"You’re welcome Kennard." Bette smiled sweetly, ignoring the sarcasm in Tina’s voice. And just like that her anger disappeared.. to be replaced with almost child-like excitement. "Open them.." She pushed the bags closer towards the blonde.

Tina peeked inside one of the bags and saw what looked like an assortment of fine dresses. Well, they were expensive designer clothes.. they had no right to be anything but pretty. She suddenly felt guilty for snapping at Bette. This was all too much for her, these gifts. As tempting as it was, she couldn’t possibly accept them. "I can’t really take these clothes, Porter." She looked up at the brunette, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Yes you can. Now you don’t have an excuse to miss the party later." Bette replied, continuing her little study of Tina’s face, which she always found to be utterly fascinating. "And it isn’t as if you have a lot of decent clothes to begin with," She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Just think of it as me reaching out to the poor." She joked, albeit a bad tasting one.

Tina frowned, looking Bette up and down in disgust. "Please." She glared and continued, "I don’t want to be your fucking charity case." She folded her arms on her chest.

Bette realized her colossal mistake as she looked down on the fuming blonde in front of her. Oh shit.. fucking great Porter! She chastised herself. Maybe she went too far with the teasing this time. She coughed, trying to find a way to backpedal since she didn’t want Tina to be angry at her again. Not now.. not when they were so close to being friends. "I’m.. I’m sorry.." She managed to stutter out. For the second time this week, Bette swallowed her pride.

The great Bette Porter apologizing once again? Tina raised an eyebrow as she looked at the brunette in front of her. Bette was looking down at her feet nervously and fidgeting with the car keys inside her front pocket. She looked.. cute. Adorable, even. Tina shook her head violently as soon as she realized what the hell she was thinking. Although for some strange reason, the immense anger that she was feeling a while ago was beginning to dissipate. She blamed it on the fact that once again, Bette did something totally out of character.. and even somewhat sincere. But.. if Tina took the time to really examine herself deep down, she would discover that during the past few days, she could never ever really stay mad at Bette for a long time.. no matter how much of a pompous ass she was sometimes. Tina coughed a little, the sound causing the brunette to look up. "Okay.. apology accepted." She said, bending her head down and trying to go back to her notes.

"That’s it?" Bette asked, taken aback by Tina’s calm demeanor. She was expecting a verbal beating. "We’re good again Kennard?" She asked, still a little unsure.

"Yes." Tina simply stated as she continued highlighting certain words and phrases on her notebook.

Bette breathed a sigh of relief before slowly making her way around the table and closer to Tina. "About the clothes.." She said once she was directly behind Tina’s chair. "If they don’t fit.." Bette placed her hands on the blonde’s shoulder and leaned down, her face a few inches from Tina’s left ear. "..then lose weight." She teased, lingering for a minute before pulling back and walking away from the stunned blonde.

A flushed Tina stared at the retreating form of a certain young Porter while she made her way to the exit of the library. She unconsciously rubbed her left ear with her hand, shuddering a little as she remembered the warm, tingling sensation of Bette’s hot breath on her ear. Such an arrogant ass, she thought when she recovered her bearings after a few minutes, her face bright red and a small amused smile playing on her lips.

tbc..