By: Dreiser



Dana wasn’t sure how she wound up at The Planet drinking coffee and staring into space but she had been there for an hour and thirty five minutes thus far. To be honest, she didn’t know why she was even there in the first place. She only knew she didn’t want to go home.

Home being her condo, Alice’s apartment, or just wherever Alice happened to be at that moment. She had long since given up on calling her cell phone and found herself lost in her endless supply of memories and thoughts of the journalist.

To Dana it felt as if she had always been in love with Alice just because when she tried to remember what it was like not to love her the effort left the tennis player helplessly blank. Loving Alice was as natural as breathing to Dana and that was part of why she had feared revealing her feelings. Because if she told Alice how she felt and Alice rejected her, no matter how kindly she did it, Dana would be hurt, perhaps even devastated, but most importantly she would try to stop those feelings.

She would try to stop loving Alice to prevent the other woman from feeling uncomfortable around her. Stop the feelings in order to keep Alice always in her life, whatever the capacity. She would try to stop herself from breathing and that would surely kill her.

But now she could breath and more than that she could laugh, smile, and finally live. If she feared losing Alice so very much when all she could do was breath what would happen now that she was actually living?

That wasn’t something Dana would allow herself to consider for any long span of time. She was an athlete, pure and simple, in every sense of the word. The thrill of competition, doing her best, pushing herself beyond her natural limits, and showing others what she could do was what Dana loved more than anything else in the world.

Well, okay, not more than Alice.

It came close though. But it was true, she loved competing, rising to the occasion and proving to those who doubted her that she could do it. Not only do it but exceed all of the expectations placed on her and become something truly spectacular while on the tennis court.

Once Dana made up her mind about something she put her whole heart into it. Halfway didn’t exist when it came to her world. She was an all or nothing type of girl, something that was fairly obvious from the manic energy she often exhibited in whatever she did.

Until today Dana thought she had been putting her whole heart into her relationship with Alice. Then she stopped to think about it and realized Alice had done everything at the start. She had been the first one to deliver a kiss, the first one to confess their love, and the first one to plan a romantic date… in fact, their ONLY date so far. What had Dana done really? Other than going along for the relationship ride as it were.

Brooding in the strangely cute manner she tended to have, Dana sighed heavily and pushed her coffee cup around on the bar. “I need to do something,” she muttered.

And it was true, she really did have to do something, anything, to make sure Alice knew how much Dana loved her. She had to do this to ensure that Gabby never had the slightest chance of winning Alice’s affections again.

The problem was Dana had no idea how to go about doing this. For the longest time she held confidence in the lone fact that she was an excellent tennis player. No, that was a lie. She held confidence in the fact that she was a top notch tennis player. No, that was a lie too.

She held confidence in the fact that she was a tennis player who could kick the asses of many other tennis players. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Anyway, she held confidence in that fact and pretty much nothing else. Because for such a long time the only thing she had in her life was the game of tennis. Ever since the day she saw Stephanie dragged away by her angry parents at camp Dana had focused on the game alone because it was only when she played the game did she feel safe.

Tennis didn’t care who she had a crush on, who she dreamt of kissing, who she fainted at the idea of having ***** with. The game only cared about the amount of time and effort she invested into it and nothing more. Tennis could really care less if Dana was having ***** with a woman, man, or even something in between. What mattered to the game was how fast Dana’s serve was and how hard she could deliver a backhand shot.

That’s why Dana had devoted herself to playing tennis because it was her sanctuary. The one place that for endless years she felt totally at ease and comfortable in her own skin. When she played the game Dana felt she was more like her true self than anywhere else in the world.

But that was slowly changing thanks to her romance with Alice and Dana knew that. On the court and with Alice were now the places Dana found herself totally at ease. Because much like the game itself, the blonde would never judge her. No, Alice simply loved her for who she was.

Dana had never been happier because of that.

What would be the best way to show her that? Frowning deeply and pushing her coffee cup around, Dana groaned and dropped her head onto the bar. “Maybe I should focus on what Al would hate doing on date,” she grumbled. “Maybe that would give me ideas.”

“Baby girl, if you wanna know what not to do on a date with Alice you oughta call my sister,” Kit announced her appearance with usual charming exuberance, a wide smile on her features.

“Kit!” exclaimed Dana, blushing darkly because she honestly didn’t realize she had been speaking out loud. “Bette?” she said frowned, appearing perplexed. “Why would… ohhhh,” Dana gained a look of comprehension. “Bette was that bad?”

The athlete couldn’t help being a little curious. After all, no one knew much of anything about Alice’s relationship with Bette. Just that they had dated for six weeks, Bette was the one to end the romance, and Alice had been fairly young when it all went on.

“Bad?” chuckled Kit, rolling her eyes expressively. “Oh lord. It was worse than bad… it was a disaster if you ask me. My baby sister–” Kit stopped in the throws of what seemed like it would be a rant and declared, “*****! I won’t waste your time talkin’ about this. Not when you can get it right from the mouth of the dating criminal.” Having said that she pulled out her cell phone and pressed Bette’s number on speed dial.

“Dating criminal?” echoed Dana in disbelief.

