Chapter 2

Bette stood near the bar as she sipped her martini, straining to hear Kit shouting over the loud music.

“Baby Sis, I’m shocked you removed your scrawny ass from your gallery just for dinner,” Kit put her empty glass on the bar signaling for the bartender to refill it with ice water.

“I actually forgot to eat lunch so I have no choice.”

“Please,” Kit chuckled. “You know you love the food here.”

“I love the company more,” Bette smiled at her sister as she sipped her martini again and scanned the crowd for any sign of Tina. “I thought Tina would be here by now.”

“Didn’t you leave at the same time?”

“I thought they left ahead of me,” Bette said worried. “I had to stop out back and grab some paperwork to bring home with me.”

“Burning the midnight oil?”

“Believe me, it isn’t by choice.”

“What’s going on?” Kit asked looking worried.

“Tina’s not sleeping well.”

“Ah so she’s keeping you up?”

“Well I manage to make the most out of the sleepless nights,” Bette said placing her empty martini glass on the bar. “I’ve been scanning catalogs looking for my next show.”

Kit laughed and shook her head at Bette’s statement, which would have been a very different one earlier in her life.

“What’s so funny?”

“You,” Kit simply said. “There’d have been a time when you’d be up for other reasons besides work.”

“Yeah well we’ve been informed, on more then one occasion, that your niece would like us to stock acid for her eyes when Tina and I even quickly kiss in front of her,” Bette topped off her statement with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

“She’s in that stage.”

“When does it end so I can claim my house back?”

“You have a 14 year old Bette, get used to it, you won’t have your house back for a long time.”

Tina walked into The Planet searching the growing crowd for any sign of Bette. When she pulled into the parking lot, she spotted Bette’s car immediately and rolled her eyes at the speed in which she must have driven to beat her to The Planet.

“I can’t believe she beat us here,” Alice said from behind Tina.

Tina’s eyes scanned the dining area looking for Bette. Once she confirmed Bette wasn’t sitting at a table waiting for them, she quickly glanced at the counter near the register where Kit spent most of her evening surveying the crowd.

“I’m starved and look how crowded it is,” Alice whined. “I seriously hope Kit has a table reserved for us.”

“Why don’t you make a point to eat during the day and you wouldn’t be so hungry?” Kristen questioned as she held onto Alice’s hand weaving through the crowd.

“I do eat!”

“Coffee is not a meal,” Kristen retorted.

“Please, it has its own food group at the bottom of the pyramid! It’s essential to get through the day.”

The group continued to follow Tina as her eyes, once again, searched the room for Bette. Tina smiled finally seeing her leaning against the bar talking to Kit. Her back was turned toward the entrance giving Tina an opportunity to sneak up on her. She quickly passed through the crowds of people in an effort to reach the small spot near the bar where Bette stood.

A smile graced Kit’s face as she saw Tina approaching them with a hint of mischief in her eyes. Tina quickly wrapped her arms around Bette’s waist and kissed the back of her neck eliciting a smile from Bette as she attempted to turn around in Tina’s arms to face her.

Tina held her there and kissed her once more before resting her chin on Bette’s shoulder.

“Hey Babe,” Bette turned her head to make eye contact with Tina and smile, happy to feel a sense of security in Tina’s arms given her current worries regarding the gallery.

“Hey,” Tina smiled back at her and then turned her attention to Kit. “Hey Kit, I’ve missed you.”

“I know that feeling,” Kit leaned forward and kissed Tina on her cheek. “Your table’s ready but you weren’t here yet so we were just catching up.”

“How did I beat you here when I had to stop in the back to pick up some work?” Bette asked as the rest of the group approached them and greeted Kit.

“You had an intriguing visitor,” Tina arched her eyebrow to be mysterious about the appearance of Megan Freedman. “She had a captive audience in Alice and Shane so we didn’t leave right away.”

“Who was it?”

