feeling satisfied, freed, scared, and a little confused Tina rested her body on body on Bette’s and exhaled a lifetime of self loathing. with both of them feeling a little weak they slid down to the ground sitting and wondering what the other was thinking.  ” i’m sorry i really don’t know what to say in this type of situation.”  tina said not knowing what the norm was after a soul shaking ***** was shared between two people.>



” was this your first time?” bette asked as she couldn’t wait for an answer. ” uhh, no not exactly. my first time was with my friend josias. you’re my first time with a girl.” tina said a little scared of bette’s reaction to come. ” on my 15th birthday my dad had to go to reno for business and josias and i had been talking about it, and i decided that with my dad gone that was the perfect time to see what was there if anything was there between us. so we made love and it was beautiful, confusing, and really eye-opening for me, because after that i discovered myself as a *****. he still is my friend today he said he kinda knew but didn’t want to face it, i told him me too.” tina said with a small humorous smile on her face.>



the whole time tina was telling bette about her first time she could only sit and be in awe over the fact that tina was opening herself up to her so willingly. ” baby it’s getting kinda late i think we should get you home, uhh to my place.” bette stumbled as she realized her mistake. ” i think we should get some ice on that to ease the bruise away.” being so caught up in the moment they just shared together tina didn’t even notice the throbbing she felt on her cheek . ” o.k” she replied as they both rose to find their clothes in the light of bette’s car.>



they both got in the car to hear more cuban music. tina had to ask how this georgia born , country girl knew cuban music and spoke spanish so perfectly. ” how is it that you know spanish?” tina asked as the music caressed the night air blowing through bette’s long and recently found out soft hair. ” my mother’s cuban. she was born in cuba where she met my father who was a marine there in training. they had my brother there then they got married. i’m sorry, i’m just rambling on about my family…”  “no, no please continue, i love to hear stories,  i’m a listener not a talker.” tina interrupted before bette could finish with an unnecessary apology.>



” but with my brother being born in cuba they had problems getting back to georgia where my dad’s from. but he did a couple of favors and eventually got them over here.” tina was captured in the beautiful rhythm of storytelling and listening between them. ” my mother believed that posessed a piece of someone’s heart and if you listened hard enough you could see the story in the music. she loved music that’s how my parents met, she was a singer in a night club and hhe walked just to drink and he met and fell in love with the waitress/ singer of the club.”>



bette pulled up to a small house almost cut off rom society. their house was a perfect country, quaint, home for a smalll family. bette tryed to tip toe onto the porch and into the house so as not to awake her father. ” shh he’s probably still asleep.” ” you know damn well i’m not asleep” a deep man’s voice said just as the squeal of the screen door scared tina a little. ” ahh *****. hi daddy.” bette said trying to think of a reason for why tina was there. ” bette baby it’s damn near 4 o’clock in the god damn morning, you could’ve ***** called or something send a ***** pigeon or something you had me scared to death damn it! who’s this?” he asked as he noticed tina trying to hide in the shadows of the living room.>



 ” daddy this is tina, vanessa’s daughter, they got into a fight and she needs a place to stay.” ” did she do that to your face?” melvin asked as he noticed a fresh bruise forming on her face. ” yes.” she replied as the tears began to form again. ” come on in here lets see if we can get that swelling down.” bette exteneded her hand to tina to lead her into the kitchen. she took bette’s hand and hesitantly walked towards a seat that melvin had pulled out for her. she sat down still holding bette’s hand a little scared at first but soon she relaxed. ” god damn it! was she drinking?” melvin asked as he looked bette in the eye and back to tina for an answer. melvin gently rubbed the ice over her bruise ” slihhh” tina said in response to the pain of touching it. ” i’m sorry baby i know it hurts.” melvin said as he gave tina the impression that this was not his first time treating peolpe.>



” i don’t know? she might’ve been. how do you know about her problem?” as the pain on her face seemed like it was searing through her face. ” your momma is one of my patients, i’m her counselor ast the center in town.” ” oh so how long have you been counseling her?” tina felt compelled to ask. ” uhh, bette, baby why don’t you go to bed me and tina need to talk for a while, okay baby. your brother needs you to take him to school in the morning.” ” okay daddy, i’m sorry for not calling, good night tina.” she said as she winked and walked to her room which was on the back of the house.>



melvn took tina into the living room offering her a seat on the couch as he took the chair next to her. ” your mother came to the center about four years ago looking for help when we met. i was a recovering alcoholic and counselor. your mother told me about you and her husband in california about a year into our sessions. she would occasionally mention you but she never wanted to talk in depth about you at all.” the bruise on tina’s face seemed more painful now than it did before. this man who had no connection to her mother knew more about than she ever did. she was completely confused.>



” your mother came into the center one night screaming ” i hit her, i hit her, i hit her so hard!”  i took her into my office to calm her down, that’s when she pulled out a bottle of brandy and a .38. she told everytime she went to sleep she only saw your face, the look you had when she slapped you. this was every night for years. so she told me that she was going to drink the bottle and kill herself that night to stop the visions.” tina began to cry feeling sad for her mother and angry that she might’ve deprived her of a reunion that she might’ve wanted. melvin continued ” your mother was going to do it that night. but there was something that stopped her…