“She kissed me. I didn’t stop it.”

Leaning against the wall’s smooth surface, frozen and straining to hear, Tina fought to rescue her emotional and physical balance.  Questions were swirling in the gale of the night’s affecting events.  Demanding to be voiced and answered. 

At the summit of the mounting inquiries smoldering within, this thought – had she lost Bette to someone else? 

Furthermore, ‘Why’?’ resounded in her head.  Taking a life of its own, willing her to ascertain and unearth. The embedded layers in the single word posed in question would no doubt spill into much more than the limited confines of tonight’s disclosure. 

Nevertheless, though pressing, the temptation to aggressively pursue and interrogate was held in check.  The need to know took precedence. 

Gradually, Tina released an imprisoned breath and rested her worried gaze on the woman in front of her.

“She’s not the reason.  Other people…she…that…isn’t the reason.”  

Tina acknowledged the imperative need to rake through the events and reasons to understand.  To fully comprehend. 

In truth, they both did…and not in terms of an individual effort.  Not anymore. 

It was as if the moment violently stirred both and restored their cadence to accept that reality.   The vital exchange, with the pair drawn in would be tantamount to ascertaining a meaningful tomorrow as a couple. 

“We can’t…I can’t do this.” 

Stunned and trembling, the woman who stood knew that there was more to what she had just heard.  Much more than an immediate rapid questioning – though legitimate and compelling – would be capable of addressing. 

Besides, she believed in her heart that there would be time to uncover the webbed intricacies of the path that led them to this night. 

Later.  The words would follow later.

“I’m not able to watch us disintegrate. I don’t have the strength to confront it.” 

Their story was not over. She knew this with a genuine certainty.  The inimitable kind that was exceedingly discriminating.  One that surfaced at pivotal moments in life.  One that could readily be ignored given the requisite courage to grasp the opening and act.

Tina only hoped her counterpart would recognize this assurance.  That it was enough, on this night to reach Bette.  For them to recapture each other in an embrace offered with the pledge of forever.  A promise shared on a quiet night long ago.