“It fits,” Kit responded, wagging a finger at Dana. “Trust me when I say it fits. Just wait until I make her tell you. Baby sis!” proclaimed Kit, beaming as she said this. “You get your butt down to The Planet, I got a mission for you.” Kit paused to listen to whatever Bette was saying then drawled, “I’m sure that’s real enthrallin’ like you said but like I said I got a mission for you and what with all you did you owe it to the girl.” Rolling her eyes again, Kit sighed. “No, this don’t have squat to do with Tina. I keep forgettin’ how many women you’ve done wrong.”

Unable to help herself, Dana burst into giggles. She really couldn’t help it. Hearing Kit chastise Bette about all of the women she had ‘done wrong’ was just incredibly funny to her.

“Alice,” said Kit rather somberly and this made Dana stop giggling to study the older woman thoughtfully. Clearly whatever Bette had done to Alice way back when still bothered Kit and if something bothered Kit… well, then it was sure to bother Dana. Especially if the something involved Alice. “Uh huh. That’s what I thought. Now you get your butt down here and talk to Dana. She wants to know what NOT to do on a date with our girl. You gotta know you’re an expert on that.” Listening to whatever Bette said with a pacified and patient expression, Kit ended the call with, “I know that too, baby sis. See you soon.” Closing the phone and smiling at Dana sweetly, Kit patted Dana’s hand and murmured, “She’ll be here in a half an hour.”

“What did Bette do to Alice?” asked Dana quietly.

Raising an eyebrow at the solemn look on the athlete’s tanned features and the subtle warning in her voice, Kit replied, “It ain’t as bad as I made it out but…” She sighed deeply and she looked away from Dana before turning back to lock their eyes. “You need to talk to my sister about this. She can tell you more since she was the one actually doin’ the dating.”

“She hurt her, didn’t she?” Dana pressed on, not about to let this go. Not when it came to Alice.

Considering Dana with a veiled gaze, Kit smiled slowly and patted her cheek in a sisterly way and drawled, “You’ve gone head over heels about her haven’t you, baby girl?” Her hand fell away and she went on, “Don’t you worry. It’s nothin’ that bad but what she’ll tell you will help you to know everythin’ you need to about what to do when it comes to makin’ your girl happy.” Walking away from Dana and flashing a last smile, she declared, “Trust me on that!”

A frown staying on her features as she watched Kit leave, Dana wondered what exactly Bette would tell her. Then her watch beeped to remind her that Alice’s radio show, which had been expanded recently into a mighty fifteen minutes, would soon be on. Hopping off the bar to sit in her car to hear the show while waiting for Bette, she suddenly felt herself getting into a good mood. Just because in minutes she would be hearing Alice’s voice and then in a few minutes after that she would know something new about her.

Kit was right, Dana was head over heels in love, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

—

Grinning at the on air light as it flashed, Alice leaned forward slightly in her seat and drawled, “Hello all. You’re listening to The Chart with Alice Pieszecki and her intrepid engineer Rich.”

“I’m intrepid?” asked Rich, sounding excited at the thought.

Then again, he was just plain excited as they had recently gotten out of a meeting with Mimi and she had approved Alice’s request to let her chat with Rich on air. They had been working together ever since he sat in on the blonde’s audition at the station and she thought as a straight man with a relatively open mind he would bring an interesting angle to the mostly ***** and ***** topics she chose. That and she revealed she thought his nerdiness was funny. Rich couldn’t ever remember a time that he had been so happy to be considered a nerd.

“Very,” Alice chuckled. “You helped me fix my car stereo remember? I would call that intrepid considering what had gone wrong with it.”

“Why did you have a little plastic umbrella stuck in there anyway?” asked Rich, his face scrunching up as he remembered the debacle removing it had become. Though he did feel that the hug he got from Alice for finally getting the umbrella out had made it entirely worth his while. “You said you would tell me but only now do I realize you changed the subject. You can’t do that now!” Rich attempted to sound nefarious and failed. “We’re on air. If you back out I’ll ask people to call it and guilt trip you into confessing.”

“It’s stupid,” Alice attempted to wave it off.

“Alice, do you see the little lights blinking?” asked Rich, starting to sound somewhat nefarious.

“Yeah,” said Alice, drawing the word out.

“Those would be the phone lines,” said Rich smugly. “Want me to open them up to the demands for an answer or yet another lame song request even though we don’t play music?”

“Ugh,” muttered Alice. She paused to point at Rich and announced, “You’re evil. Fine! Fine. I will tell you how a little plastic umbrella ended up stuck in my car stereo.”

“Goody,” Rich rocked in his chair and clapped his hands.

“My girlfriend Dana,” began Alice a bit shyly.

“Dana Fairbanks,” crowed Rich, sounding very proud of himself for saying her name for whatever reason. “Pro tennis star. ***** ***** woman. Go on, I’m listening.”

“You’re totally interrupting,” Alice rolled her eyes and reminded herself the natural interaction she had with Rich was why she wanted him on air with her. He would prevent her from ever going back into her ‘radio Alice’ mode as Dana liked to call it. Plus she did happen to find his nerdiness amusing and she had this great idea of turning The Chart into an ensemble type of show. Next week she was thinking of having Jenny on just because Jenny was so very Jenny. “Anyway, I was listening to the radio, KCRW, of course, and a fellow on air personality made an unjust criticism about her, it was unjust in my opinion anyway, and I had the little plastic umbrella in my mouth and well…”

“You stabbed the car stereo in a fit of anger,” said Rich, he breathed the words in awe more than actually saying them. He was quiet for a moment then he squealed like a ***** girl and said, “That’s the coolest thing ever! Fit of girlfriend rage!”

