Chapter 4

Bette got out of the car and waited until Tina was ready. Both women were silent as they didn’t know what to say to each other – nothing seemed appropriate. Bette’s eyes wandered along Tina’s body and she felt those familiar sensations again: love and lust. She wanted nothing more than to hold this woman in her arms, than to make love to her and let her know she was the only one she had ever wanted, the only one she would ever want.

They walked up to the entrance and crossed the lobby towards the elevator. Bette couldn’t help but look at Tina and she noticed the blonde did the same. It was as if they were trying to see what had changed and what was still there, but they didn’t want the other one to know this. Bette smiled sadly. They had never been like this, they had never hidden any feelings from the moment they were a couple.

Two women that were bantering excitedly and one huge, black man excited the elevator. Bette and Tina stepped in, together with an old man with a walking stick, his other arm around who they assumed to be his wife. The old couple friendly greeted them with a nod of their heads. Bette and Tina’s eyes found each other and they knew they were thinking the exact same thing: this is what they wanted to be in their old age. A friendly, tight old couple that still loved each other to pieces.

The old couple got out on the tirth floor. This left Tina and Bette alone. Bette didn’t feel uncomfortable, but she wasn’t completely at ease either. All that went through her head was ‘Tina has a daughter, Tina has a baby girl’ and ‘Tina wants to talk to me, she said it herself, she wants to talk to me’. They finally reached the sixth floor and got out. Tina followed Bette and the brunette felt the gaze of her ex-lover on her back. She opened the door and invited Tina in with a simple gesture of the hand.

“Sit down,” were the first words she spoke. “Can I offer you something to drink?”

“No,” Tina said softly. “I’ll be fine.”

Bette said down. She wasn’t able to drink either – she wasn’t able to function at all. She was here, with Tina, after seventeen years. She was here with the woman that had always haunted her dreams, ever since she had left for New York. Over the years, she had thought of so many things to say and ask, but now, none of them came to mind. It was as if her mind had went black. She slowly outstretched a hand, unsure of Tina’s reaction.