Bette looked over at Tina and wrinkled her brow in confusion. ‘What?”

“A run for it. Use your momentum to run over to the hold closest to you.”

Bette thought about the idea of letting go of her foot and hand holds. “Hell no.” She said determinedly.

Tina shrugged, planting her hand inside a crevice and swinging over to a new foot hold. “Hope you like musicals.”

Immediately Bette’s mind flashed to the only musical playing in LA at that moment – ‘Cats.’ She bit down on her anxiety and immediately began to swing back and forth, gaining momentum. She side winded her way over to the hold and finally, on the third try, she got a grip on what she deemed her gravitational salvation.

Bette looked up and saw Tina merely seven feet away from the top. There was no time to lose. She threw her leg over to the nearest hold and hauled herself up quickly, then did the same again and again until she was only a few feet away from Tina. She might make it after all. She had to. Her very humanity depended on it.

Tina knew Bette was close, and decided to give her a slight reprieve. She stopped for a moment, a mere three feet from the top, and looked down at Bette who was right behind her. She smiled, knowing that Bette was freaking out about the musical crack. She had deliberately taken her time with the last fifteen feet, not wanting to show up her companion too badly. After a moment of gazing down at Bette, she decided to end it and grasped the top of the wall, pulling herself up and sitting on top.

“Hey, Bette,” She began again, “I’ve got orchestra seats.”

Tina heard a grunt from Bette and laughed to herself. When Bette reached the last handhold, she decided to call it a day and rappel down. “I’ll meet you at the bottom, baby.” She said to Bette, who was pulling herself up to the top of the wall as Tina stood up and turned around, shimmying her way back down onto the wall. When she looked at Bette, she noticed the beads of sweat running down bronze skin, her lips parted sensuously; her breathing was erratic. The way her nude tank top clung to her torso, hugging her every curve, made Tina stop for a moment and admire the woman who caught her attentions. The moment’s pause was something Tina would soon regret.