“It was definitely a big time fit of girlfriend rage,” Alice chuckled.

“So who said the unjust things about Dana Fairbanks, pro tennis star and ***** ***** woman?” asked Rich curiously.

“Why are you subtitling her name?” wondered Alice aloud, frowning. “And no way am I telling you. I shall not bad mouth my fellow employees on the air. I’m just explaining the little plastic umbrella incident because I owed it to you since you were intrepid and did fix my car stereo. Anyway,” Alice shuffled her papers to make herself sound busy. “We need to get to The Chart topic of connectedness.”

“I wanna know,” Rich halfway pouted.

“We’re talking about connectedness. But first we’ll talk on something you and most straight men love,” drawled Alice, lifting an eyebrow humorously. “*****.”

“I like wings,” said Rich blankly.

“Women’s *****,” Alice added sardonically.

“Ohh, those I like,” laughed Rich.

“I figured,” said Alice dryly. “For those listeners who like us and care, Rich and I will be at the KCRW booth at the upcoming ***** Pride. Which is why I’m bringing up ***** because every time I go to Pride I always have the same unpleasant experience with them.”

“***** can be unpleasant?” asked Rich in confusion.

“Surprisingly, young ***** Pride grasshopper, yes they can,” Alice said with certain humorous inflection. “The thing about Pride that gets to me is this consistent occurrence that never seems to change no matter the year. I mean, I’ve been going to Pride since I was 19 and it was such a great experience, you know? *****,” Alice sighed and chuckled at Rich’s look of wide eyed curiosity. “It helped me get over my first girlfriend, Tayo, who was running through everything female on the college campus.” Snapping out of her flashback, Alice then leaned back and drawled, “Pride was great except for one thing!”

“Which was?” Rich prompted.

“Women’s *****,” said Alice slowly. When Rich looked incredulously at her, she laughed and waved her hands expressively about. “I’ll explain, don’t worry. The thing I’ve noticed from attending ***** Pride over the years is the fact that the women you want to take their tops off, because they have utterly fantastic *****, never do. On the other hand, the women you want to leave their tops on, because they have less than utterly fantastic ***** to be on the nice side, always take them off. It’s a genuine ***** Pride paradox.”

“You have fantastic *****,” said Rich, staring at them as he said this and as he did Alice was sort of glad he was in a glass booth separated from her.

“Dana Fairbanks: pro tennis star ***** ***** woman who also happens to be my somewhat protective girlfriend will probably just adore hearing you say that,” said Alice in droll tones. “She loves it when people other than her flirt with me.”

“I didn’t! I wasn’t!” Rich sputtered, panicked. He grabbed his microphone and it rocked back and forth slightly. “Don’t hit me with tennis balls at very fast speeds, Ms. Fairbanks!”

“She finally improved her serve. I think now she can hit them at 130 miles per hour,” Alice mused. Rich looked horrified at this and she chuckled while flicking a switch then she said, “Hey caller. You’re on The Chart with Alice and her now muted from terror engineer Rich.”

“My god!” an excited woman’s voice declared. “You’re so right about the women at Pride. Why is that?! I can’t say how many pairs of sagging ***** I’ve seen there. It’s so wrong.”

“Isn’t it?” asked Alice. “What’s your name caller? And are you going to be visiting me and muted Rich at our booth during Pride?”

“Carly,” the woman said. She paused then asked suggestively, “Why do you want me there? Do you want to judge my ***** to see if I should be allowed to take my top off?”

“That wasn’t my intention but that is a good idea,” said Alice thoughtfully. She grinned playfully at Rich who seemed to be snapping out of his horror induced coma. “What do you think Rich? Should we set up a special breast judging area of our booth to let the people know who should and shouldn’t let their twins out for public viewing?”

“You would be serving the community,” piped in Carly.

“Ohh, I like that!” Alice said gleefully. “How much fun would it be to make a series of ***** Pride public service announcements when it came to showing your *****?” She cleared her throat then said in an overly stiff and solemn enunciation, “Do you never wear a bra? Do your ***** touch your belly button? Do your nipples take up more space than they really ought to? If so you should not remove your top at the next ***** Pride.”

“That’s great,” Carly laughed in clear enjoyment.

“Thanks for the suggestion, Carly,” drawled Alice, deciding to end her conversation with the caller as she looked at the wildly gesturing figure of Kimberly Volkahovavich. Much like herself, Kimberly had been brought in from the print realm, except she was from the LA Times and covered the world news beat. “I hope I’ll see you at our newly formed breast judging booth at Pride. We could use all the support we can get. Bras and otherwise.”

“I’ll be there,” said Carly, a lilt in her voice.

“Good deal,” said Alice, chuckling softly. She waved Kimberly in and continued, “We’ve got a visitor to our studio, folks. Kimberly Volkahovavich from the KCRW news team. What’s up, Kim? I know it has to be something from the way you were hopping around and didn’t you say you weren’t sure you’d take me up on my come on the air with Alice anytime you want invite?”

