Alice drummed on the tabletop like a 12-year-old boy with ADD. Periodically, she would use her fork to land a rim shot on Shane’s coffee mug. Shane slouched languidly in her chair, eyes still hooded from the long night of partying behind her, and watched.

“She’s late,” Alice said, punctuating her thought with a resounding thud on the table.

“She’ll be here,” Shane said, blinking slowly.

The ringing cell phone disrupted Alice’s frenzied solo. She checked the screen for the incoming number and flipped open the receiver.

“You’re late,” she said. “Although Shane has been insisting that”

Alice abruptly stopped talking and the expression on her face evolved from mild annoyance to shock as she listened for several minutes.

“Tina. Sweetie, don’t cry. Don’t cry because you’re going to make me cry,” Alice said, pressing her finger against her ear to drown out the background noise of The Planet’s customers and staff.

“What’s wrong?” Shane asked, suddenly alert and leaning forward.

Alice waved at Shane to be quiet, and she frowned with concentration, trying to hear.

“It’s going to be fine. Better than fine. Stupendous,” Alice said, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. She looked up at Shane, mouthing, “It’s okay.”

Shane exhaled, seeing that whatever was going on was not requiring of her immediate intervention.

“Okay. No, don’t worry about it. I’ll tell her. Call me when you catch your breath. Yeah, me too,” Alice said, her smile now in full bloom.

“What?” Shane asked, as Alice disconnected the call and put her cell phone back in her jacket pocket.

“Take it easy, Launcelot. Guinevere is fine.”

“I thought you said better than fine,” Shane replied, raising her eyebrows.

“They’re back together,” Alice said, shaking her head, the shock of the realization still sinking in.

Shane nodded, slowly relaxing back in her seat. “Well.”

“That’s it? Well?” Alice asked, incredulous.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Something more thanwell.”

“I guess I’m not as surprised as you are.”

“You saw this coming?”

Shane paused, the image of Bette’s hand resting on Tina’s back flashing in her memory, the easy banter between the two of them that night during dinner, the sound of Tina’s laughter.

“Definitely,” Shane said.

“This has been the longest ***** six months of my life,” Alice muttered.

“That’s not Bette and Tina’s fault.”

“Don’t you start with me, too. I know I need to talk to Dana. I know.” Alice rolled her eyes impatiently.

“Knowing is one thing. Doingthat’s something different,” Shane shrugged.

They sat in silence, each lost in her own thoughts.

“She sounds really happy,” Alice said quietly, turning to Shane. “Happy likebefore.”

“Good. She deserves to be happy,” Shane said.

“We all deserve to be happy, Shane.”

Shane grinned wryly, and ran her fingers through her hair, expertly mussing her perfectly disheveled tresses.  “Yeah. Right.”

“So. Are you going to be okay with this? I mean, I know that” Alice hedged.

“Two of our best friends are getting back together. Of course I’m okay with this,” Shane interrupted.

“She wants you to call her,” Alice said. “She said she’s at the Center all day, but she’ll be home tonight after 6.”

“Great. Thanks. Are we going to order?” Shane said, directing her attention to the menus on the table.

Alice caught Shane’s glance over the top of the menu and started to say something more.

“Al. Leave it, okay?”

“How about eggs? I think it’s a good morning for eggs,” Alice said.

Shane smiled and winked at Alice. “Yeah. Eggs it is.”