Closure
part 1

Well, tonight certainly was.interesting. Carmen bites her lower lip nervously and leans against the door frame of the entrance to her apartment building. It is quiet out, few cars drive by, but the rising sun gives off just enough light to make out the features of the two women standing outside.

Yeah.yeah, interesting. Shane agrees, scratching the back of her head, looking at her shoes, the street, the door, anything but Carmens eyes.

Listen, I. Both women start, finally making eye contact. Thisusit isnt going to work, is it? Carmen ventures first.

Shane hooks her thumbs through her belt loops and shifts nervously, Its not you, its

Its Jenny. Carmen supplies the end of Shanes faltering statement.

Its the timing. Shane nods, never willing to admit that her friend could be in the way of a relationship. She needs me nowIts important to me to be there for her. You and meyou and herits just too complicated. Shane explains in her always cool, calm, gravely voice. From listening to her voice, a casual observer would never guess that this is among the hardest things Shane has ever done.

yeah. Carmen agrees, Ill be going then. She says as she turns and unlocks the door, tears pushing their way to the edges of her eyes.

Carmen, wait, Shane reaches for the other womans arm, turning her around to face her again. I just want you to knowyou mean a lot to me. Shane says, swallowing hard as emotion rises in her throat. Yeah, I bet. Carmen replies, masking her pain with an almost sinister laugh.

With no more words, she walks away from Shane and shuts the door.

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Part 2

Alice looks at the time again. She has been looking at the clock every three minutes exactly, unintentionally of course, for the past half hour. 12:45. She finished training an hour and forty-five minutes ago, and she still hasnt called. The thought passes through Alices mind again. Why wouldnt she call? Because she doesnt want to call. Why doesnt she want to call? Because shes going to break up with me. Its over.

In the most wild and paranoid recesses of Alices imagination, Dana finishes training, showers off in the locker room, checks her cell phone, considers calling Alice, then puts the phone in her pocket instead. She heads to the planet for a quick coffee and a chat with Kit. But Kits out for lunch and Lara is there instead. They get to chatting, get to flirting, and before you know it, the two of them hop a flight to Vegas, get married, and use Danas trust fund to buy a bungalow in Fiji. Meanwhile Alice sits in her apartment watching Oprah, thinking that Dana is just avoiding her.

This is what I get for causing her to cheat on Tonya. Alice says out loud, tossing her arms in the air, accepting the defeat soon to come. Her mind goes through the checklist of all the mistakes she has made in her relationship in the past forty-eight hours. Too clingy, check. Paranoid, check. Jealous, check. Pushy, check. The thought that she may have ruined the first good relationship shed had in years was enough to make her want to become a nun. Are nuns allowed to be bisexuals? At least its not a bad thing when they get over zealous. She didnt mean to get over zealous with Dana, it was just that no one had made her as happy as Dana had and the thought of losing that drove her pretty close to the edge sometimes.

This is so stupid. She sighs, turns off the t.v. and gets up to leave. I gotta go somewhere, I gotta get my mind off of this or Ill go mad and start talking to myself, Alice considers her situation and adds more than usual.

Ten minutes later, Alice has somewhat pulled herself together. She has changed out of her pajamas and put on jeans and a plain t-shirt. Shes ready to head to the planet and look for some gossip so she can obsess over some one elses screwed up life, at least for the duration of a cup of coffee.

Just as she reaches the door, the bell buzzes. She jumps back, startled at the unexpected break in silence. Yeah? She calls into the speaker. Hey Danas voice responds. Its me. She continues after no response comes from Alice. Im just heading out, Ill meet you down there. Alice finally answers, dreading the conversation to come. No, Im coming up. Dana says firmly. Alice presses the button to unlock the front door, opens her door a crack, and sits on her couch to wait.

It doesnt take long for Dana to knock lightly on the door and stick her head in. Hello? She calls cheerfully. Yup. Alice replies, not getting up from the couch. Are you okay? Dana asks, concern tugging the corners of her mouth down from her smile. Dana steps in and stands in front of Alice, still wearing her training clothes and holding a shoe box under one arm. Yeah, no Im fine, Alice begins her ramble, Here I am, and here you are, in my apartment, ready to break up with me with a shoe box, why do you have a shoe box? The words tumble out of her mouth in one solid stream.

Well, Im not sure what most of that was about, Dana says, giving her the classic youre-so-weird-but-thats-why-I-love-you look, But, um this, She holds out the shoe box, and opens the lid Is just some stuff I thought I could keep over here, ya know, like for when Im here over night and I just thought I could keep it in a drawer or something and that way I wouldnt have to go home to pick stuff up all the time,

You want a drawer? Alice cuts off Danas rambling explanation. You want a drawer in my apartment? Alices voice rises with happiness. She looks in the box, You want to keep a pair of socks and a toothbrush in my apartment? Her voice is amused and confused. Well, theres more in my car, I just didnt want to bring it all up in case, you know.you didnt Danas voice trails off, revealing her own insecurities shed wrestled with over the future of their relationship. Well I was thinking about what you said, about us moving in together, and I know Im not ready for that now, but someday I want to be ready, and I just wanted to show you that Im working on it, as long as its okay with you. Dana smiles, satisfied with herself. She had let Lara go because of her insecurities, and she wasnt about to lose Alice too.

Of course its okay, baby, do you mean it? Alices infectious smile spreads to Dana, who laughs and nodds. Alice finally leaps up from the couch and nearly knocks Dana over with a huge hug, followed by a deep kiss.

She never did make it to the planet that day.