposite, really. It actually kind of took the edge off of Zoey thinking of Angela was some kid she had to look after and protect. Watching her handle herself in a real world environment just made it that much harder to think of her that way. Still, it didn't really change her view of Angela as someone who was sexually off limits. No, that didn't come until a bit later, but even then it took awhile.

Where that started was a bit hard to say because honestly when Zoey started viewing Angela more as an adult Zoey started to quickly become more comfortable around her in a lot of ways and even started flirting with her a bit. Just playful drunken/high flirting. Nothing serious, but still it was flirting and Angela definitely flirted back. Still, it really was nothing special. After all, when she was drunk Zoey flirted with just about everyone. Hell, sometimes she even flirted with men even though she was definitely not planning on going to bed with any of them anytime soon.

At least that's how she justified it and, truthfully, it really started out that way. It really was just playful, meaningless flirting and they both knew it. As time went on, however, and their friendship continued to evolve Zoey was forced to admit to herself that there was definitely something more to it than just playing. She knew this because it slowly but surely started to become more than just flirting, more than just teasing each other about how hot they looked or quick, little playful gropes and the like.

It was subtle at first, but there was definitely something more that began to creep into their relationship. At first it was just that their flirting started to get a bit more graphic, more specific. Then the groping began to linger and moved from just playful squeezing of butt cheeks to tickling and even the occasional nipple tweak or playful kisses. Still it was nothing too serious and it still only happened when they were safely intoxicated, but still deep down Zoey knew it was dangerous because the more they played these flirty little games the more she began to realize how much she liked it and that Angela was definitely sending out signals that made it clear that she wouldn't mind something a little more than just flirting.

Again, those signals were at first subtle. Well, subtle as Angela could be anyway because she had seriously become not at all shy when it came to sex. Not anymore, anyway. Not that that was really surprising as she was always a very open and, for lack of better word, vivacious personality in every other way that until she finally came out to her Zoey had actually wondered why she got nervous and quiet when sex was brought into the conversation, but that mystery had been solved over a year ago.

Still, for a long time, even as the flirting slowly escalated it was never much more than that. Neither of them ever really made a move on the other. Sure, there were the signals and eventually there were even some propositions, but even those were never delivered in a way that couldn't be easily dismissed. At least, that was the way it was for a long time until one night when a problem arose.

The problem was that less than two weeks before they had their wonderful, life changing and relationship elevating weekend together something happened that nearly shocked the life out of Zoey and almost made her break off her friendship with Angela even though it was easily the best thing that happened to Zoey in a long time. Really, though, it was such a simple thing that if it had happened it with almost any other woman she was even vaguely sexually attracted to it either would've ended up being blown off immediately as nothing or they would have ended up in bed fucking like bunnies, but because it was Angela it was much more complicated than that.

What happened was a kiss, but not just a simple, friendly kiss. No, the best description for what happened was that they made out one night when they were both drunk, but that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that it was simply the best drunken make out session that Zoey had ever had.

Everything about it was just so perfect, so right that she actually let Angela go until her hand was just beginning to ease it's way past the top of her panties before finally that annoying, evil little voice of doubt came screaming from the back of her mind and suddenly the perfection was gone. It was like a switch was thrown in her mind and suddenly everything that was so right about the moment turned wrong in a flash of thought. Instantly Zoey found herself pushing her young and thoroughly confused friend away from her as she stumbled for words before finally and bluntly saying "You need to leave."

"Did I ... what's wrong?" Angela had said as she gazed at Zoey with a look that broke Zoey's heart, but that only made it that much more important that Angela leave. Still Zoey tried her best to make Angela's look of hurt confusion vanish as she drunkenly rambled on and on about how what they were doing was wrong, but that she didn't hate Angela and that she'd call her tomorrow, but she really needed to go. Several apologies were interspersed in the short, but rambling speech, but Angela still looked both confused and deeply wounded. Still, she left as she was asked and Zoey's heart instantly sank in her chest.

It took over three days of them both avoiding eye contact with each other at work and Zoey moping about her apartment during the day and crying herself to sleep at night in a manner that made her feel weak and stupid before Angela finally got sick of it all and came over to Zoey's apartment one evening. She was pissed and Zoey didn't blame her, but she still almost didn't let her in. Finally, though, she relented when Angela threatened to stay there all night if she had to. Zoey didn't even think about doubting her threat as empty, so she opened the door and let her in.

For three straight minutes Zoey just stood there and let Angela go off on her about how they were supposed to be friends and that the wall that had come up between was all bullshit before she finally she got to the meat of the problem when she said "God damn it, Zoey, I know you're attracted to me. What the fuck, dude? Why you got be all weird about this?"

