Bette looked up in surprise when she heard someone knocking on the door of her dorm. Louise was out, but it would be very unlike her to be this polite – she would just barge in. Bette couldn’t imagine who this was. Despite her promise to her girlfriend, she hadn’t made any friends yet. Well, she talked to people in her class and there were obviously some people she could imagine herself having a good time with, but she hadn’t reached the level yet where they would just go to each other’s dorms. But she was working on it, trying really hard.

“Come in,” she said – what was she supposed to do?

Needless to say that she was surprised to see her ex-girlfriend in the door frame. She had tried to avoid Emily, even to the point where she would take a much longer tour around the building only to not have to pass the girl’s door. Bette always felt a bit silly about that, but she wanted to avoid a confrontation.

“Emily! What are you doing here?” 

“I was just checking to see if you wanted to have dinner with me. We haven’t been spending any time together and I think that’s a shame. We were such good friends.”

“We were, but then… I mean, we can never have the friendship we had before.”

“Maybe we don’t have to.”

Now Bette was really confused. “What do you mean?”

Emily came in and closed the door behind her, which made Bette feel even more uncomfortable than she already was. Her ex sat down next to her on her bed and placed her hands over hers. Bette tried to sneak her hand away, but Emily was very strong. She leaned closer to whisper in her ear.

“I missed you.”

Bette shifted away from the beautiful young woman next to her. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea… I’m taken, you know.”

Emily didn’t bother to hide her obvious surprise. “I haven’t seen you holding anyone’s hand.”

“She doesn’t attend Yale.” Bette’s mouth was dry and she swallowed. She didn’t want to have to tell Emily she was seeing Tina, she just couldn’t rusk the girl to go all jealous and tell everyone about Bette’s past. She couldn’t bring Tina’s position as a teacher in danger, not when she moved all across the country for her, not when she left everyone behind and changed her life to be with her.