Bette:  “We barely talk now.  I can’t bring myself to even look at her.  She sickens me.  You know she slept with a man in our bed?”

Stevie raised a brow.

Bette:  “Yeah I slept with someone else but it wasn’t a MAN and I didn’t do it in our home.”

Stevie:  “Does that make it worse?”

Bette:  “Yes….no…I don’t know.  She had her revenge fuck with Helena.  That was just punishment!”

Stevie didn’t know that.

Stevie:  “People don’t have the right to punish anyone.  And using sex as a means is even worse.  But with Tina feeling the way she did, does, do you still think she’s wrong about the whole Angelica thing?”

Bette:  “Maybe not.”

Silence.  The wheels were turning.

Bette:  “I guess I shouldn’t allow my relationship with Tina to keep me from my baby girl.”

LIGHTBULB

Bette:  “I need a drink.”

She got up.

Stevie:  “No you don’t.”

She stopped.

Steviie:  “Sit…please.”

For some reason she did.

Stevie:  “Keep talking.”

Bette:  “I miss her.”

Steviei:  “Fix it.”

Bette:  “Easier said then done.”

Stevie:  “If it was supposed to be easy it would feel as good when you achieved it.”

Bette knew she was right.

Bette:  “I don’t even know where to start.”

Stevie:  “Try a smile.  Goes a long way.  Even when you’re dying inside, smile.”

Bette knew she was right.  Things would never get right until she and Tina could atleast be civil towards each other.

Bette:  “You don’t smile that often.  Why?”

Stevie:  “A smile is a sign of emotion.  I feel emotions should be hidden unless they cannot be contained or used for a purpose.  People are too quick to smile just cuz they think its what your supposed to do.  When I smile it is because I’m conveying true genuine emotion.  Nothing else.”

Bette was floored

Bette:  “How does someone who gives such good advice and has such insight not use it themselves?”

Stevie:  “Demons.”

Bette knew what she meant.  She had a couple of her own.

Bette:  “So now you owe me one.”

Stevie sat silent for a while.  She looked away as she began to speak.

Stevie:  “I like it when you talk to me.  It’s the only time the demons seem not so big.  Not so scary.  When you talk and when I’m here.”

She looked like a little girl in that moment.  Scared and alone.  Bette just nodded. 

Bette:  “So stay.”

She got up and got a blanket and threw it to her.  She turned off the light and started to leave.

Stevie:  “Bette….thank you.”

It was barely a whisper but she heard it.

Bette:  “Your welcome to stay anytime Stevie.  And thank you too.”

TBC