I groan softly as I sit up, Alice is walking around the bedroom. She then walks over to the bed and sits herself down on it, not gently either. She slaps my leg in a playful manner and says

“Damn Bette, you look like *****.”

I laugh as I run a hand through my soft curly hair. “Thanks Alice.”

“Anytime.” She smiles. Her smile begins to slowly fade as I notice she is studying my face. Her eyes stop roaming when they come to my cheek. I know she is looking at my bruise. “Have you put ice on that?” She asks.

“Yeah. Hey how did you get in here?” I change the subject, the bruise, or how it got there, isn’t something I really want to talk about.

Even though it is Alice, she gets the hint and goes along with it. “The door was unlocked. You know Porter if you’re going to nap in the middle of the afternoon you should at least lock up. You never know what kind of weirdo will just waltz into your house.”

“Yeah, like you for instance?” I smile playfully.

“Har har.” We sit in silence for a few minutes which is very unusual for Alice and I.

“Did she send you here?” I ask, interrupting the silence finally.

She shakes her head. “No, she doesn’t even know I’m here. I thought I’d come and see how you are.”

“Really? You sounded as if you were disgusted with me on the machine.”

“No Bette, I’m not disgusted, I just don’t understand what the ***** you were thinking. When I found Tina in my apartment last night I asked her what’s wrong and she went over to my chart and drew a line from you’re name and wrote out C-A, but couldn’t manage to spell out the rest. I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that the rest of that is N-D-A-C-E?”

“Yes.” I answer ashamed. “How is she doing Alice?”

“Like the love of her life has betrayed her.” She says this in monotone voice, yet it stings non the less. I hold back the tears, I cannot cry in front of Alice.

“I’ve fucked up so badly.” I mutter.

“Bette, we all make mistakes. Who knows, maybe Tina will forgive you. It’s going to take time though.” She pauses, “I don’t agree with what you did at ALL, but now that I think about it, I guess I can’t be too judgemental given my current situation.”

My face lights up. I am so grateful Alice has turned the attention on her. With an eyebrow lifted in curiousity I ask “And what is your current situation?”

“Well,” she begins, looking almost sheepish. “I kissed an engaged woman last night. And I’m not talking a peck on the lips here, I mean if I hadn’t stopped it clothes would have been flying everywhere, regardless of the fact we were outside and her fiancee was about twenty five feet away.”

“Do I know this person?”

She laughs, “Most defintely.”

I think for a moment. “But the only engaged person I know is…” I gasp loudly in disbelief “NO ***** WAY! DANA? YOU KISSED DANA?”

Alice says nothing, but begins to blush. A blushing Alice, something I never thought I would see.

“Well, wasn’t expecting THAT.” I shake my head, smiling.

“Neither did I! I mean one minute Dana’s just you know, Dana. Geeky, needs advice about women, never knows what’s going on. Then she announces she’s gonna marry the cat killer and she becomes…Dana.” She puts an emphasis on the A- N and still looks flustered.

“The cat killer?” I ask confused.

“Yeah, Tonya killed Mr. Piddles. I don’t have proof, but you can just see it in her eye. Anyways, so I went over to Dana’s last night, or should I say this morning, and I have no clue why I’m there. I say she can’t marry Tonya, she asks why and then BAM! I lay one on her. I pulled away unsure, and then BAM! She lays one back on me. I freaked and ran away after that. That probably wasn’t the most brilliant idea, but I panicked. I mean it’s DANA.”

I laugh, “We’ve established that Alice.” Then, with michief in my tone and a smile plastered on my face I ask: “So. . . Is she a good kisser?” I nudge her softly in the rib cage with my elbow.

Alice looks at me and smiles wide. “Ohhhh yeah.” She gets up from the bed and pulls me along with her. “Come on, get dressed. I suddenly need a drink.”