“You’ll never guess,” Tina challenged as she held onto Bette tighter. Her breasts brushed against Bette’s back in an intimate fashion making Bette distinctly aware of her body’s reaction to Tina being so close.

“Really?” Bette arched her eyebrow and turned around to face Tina. “You can spare me trying and just tell me who it was.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Alice asked as she danced in place to the new music the DJ began to play.

“It would save us a lot of time,” Bette pointed out as she allowed her thumb to caress Tina’s thigh through the material of her pant leg.

“Why don’t we all go sit and we can resume this riveting discussion at the table?” Kit suggested as she began to maneuver through the crowds of people to a reserved table in the back where it was quieter.

“How was the rest of your day?” Bette asked as she walked hand in hand with Tina to the table.

“I was able to keep Helena reasonably reeled in regarding the budget.”

“Well miracles do happen,” Bette chuckled.

“How was yours?”

“I’m exhausted actually,” Bette said as she stifled a yawn.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Bette said as she pulled Tina’s chair out for her and sat down next to her, unfolding her napkin and laying it in her lap. “I chose to stay there.”

“Stay where?” Alice asked as she sat down at the table next to Kristen.

“In bed,” Bette said as she began to look over the menu.

“Why would you get out of bed?”

“Tina’s not sleeping well,” Bette informed the table.

“What’s going on Tina?” Alice probed desperate to be involved in the conversation.

“I’m just having trouble sleeping.”

Tina decided on her dinner choice and folded the menu, laying it back on the table as she began to sip her ice water.

“Something on your mind?”

“Not really,” Tina shrugged the conversation off not wanting to be reminded that the last week she hadn’t slept once through an entire night. “Can we just change the subject away from my sleeping habits before it stresses me out and causes me not to sleep once again tonight?”

“Let’s talk about Bette’s visitor then,” Alice smiled in Bette’s direction. “I’m sensing a story there.”

“It’s a good thing you only do fluff pieces these days,” Bette mocked her from their earlier conversation. “I’d almost be worried that it would end up in some magazine.”

“Oh she’s already in a magazine,” Alice shot back happy to see a confused look grace Bette’s face.

“Who was it?”

“Megan Freedman,” Tina said as she watched Bette’s face for her reaction.

“Megan Freedman?” Bette seemed genuinely shocked to hear Megan’s name.

“You never told me how stunning she was,” Tina said as she folded her arms with a forced smile on her face.

“I wouldn’t have described her as stunning when we were in touch.”

“Is that what we’re calling it these days?” Tina asked, again forcing a smile to keep the conversation light.

“What were we calling it before so we can all know the exact nature of Bette’s relationship with Megan back in the day?” Alice asked.

“She slept with her when she had her first gallery and wanted to book her for a show,” Tina informed the group.

“You slept with that woman?” Dana asked shocked at the prospect. “Just for a show?”

“It was long ago,” Bette defended herself.

“You never told us this!” Alice said shocked at the piece of news. “How could you keep something like this from us?”

“I wasn’t keeping it a secret,” Bette said in her defense. “Tina knew.”

“Did she tell you?” Alice asked Kristen.

“No,” Kristen said taking a sip of water to avoid the conversation altogether.

Tina felt a sudden wave of insecurity wash over her and she grabbed Bette’s thigh under the table as tears began to glisten her eyes. Bette looked over and saw Tina’s expression change as her fingers dug deep into Bette’s thigh.

“Why are we even discussing Megan Freedman?” Bette began to attempt to end the conversation.

“Because she was absolutely stunning and graced your gallery door after all this time,” Alice stated as if it were the obvious. “You even have to admit that’s a bit strange.”

“It’s not that odd, we’re colleagues. She’s an artist and I own a gallery.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what she wants?” Dana asked.

“No,” Bette stated emphatically. “I have bigger issues to be concerned with then an old friend stopping by to say hello.”

“What’s going on?” Kristen asked sensing Bette’s tension earlier that evening as well.

