“Tina? You have no idea how glad I am you are here. Please, come in.”

Garret interrupts, completely confused. “Wait – is this her?”

Great, they’ve been talking about me.

“Yeah, why? Isn’t she beautiful?”

I hate it when people talk about me, pretending I’m not there.

“Yeah, but gay,” Garret points out. “And taken,” he says, making a hand gesture towards Bette. Eric winks at me and says: “Not for long. Come in, Tina.”

“No, she’s not going to come in,” Bette says. “You are going to get your slimy ass out of here and we are going to have a talk.”

Garret looks at Eric, clearly having trouble not to laugh at his little brother. Eric, somewhat uneasy, says: “Yeah… sure, whatever.”

He comes out, closing the door behind him. He ignores Bette and immediately turns to me.

“So, Tina, want to go out sometime.”

“Oy!” Bette says. “Wacko! Here,” she waves her hand in front of his face and I can’t help but laugh.

Eric seems annoyed. “What? I am having a conversation here?”

“You’re asking my girlfriend out! Listen, if it depended on me, I wouldn’t come down here just to see your gross face, you butt-licking moron. But as I am sure you are one of those dickheads who doesn’t understand the meaning of gay, I do think I have some explanation to do. Tina here is my girlfriend and therefore you are to keep your dirty slimy hands off her, you fucking asshole! She doesn’t like some things and you happen to have that one she likes least – so get away from her.”

“I do prefer a softer body,” I say. “And softer lips. I only came here to tell you I’m not interested and to ask you not to bother Tuomas anymore.”

Eric looks completely stunned. “Tina, you probably haven’t met the right man. I am sure you will find the right man in me, look at you, you won’t have trouble finding a boyfriend. I’ll show you what a real man is.”

“Didn’t you hear one thing I said, you fucking dwarf?” Bette shouts. “I don’t give a fuck about you, but stay away from her. Save your demented homophobic talk to entertain your jelly-fish family, but I don’t need to here it.” She goes closer to him and says something in his ear. Eric’s face goes pale and I chuckle.