“Do it, come on, you can do it. Do you want me to dial?” Alice grabbed the phone from Tina without waiting for an answer. She proceeded to punch in memorized digits. Tina jumped up reaching for the phone, but was too late. Alice held the phone to her ear for a moment. “Its ringing” she said reaching out now to hand the phone back to Tina. Slowly Tina took it, stared at it, then tentatively raised it to her ear. Alice smiled and sat down on the couch to listen. Tina began to pace nervously across the carpet.

“Hey Bette, its me.” Tina looked at Alice who nodded and smiled in encouragement. “Im good, thanks, how about you?.Good, thats good.Yea I had a good time yesterday too.I know, me too.mmhmmm.well I was umm, just calling to see if you wanted to, umm do somethingsometime. Yea? Ok well how about dinner tomorrow?Yea, ok, that sounds goodlike 6:00?.ok, see you tomorrow, bye.” Tina hung up the phone, and looked at Alice “Ok, well, it looks like I have a date tomorrow.”

“Yaaaay!” Alice clapped happily. “Oh, T, Im so happy, and you did great! You didnt sound nervous at all.” Tina blushed, a grin creeping up into the corners of her mouth.

“”Well, thank you Alice, and now its your turn.” She smiled when she saw Alices smile completely diminish. Tina was the one who now typed familiar numbers into the phone. She listened for a second. “Ringing!” She squealed and reached out to hand it to Alice, who just gave it a blank stare. “Well, take it!” Tina thrust the phone closer. Alice took it, her hand suddenly clammy. Since she had realized her true feelings for Dana, the prospect of this inevitable call had terrified her.

“Hello? Oh hey Dana, sorry.yea I know I called youyoure right, I do need better phone manners.” Alice tossed Tina an angry stare. “Yea, I knowme too, I ummm, I just wanted to know if you wanted to reschedule, our uummm, our date thing Yea, tomorrow would be great, yea, ok.no thats fine, Ill look forward to it yea Ill call you tomorrow afternoon to confirm. ok, bye Dane.”

Alice collapsed back on the couch and let out a loud sigh. She looked up and saw Tina who had her hands folded under her chin, with a look on her face like a mother whos child was going on their first date. She stood up and punched Tina playfully in the arm. Tina returned the gesture, both of them now giggling like little girls.


After hanging up the phone, Bette found herself giddily jumping around the room. She didnt want to be overly optimistic, but Tina had just called HER, and they had a date. Perhaps all was not lost. She felt as if she could bounce off the walls. Quickly, she ran into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. She needed to organize her thoughts, there was a lot to do before tomorrow evening. She quickly jotted down the things that were at the top of her head.

– pick out outfit- *****, but not *****
– clean car
– clean house
– flowers for Tina
– change sheets on bed
– candles in bedroom
– pick out romantic cds

Ok, maybe the last few were a little overly optimistic, but it was better to be safe than sorry, right?


Dana was also giddy as she flopped onto her bed smiling. Bette and Tina better not get in the way this time she thought. Marina too, for that matter. Dana reached over to her bedside table and grabbed the pencil that was lying there. She looked around and found a piece of paper on the floor. One of Tonyas many shopping receipts. She flipped it over and wrote down some things that she needed to do before the date.

– pick out outfit (no spandex)
– get rid of Tonyas *****
– clean the house
– change sheets on bed

Yea, she was being overly optimistic on that last point, but hey, better to be safe than sorry. She bounced off the bed, and decided to start with Tonyas stuff. Tonya had called a couple times, trying to get Dana to apologize, and beg for her to come back. Of course, Dana had not. Each call had ended with Tonya slamming the phone down and hanging up. She still had yet to pick up her things. Dana got a plastic garbage bag and began throwing anything that reminded her of Tonya in it. Pictures, clothes, anything that looked or smelled like it belonged to Tonya went into the bag. When Dana felt she had been thorough enough, she took the bag and thrust it deep into the recesses of her coat closet. She sighed with satisfaction when the task was completed.

The following day, all four women woke up with energy and excitement. Bette and Dana carried on with their tasks on their lists, while Tina and Alice went out for an early lunch then headed back to the apartment to get ready. Alice had already chosen what she was going to wear the night before, so she sat on the couch and critiqued Tina as she modeled several options for herself. Since she was limited in the wardrobe department, being that she was currently not living at home, she was borrowing from Alice. The two women settled on a black blouse that drooped at the neckline, to reveal a teasing amount of cleavage, and a flowing pair of linen pants with a wide belt. She also was going to borrow a pair of Alices pointy toed black heels. They were a bit tight, but manageable.

“Al, Ive never seen you even wear these shoes.”

“I know, Im too lazy, and I always just think, who am I trying to impress anyway?”

“Well we know now, dont we?” Tina winked.

“Oh ***** off with it will you?” All night Tina had kept bringing up Dana to Alice. Every time she did, she grinned and giggled, until Alice had ultimately thrown a pillow at her face. She couldnt help it though, two friends falling in love, it was just so romantic.

Before long, the evening had arrived, and Alice was off to pick up Dana. Tina walked down to the lot with her, Where Bette had said she would pick her up. She gave Alice a kiss on the cheek and wished her good luck. Alice returned the kiss and playfully gave Tina a smack on the *****.