“Well for starters you should have seen the swatch of fabric that Angelica was trying to pass off as a shirt today for school.”

“Which one was it?” Tina asked concerned with the elaboration of Bette’s morning.

“Some half shirt thing that showed her bellybutton.”

“It’s the style,” Alice pointed out.

“Our daughter isn’t going to dress like that at her age,” Bette said sternly.

“Um Porter?” Alice began to challenge her friend in a delicate manner. “The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.”

“Meaning?”

“We’ve all seen you and Tina wear that style,” Kit laughed. “She’s not doing anything you aren’t.”

“We’re older,” Tina pointed out. “She’s only 14 years old!”

“Do as I say not as I do kinda thing?” Alice mocked.

“She had your boots on too.”

“What?” Tina frowned in Bette’s direction not pleased with her daughter raiding their closet. “Which ones?”

“The smaller heeled ones,” Bette smiled despite trying to hold it in after seeing Tina’s reaction. “And by smaller heel I mean about 3 inches instead of the 4 inch ones you’re wearing.”

“You let her wear them? Those are my good boots!”

“I picked my battles,” Bette said. “Her showing as much skin as she was quickly became more important then your boots.”

“Remind me to have a talk with her when we pick her up about asking before she rummages through our closet.”

“We have to chat with her anyway,” Bette said. “I promised we’d talk about the permission slip she wanted me to sign.”

“What for?” Shane asked curious about Angelica’s actions.

“A dance that some boy invited her to.”

Tina rubbed her head as she attempted to ward off a headache threatening to break though as the discussion of Angelica continued.

“Whoa,” Shane spoke up. “She’s a little young to be dating boys.”

“Not at this age,” Helena pointed on the menu to her selection for the waitress to take her order while she continued speaking. “I remember it was around this time that my daughter started finding boys attractive and they noticed her.”

“We’re not ready!” Bette said louder then she meant to.

“That doesn’t matter,” Helena smiled at her friends. “She’s at that stage where it’s all about her and that, unfortunately, includes dating. Whether you’re ready or not is the least of her concerns.”

“Way too young,” Shane said as she took a large sip of her beer to calm her nerves.

“It’s ok,” Bette leaned back so the waitress could put her salad in front of her. “I’ve already won ‘most unfair mom of the year’ this morning by not signing it without a discussion so I’ll just stick with that answer since the damage is already done.”

“You had tough competition,” Tina began to joke. “I was up for that award too. I just can’t determine where I lost it other then allowing her to undermine me by stealing my boots.”

“That’s why I let her have them,” Bette started to chuckle. “It sealed a win for me.”

“So how are you going to break it to her?” Dana asked curious about the pending discussion.

“Simply say no and remind her that we’re the parents,” Bette said.

“We need to make it quick given how tired I am,” Tina added. “This is the last thing I want to do when we get home.”

“What?” Alice began to tease Tina. “Fighting with Angelica about dating isn’t on the top of your ‘fun things to do’ list?”

“Let’s just enjoy our dinner and worry about Angelica later,” Bette suggested as she dug into her salad ending the conversation. “The dance isn’t tonight so at least we know for the moment we’re safe from her getting into trouble.”

Alice laughed as she launched into the story of her first dance in high school and how she had spiked the punch on a dare from a friend. The sinking feeling in Bette’s stomach grew worse with each sentence spilling out of Alice’s mouth.


Angelica bounced off Cathy’s bed and began to pace the length of the room as Cathy and Renee followed her every move with their eyes.

“These plans are lame you guys,” Angelica whined as she began to put pressure on herself to develop a feasible plan to allow her to attend the dance with Darren. “I’ve got to come up with something that impresses them with my maturity so they’ll allow me to go.”

“Why not have Darren meet them?” Renee asked.

“Maybe we need to work on plans to reverse what you’ve done?” Cathy suggested.

“Are you joking?” Angelica asked in a surprised voice. “The goal is to go to the dance Cathy!”

