Bette was grinning as she delighted in the anecdote. But not as much as she delighted in Tina’s cheerful laugh as she evoked her university years with her friends.
 

"Well, I don’t know Dana that much, but I’m having a hard time believing that Alice could have done such trivial things." Bette commented with a straight face, "She’s always seemed so mature and responsible to me… Really Tina, I’m surprised. Are we really talking about the same person here?"
 

Tina looked at Bette with eyes as big as saucers, 
 

"What?… Are you joking?… Bette, come on, you can’t be ser…" The blonde stopped when she noticed the glint in Bette’s eyes and the growing smile spreading over her face.
 

"Bette!" She exclaimed, gently slapping her arm.
 

The brunette burst out laughing.
 

"Tina, I can’t believe you fell for that one! Of course, we’re talking about Alice… In fact, I’m pretty sure she was always the one to make you skip classes. Am I wrong?" Bette said raising an eyebrow.
 

"No, you’re not…" Tina replied smiling, still entranced by this playful side of Bette, "Well, she was always the one to suggest anyway. But of course we were always happy to oblige!" She added, looking back into Bette’s eyes.
 

The brunette smiled back and let herself be drawn to the hazel eyes once again.
 

Their stare lingered for a bit, until suddenly Tina stood up.
 

"Hum… Excuse me, I’ll be right back…"
 

"… Sure." Bette said, slightly taken aback by Tina’s sudden move.
 

A bit concerned, she turned around in her chair to follow the blonde with her eyes. 
 

Tina was now at the bar talking to the bartender. Bette saw the man smile and nod, then a few seconds later, he gave Tina a tray filled with drinks, and pointed at a few different people in the cafe. Tina nodded and holding the tray with formidable dexterity, she started walking around the tables handing out the drinks.
 

Bette was confused. What was going on? What was Tina doing?… They had come here, sat down, ordered, fallen into a nice conversation… and suddenly Tina was behaving as if she was the main waitr…
 

Bette gasped as sudden realization dawned on her…
 

"Oh my god", she whispered… She knew exactly what Tina was doing, and it was so completely endearing that Bette felt her heart explode in her chest.  
 

A huge grin spread across the brunette’s face, and she lied back in her chair as she watched the blonde hand out the last of the drinks – well, not exactly the last – and finally walk toward her, tray in hand, and the cutest smile directed at no one else but her. 
 

Tina stopped in front of their table and not taking her eyes off Bette, she placed each glass of wine on the table gently, expertly, and added the small napkins underneath them. Then, she leaned toward the brunette, and looking deeply into the dark pools, she whispered,
 

"This is my official apology… Please feel free to scold me anytime, Professor Porter."
 

She concluded her statement with a smile and a wink, and straightening up, she passed the empty tray to the ’real’ waitress smiling behind her. Then she finally took her seat in front of Bette and smiled, tilting her head to the side.
 

Bette was flabbergasted. She of course had been amazed and deeply touched by Tina’s little mise-en-scene. She had also very much enjoyed how cute the blonde had looked passing the tray around with so much ease…
 

… But what she hadn’t expected and that left her breathless was the ending of Tina’s act… Her hot breath inches from her face as she spoke the words, the sexy smile that accompanied them, and the clumsy but oh so endearing wink just before she pulled back. This was the most unbelievably sexy thing she’d ever lived in her whole life. Her heart was beating wildly, her palms were sweating, and she was sure that the butterflies in her stomach were having a hell of a party by now.
 

She let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding, and tried with all her might to compose herself. Then she looked at the woman who, mere seconds ago, had been able to tantalize her with nothing else than a few words and a smile.
 

Equally flustered by the exchange and the close proximity with Bette which she had herself allowed, Tina decided to break the intensity of the moment, for both their sake.
 

She grabbed her glass and raised it in front of her.
 

"To meeting again." She proposed with a smile.
 

Bette took her own glass and raised it.
 

"To breathtaking apologies…" She retorted with an intense look, before clinking her glass to Tina’s…
 
 

 
TBC…