Turning bright red, Kimberly sat down next to Alice and muttered into the nearby microphone, “Because you made it sound dirty, Al. What did you expect?”

“Come on the air with Alice!” Rich cried out suddenly, once again sounding like a ***** girl due to his high pitched squeal. When he noticed both Alice and Kimberly were looking at him with deadpan expressions, he laughed nervously. “Sorry. I just got the joke.”

“Anyway,” said Alice in a slow drawl. “What were you hopping around like a horny toad about, Kim? I know it must be good for you to ignore my bad attempt at humor.”

“You wanted me to come see you if I got any breaking news that I thought you might be interested in, right?” asked Kimberly nervously. She honestly liked Alice but she couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious just because no one was this nice to her at the station. Especially another new commentator. She couldn’t believe Alice was willingly giving her more airtime. The blonde did say it was part of how she was developing her show but still… it was odd to Kimberly but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides that, Kimberly DID like Alice. She thought she was nice and despite what she just said about herself, very funny. “I just got something I think you’ll love.”

“I’m all ears,” said Alice, encouraging Kimberly with a smile.

“Recently a story got picked up by the Associated Press about something called the Cambodian Midget Fighting League which was said to have just held an event where the 42 members of the League battled a lion,” Kimberly began, grinning when she saw Alice’s brown eyes go wide in amazement. “It gets better,” she allowed herself a laugh, slipping out of news mode when Alice scooted towards her eagerly. “Supposedly the event was allowed to take place because the Cambodian government was going to collect 50% of the profits.”

“*****! I say give that money to the midgets, they’re going to be battling a lion,” said Alice, grumbling at the injustice of it all.

“The story said that during the battle 28 of the midgets were killed while 14 were merely maimed by the lion,” Kimberly kept going with the news.

“28!” Alice exclaimed. “How do they let 28 midgets get killed before they call off this battle? Isn’t one being dead enough to say the lion won the fight? Logistically speaking and all.”

“Maybe 28 dead midgets equal one dead lion,” offered Rich helpfully.

“That’s wrong,” muttered Alice, shaking her head. “Just wrong.”

“Here’s the thing though,” said Kimberly, getting thoroughly into the story and unaware of the large group of their colleagues gathering outside the studio to listen in. “The story was a fake! It got picked up by the AP and several TV networks and it was complete fabrication! Apparently the story being spread was an accident and came from the debate of a group of college students while intoxicated. One of the friends was technically inclined and created a fake online article along with a parody of the official BBC news website. That somehow got spread to sources who felt the story was valid thanks to this.”

Silence as they all contemplated this and then Alice remarked, “I once used Photoshop to make it look like I was dating Shirley Manson.”

Even those in the radio listening audience could hear the immediate swell of raucous laughter from the radio station employees at this revelation. And with it, Alice couldn’t help but smile and think just maybe this really was the perfect place for her.

—

Dana was involved in her internal debate as to who exactly would win in a fight, 42 midgets or a lion, when Bette sat down at the small table she chosen at the back of The Planet.

Arranging herself neatly, Bette lifted an eyebrow as Dana kept staring into space. “Dana,” said Bette in her always smooth tones, smiling when her friend jumped slightly.

“Bette,” said Dana nervously. She nibbled on her bottom lip then flashed an overly bright smile and said, “So who do you think would win in a fight? 42 midgets or a lion? I think the lion.”

“You and Alice really are meant for each other,” Bette chuckled, shaking her head at the topic that had ended up taking up most of the blonde’s radio show. “Sadly for the midgets I have to agree with you, the lion would win that battle. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about is it?” she questioned rather knowingly.

“No, it isn’t,” said Dana, nervous still.

At least she was nervous until Kit decided to make an appearance by putting her hands on Bette’s shoulders and leaning down to mock whisper in her ear, “Don’t you go scaring this girl. She needs to know about your philanderin’ ways.”

“I did not philander!” Bette disputed huffily. “Alice and I weren’t dating exclusively and I thought the purpose of this meeting was for me to tell Dana what she doesn’t like doing on dates. Since apparently she didn’t enjoy any of ours, according to you at least.”

Kit scoffed and settled down to sit in between Bette and Dana, tilting her head as she replied, “Ain’t no according. She told me plain and simple, she was either bored or ignored or just plain ready to snore on all your outin’s. The only thing that kept that girl returnin’ was that you were different from all the women she knew and you were good in bed.”

Despite herself, Bette preened at the last comment before scowling because, on reflection, the statement as a whole was an insulting one. “How is it that only now is it revealed that you were Alice’s confidant during our six week dating debacle?” asked Bette in deprecating tones.

“Because baby girl didn’t want me tellin’ no one,” said Kit, pointing a finger at Bette, making it clear that no one meant her. “She was sorta upset at herself for bein’ upset over you because you know, she wasn’t stupid. You didn’t need to tell her the relationship wasn’t goin’ anywhere, she knew that, but all the same hearing you say it still hurt. But bein’ her, she wanted to take you up on your offer of friendship. Said to me she figured maybe you’d be a better friend than a girlfriend.” Kit snorted and muttered, “I don’t know if I agree with that though.”

