“Here,” she said, pouring me a glass and handing it over to me, “To. Urm. Funny parties and complete strangers!”

“To funny parties and complete strangers,” I echoed.

Half way through the bottle, she turned to me and asked, “What is your name?”

“Chloe,” I replied.

“Chloe,” she said, “You have a…” she hiccupped, “…a very beautiful mask.”

“Thank you.”

“Pretty feathers,” she smiled, turning her glass upside down, “One more for me! More wine!”

She reached for the bottle and accidentally knocked it over, “Oh shit, I dropped the wine. Now we have to drink off the floor,” she said as she burst into laughter and fell onto the bed beside me.

Behind her mask, her eyes looked desolate. I lay down beside her.

She looked up at me, “Take off your mask,” she said.

“No,” I replied.

She wriggled a little like an insolent child, “Take it off,” she repeated.

“No.”

“Take it off,” she said again, as she moved closer to me, “I want to kiss you.”

She pulled my face towards hers and placed a kiss on my lips. I felt her move her body closer, pressing against mine. Our kiss deepened, and our tongues met as our hands moved uncontrollably over each other’s bodies. This was something I had never felt before. She was supposed to be a job, yet this kiss felt like coming home; like a feeling I had been searching for. This kiss invoked so many emotions in me, yet I didn’t even know her name.

As we parted, I looked into her eyes again, more deeply this time, and that was when I realized who she was.

It was Bette.

I quickly got up.

“Where are you going?” she asked, her eyes were squinted as she tried to sit up.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I have to go…”

I ran out of the room, down the staircase and out onto the street.

“I need a cab,” I told the valet.

I got in, afraid that she might have chased me down.

As the cab drove out of the compound, I felt as if my heart was going to explode from my chest. There were a million questions in my mind.

How could I have been so careless?

How could it have been such a coincidence?

What had happened to have made her so upset that she drank so much?

But most of all, why do I feel this way?

I had other worries on my mind. She didn’t know that the girl she was kissing was me, but what was going to happen when she found out.

After that kiss, I finally confirmed what I had suspected all along.

I was in love with my best friend.

I was in love with Bette Porter.