“I’d just tell Darren that something came up and your moms are making you do something else.”

“Let’s focus on getting me to that dance,” Angelica tried to steer the focus back to her original objective. “Meeting them is not an option because once Mama B sees him, she’ll say no for sure.”

“Even if you go to the dance, do you think they’ll let you go out after with him?”

“That part is easy,” Angelica smiled. “I’ll tell them that I’m staying here with you and you tell your mom you’re staying at my house. Nobody will question it when we don’t show up at our houses.”

“This has disaster written all over it,” Cathy said as she buried her head in a pillow on her bed.

“Darren wants all of us to hang at a hotel party that he knows of after,” Angelica informed her friends.

“Where are we going to sleep if we’ve lied and told our parents that we’re staying at all these different places?” Cathy asked.

“At the hotel.”

“Oh God no,” Cathy said feeling nauseous. “I’m not staying at a hotel with a boy!”

“Why not?”

“I’m not ready for that step,” Cathy said in a hushed tone.

“Nobody says something has to happen,” Angelica shot back. “We’ll all be together so it’s not like anything could happen even if they want it to.”

“I’m with Cathy,” Renee said. “This isn’t a good idea. I’m ok with the dance and hanging at the hotel for a bit, but I think we need to come home instead of sleeping there.”

“Would your parents let us come home early in the morning?” Angelica challenged Renee. “Whoever has parents that will allow us to come home after midnight is where we should stay then.”

When Angelica’s statement was met with silence her point was easily made.

“Given that none of us have those parents, we need a Plan B.”

“There aren’t enough letters in the alphabet for your plans Angelica.”

The conversation was interrupted when Cathy’s mom knocked on the door to announce Bette had arrived to take Angelica home. Cathy opened the door as Bette came walking down the hallway toward Cathy’s bedroom. Angelica began to pack her books into her backpack, pretending they had done homework.

“Hey Boo,” Bette smiled as Angelica met her in the doorway with her backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Hi,” Angelica smiled back attempting to soften Bette for the pending conversation.

“You ready?”

“Always,” Angelica turned around to say goodbye to her friends.

“I say back out,” Cathy whispered as they hugged goodbye.

“I’ll call you or IM their answers,” Angelica whispered back.

“My God you’ve spent all day together,” Bette said desperate to get home and fall into bed. “What more could you have to say?”

“Fine,” Angelica shot back. “I’m ready.”

Angelica and Bette walked out of the house and made the short journey from Cathy’s house to their home in relative silence.

“Nothing new at school?” Bette asked as the trip was almost over.

“Nope,” Angelica answered quickly.

“Cheerleading going ok?”

“The best,” Angelica genuinely smiled at the mention of her extracurricular activity. “We have a ton of new routines to learn though before the season starts and we’re auditioning for one more person to be added to the squad.”

“You’ll get it done.”

“No doubt,” Angelica shot back as Bette pulled into the driveway.

Angelica quickly ran inside and dropped her backpack near the door startling Tina who was standing in the kitchen pouring a glass of ice water.

“Nice boots,” Tina said sarcastically as a greeting alerting Angelica that she was aware that they were missing.

“Sorry,” Angelica offered as a lame apology.

“How was school?”

“It was ok,” Angelica said moving out of the doorway when Bette opened the door to enter the house. “I wasn’t happy how it started.”

“The shirt or the permission slip?” Tina challenged.

“Kinda both I guess.”

“Which one do you want to talk about first?” Tina asked as Bette dropped her briefcase and sat down on the couch to relax.

“The dance.”

“Go ahead,” Tina walked over to the couch and sat down next to Bette.

Bette grabbed Tina’s water out of her hand and took a small sip before handing it back to her and focusing her attention on Angelica sitting across from them.

“Promise me you’ll hear me out?” Angelica asked.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Tina answered.

“Mama B?”

“No,” Bette frankly answered. “I can’t promise that.”

