Bette returned to the table from the bar and put down two glasses. Both of them had lost count of the amount of drinks that they’d had in quick succession, but right now it seemed to be the only way to numb their pain. Shane picked up her glass and raised it in the air.

“I would like to propose a toast” her words had begun to slur slightly “to fucking up life beyond repair”

Bette smiled and also raised her glass “To being disowned by pretty much everyone we care about”

“But to still having each other, and perhaps more importantly, alcohol!”

“I’ll drink to that”

The two women chinked glasses and took a long sip of their drinks. They sat in silence for a minute, each contemplating the weight of the situation that they had got themselves into.

“Do you think it’s ever gonna get better?” Shane looked at the older woman opposite her.

“You know what Shane, I’ve been here before, I’ve been the one that everyone avoids, the one that everyone whispers about behind her back. And yes, I came back from that. But this time…I don’t know, maybe I just went too far”

“But how did you get through that?”

“You were a big part of it, you know. You never shut me out, you always tried to still make me feel welcome”

“You know me. A friend is a friend, and you’ve never done anything to hurt me”

Bette smiled softly at Shane. The younger women had been through more so far than most people do in a life time. But her situation now was uncharted territory.

“I have an idea” Bette stood up and walked to the bar, returning with two pieces of paper and two pens. “They’re clearly not going to talk to us. But maybe in time they’ll be at least willing to look at what we have to say”

Shane groaned, but reached over for a piece of paper and a pen. “What the hell do I write?”

“Whatever it is you’d have said to Carmen tonight if she’d let you in”

“I hadn’t really thought about it”

“You mean you turned up without thinking of what to say?” Bette asked incredulously.

“I just thought the words would come when I saw her, Because, you know, things always seem to just make sense when I’m around her”