Chapter Nine:

The only reason that Tina woke was because of her cell phone ringing. She threw her arm over her eyes to shield herself from the sun as she blindly reached for the device. As soon as she grasped it, she lifted it to her ear and muttered a ‘hello’ in an extremely groggy voice.

“Finally, you’re awake.” Bette said, in a slightly sarcastic voice.

“Huh? What time is it?” Tina rolled onto her side in an attempt to see the clock, but she had no success. She rolled back into her previous position and closed her eyes.

Bette laughed softly, “It’s approaching one in the afternoon, Tee. You slept for ages. How are you this morning? Are you planning on getting up anytime soon?”

With a little reluctance, Tina pushed her body into a sitting position and leant against the headboard. Instead of answering any of Bette’s questions, she asked her own: “Bette, why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You had one of those dreams again. They’re becoming more frequent, Tee, maybe you should… talk to somebody?” Bette said quietly – hesitantly.

It had been just over a month since Tina had the first nightmare. That one had been the worst. Ever since then, she was having them every other night but fortunately, they didn’t wake her up nor were they as vivid.

“Did I wake you up when I had one?” Completely ignoring Bette’s suggestion, Tina didn’t want to talk to anybody.

“No, you didn’t.” Bette lied, “Are you getting out of bed now? Alice invited us out tonight, if you’re up for it…”

“I’m not bed-ridden, Bette.” She threw back, whilst scrambling out of bed to prove her point. “But, I’m not sure that I want to go out.”

Tina could hear the smile in Bette’s voice as she replied: “Perfect. I’ll be home in a couple of hours. Bye Tee.”

Before she had the chance to say goodbye, the line went dead. Tina threw the phone onto the bedside cabinet and wandered into the bathroom to shower. She knew that Bette wanted to spend some time together because until recently, Tina had been wrapped up in her work.