Tina woke, with the sun streaming in through the blinds.

She lay there a moment going over the previous night in her head.

They had eaten, drank and laughed. She had never known people like Shane, Alice and Kit. They were all so different, and if you put them all on paper including Bette, you would never place them as friends.

But Tina had discovered that they knew each other like friends should, they had stories funny and sad to tell about each other. They would finish each other’s sentences. They shared each others food.

If anything it was a learning curve for Tina. She had her own friends, Loo and Fred (short for Fredrica) and they knew each other well, and had been friends for over 10 years, meeting in university, the girls had felt an immediate bond with their other dorm room mates. But Tina felt at a loss. They didn’t have the ease of the women last night, surrounding that dinner table. They didn’t have the knowing what the other was thinking just by a look. Tina wondered if it was her? Had she stopped herself getting too close to Loo and Fred? She had always felt like the third wheel. Being the late bloomer. Being the sensible one. Fred was the looker, the one that got all the dates with guys and girls. Never short of a date, up for anything, anything for a laugh that was her phrase back in uni. Then there was Loo, she was the moody, broody one of the bunch. The one that swore a lot, did drugs, and smoked like the proverbial chimney. She was always the one that encouraged Fred to complete the dares, however dangerous and stupid.

Tina: (then there was me! The straight laced one, I always did as I was told, always handed assignments in on time)

Back in uni, they were inseparable, Tina always looking up to the other 2 wishing she could be more like them. The other 2 taking Tina under their wings showing her what there was in the world. That was when Tina got her first taste of being a lesbian.

She remembers Fred and Loo arguing back at their dorm senior year. Tina had walked in half way through the argument.