“See!” Angelica allowed her temper to rise to the surface regarding Bette’s attitude toward the dance. “You won’t even hear me out so why am I bothering?”

“Bette,” Tina scolded her and shot her a look to ensure she understood her job was to hear Angelica out and consider her arguments regarding attending the dance.

“Fine,” Bette conceded. “Go ahead, I’ll listen.”

“Everyone’s going,” Angelica began but frowned at the look that crossed Bette’s face. “What now?”

“We aren’t everyone’s mothers, we’re yours. Make an argument on why we should let you go. I don’t care what everyone else is doing.”

“Mom,” Angelica looked at Tina pleading with her to intervene. “She won’t even listen.”

“Mama B is listening,” Tina said as she nudged Bette. “Be nice and listen to what she has to say Bette.”

“I was invited by a nice boy,” Angelica began her argument once more. “He’s a good student, on the football team, and if I don’t go I’ll look like a total loser.”

“How old is he?” Tina asked as she ran her fingertips up and down Bette’s arm absentmindedly while she listened to Angelica talk.

“Older.”

“How much older?”

“He’s a junior,” Angelica admitted the truth thinking that would be the best plan to begin with.

“My answer is no,” Bette quickly interjected. “He’s too old and there’s no reason but one that I can think of that a junior would ask a freshman to a dance.”

“We’re captains of the teams! He is the captain of the football team and I’ve been elected as captain of the cheerleading squad so it makes sense that we’d hook up.”

“That makes it worse!” Bette’s body tensed at the thought of Angelica being interested in an older boy.

“Why?”

“Because this isn’t some Ken and Barbie high school fantasy,” Bette mocked Angelica’s situation causing tears to spring to her eyes. “He is way too old for you and I’m sorry but I am not giving you permission to go to the dance with him.”

“You are so unfair!” Angelica yelled as she jumped up out of the chair with tears running down her face.

“Angelica,” Tina started to talk calmly. “He is a little old for dating you. If it were a boy your age then we’d consider it.”

“Why am I being punished because a nice boy asked me out and happens to be older and I told you the truth about it?”

“You’re not being punished Angie,” Tina tried to explain. “At your age the gap between a freshman and a junior is too wide for us to feel comfortable. You’re too young to date someone 2 or 3 years older then you when you’re 14.”

“That makes no sense!”

“How about just accepting no as our answer then?” Bette asked.

“You’re so unfair!” Angelica’s tears stopped as she moved to her new Plan B. “Fine I won’t go but don’t expect me to sit around here that night and play all happy about it! I’m going to Cathy’s then to sleep over!”

Angelica walked away shocked that Bette had allowed her to assert herself regarding the sleep over, which was a cover for her going to the dance. Angelica knew that likely, Tina had her hand on Bette’s arm to stop her from following her to her bedroom. Angelica knew that Bette and Tina genuinely liked Cathy and had no issue with Angelica spending time with her. It would be the perfect cover.

Angelica closed the door and quickly typed a text to Cathy about what had happened. She ignored the return text as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

“It’s settled then,” Angelica whispered to herself. “Honesty isn’t always the best policy if you want to go to a dance. I just have to make sure that they don’t find out.”

Tina allowed her head to fall back on the couch, frustrated and exhausted from the day’s activities. She looked to the side where Bette sat doing the same thing, except she was looking at the ceiling.

“That was disastrous,” Tina pointed out.

“I’m not wrong.”

“I never said you were Babe,” Tina agreed. “Your approach wasn’t the best, but ultimately you aren’t wrong.”

“Thank God someone sees it from my side.”

“I do,” Tina laid a hand on Bette’s thigh casually stroking Bette’s thigh in an effort to be close to her.

“Careful there,” Bette joked as Tina became bold, allowing her hand to travel upward. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

“Who says I can’t finish?”

“We’re both exhausted,” Bette reminded Tina.

Tina got up and headed to the bedroom with Bette quickly on her heels turning lights off on the way.