“Bette, are you alright?”

Bette stopped short, turning quickly and easily in the loose sand.

“Am I alright? Your ex comes up to you and tries to get you back, and you expect me to just be okay?” Bette yelled at the blonde, her temper flaring.

“Yes. It’s not like I flirted with him or anything.”

“No, Henry. Wait. Don’t be like this. Please.” Bette mocked, turning away in disgust and continuing to walk. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was angry, she knew she had no reason to be, but for some reason, she couldn’t just get over it. This guy had… well… irked her in a way she couldn’t describe. He was sleazy, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last she had seen of him.

”Bette.” Tine whispered softly, tears forming in her eyes. Why was Bette doing this? What had she done wrong?

Bette paused, looking back slightly over her shoulder, the sunset tinting the blonde’s skin and hair so she looked like she was glowing. She shook her head and continued her walk.

Carmen glanced at her phone. One message. From Shane. She was frozen, staring at the screen, until it’s backlight dropped away, snapping her back to reality. She hit the call button, raising the phone to her ear.

“Please enter your password.” A crisp female voice requested.

Before she could finish entering the code, her cell phone beeped, indicating the waiting call from Alice.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.” Alice’s sad voice wafted over the speaker.

Carmen sighed, sitting on the steps.

“Hey, Al. What do you need?” the Latina asked.

“A place to stay.” Alice replied, voice trembling slightly.

“Fine. You know where I live?” Carmen acquiesced.

“I’m waiting there now.” Alice admitted.

“I’ll be there soon.” She hung up just when her phone rang again. “What the fuck…?” She picked it up. “Hello?”

“I lost him.”

“Huh?”

“Gabriel, I fucking lost him, he fucking left!”

“Shane, baby, what’s wrong?” Carmen asked, alarms going off in her head as she stood.

“Gabriel…” her voice was quivering slightly. “Gabriel’s gone.”

“Hey, Dana.”

Dana glanced up at the redhead in the kitchen.

“Hi.” She replied, smiling weakly and collapsing onto the couch.

“I-I’m really sorry about all this, I…”

“Don’t be sorry, be honest.” Dana requested, staring up into Lara’s eyes. “What happened to you?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay.” Dana said, standing up and walking to the door. She pulled it open. “Then when you finally are ready to tell, you can tell it to Herbie. He lives on the street. Like you.”

Lara winced, this wasn’t the Dana she was used to, the kind, caring, infinitely patient one. This was a side of her she’d never seen before.

“O-okay. Fine. I… It was my father. When I came out.”

“I thought you were out and proud.” Dana stammered, taken aback.

“Yeah, well, it’s easy to be out and proud when your parents live on the other side of the country. But it was you, Dana, that made me want to come out to my parents. Unfortunately, they didn’t take it very well.”

“I’m so sorry, Lara.” She pulled her into a hug, waiting two seconds before quickly pushing her away. Strictly acquaintance from now on. “Here’s $500.00.” Dana stated, pulling out her checkbook and writing out a $500.00 check. “It should get you a stay in a nice hotel for a few days while you look for a place to live. By the way, whatever happened to your place?” Dana asked, tearing off the check and handing it to Lara all the while ushering her out the door.

“I got evicted. They’re tearing down the building.”

“Oh, that’s so sad. Bye.” She slammed the door in her ex-lover’s face and locked it, running over to the phone to call Alice.