"Alice! Yes, that was the one."

"Oh God…..what did I say to her?" Alice snapped back to reality.

"I’m not sure, but she looked more than a little hurt when we left."

"Fuck."

Uta had been absently patting Alice’s arm during the exchange. She caught herself and snorted. "Shit, I’m acting like a grandmother. Alice, you are a bad influence. I’m supposed to be all mysterious and dangerous. You’re messing with my aura."

"I’m sorry?" Alice was uncertain whether she was supposed to be apologetic.

Uta smacked her arm playfully. "God, you’re a mess. Come on– get dressed. Apparently you’ve got some talking to do with a redheaded beauty….and it’s daylight….I’m supposed to be sleeping the sleep of the dead."

Alice gave Uta a questioning look.

Uta laughed. "Alright, I’ve got a class to teach in two hours. Now hurry up, and I’ll drop you home on my way to campus."

Alice smiled. "Uta, thanks……you’ve been a great friend."

Lara stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over her body. She leaned forward and rested her palms and forehead on the cool tile for a moment, breathing deeply.

She’d been a little too inebriated to drive herself home the previous evening, so she had crashed on Bette’s couch, while Kit took the guestroom. At the break of dawn she’d slipped out of the house, leaving a brief note of thanks.

Once home, she’d not been able to resist going for a brief run, but soon found that her head ached too much for the exertion. She’d thrown up in the bushes and managed to walk back to the apartment feeling achy and dehydrated. In the kitchen she’d stripped naked and downed a glass of water.

Now in the shower her thoughts focused once again on Alice. In the harsh light of morning-after she dissected the events of the previous evening. She knew that Alice had wanted to take things slowly, so she was surprised when Alice had kissed her in the garden. Very, very pleasantly surprised. At Milk, when Bette had asked her to dance, Alice had joined with everyone else in encouraging Lara to take the floor. But apparently she objected to the way Lara had danced with Bette, and her jealousy had proved to be harsh and unforgiving.

Lara was reminded of Alice’s temperamental fits during her last weeks as Dana’s girlfriend. Dana had been completely at a loss when it came to disarming Alice’s anxieties, and in the end it had destroyed their relationship. Lara was convinced that Dana never stopped loving Alice, but had become completely unnerved by the blonde’s insecurities.

Lara squeezed her eyes shut. "How fucking surreal," she muttered. "Alice spent the night with a vampire because I dirty danced with Bette Porter." She gave a short humorless laugh. "Then again, maybe I’m giving myself too much credit. What if Alice never cared about me at all? Maybe I did just fill a void for a bit…and now she’s ready to move on without me." A sudden wave of nausea rolled over Lara and she dropped to her knees heaving.

Fortunately, the only content in her stomach was the glass of water from earlier. After forcefully expelling it, she wiped her mouth with a shaking hand and sat back, letting the water cascade over her.

One thing was certain. Lara was glad to have the day off. She was looking forward to crawling into bed and pretending that everything was going to be okay. Perhaps she’d even rent some movies. Sickly sweet ones like "While You were Sleeping" or "Pretty Woman".

Lara turned the water off and reached for a towel. She would happily settle for a day without drama.