“What is this?” Bette wasn’t really speaking to Kit or Dana, she was more aiming her comments at thin air. “Insult Bette Porter day? Why am I here again?”

“Bette?” asked Dana in a gentle interruption and when the other woman looked to her, she smiled and her eyes held a quiet but heartfelt curiosity. “How did you meet Alice?”

Looking at Dana with some surprise, Bette couldn’t stop a fond smile from tugging at her lips at the memory. “She was working as an intern at the Times,” she started off, chuckling softly.

The doors flew open with a loud bang and revealed the figure of a beautiful brunette who swept into the room much like a force of nature. Her appearance left the staff frozen while feeling simultaneously envious and sorry for the new girl who was meant to deal with her at the counter. Because no matter how attractive the woman was, she clearly had a complaint.

Swallowing hard and brown eyes going wider with every step the woman took towards her, Alice tried to calm her wildly beating heart. Though she was great at putting on a disaffected attitude this was her first day on the job and she didn’t enjoy confrontations. Then again, nobody really enjoys confrontations. Unless you were in the military, that is.

“Your sorry excuse for newspaper misprinted my ad,” the woman announced, whapping the paper down on the counter and staring hard at Alice.

“Okay…” Alice began slowly, picking up the paper to look at the advertisement for an exhibit featuring a collection of abstract art watercolor paintings. The one featured in the ad sort of looked like a duck with two heads to Alice. She had a strange urge to laugh but held back with all her might because she was sure that reaction would make the brunette kill her. Continuing to search the ad, she looked up when she heard an irritated sigh from the woman. Lifting an eyebrow, she turned the paper around and said, “I’m just a peon who has as much artistic sensibility as a piece of wood. Mind showing me the misprint?”

Releasing an annoyed hiss of air and rolling her eyes, the woman snatched back the paper then held it up to point aggressively at the name Charles Reinwould. “This is what’s a misprint! Charles ReinWALD, not ReinWOULD, ReinWALD!”

Blinking and staring at the paper, Alice wondered why that was such a big deal. Yes, they had misprinted a name but why would that make her blow up to this degree. Maybe she just had no sense of art and that’s why she was baffled. Which was why she said, “That matters because?”

“That matters because Charles Reinwould is a simple minded over touted poor excuse for an impressionist painter who felt the epitome of artistic genius was to paint fruit in bowls,” the woman growled out in such powerful disgust Alice was secretly amused and a little scared of her anger. “Charles Reinwald, on the other hand, is a brilliant painter who uses his work to expose the pain of the human spirit and the perseverance we can express in times of utmost need. It took me six months to get him to agree to let me produce a show for him at the LACMA and now he might back out because you morons wrote that he was Charles Reinwould! That’s why it ***** matters, you imbecile!”

Wincing at the name calling, Alice bit on her lip and said hesitantly, “All right. I can see why it matters. But what would you like us to do about the misprint, Ms…?”

“Porter, Bette Porter,” the woman spat her name out. “I want you to reprint the ad at no cost to me and I would like to have two other ads put into the paper additionally at larger space size and in more visible sections. I want one of these ads to be free and the other, if it comes to that, to be discounted at half the cost. If you don’t comply then you will be hearing from my lawyers and the counsel for the LACMA.” Alice opened her mouth to reply and Bette held up her hand then went on, “And I want to see your supervisor. Right now.”

“What?” Alice went pale.

“I want to see your supervisor, right now,” Bette repeated, staring Alice down and waiting expectantly for a response.

“Ms. Porter, I didn’t mean to make you upset. I’m just an intern, this is my first day and I need this job to graduate,” the words came spilling out in a rush and Alice felt her body go cold.

“Your supervisor, right now,” Bette repeated again, unwavering.

Her body shaking, Alice slowly moved away from the counter and left to find her supervisor, Mitch who immediately rushed over. Watching them interact and hugging herself for comfort, Alice knew this was her last day as an intern at the LA Times courtesy of Bette Porter.

“You got Al fired?!” exclaimed Dana in shock. She knew Bette could be a ***** when it came to her work but she never thought she’d actually go and get someone fired. Especially someone who had nothing to do with the creating the actual situation Bette was upset about. “How could you get Al fired? She didn’t do anything to you!”

“I was upset about Charles Reinwald,” said Bette who, to her credit, appeared to be ashamed of her actions. “It was my first big exhibit and it was such a cou for me to get him over all of the others bidding for his work. The ad misprint made me look horribly unprofessional and I felt it would become a huge blow to my career.”

“Meanwhile the wrong ad went and made that silly show more famous than the right one woulda,” Kit broke into the conversation. Snorting at Bette, she then said, “And she went and got baby girl fired for nothing. Cold, I tell you. Damn cold.”

“Thank you, Kit,” said Bette sardonically to her sister. “I desperately needed yet another reminder of my own lax moral behavior. As if I wasn’t already painfully aware of it myself.”

“If you got Al fired how did end up dating her?” asked Dana, perplexed as to how firing would somehow leading to dating and romance.

