“I don’t think it’s the same, because if I’d gone to hairdressing school-”

“Yeah, but you’re doing fine now.”

Kyle’s expression made it clear that he didn’t really think he was doing so very fine. To cheer him up (maybe), Spencer said, “Look at me. Five years of art school and nothing to show for it until recently,” which prompted Bette to say that she thought education was very important.

“Yeah,” I said sarcastically. “Most Ivy League grads say that.”

Bette frowned at me. “I was going to say that I think it’s important, for me, but there are different circumstances for everything. Tina, I think, had the intention of going to school to study film, ended up getting a business degree, and then wound up in the film industry, anyway. So it’s-”

“What do you and Tina do when you go out, just talk about everything she’s ever done in her past, ever?” I asked. Bette gave me a strange look. I glowered into my coffee.

“Al,” Spencer said quietly. “Why don’t you take it easy?”

I couldn’t help it. ***** jealousy. It was this weird, uneasy feeling I got in my stomach every time Bette mentioned Tina. And I didn’t like it.

Bette, apparently, was not very pleased with my behavior, either, because she said, “What’s the issue here, just out of curiosity?”

Ugh. “I’m just-you know, for someone who claims that she’s not overly interested in someone, you give off the impression that you’re interested in her since you talk about nothing but Tina all day long.”

“I’ve mentioned her-what-twice.”

“In the span of like, ten minutes,” I said with a shrug. Spencer and Kyle were exchanging looks in that way that they had and shifting uncomfortably. I suddenly felt very small and stupid and a lot like a kid. “I’m just…” I began quietly. “I think you’re more interested in her than you let on.”

Bette stared at me and, you know what, ***** her for being so ***** enigmatic and hard to read because I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell if she was looking at me with pity or genuine sympathy, neither of which I wanted very much.