Raine wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that there weren't two Stephanie Graveses in this world. Maybe they'd gone through the rip and simply swapped places. Or maybe it wasn't as much of a mirror as it first appeared. Raine's counterpart wasn't a mirror of her, either, at it turned out. Unless mirror meant opposite.

> "...we should get to be happy."

"Yeah. You're right. And having a reason, like a job or a friend... that kind of stuff helps." She was not the girl she looked like, just because they may as well have been twins. At least she'd never actually met the woman. Lori had the decency to know she'd ruined her own name in town and so, had thoroughly disappeared and left Raine to deal with the consequences.

Raine picked at her pizza while Stephanie tended to Malia, and was glad that Stephanie wasn't there to see her personal rollercoaster of realization. One-off dates were fun? So, the previous dates had been one-off. Not a stable girl and Raine would be no side chick. But then also the crusher: Stephanie wasn't ready for commitment. She was right there, too. Malia needed stability. Had Raine been hoping for commitment? She'd only just met this hot mom. She supposed that the crushing defeat she felt was that the door was closed. She hadn't even gotten there, but she could already see it. A relationship just wasn't going to be possible here.

Raine shrugged her shoulders and tried to realign her expectations. She needed a friend, too.

"Yeah. We'll go dancing!" There was a shortage of exclamation points in the world because Raine kept spending them on Stephanie. "What kind of place? Like, how high should my hemline be? Or there's piano bars and stuff— Wait, do you sing?"

It was hard to imagine a less savory Raine. Everything about her seemed sweet and approachable. If anyone could work back from the negative rep a doppelganger settled her with, Steph had faith it would be Raine. Heck, Steph had known her for less than a day and found it impossible not to like Raine. She'd make a great friend, since that was the safest thing for her to be.

The girl had enthusiasm, which the more casually-paced photographer noticed to be infectious. The plans to go dancing were an off-handed hypothetical one second, but Raine was really committed to making them a plan. That last suggestion, though, made Stephanie giggle like she was some kind of teenager. (Well, she was, but don't tell her that.) "If I did sing, that would definitely be a second date activity, at a minimum." Not that she made it to second dates, and not that their plan was a "date," but Raine knew what she meant.

"I think I've heard of a place, come to think of it. Little bit piano bar, little bit dance club-- I know, it sounds like a weird mashup, but the reviews are actually great." It was funny how often people suggested places to go dancing or drinking to Steph.

Malia, who had been well-behaved throughout dinner, was starting to turn fussy. Ah, the mom time limit, she thought with a sigh. "I should probably get my little one here back home soon. This is what I get for picking her up late." Steph used a napkin to wipe her hands clean before offering a hand to Raine. "But what do you say? Have I succeeded in winning you over for a much-needed girls night out?"

Second date territory. Raine filed that information away because it felt like it meant something. "There are metrics and rules for dating that I just never caught on to, I guess." Not a complaint exactly, just an observation. Hopefully not a friend-breaking one. If they’d been dating, then maybe she would have agonized a bit more on it.

And it seemed that Stephanie was well connected. She’d found the pizza place and she’d heard of a piano bar slash night club. If one didn’t work out, they could simply migrate and try again. Malia made herself un-ignorable and all things considered, she’d been a fantastic baby.

> "But what do you say? Have I succeeded in winning you over for a much-needed girls night out?"

"I’ll hang up the habit. Nun’s honor.” Since she didn’t know any gangsta nun hand signs to throw, Raine settled on the scout’s honor salute. The scounts and nuns would have to forgive her.

Though… it didn’t answer the hem-line question as thoroughly as she’d expected.

"Erm. Could I get your number? And I’ll text you mine so if one of us gets lost then it’s less of a deal.” Was that lame? Nah. It was giving her a way to back out in case she came down with too bad a case of the hot moms. Raine offered her phone with the ‘add new contact’ menu open. Once she got Stephanie in as a contact, Raine fired off a hello message with a rain cloud emote.

"Bye Malia." She waved, though Malia was too far gone to care. Stephanie might care, though. She smiled, a mix of excitement and nerves. "I'll see you around, Stephanie!"