“No I have to go, tell Jenny I had to leave. I’m sorry. I’ll see you guys later.” Alice rushes off in a hurry, tears building up in her eyes. Shane trails after her and stops her a before she gets too far.

Carmen watches from the table as Shane grabs Alice by the shoulders and looks into her eyes. She reaches her hand up and brushes a tear from one of Alice’s eyes and says something to her. Carmen can’t make out what she says but Alice smiles through her tears as Shane pulls her in for a hug. After a few seconds Shane pulls away and looks back into Alice’s eyes.

“Are you going to be okay?” Shane asks.

“Yeah, I will, I’ve just gotta go clear my head. You know what Shane?” Alice puts her forehead up against Shane’s and looks directly into her eyes. “Your heart is so big, and you have so much love inside you. I think it’s about time you let someone else see that.” As Alice finished talking she takes her hand and turns Shane’s head so that she faces Carmen who is looking at her smiling.

“Al, come on….” But as she turns back she sees that Alice is gone.

Shane heads back over to the table and sits down.

“Is everything alright?” Carmen asks.

Shane looks up at the ceiling and says in a low voice, “Yeah. She’s just….. you know, in love or whatever. I just…I really hope she doesn’t get hurt. But I guess that’s what love does right? It hurts.” Shane brings her eyes back down and looks at Carmen.

“It doesn’t always have to hurt Shane.” Carmen can see the fear in Shane’s eyes but she also sees hope. Not wanting to rush the issue Carmen stands up. “Um, I’m gonna go look for Jenny.” She turns around and starts to head through the crowd when she hears Shane.

“Hey, wait, um will you uh, you wanna go get some food sometime…with me?” Shane says so softly that she is startled when Carmen actually turns around. Shane slowly shifts her eyes from the ground up to Carmen’s face. She sees a very puzzled expression. Carmen smiles, “You mean like…on a date?”