Every day the two women took breaks together for a short walk around the library and talked literature and music, turning books into movies, the passion in words; they argued their points on feminism while agreeing to the overall tenets of what it is to be a feminist; they discussed art galleries in New York City, and Bette’s plan to go to Business School while the cold air rejuvenated them.  Inside, Gail would continue her work while Bette told herself to get those papers written.  Gail was a huge distraction.

At the beginning of the semester, Bette was sure she’d breeze through the term with only papers to write instead of tests.  It was nearing finals’ week, and she’d barely made a dent in those papers.  She’d spent the last two weeks thinking only of Gail.  They’d sit as they had for the past few weeks in the Rare Book Collections room alone.  Gail would write and write and write while Bette watched her.  Gail had the habit of placing the tip of her finger in her mouth when she was thinking and Bette was drawn to that digit.  She couldn’t stop thinking about what kind of lover Gail might be or how her face looked when as Gail had said, she ‘ate out a woman.’  Soon, Bette was fantasizing about that touch and how she wanted to experience it, but it was not Ash’s masterful fingers and tongue that made her surrender, but Gail’s. 

It had turned into a strange December.  Bette was dreaming about Gail and would wake up flushed and excited.  She continued to turn Ash down several times when he tried to get physical.  Ash told himself that she was right—it was finishing term papers and applying to grad schools that were taking their toll on her. 

While Bette was soaking up this new knowledge and hanging on Gail’s every comment about writing and authors, Ash was trying to decide how he’d propose—something public, something private.  Bette was private, but he was outgoing.  He loved attention and the more people involved in his proposal, the more fun it would be.  He knew Bette wouldn’t see it that way.  She could be cool, somewhat remote.  He assumed that she’d want candlelight at a romantic restaurant or at their favorite park or maybe in front of Undine Rising from the Waters, the sculpture where they first met.  He opted for the traditional.  He’d drop to his knee and ask if she’d be his wife.