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new drummer. Alec. He hit on me earlier, and now he's moving in on Casey. I think he's one of those guys who thinks plying girls with liquor is the only way to get laid."

"Wait. I thought I was the only guy who knew that secret."

I chastised him with a dry look before turning back to Alec and Casey. "I don't like it. I don't like him thinking he can do that to women."

"You don't even know he's thinking that. Besides, look around. Every guy here is trying to get laid. Alcohol is par for the course. Casey's old enough to know that."

"I'm going to go over there."

Seth gave me a warning glance. "She won't thank you for playing mother hen."

"Better she's mad at me than does something stupid."

"Thetis, don't - "

I'd already left him behind, weaving through the people as I honed in on my target.

"...look like someone who likes to party," Alec was saying as I approached.

"Hey," I said loudly, sort of wedging my way in between them.

They both turned to me in surprise. "Hi, Georgina. What's up?"

"I'm heading home," I told her. "Wondered if you wanted a ride."

Casey smiled, glanced at Alec, then back to me. College-age, Casey was Hawaiian and Filipino, with high cheekbones and sleek black hair. Very pretty. "Thanks, but I'm gonna stay here for a while."

Alec looked very pleased with himself. I turned back to her.

"Okay, but can I ask you something real quick, Case?" I smiled sweetly at Alec. "It'll just take a minute."

I steered her away, catching her as she stumbled. Closer inspection revealed she'd been indulging in more than just alcohol.

"Casey," I told her, once we were out of earshot, "I don't think you should be hanging around with him. "

"Why not? He's a nice guy."

"I don't know about that. He just used the same pick-up lines on me. I think he's trying to get laid."

"Every guy here is trying to get laid. I know the game."

"Yeah, but - "

"Look," she said, "I appreciate the big sister thing, but I'm not stupid. I can handle this." A mischievous look crossed her face. "Besides, I never would have thought you would be the one preaching sexual caution."

Like I didn't know what that was a reference to. Damn O'Neill's libido. I made a face and attempted a few more logical pleas. She rejected them all, indulgence soon giving way to annoyance. By then, Alec hadn't been able to control himself. He came back over and put a possessive arm around her. She looked up at him adoringly, and I knew a lost cause when I saw one.

Seth and I met up back at my place, and he listened with admirable patience while I vented about men preying on women.

"Isn't that what you do though?" We were sitting on my living-room floor, setting up a game of Scrabble.

"I...no. It's not the same at all."

"How so?"

He held my eyes for a moment, and I finally looked away. "It just isn't. Do you want to go first?"

He let the matter drop. Another nice thing about being with a non confrontational guy.

I quickly discovered playing Scrabble with Seth was like playing Monopoly with Jerome. A losing battle from the first turn. Admittedly, my knowledge of more than two dozen languages gave me a large vocabulary, but I didn't craft or manipulate words on a regular basis. Seth was a master. He could study the board, spend a minute calculating, and then play some word that was not only worth tons of points but interesting too. Maize. Hexagon. Tawdry. Bisque.

That last one was just cruel.

Meanwhile, I was spelling words like as, lit, ill, and tee. And almost never on high-point spaces.

"Wait," he said. "That's not a word."

I looked down to where, in a moment of desperation, I'd played zixic on a triple-word-score space.

"Uh, sure it is."

"What's it mean?"

"It's sort of like...quixotic, but with more..."

"Bullshit?"

I laughed out loud. I'd never heard him swear before.

"More zeal. Hence the z."

"Uh-huh. Use it in a sentence."

"Um...'You are a zixic writer.'"

"I don't believe this."

"That you're zixic?"

"That you're trying to cheat at Scrabble." He leaned back against my couch, shaking his head. "I mean, I was ready to accept the whole evil thing, but this is kind of extreme. "

"Hey, it's not cheating. Just because your limited vocabulary doesn't include this word doesn't mean there's anything sinister going on."

"Care to back that up with a dictionary?"

"Hey," I said haughtily, "I don't appreciate your zixistic tone."

"If you weren't such a zixy woman, I'd be