//There’s something about the look in your eyes
Something I noticed when the light was just right
It reminded me twice that I was alive
And it reminded me that you’re so worth the fight

My biggest fear will be the rescue of me
Strange how it turns out that way, yeah
Could you show me dear… Something I’ve not seen?
Something infinitely interesting//
Echo by Incubus

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Previously…

“I I- “Dana’s mouth hung open, trying to find and formulate a coherent response to such a simple question. Her face softened and her mouth closed when she realized that the answer was also simple. What happens now that she knows the answer, now, THAT was

“Oh, *****!”

***

Alice looked on as Shane and her girlfriend stood at the bar, talking. Her thoughts of their possible topics of conversation made her almost giddy. *Hmm… what could Dana be up to? …she isn’t usually the sly type… (gasp) maybe it’s a surprise for me! Ech! Al, that is soooo vain… Oh! What day is it?! Maybe I forgot something…*
Carmen, on the other hand, guessing what Dana might wanna talk to Shane about and knowing Dana deserved to have as much privacy as Al got, she tried to look inconspicuous and uninterested. She drank her espresso and pretended to read the Arts section of the evening paper. She almost choked while taking a sip when she realized she’d been holding the newspaper upside-down! Quickly flipping the newspaper to its upright position, she took a quick glance at Alice to make sure she was safe.

Sensing Carmen looking at her, Al tried to see if she might shed some light into the situation. “Hey, Carmen, d’you have any clue what those two are up to?”

Inconspicuous and uninterested. “Huh? …Uh, no…no, I don-”

“Oh, *****!” Her words were cut-off once Alice saw Dana’s actions. “Did she just hold up three fingers?!” Carmen turned to the pair at the bar, smacking both of them on the head in her mind for not going somewhere more private. Alice put her book down and started to freak out, “*****, Carmen, she’s telling Shane, isn’t she? She’s telling her what I said and she’s telling her why she can never tell me back… this is soooo not good.”

Carmen had been watching Dana and Shane while Alice spoke and she couldn’t agree more. “I think you’re right Al. THAT is soooo not good.” Alice followed her pointed finger aimed at the dance floor when she said this and could not believe her eyes. Neither could Carmen believe her feet when she found herself walking towards the bar to Shane and Dana. Suddenly, giving the two of them some privacy was not the utmost of her concerns.

Shane had turned around to follow Dana’s line of sight, spotting immediately exactly what Dana looked so dumbfounded about, and could not help but echo Dana’s words with a little more eloquence.

“Holy, *****’ *****!”

Dana and Shane stood side by side at the bar, both with their hands hanging limply at their sides, both with glassy stares in their eyes. On the dance floor, a mere fifteen feet away from them, there was Howie Fairbanks, the brother of a *****-professional-tennis-player, dancing with a man. A very ***** man. A very ***** Howie, dancing with a very ***** man. These were the words swimming through Dana’s mind repeatedly. She could not believe the implications of the sight she saw before her. She hadn’t decided yet whether this was necessarily good or bad, but she knew for sure that it was weird. Which is why she could not believe that her feet were slowly making their way towards the middle of the dance floor. Dana glanced back nervously, expecting Shane to be half a step behind her. She nearly panicked once she saw Shane, still standing by the bar, quietly explaining the current situation to Carmen and Alice.

Her Alice. Everything froze for a second… but then Dana silently rebuked herself. She needed to talk to Howie, now! Her issues with Al would have to wait until she figured this out. Putting on her best resolved face, she marched up to Howie and his dance partner.

“Howie! What the ***** are you doing?!” She asked steely, already knowing the answer to her question. But it didn’t seem to phase Howie. Damn the Fairbanks stubborn spirit!

“Hey, Dane! I’m dancing, having fun, enjoying Pride.” Howie said coolly, as if he were answering a simple question. Seeing the if-looks-could-kill stare on Dana’s face, he admitted to himself that, perhaps, he did have a little bit of explaining to do.

Damn straight, he has some explaining to do! It’s been a mere three months since Dana came out, and her little brother is celebrating Pride and flaunting his *****-self publicly?! “How, I cannot believe you! Is this another one of your little stunts? …something to tease me with about being *****… well, congratulations, because this looks pretty ***** real!”

“But. Dane, this IS real” Howie made sure to emphasize his words so Dana wouldn’t miss a beat. “I’m, I’m not pretending or just doing this to bug you.”