Zoey actually had to stifle a laugh when Angela called her dude. It was just so her and it instantly reminded her of why she liked her so much. She was just so open, so honest, and so straight forward in her own quirky way that Zoey couldn't help but like her. Of course, at that moment that stifled laugh went over like a lead balloon, but after Angela finished yelling at her for laughing at her when she was trying to tell her how she felt the conversation that they'd really needed to have ages ago finally occurred.

It was hardly an easy conversation and Angela, for one, was hardly convinced by Zoey's argument that it didn't matter whether or not they were attracted to each other because ... well, there was no because beyond the age difference and the fact that Zoey just had some kind of block that wouldn't allow her to accept the possibility of the two of the being lovers. The funny thing was that more Zoey tried to convince Angela that it just shouldn't happen the harder it was for her to understand her own argument.

Angela was also clearly unconvinced, but after an hour of talking they'd reached a stalemate and she finally gave up and said "Look, I don't know what's really going on here and I really liked making out with you and I know you did too, but whatever. I just don't want this to be all weird. I love you, Zoey. You're the best friend I've ever had. I just don't want to lose that. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I still think you're full of shit about this age crap, but whatever. I just don't want to lose you in my life, so please don't be weird. Can't we just smoke a bowl and just ... I don't know ... pretend that everything is cool?"

Zoey couldn't find an argument to counter that and frankly she wanted nothing more than to get back to their status quo, but even as she broke down and rolled the joint she knew that this was anything but resolved. Still, once they were stoned everything seemed good again and they even managed to joke around a bit despite the fact there were still plenty of tension between them. Over the next few days, though, that tension began to fade a bit and finally about a week before Zoey's thirty first birthday things were pretty much back to normal between them. They'd even started openly and brazenly flirting with each other again.

Still, there was a bit of an edge now to their relationship, but it wasn't really because of any residual awkwardness over the kiss. No, it was more due to the fact that more Zoey thought about it, the more she realized just how much she enjoyed having Angela in her life the more she began to realize just how silly her thinking had been about the whole incident. Not just the incident, though, but about the whole damn thing, the way she viewed their friendship, they way she seemed unable to let go of her preconceptions and all the rest of it.

Honestly, the more she thought about everything the dumber she felt, and, even worse, she began to think that she may have passed up something that could've been great. Sure, Angela didn't seem to think so. She even started making jokes about it and still kept right on with the flirting touches and playful teasing plainly letting Zoey know that she was more than willing and that she knew Zoey was as well. It was definitely not what they'd agreed to, but, again, Zoey was really starting to not care about her age and other silly issues.

Once again, however, doubts and other silliness won the day. This time though it was more out of embarrassment than anything else. She just felt so dumb for denying the feelings that both of them were sharply aware of that she just couldn't bring herself to come out and admit to Angela that she had finally realized her mistake. It was stupid, but Zoey was so used to disappointment that it almost seemed like she invited it in. Luckily for her this time would be different.

Of course, at the time she didn't know that and even if she had there wouldn't have been much she could have (or would have, really) done about it. Her life was just way too busy. Work was pure hell all week long thanks to another one of the younger girls quitting and being replaced by a girl who was so slow, so dumb and so overall annoying that Zoey found herself wanting to strangle her after about an hour after she started. She eventually got better, but frankly Zoey didn't care. She was just getting sick of training a bunch of idiotic girls who couldn't pour a cup of coffee properly just because her boss thought they were cute. She thought he would've learned his lesson by now, but no. He kept right on hiring pretty, stupid girls that were so bad at their jobs that most of them didn't even last a month.

Her daughter had also been sick for most of her week with her. In fact, she'd been so sick that Zoey's babysitter simply refused to take her because she didn't want any of her other children getting sick. It was a good reason and Zoey really couldn't argue with it at all, but it still pissed her off. Sure, Angela was happy to watch Jennifer when she could, but since they were still technically shorthanded at work that meant even she was working a couple of extra shifts.

Luckily Jennifer's stepmother was always an option, but Zoey seriously hated bothering her. Not out of any residual bitterness or any thing like that. No, it was just that Derrick and Melanie lived in the middle of nowhere and Melanie was down and out with a bad back. Zoey simply couldn't ask her to come pick Jennifer up at six in the morning. She would have asked Derrick, but at the time he was working twelve hour shifts at the plant that started at about an hour before she had to be to work herself. Basically that meant that Zoey had to wake up an hour earlier than she wanted to all week as well as waking up her poor, sick little baby girl an hour before she needed to be up as well. Still, it was better than not going to work at all, so that's what she did.