Focusing on Dana and smiling sheepishly at the memory, Bette murmured, “When the exhibit was all said and done I felt horrible for what I had done. I went back to the Times and asked if they might reinstate her internship but they said she had already found other work. With a bit of luck and some persuading they finally told me she was at The ***** News out in Torrance.”

“She bribed them,” supplied Kit, interpreting for Dana with a smirk.

“Yes, well,” Bette’s skin darkened a tad and she coughed. “Needless to say, when I went to see her she was less than pleased…”

The doors to The ***** News opened and closed with a quiet swoosh and click but that didn’t make the entrance of Bette Porter any less powerful. Especially not to Alice who, frankly, was still trying to get over the ramifications to her life from the last time she saw this woman.

When Bette approached the chaotic mismatch of desks and ignored the questions of her colleagues about needing help, Alice steeled herself mentally for whatever was to come. The moment Bette stopped in front of her, Alice held up a hand to halt what she was about to say.

“Are you here to do business with the magazine?” asked Alice calmly.

“No,” said Bette sheepishly. “I wanted to–”

“Do you plan on doing business with the magazine anytime soon or at all?” Alice interrupted, calmly as ever.

“No,” said Bette, frowning and looking confused. “I wanted–”

“Are you here to talk to my boss or anyone in a position of authority over myself and my internship?” said Alice, cutting Bette off yet again.

“No,” said Bette, thoroughly frustrated. “I want–”

“Are you sure about all of that?” asked Alice dryly, folding her arms across her chest and studying Bette skeptically. “Really sure? Completely sure? Sure as deodorant sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” said Bette in exasperation, rolling her eyes at the joke. “I just want–”

“I don’t care what you want,” Alice said, sitting on the edge of her messy and small desk to peer up at Bette. “I know I’m only a lowly intern in your eyes. You know, a no nothing kid, a slacker from Generation X,” the blonde did air quotes with the last words. “And I know that misprint was a big deal to you and the almighty Charles Reinwald but you know what? I had nothing to do with that and you damn well knew that too. But you were pissed and wanted to feel all high and mightier with your badass artsy self and get the stupid intern fired. Well, whee!” Alice threw her hands up and did a little rocking dance on her desk. “You got me fired, aren’t you special! Don’t you feel important now? Has your ego been sexually stroked?”

Blinking at the girl in front of her, a slow but sure smile formed on Bette’s features and she asked in a drawl, “What’s your name?”

“Great,” pronounced Alice wearily, rolling her eyes. “It was a lie, right? You’re here to place an ad for some ***** art show that has cunninlingus acted out with fruit loops or something. And I’ve gone and inspired your wrath yet again thus leading to another firing that will have me seeking an internship at the LA PennySaver or some other free grocery store magazine. Fine,” Alice waved at Bette. “Go ahead and do it. Call for the godlike being that is my supervisor.”

“That won’t be necessary if you just tell me your name,” said Bette, her tones lowering into a smooth and husky rumble as she took a deliberate step towards Alice.

“Alice Pieszecki,” said Alice, frowning in confusion and wondering why exactly the brunette was getting closer and closer to her with every second that passed.

“Alice Pieszecki,” Bette drew the name out as if she was tasting it. Releasing a soft chuckle, she leaned forward until there was hardly any space between their faces, making it look as if a kiss was about to come in any second. “I came here to apologize for my behavior and tell you that if you want it, your former internship at the Times is available for the taking.”

“Gee whiz, you got me my job back that I never should have lost but did because of you, thanks so much,” Alice replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes and scooting back on her desk. Putting her hands up in between their bodies she went on, “Don’t you have a concept of personal space? Or do you get a kick out of making me uncomfortable?”

Smiling slowly, Bette’s dark eyes flashed and made butterflies appear in Alice’s stomach. Leaning forward, the brunette’s hair brushed against her skin and made her shiver at the sensation. “If you would allow me the chance, I would love the opportunity to make you feel far more pleasant things,” Bette whispered, her breath warm on the trembling and pale skin. Pulling back, the smile quirked on her lips when she saw the dumbfounded expression that Alice was wearing. Holding up a business card in between her index finger and thumb in an offering to Alice, she drawled, “My number. Please feel free to use it.”

That said, Bette gave one last seductive smile then swept out of the offices of The ***** News much like she had arrived. With all eyes present transfixed on her.

Silence for a moment then Dana said in dazed wonder, “You were smooth.” Grinning in delight at this new side to what she often considered her fairly tame friend, Dana continued, “You’re like the queen of smooth! Shane’s got nothing on you!” Looking excited to Kit, she asked, “Did you know she was that smooth?”

“Oh, I knew,” Kit snorted at Bette who was looking tremendously proud of herself at hearing Dana’s ode to her smoothness.

“Why must you make everything I did in that relationship have some type of unpleasant connotation?” asked Bette, fixing her gaze on Kit. “I know you didn’t enjoy how it ended but I was the one dating Alice, not you. I’m not sure why you seem to take the greatest offense in the events that took place in a relationship you had no real part of.”

“Maybe because I think if you’d had learned anythin’ from what went on there you wouldn’t be havin’ the problems you got right now with Tina,” said Kit wisely but with sharp attitude.

“That remark is completely uncalled for,” Bette snapped and she was about to say more when Dana’s voice, timid and lost, pierced the air to effectively stop her.

