Previously:

“When will I see you again?”

“I’ll call you.”

And with that Tina walked out of the door, leaving an ecstatic Bette by its threshold watching her as she leaves.
______________________________________

It was late in the day when Bette Porter’s assistant came bursting through her office door to announce that someone was on the phone returning her call. Now mind you, under normal circumstances one would assume that the headstrong Miss Porter would be agitated by this unnecessary disturbance, but today something was clearly different…

Five days ago that’s where it all started. When Tina left her office everything changed… Now they were finally where they wanted to be… No pressure, no interruptions, no fool-proof plan to steer them away from what was really important, each other… With a kiss that sealed the deal and a promise to call, that was all it took… And that’s how it all began, with innocent little phone calls here and there… Well maybe not so innocent:

“Why hello there Miss Porter… What are you up to this lovely Thursday afternoon?” Tina voice came through the receiver, unintentionally hinting a bit of flirtation with every syllable she uttered.

An instant smile tugged the corners of Bette’s lips. “Hey Tina… It’s nothing really… I’m doing fine” well actually I’m swamped, but I’m glad you called me back… I guess I just wanted to hear your voice…” Bette giggled, shuffling through various proof sheets and photos before proceeding to say,”… I can’t wait to see you later.”

There was something in the way Bette delivered her words that never failed to make Tina blush. A certain knowing feeling swelled inside of her that was telling her that if somebody else were to say those words to her, that person wouldn’t have been able to pull it off with the same impact as the captivating gallery owner just did.

“…And I really did enjoy dinner last night.” Bette added.

“Me too.” Tina agreed, thinking about the great time they had dining on Cuban cuisine at one of Bette’s favorite take-out places. The venue was quaint, being set in an obscure part of town and all. The place was small, only offering a few tables and chairs for its customers to dine in, but over all Tina found the whole experience incredibly enjoyable.

“Good. Listen I have to go now, but tell you what… You choose where we’re going tonight okay?” Bette offered regretfully, sorry that she had to hang up.

“Okay. I’ll see you tonight. Bye.”

“Bye.”
________________________________________

It wasn’t until much later when Bette caught herself staring at the phone. She knew she had to be getting back to work. There were so many things to do, and so many minor details that she suddenly remembered she had to take care of. All of these of course came secondary to the fact that she didn’t feel like doing any of them anymore.

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face Porter!”

Bette nearly leapt out of her seat when she heard Alice’s mockingly stern voice addressing her… making fun of her in more ways than one.

“Jesus Alice you scared me!” she exclaimed, her heart still racing.

“Oh I can see that…” Alice jeered, as she sat herself down in front of Bette.

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“Just checking up on you…”

“Hmmm…” Bette said skeptically.

Alice gave her a mischievous grin. “Fine I came here to uh… pass the time… there I said it” happy?” Bette gave her a look that she took as a no so she proceeded to explain herself with: “Look, I was kinda bored being all cooped up in the office so…”

“… So now I’m some sort of mid afternoon entertainment for you is that it?”

“Yes, yes you are…” This statement made Bette smile inwardly but she’d rather die than let Alice see, instead she just furrowed her brow a little and pretended to be disappointed.

“Now come on, I wanna know how things are coming along with you and your little girlfriend.”

Bette rolled her eyes and continued scanning through her work.

“I don’t have time for this Alice…” Bette said as she completely turned her attention away from her nosy friend and began typing some sort of draft for the gallery.

“Bette work with me here! You know you want to…”

Alice received a sideways look from a highly-strung Bette, before she finally saw her surrender and close the laptop.

“Well?” Alice said, staring at Bette eagerly.

“Well…Uh… I don’t know what you want me to say exactly…” Bette admitted, rubbing the back of her neck out of habit.

“Tell me what it’s like… Being in love…”

“What?”

“Well I’m assuming that’s how you feel…”

“In love…” Bette’s words lingered.

She knew she was deeply, madly, crazy in love with Tina but something stopped her from telling the meddlesome blonde sitting in front of her. If only Alice knew that she would’ve given anything to tell her what she feeling right now, to have someone to share her joy and exhilaration, but Bette kept reminding herself that she couldn’t, if she had to say something she wanted Tina to be the first to find out. So from then on Bette was forced to resort to wearing her best friend down with the classic: ask-and-avoid technique, a simple procedure she had devised over time, which when used correctly was sure to drive any conversation off topic, something she found very useful whenever it came to fending off Alice’s hungry desire to know every single detail about her personal life. Now this wasn’t really a problem for Bette in the past, considering she never thought of herself as someone living an actual life. Though many people would beg to differ, Bette Porter thought that other than the existence her job offered, that was pretty much it, everything else: friends, money, family… all these things served as a bonus for her. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, before she found Tina, her career was her life, and now she couldn’t believe she was actually going to be able to use her little dodging method after all this time. All she had to do was to wait for Alice to continue and her plan would be in motion:

“Yeah silly… what else would you call it?”

“I don’t know Al, do you really think so?” Bette wondered out loud, feeling a little flustered.

“Of course… Look at you… you’re””

“Different?”

“No Porter you’re better… that’s what you are.”

“Shut up…” Bette said stifling her laughter.

“I mean it Bette! You don’t””

“Annoy you anymore?

“Ah… don’t push your luck! ….And would you please stop finishing my sentences for me? It’s kinda getting on my nerves.”

“Sure. As soon as promise to stop butting into my personal life…”

“Great comeback Bette, too bad it’s never gonna happen.”

Now Bette found herself chuckling, she couldn’t help it.

“Oh my god is it really 2:30?” Alice asked in disbelief.

Bette nodded to confirm her query.

“I have to be getting back to the office my editor would kill me.” Alice said looking very worried and sounding unusually professional.
_________________________________

She watched as Alice briskly made her way out of the office, probably in fear of being reprimanded for her very unbecoming behavior. Bette closed the door behind her and leaned her back against the wood’s smooth, light grained surface. ‘I have to get back to typing that draft.’ she thought, silently counting every hour, minute, and second she was left with before she could finally see Tina again.


As usual: TBC…