Bette Porter

I am doing the dishes as a sentence pops up in my head: I have loved the stars too much to be afraid of the night. Scared that I’ll forget it, I drop everything and get to Tina – where the hell is she?

I search her, all the while repeating the sentence in my head as if it were a mantra. I just can’t forget it, I have to use it in a song. I find her in her room, busy on her laptop. She’s opened the program she uses for her movies and as I get closer, I see she’s working on the “Shore”-project.

She turns around as she senses my presence and smiles. Her face grows worried when she sees my franctic expression.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t help you do the dishes,” she begins. “I just – I had this idea of something I should insert and I was afraid I’d forget -”

“No, I don’t care about the dishes. I just need a pen and paper, quickly.”

“Sure,” she says, opening a drawer of her desk. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

“I got this sentence in my head and I can’t forget it. I wanna use it sometime.”

“Oh,” she hands me the pen and a piece of paper. “Care to share?”

I’m always uncomfortable just saying a sentence – I don’t know why, I’m just too ashamed. So I jot it down and hand her the paper.

“That’s beautiful. It’s… hopeful. How did you come up with it?”

I look away, not able to deal with her compliment. “Just, as I was doing the dishes.”

She gets up, comes to me and snakes her arms around my waist, smiling. She gives me a slow, long kiss and then rests her head against my shoulder, holding me tight.

“You know, you’re really talented. I love you doesn’t come anywhere near to how I feel.”

“There are no words for this, Tee. Trust me, I try over and over again to let you know just how deep my love for you goes, and I never manage to put it in words. It’s driving me insane.”