The topper, however, was the fact that Zoey's big plans for her birthday had gone to shit once the new schedule was up and Zoey and Angela learned that there would be no weekend at the casino after all. Oh, Zoey got her weekend off without a problem, but Angela hadn't been so lucky. She didn't even get one extra day off. Oh, Connie did even though she had no special plans and hadn't even put in for the time off until a day before the schedule came out, but not Angela. Sadly, there was a good reason for it that Zoey couldn't even be mad about: Angela didn't get that weekend off because she (and Zoey as well) were going to get the next weekend off. Why? Because she'd asked for it off over a month before so she and Zoey could go to a concert together. A concert that Angela had been excited about almost as soon as she'd read about it on the internet.

Still, Zoey, wanted nothing more than to be allowed to be pissed about it all, but, she couldn't. Honestly, she realized that even though she had earned her right to occasionally get some good, choice time off Angela hadn't. Besides, the weekend at the casino had been a spur of the moment kind of thing unlike the concert which Angela had been talking about two months before she even bought the tickets. Hell, as far as their boss was concerned he was doing the best he could with what he had.

Still, she was a more than a tad frustrated and Angela quickly took note of it and even apologized for it multiple times until Zoey took pity on her once they were hanging out in her living room after putting Jennifer to bed and told her to shut up. After all, it wasn't like it was a big deal. They could still hang out on her birthday they just wouldn't be able to blow a bunch of money at the casino and get drunk and flirt with waitresses while testing out Angela's new fake ID. Zoey even smiled as she said it, but Angela wasn't fooled. She knew Zoey was bummed and she promised Zoey that she'd make sure she had the best birthday ever. Zoey just smiled and said "It's really okay. Don't worry about it. Just don't let me whine about getting old and everything will be cool."

"Dude, don't worry. I'm seriously going to make sure this will be the best thirty first birthday anyone as ever had in the history of the universe. Swear to god," Angela with an odd look in her eye that Zoey instantly took note of.

"What are you planning?" Zoey said after examining her friend's odd expression for several seconds with narrowed eyes.

"Can't tell you. It's a surprise. Trust me though, you won't be whining about anything." Angela said still smiling evilly until she managed to change the subject to the new waitress at work. Zoey noticed this, too, but didn't say anything until Angela was leaving an hour later when she again asked her what she was planning. This time Angela only pretended to zip her lip shut and throw away the key while Zoey shook her head and rolled her eyes before hugging her good-bye.

The next couple of days were more of the same with Angela teasing Zoey about how she was going to make this Zoey's best birthday ever when they weren't busy talking shit behind the back of the new girl (who was begin to regress pathetically even after she had just started to show some promise) just so they wouldn't have to say it to her face. Even after work on Thursday when Derrick came to pick up Jennifer a few days earlier than usual since she was pretty much all better and he was, after a month of twelve hour days, six days a week, at last getting his week off for a trip he'd been wanting to go on for months now and Zoey finally felt free to smoke without shame Angela refused to give any details. Even when she was so stoned she could be barely doing anything but laugh at some cartoon that Zoey didn't even know the name of she remained cagey.

It wouldn't be until Friday night, the night of her birthday and the first night where she didn't have to go bed early in a week, that Zoey would finally learned what Angela had been planning, but at the time she wasn't even thinking about it. No, she was more worried about how shitty her day at work had gone in Angela's absence. Shitty wasn't even the right word for it. It had been absolutely terrible as Angela learned after she got out of class and met up with Zoey at her apartment only to find her in a terrible mood a full hour after getting out of work.

Apparently it was just a normal bad day, really. At least it would've been if Zoey wasn't still dragging along the dead weight that was the new girl. The new girl who was supposed to trying to get by on her own. The new girl who was supposed to be able to handle her incredibly small selection of tables without constantly bothering Zoey with her much larger collection of tables full of impatient customers who wanted their food and wanted it five minutes before they walked in the door and who had no problem stiffing her on the tip if her smile wasn't bright enough, if her voice didn't sound cheery enough, if she didn't refill their drinks just the right amount of times to suit their individual taste and who did just that all day long. Not all of them, but enough them showed their frustration in Zoey's work that by the end of the day, a day which she usually earned at least one hundred dollars in tips if not much more, she had a mere forty five bucks to show for her sore feet and back.

That was it. Nothing terrible, nothing earth shattering or soul crushing. No, just a shitty, unrewarding day at work. Even as she told Angela the story of her day Zoey felt as if she was whining about nothing and she admitted it and Angela politely agreed much to her visible chagrin. Of course, Angela then punched her gently in the arm for giving her a dirty look and called Zoey a whiner before she got to business.

"You know what you need?" Angela said as she sat up on the couch where she'd been slouching with her melancholy friend and made to open her backpack.