Dana drank her beer whilst studying me, “Didn’t it bother you?”

“What?”

“That woman, she was hitting on you, didn’t it bother you?”

“Oh that, no, not really.”

Dana just continued looking at me.                                                                                                                  When I’d told Alice that I thought I was gay, we’d both agreed that telling Dana would be a mistake. Of all of us, Dana had had the most controlling and bigoted upbringing and while we both knew that with time Dane would be fine with it, we knew it would still be too much for her to handle right now.

Chugging the rest of my beer I made a motion towards the dance floor, “You gonna come and dance?” I asked.

“No, I’ll hang here, hold the table.” Nodding I walked towards Alice who was having the time of her life. I knew that the conversation with Dana wasn’t over, but I had no plans to continue it tonight.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

About an hour later Kate had found me on the dance floor and she’d pretty much stayed at my side for the rest of the evening. I was hammered; Alice had kept the beers coming and when Kate joined, she added shots to the mix. Dancing all night with Kate had been freeing, it gave me a sense of what life could be like if I ever got out of this small-minded town. Dana, however, had become more and more uncomfortable as the night went on, and the more touchy-feely Kate got with me, the more Dana voiced wanting to go home.

At one point Kate lent over and kissed me, it was everything kissing Eric wasn’t, soft and gentle, passionate, sensuous, it was like fireworks had gone off in my brain. The commotion of Dana storming away from the table with Alice in hot pursuit was what finally pulled me away from Kate.