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The other Benatar looks familiar.
As the night progresses it becomes apparent that not only is this not a figment of Pat's imagination, but the other Benatar feels and tastes familiar, as though "stranger" is a euphemism for "sudden and ideal contact clumsily executed in the recreation room of a mutual friend." Or they're starring in the sequel to events shaped in a parallel universe.
As Benatar (her name clotting stubbornly in Pat's throat) draws a hesitant thumb across the expanse of Pat's cheek the particulars seem awfully irrelevant.
In the ten or fifteen different versions that play themselves out in the span of any given year, Benatar is in L.A./New York shooting, Pat is at home/visiting friends and they spend the day just missing each other. (Thing One goes to the library only to find the last copy of The Invisible Man has already been checked out. On the other side of the city Thing Two timidly inquires about the state of her dry-cleaning and is being told she was "just here" by the surly-looking dude behind the counter.) At the climax of any one of these Meg Ryan-flavored afternoons, they finally grab opposite sleeves of the same leotard, or order the last carob biscotti at the vegan place on lower 6th, or casually reach for the same Mazzy Star album and the spell is broken. Each woman realizes she is staring into the eyes of her doppelganger, the individual who has both minorly inconvenienced her and made larger, more irritating contributions to her life as a whole.
Since neither party has the constitution strong enough to make destroying the other feasible, and restoring balance to the universe seems like a lot of effort to exert for a Tuesday, there is only one-borderline regrettable-option.
Benatar's last coherent thought is always that there are narcissistic acts and then there's this.
Pat remains intensely invested in the saga of the Path of Benatar's Thumb, and wonders how it will go about resolving itself in a way that is not a disappointing cliff hanger.
As they stumble into Stacy's bathroom, each woman will briefly consider committing the episode to paper, changing certain names and selling it to The New Yorker.