“Now, dont be easy. It may be tempting, I mean were talking about Porter here, but remember, nobody likes a *****.” Tina gasped sarcastically and pushed Alice forcefully towards her car. Alice drove away, honking at Tina when she passed. Alone, Tina suddenly felt her nerves twinge, and butterflies began to flutter in her stomach. Just then Bettes Audi pulled into the parking lot, and she had to remind herself to breathe. She slid into the passenger seat, and smiled over at Bette, who moved her sunglasses to the top of her head.

“Hey.” She said nervously.

“Hey T.” Bette smiled. She didnt lean in for a kiss or hug, she could tell just by the expression on Tinas face that she needed to take this slow. “Ready?” Tina nodded. “Alright then, lets go.”
Within minutes they had arrived at a familiar, small Italian bistro. They had frequented the place earlier in their relationship, when they still were going on dates, and before they had fallen into the ***** death- bed. Tina sighed when she remembered their earlier dates, how excited she had been, how completely infatuated with Bette she had been. Although the circumstances were not the best, she liked how their current situation was bringing a sense of newness back into their relationship. Bette walked over and opened Tinas door for her. Tina blushed, and stepped out, following Bette into the restaurant, who pulled out her chair for her as well at a small, cozy table in the corner. A bottle of her favorite white wine was already chilled and waiting.

“Hmmm, I see you called ahead.” Tina said grinning.

Bette just smiled bashfully and reached across the table to take Tinas hand. She turned it over, looking at its smooth lines, its delicacy and yet its simultaneous strength.

“Now come on”, Tina said, pulling her hand back, “lets not get all mopey, I want to have a nice dinner, and talk.” She smiled. “Ok?”

“Ok. lets toast, to our first date.” Bette poured each of them a glass of the wine, and raised it for a clink.

“Yea, our first date” Tina giggled slightly at the prospect, but was finally reaching a sense of calm that she welcomed readily.


Dana had hopped into Alices car with energy and excitement to spare. Alice leaned over for a kiss on the cheek, which Dana had thought was meant to be on the lips. There was awkward readjusting and simultaneous blushing. Finally, Alice leaned in and kissed Dana on the lips before she had time to reinterpret it. She lingered for a moment before pulling away. Dana smiled shyly.

“Well, that wasnt awkward at all!” Alice said jokingly. “Lets vamanos, shall we?” When they arrived at their favorite Chinese restaurant, the awkwardness had cleared and the two women were talking, about Bette and Tina as usual.

“You think theyll you know mend things tonight?” Dana asked.

“Huh? Oh you mean get it on? I warned Tina not to, but *****, those girls are like rabbits as we are all aware, so who knows!” Alice exclaimed. Soon they were sitting at their table, ordering food and chatting away. The nice thing about dating your friend, Alice realized, is that you can skip the small talk part of the date. The dinner was great, and when Alice next glanced at her watch she was shocked to see that they had been at the restaurant for two and a half hours.

“*****, I think were wearing out our welcome,” she said glancing around the empty place, and over to their waiter who was looking at them and tapping his fingers on the counter. She hailed over the check, and spent ten more minutes bickering with Dana as to who should pay. They decided Dana would, and Alice would take it next time. Alice had agreed only upon knowing that there would BE a next time. They headed out to the car and back to Danas house. In a flash it seemed, Alice was pulling into her driveway.

Dana leaned across the seat before Alice had a chance to take the initiative, and kissed her firmly, taking her hand to hold Alices cheek. Her tongue grazed Alices lips, and she had to force herself to stop before they ended up spending the whole night in the car. Dana leaned her forehead against Alices, and whispered, slightly out of breath. “Want to come in?” All she felt was Alices head nodding against hers.


Bette and Tina were at the same time walking out of the restaurant to Bettes car. She started the engine, and headed out of the lot. The radio was already on and Tina recognized the song as Evanescences My Immortal. The lyrics played through her mind:

These wounds won’t seem to heal,
This pain is just too real,
There’s just too much that time cannot erase.
When you cried I’d wipe away all of your tears,
When you’d scream I’d fight away all of your fears.
I held your hand through all of these years.
But you still have…
All of me.

Tina felt the tears creeping into her eyes. She had tried to fight it, but she knew the truth, despite the pain, despite all the tears, Bette still had all of her. It was a useless battle to try and win, and Tina was suddenly aware of this. She felt her longing for Bette, one that she had kept repressed deep inside of her, beginning to reemerge. She had no choice, forgiveness was her only option, there was no walking away from Bette, she was simply incapable of it, and that was just a simple fact.

Bette saw the look on Tinas face, and reached over to hold her hand. She was unaware of the song or its implications. She was just concerned for Tina, wanting to make sure she did everything right, and not push her away further.

“Baby, whats wrong? Im sorry, are we moving too fast here? Its ok, Ill drive you to Alices right now.”

To her surprise, Tina turned to face her, staring deeply into her eyes.

“Bette, I want to come over.” Bettes heart stopped in her chest.

“T, are you”

“Yes, can I come over Bette?” Bette nodded gently and looked back to the road. Tina settled into her seat, a mixture of relief and anxiety buzzing through her