“Alexandra? Are you okay?” Bette asked worriedly, ushering the girl in. Alexandra stumbled inside and Bette closed the door behind her, waiting for an answer. It didn’t come. Alexandra went to the couch and threw herself in it. Bette followed her.

“Are you going to tell me what the hell is up with you? I haven’t seen you or heard from you in weeks and now you come here, knocking on my door, smelling of alcohol and looking like a truck just crushed you?”

“J-Jack,” Alexandra slurred. “He has an affair.”

“What? Jack? With who?” Bette could hardly believe this. Jack Lively was about the most loyal and faitful man Bette had ever met, a man who loved his wife to death and would do anything for her – hell, he would risk his life for this woman who was lying on her couch wasted and convinced that he didn’t want her anymore.

“His assistant,” Alexandra slurred. “I just… she kept… calling him. Texting him. Says she – s-she l-loves him and w-wants to m-marry h-him.”

“Alex, I’m sure this is just one big misunderstanding. You know Jack would never do that to you! Are you sure it’s not just his assisant who’s in love with him?”

Alexandra looked up in surprise. “You s-sound just like him.” Suddenly, she lept up. “Did y-you know about this? Did h-he ask you t-to tell you t-this?”

“Of course not,” Bette said. “I haven’t talked to him in ages, I swear.”

The brunette looked at her friend and was once again struck by her resemblance to her Tina. It wasn’t her face, or the person she was. It wasn’t something tangible, something you could name. Most of the time, it wasn’t even there. But then there were these times, completely unexpectedly and out of the blue, that it appeared on the surface. Bette had never been able to grasp it or put her finger on the way Tina and Alex were alike, it was something she was sometimes desperate to find out, but she knew that she never would. Because at the end of the day, Tina and Alex were worlds apart. But at the end of the day, that’s what made them her girlfriend and her best friend.

Her best friend, who was here now. Who was here and needed her help, who showed up at het appartment where she hadn’t been in ages, the friend she hadn’t seen in weeks. But none of these thoughts stopped her from caring about what was going on.