One Month Later

“Are you enjoying yourself in California?” Eric asked.

“Yeah, it’s really nice out here.  When are you coming to visit?”

I tried to sound sweet—like I missed him—but he was honestly the last person I wanted to see.

“Oh, I don’t know, Tina.  Hopefully soon.”  His voice faded.  He does that when he lies.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, no, everything is cool.  Say, Tina?  Who is this Bette?”

I got nervous.  While I had never done anything with Bette, my feelings for her were hard to ignore.  I was scared my feelings for her were easy to read.

“How do you know Bette?”

“I was on your Facebook page and I saw that she wrote on your wall…”

Great, so I was being stalked now.

“She’s my best L.A. friend.  I’ve been hanging out with her and her friends since day one.  They’re awesome and so is she.”

For the past month, I’d been incorporated into the group of friends and spent a lot of time with them.  What was even better, Bette and I had started spending time alone too.

“Oh really?  She’s kind of hot.”

I wanted to agree with him; I wanted to say that I thought she was hot too.  More than just hot though; Bette was all sorts gorgeous.  Her hair, her lips, her smile, her smell…everything about Bette made my mouth water.

“Yeah, she’s pretty.”

“She’s interested in women too…”

“Eric, don’t start…”

“I’m just saying, watch out.”

“Why?  Because she’s a lesbian and she might steal me away from you?  Don’t be stupid, Eric.”

I denied that it would happen, though even in my heart, I really wished Bette would whisk me away from Eric.

“Tina, I don’t want to argue.”

“Neither do I.”

“It’s just that I never see you because you live so far away.  I’m afraid of losing you.”

I felt really guilty.  First, I ignored him for a week.  Then, I started falling in love with someone else.  All while he was sitting at home, thinking of me.

“I’m sorry, Eric.”

“No, it’s okay.  It’s nothing that you could’ve done to still be here.   I’ve just got to find a way to get to L.A.  Or get you back to Atlanta.”