“I’m not smooth,” murmured Dana and they weren’t really sure if she was talking to them or herself. The athlete had her gaze fixed on the table and her fingers contracted into a fist to then slowly retract flat over the table in a robotic gesture. “I’m not smooth at all.” Peering up at them helplessly, she said, “I can’t be like that. Even if I tried to, I couldn’t. That isn’t me and no matter how hard I tried to be that way I couldn’t. I’d just mess it up.”

“Oh no, baby girl,” exclaimed Kit, grabbing Dana’s hands in her own and squeezing them tenderly. “That’s not why I called her to talk with you. See, that’s the thing,” she murmured wisely. “I know everybody has this idea of what romance is in their heads, you know? And usually it’s my sister,” Kit smiled fondly and hooked her thumb at Bette who rolled her eyes. Letting go of Dana’s hands to cup her chin so she would meet their gazes, she continued, “And they’d be wrong when it comes to your girl. She had that sorta thing nonstop in her life. From her family, from her friends, from the boys she’d date and to the girls. She had those smooth words, fine and pretty and perfect but in the end what are they?” When Dana shrugged and released an almost unheard sniffle, Kit patted her cheek tenderly. “Nothin’ but words and words don’t do anyone much good in the long run. But your actions? Oh, they do. Because, honey, actions are what counts, they show what you got in your heart better than words because they’re real. They can’t be erased or taken back or any of that useless trifling *****,” said Kit both hearty and solemn in the enthusiasm of her statement. “That’s what I wanted you to see with her, baby girl. Your words don’t matter, your actions do.” Dana smiled hesitantly at Kit who saw she was getting through and remarked, “You go on with your instincts. Show her in your own way how you feel and that’s all she needs. Because it’s real,” Kit returned the smile then leaned forward to mock whisper as she gestured back at Bette. “What they had was smooth, yeah, but like chocolate pudding. Smooth and tasty and full of empty calories.”

“And kept in an air tight plastic container,” commented Bette in light acerbic humor.

“Okay,” said Dana as she took a deep breath and rose to her feet. “I think I know what I have to do.” She beamed at Kit and moved in for a hug. “Thank you so much for helping me. I know you didn’t have to.”

“Please, don’t ever say that,” scoffed Kit, squeezing Dana and smiling when they parted. “You know there’s not much I find more important in life than takin’ care of my favorite girls.”

“Bette,” Dana said her name in somber tones that made the art director jerk her head immediately up to meet their eyes. Dana smiled soft and sadly at Bette then reached down to rest a caring hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’re only pudding.”

Blinking dimly at these words, when they finally registered Bette couldn’t stop herself from laughing and replied, “Thank you, Dana. I’m relieved you consider me to be more than just a mixed substance of powdered sugar, cream, and melted chocolate.”

“No problem,” said Dana, laughing happily and waving to the sisters while she excitedly dashed out the door, weaving her way through the many patrons of The Planet.

The Porter sisters watched her exit wearing matching expressions of wistfulness. Even if they didn’t know precisely what Dana was planning they were sure that Alice would love it. In fact, they were sure they would probably love it too. What woman wouldn’t when the gesture was coming from someone with such sincere and sweet intentions as Dana Fairbanks?

No woman with a romantic soul, that’s what.

—

Alice had barely stepped through the door to her apartment when warm hands covered her eyes and tender lips pressed against the nape of her neck. “Guess who?” a low voice sounded in her ear and she smiled on hearing it.

“The Easter Bunny? Santa? The Toothfairy?” said Alice teasingly, recalling the last time they had played this game. “Has the Toothfairy come to kidnap me and force me to help him build his horrible alter of teeth?”

“Eww,” Dana’s hands fell away and Alice chuckled on seeing the look of scrunched up disgust on the athlete’s face. “Why did you bring up the alter of teeth, Al? You know that freaks me out. I really did think he had that, you know.”

“I know,” said Alice, still chuckling. She tapped the athlete on the nose and said in a secretive whisper, “But what I want to know is this…” When Dana instinctively leaned closer to hear what Alice said next, she continued playfully, “Why are we talking about the Toothfairy as if it is something that actually exists?”

Dana stared at Alice. Silence. Alice stared at Dana. More silence. And then Dana darted forward to grab Alice by the sides and tickle her fiercely. No longer silence but instead a loud burst of hysterical laughter.

When the tickling was all done and Alice was taking deep breaths of air, tucked safely into Dana’s arms, the tennis player said staidly, “It’s better than talking about who would win in a fight: 42 midgets or a lion.”

“God,” Alice chuckled weakly, tired out from the tickling assault and nuzzling Dana’s neck as she snuggled closer. “That was such a weird story wasn’t it? I can’t believe the stuff that goes on with the internet. Wait,” she drawled sardonically, “that’s such a lie. I totally believe it. I’m just surprised by the utter insanity sometimes.”

“Mmm,” murmured Dana thoughtfully. They remained in their embrace, then she ducked her head down, breath warm and tickling Alice’s skin as she said, “I have a surprise for you, Al. But you have to do something to get it.”

“A surprise with strings attached,” Alice remarked moving slightly back but not enough to remove herself from the caring circle of Dana’s arms. Her eyes narrowed in comedic suspicion. “Is this really a surprise I would want?”