No matter what crazy stunt Howie would pull in the past, Dana always seemed to know when he was being serious and when he wasn’t. Looking in his eyes, Dana could see there was no fire of mischief lurking behind his baby blues. A slight bit of apprehension and insecurity, maybe, but no hint at all that he was lying. Dana groaned internally. She could almost see all the explaining she was sure to be expected to do, both to their parents AND the rest of the world! Recalling the incident of *her* coming out to her parents, Dana decided she’d rather face the rest of the world.

Howie’s face softened to one that a certain big sister could never say “no” to. “Okay, okay. Dane, I know you’ve got tons and tons of questions and, well, one main one probably but it’s Pride, Dane. Please, please, please, can we talk about this tomorrow? I promise I’ll make it up to you” he begged. Dana remembered what it was like for her when she first discovered she was ***** and felt a pang of pain on her side at recalling how lonely and hurt she felt then. Howie shouldn’t have to feel that way. He was a royal dork sometimes, but he was still her little brother. *My very ***** little brother.* She couldn’t get that phrase out of her head!

Dana relented. “Okay, okay. But tomorrow!” she said, putting a bit of the edge back in her voice, wagging a finger at him. But Howie was only too happy to mind.

“Aw! Thanks, big sis!” he gave her a genuinely tight hug and looked over her shoulder when he saw movement there. “Uh it seems you’ve got your hands full anyway.” He whispered to her ear and motioned for her to look behind her.

Only ten feet away, and becoming progressively less, Lara Perkins was walking towards her and Howie at the dance floor. There was no question as to where she was headed. She’d spotted Dana and was bee-lining towards her. Dana had hoped to slink away, unnoticed, with Howie but he had beat her to it and was now beyond her reach in the middle of the crowded dance floor. She really was not ready to talk to Lara right now and continued to look around the Planet for anyone who could save her. She’d just started scanning the bar when she felt a familiar scent tickle her nose: Vanilla. And vanilla meant Alice.

“Hey, hottie, you lookin’ for someone?” Alice teased as she put her arms around Dana’s waist from behind and whispered in her ear. Dana leaned into her embrace, surprised to see that Lara was still headed towards them.

“Hey, Dana. Hey, Alice.” Lara said brightly. Dana was even more surprised to hear what Lara said next. “Oh, Al, you didn’t mention you and Dana were together. Remember when you saw me and Gabby..? Oh! That’s so good for you guys.” Lara said, a surprisingly genuine ring in her voice. Alice was glad she had her arms around Dana because, otherwise, she would not have had anything anchoring her from falling flat on her face on the floor. Before she could recover the deer-on-headlights look on her face, Dana chimed in her response.

“Hi Lara uh, what do you mean Al didn’t mention you, you two saw each other?” Dana asked, a nice mixture between curious and confused in her voice. She alternated glances between the two women. At seeing the look on Alice’s face, the steely tone returned in Dana’s voice and, even though she was talking to both women, her words were only really directed at Alice. “When did you see Lara and Gabby? Did you guys catch-up or something Did you talk about, oh I don’t know, your radio show? People you started dating? Words you started saying?!”

Dana didn’t really know where all this anger was coming from. So, if Alice saw Lara and Gabby at the Planet and didn’t mention it to her, so what? Why would it be a big deal? *The big deal is she didn’t tell me.* Dana explained to herself in a huff. Since their “let’s not be friends with our exes” talk, Dana had begun to have the impression that, when it came to Lara, Alice was not the most confident in her relationship with Dana. Whenever she recalled telling Al that maybe she *could* be friends with her ex, she mentally berated herself for saying something so idiotic to her girlfriend. Then again, it didn’t give Alice any excuse to try to hide this from her. It hurt Dana that Alice would feel too insecure to even tell Lara and Gabby that they were now a couple. But what’s more is that it frustrated her. *Why didn’t Al tell them about us? Wait, is she ashamed of me? but what she told me yesterday *****! You know what. Forget Lara. Forget Howie. …well, for now, anyway Al and I need to talk.*

“Alice, we need to talk. NOW.” With her resolved face on again, Dana grabbed Alice’s hand, totally oblivious of Lara’s presence and confusion at this point, and dragging her girlfriend with her, she walked briskly out of the Planet. Momentarily forgetting that Howie was now officially *****. Forgetting that she’d left Shane and Carmen clueless as to what was going on. And forgetting that she’d left her car keys on the table.


TBC