Bette continued from Tina. “But the fact of the matter is well Dana your attitude has it’s been”

“Shithouse,” Carmen offered with a smile.

“Shithouse?” Dana repeated uncertainly.

“You’re hurting because you’re away from the person you truly can’t live without, but unfortunately you’re taking it all out on us,” Jenny chirped in suddenly from her seat before taking a sip of her coffee.

“Look Dane, we love you heaps,” Shane continued. “But the thing is, you’re a pain at the moment after learning that Alice will be away for so long. What’s worse is that instead of telling Alice how much you miss her, you’re just bottling up all your emotions, creating one very moody, tennis playing *****.”

“Well sorry to bug you guys,” Dana replied grumpily as she began to get out of her seat. She was currently going through one of the hardest periods of her life, having only been away from Alice for a few weeks, knowing that there would be a much longer period ahead, and all her friends could do was complain about her moodiness. Dana couldn’t help but feel a little pissed off. “I’ll try not to bother you next time.”

“Hey! Hey! Wait!,” all five of Dana’s friends yelled, as Shane grabbed her shirt and forced her to sit back down.

“Wait. Please Dane,” Shane said quietly, only removing her hand when Dana had sat firmly back into her seat again.

“We weren’t coming here to pay you out, we promise,” Tina added sincerely, followed by yet another chorus of nodding.

“We know how much Alice means to you and how much this must be killing you Dane,” Shane said as she placed her hand onto Dana’s.

“That’s why we got you this,” Carmen said smiling as she placed an envelope on the table. “Think of it as a pre-Christmas or post-Birthday present.”

“What is it?” Dana said as she slowly picked up and opened the envelope. Her eyes widened as she took out the contents, and her gaze moved upwards towards her friends.

“You are all insane.”

“Maybe,” Shane stated with a smile. “But you’d be insane if you didn’t go and visit her.”