“I think so,” Dana said confidently, beaming at Alice.

Intrigued by the steady self assurance in blue eyes and loving the happy twinkle shining out at her, Alice tilted her head then said, “All right. What do I have to do?”

Returning the smile in full force, Dana pulled out a red bandanna from her pocket in a lavishly dramatic gesture and said, “Put this over your eyes.”

“A blindfold?” asked Alice skeptically, staring at the bandanna and then up at Dana. “And why exactly do I need to be wearing a blindfold?” Her expression grew naughty and she chuckled. “Is my surprise that we’re going to be doing some sexual experimentation tonight?”

“Maybe some other time, but no, not tonight,” Dana laughed and moved behind Alice and put the blindfold over her eyes then gently tied it. Once she had it on, she ducked her head to say in Alice’s ear, “How does that feel? Is it too tight?”

“Nope. It’s just right, Mama Bear,” responded Alice humorously.

“I’m not sure I like that pet name,” said Dana as she stood in front of Alice and held up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three,” said Alice in droll tones.

“You can see?” Dana practically yelped in surprise. How could Alice possibly see through that red bandanna? She wrapped it over three times and it was thick enough to be an actual scarf.

“No, I can’t see,” Alice responded and if Dana could see her eyes she was fairly sure they would be rolling. “You always hold up three fingers when you ask that question, Dane. Just like you always start off rock, paper, scissors competitions by being rock. You really do lack variety in your choices sometimes.”

Since she couldn’t see, Alice couldn’t predict the light pinch to her butt that was coming. Though she could jump at it and she could rub her bottom as she pouted while Dana led her out the door. And she could try to use the pinch as guilt trip leverage during their drive to try and get Dana to tell her where they were going.

Not that any of this worked. But all the same, she could.

—

People, people, people, and the screeching of seagulls were the sounds that greeted Alice’s ears when Dana helped her still blindfolded self out of the Subaru. All of the noise made it nearly impossible for Alice to guess where they were but thanks to Dana’s vague responses during her nonstop reporter interrogation on the half an hour drive, she was bursting at the seams to find out. Which was why she was hopping from side to side slightly.

“NOW can I take the blindfold off?” Alice demanded.

Chuckling at her girlfriend’s impatience and loving that her plan seemed to be a good idea thus far, Dana moved to stand behind Alice. She carefully untied the blindfold and when it fell away her hands dropped to the blonde’s waist. Resting her chin on the top of Alice’s head, she studied the journalist’s reaction and tried to gauge her response as best she could. Though it was hard since Alice seemed to be stupefied by the sight of Pacific Park, an amusement park long famous for being the only one on the West Coast to be located on an oceanfront pier.

“Dana?” said Alice, confused and questioning as she turned around to face the athlete.

“I wanted to take you on a date,” Dana supplied an answer to the unspoken question. Her skin heated up and she wondered if this had been a good idea. Maybe Kit was wrong, maybe Alice did like smoothness. Stuff like fancy dinners, expensive clothing, and intellectual conversation. Maybe she wasn’t the person who could give Alice what she had always been wanting. “You planned the last date, our only date,” she said this part wryly. “And I wanted to do something for you…” Trailing off, she looked away from Alice as she went on, “I wanted to show you I love you by doing something that I thought you’d like.” She bit down on her bottom lip and rambled on, “I remembered that you told me once your dad was supposed to take you to a carnival the weekend that he died and how you never got to go since your mom was so busy… I don’t know,” Dana exclaimed in frustration, running her hands through her hair, she looked at Alice anxiously. “This was a bad idea, right? I mean, it is depressing and besides that you probably want a real date. It’s okay, Al. We can go home and get changed then I’ll take you to the Tangier Lounge or–” She found her rush of words soon stopped by the soft press of Alice’s lips against her own, tasting and capturing her in a kiss of pure affection.

“It’s perfect,” Alice murmured in throaty tones, laughing through her tears and kissing Dana again. “This is the perfect date and you’re perfect for even thinking of it.”

“I’m not perfect,” argued Dana softly, reaching out to tenderly stroke Alice’s cheek, smiling when the blonde leaned into her touch. “I’m just in love.”

Smiling sweetly, Alice rose up to kiss Dana again and they parted with muted sighs from them both. Taking the tennis player’s hand in her right hand while absently rubbing the unshed tears from her eyes with her left, Alice took in the sight before them. Frowning thoughtfully, she looked to Dana formed a false expression of solemnity which was given away by the sparkle in her gaze. “What do we ride first?” she asked in grim contemplation. “The roller coaster, the roller coaster, or the roller coaster?”

“Hmmm,” Dana pretended to be in deep thought, tapping her chin and nodding her head. Smiling widely, she looked at Alice then said casually, “I think it has to be the roller coaster.”

“Good choice!” declared Alice happily, swinging Dana’s hand in her own and leading them over to the booth where they could buy their all day unlimited ride wrist bands.

All day because if she had any choice in it, they would be staying here until the place was ready to close. As she took in the way Dana’s eyes glowed, filled with a tender devotion that never failed to take her breath away, Alice knew without a doubt that she felt the same.


To be continued…