Sunlight flowed through every window of the Planet; busy bustling sounds could be discreetly heard in the background, it would’ve been a typical day for the gang if Tina hadn’t unloaded such devastatingly huge bombshell that morning.

Dana, Shane and Tina sat there for a few minutes in complete silence. It took a few moments for Tina’s words to sink in.

“I’m sorry what?!” Dana asked in a complete state of disbelief, thinking she just didn’t hear Tina properly.

“Bette and I… we broke up.” Tina said broken-heartedly.

“But why would you… you two were” and. and both of you were so” happy… what happened?” Dana stuttered, the words spilling out of her mouth quite a bit too tactlessly.

Tina looked at Dana and then at Shane, ‘How on earth do I even begin to tell them that Bette cheated on me?’

Tina couldn’t handle it anymore, instead she opted to look away from both Dana and Shane altogether, hoping that they would understand that she wasn’t ready to talk about the whole mess she and Bette had just taken part of two days ago.

“Jesus Dane enough with the questions!” Alice scolded as she walked towards them, sitting herself down by the table.

“Hey, sorry I took so long Tina.” Alice added, a look of guilt flashing across her face.

Tina smiled and nodded, “Actually Al, I don’t think I feel so good.” Tina said taking the opportunity to make her exit, her thoughts were overwhelming her and she was certainly in no mood to talk about Bette’s infidelity, or her feelings of inadequacy with anyone.

“Oh okay, come on I’ll take you back to the apartment””

“No Al I’ll take her, you just got here. I gotta get goin’ anyway…” Shane interjected, suddenly feeling protective over Tina. “You can just stay here and chill with Dana.”

Shane stood up and helped Tina off her seat. “Bye Al, Bye Dane!” Tina said, waving to her friends as she made her way out of the coffee house.

“Bye guys. See ya’.” Shane called out, closing the door behind her.
______________________________________________________

“Bette… Bette… girl, look at me.” Kit said a bit more sternly than she intended to, frustration clearly seeping into her voice. It had been at least half an hour since Bette told her that she had been unfaithful to Tina, and all she wanted to do was help Bette except Bette wouldn’t let her.

Bette was sobbing quietly into her hands, somehow managing to sit herself on the porch. Kit sat beside her, rubbing Bette’s back, trying to get her to calm down. Bette’s breathing was becoming more uneven by the second.

“I’ll get you a glass of water” Kit said and dashed off into the kitchen before Bette could say yes.

Kit came back a few minutes later to find a calmer version of her sister, though her breathing was still a bit off. Bette was wiping her tears away with the back of her hands, sniffling, trying to pull herself together. Kit sat back down handing Bette a glass of water, “Here.” she said, urging her little sister to take it.

“Thanks.” Bette said genuinely grateful for her sister’s thoughtfulness. She drank the entire glassful of water in record time, Kit watched her with a mixture of amusement and concern.

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself Bette…” Kit began, seizing the opportunity to tell Bette how she really felt. You have to let people in. You can’t keep pretending that you can carry the entire weight of the world on your shoulders.”

She looked at Bette, waiting for a response but Bette just looked more detached than ever.

Kit sighed and stood up. She had had it with Bette’s stubbornness.

“Wait.” Bette whispered, her words barely reaching it to Kit’s ear. “You’re right, I… I know I should…” Bette stopped midsentence, feeling herself getting emotional again.

“What’s wrong?” Kit asked, her tone of voice was noticeably softer than before. She was thankful that Bette was actually willing to try being emotionally vulnerable for once.

“It’s uhm… it’s just that T and I used to sit here.” Bette felt a smile spread across her face. She looked at the porch steps examining them sentimentally, feeling the wood’s grain across her fingers.

“We used to sit here and talk about everything…” Bette heard her voice breaking; “… she’d let me hold her hand while we waited for the sun to come up.” she finished. Bette sighed, “I don’t know Kit, ever since she left all I’ve ever felt was lost, and I can’t help but think everything about my relationship with Tina, everything we built during the past 7 years, is now… broken.” Bette declared, her voice was now raspy, tears slowly falling on her cheeks.

“We’ll fix it baby girl, we’ll fix it.” Kit said hugging Bette, gently rocking her back and forth.
________________________________________________

Alice realized that she and Dana were now alone, and though they were only a few feet apart Alice couldn’t help but think that one of them was stuck in China.

“Dane… DANA!” Alice said snapping her fingers at Dana. “Snap out of it!”

Dana was caught up in her own thoughts; she was still deciphering the conversation she just had with Tina when all of sudden Alice started yelling at her, “Hello? Earth to Dana!”

“Yeah?” Dana answered tentatively; trying as hard as she possibly could to focus on what Alice was trying to say to her.

“Pay attention!”

“I am Al, get to the point!”

“Okay… it’s about the night I came over to you’re house and””

Dana’s expression turned from an annoyed, irritable one, to a very uneasy, anxious one.

“And kissed me?” Dana said finishing Alice’s sentence.

“You kissed me back Dana!” Alice quipped in her defense.

Dana hung her head and resorted to staring at the tabletop.

“Look, both of us are obviously confused as to why we did what we did.” Dana began, “So can we just put it aside for a while until we know what we’re actually getting ourselves into? I mean there’s a lot at stake here.”

“You mean Tonya right?” Alice asked with a hint of disappointment.

“Yes Al, Tonya, my fianc… and our friendship.”

“Oh.” was all Alice could manage to say at first. “Okay, for our friendship. Deal?” Alice smiled, holding out a hand for Dana to shake. Dana shook Alice’s hand, “Deal.”

“Now you gotta help me get Bette and Tina back together.”