Dana looked at her in confusion.

“Squirrels?  I don’t think you can call a group of squirrels a herd.  And I think I’d be a lot more worried by a herd of hippos than a bunch of squirrels.”  Dana said, slightly bewildered by the writer’s statement.

“Don’t say that!  Squirrels are the most savage, crazy animals there are!!  Have you ever noticed how you can walk right up to a city squirrel and they don’t run away!  That’s just not natural.  They’re sneaky too.  Not that I don’t admire the trait, because it comes in handy.  But for squirrels they only use it for the dark side.”  Alice explained earnestly.

“The dark side?”  Dana couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, yeah.  Sorry.  My best friend is Yoda so sometimes the whole Star Wars lingo slips out.” 

Dana stared at Alice as the blonde took a drink from her glass of water.  Before she realized it, the athlete found herself laughing aloud in a completely carefree way—something she hadn’t done in too long a time. 

Alice looked at Dana in surprise.  The surprise quickly turned to amusement and she found herself laughing along with neither of them showing any signs of regaining control of their sudden outburst. 

The pair, after a number of dirty looks from both the restaurant staff and other customers, finally quieted down enough to place their orders and fell into a natural and easy-going conversation about everything and nothing at the same time. 

************************************

The following day…

“So, as it turns out, Dana Fairbanks is not just a hot celebrity tennis player but actually has a personality?  Damn Alice, when are you going to ask her out on a date?”  Shane asked with a grin.

The group was assembled the following day for their ritual of morning coffee and Alice had just finished telling them all about her first meeting with Dana.

“Please, it’s not like that.”  Alice scoffed and sipped her coffee.

Around the table looks were exchanged and Bette leaned forward.

“Alice, what does Dana look like again?”  Bette asked as innocently as she could.

“Well, she’s got this long, wavy brown hair.  No, it’s more almond.  Actually, it’s like a chocolatey almond and it perfectly frames her face because it’s angled in the front and then layered.  And her eyes are that shade of green that can sometimes be mistaken for blue or gray depending on the lighting and whether she’s laughing or trying to glare at me.  Which she sucks at.  Glaring that is.  All she manages to do is look like a little kid who didn’t get their way.  It’s actually pretty fucking cute.”