Bette eyes looked aimlessly around her office, searching for nothing in particular, ‘Maybe I’m looking for something that isn’t here.’ she thought. She leaned back into her chair never feeling more restless in her whole entire life. To the casual observer her work place seemed like an interesting melting pot of art and culture, full of sharp, vibrant hues and thanks to her insatiable knack for details, everything was organized and well-managed. But today Bette felt more like her office was the enemy, just something that was eagerly boxing her in and keeping her away from something much bigger than she was. There was nothing that needed her urgently today, or at least nothing that couldn’t wait until later. She sighed and resorted to taking a pen into her hand and mindlessly tapping it across her desk, listening to the monotonous sound it created, waiting for something to happen, anything really….

It was about nine o’clock that faithful morning when her assistant came through the door and handed her Tina Kennard’s number.

“Here you go boss. the assistant said handing her a small white card.

“Thank you…” Bette said simply before she heard the door close.

Bette flipped the card back and forth through her fingers, trying to decide whether she should go ahead and call Tina.

‘***** what am I so worried about? It’s just a phone call…’ she reasoned, picking up the phone and dialing Tina’s number. She was after all Bette Porter, and her charm had never failed her before.

“Hello?” a preppy voice said over the phone, Bette assumed it was Tina’s assistant.

“Yes, hello. This is Bette Porter, from the Bette Porter Gallery, I was wondering if I could talk to Tina Kennard…”

“Oh okay, hold on a minute, I’ll go see if can get her.” Tina’s assistant didn’t wait for Bette’s reply as she set out in search for Tina.

‘One… Two… Three…’ Bette thought, quietly counting the seconds it took for Tina to pick up from the other line. ‘Four… Five… Six… Seven…’ until:

“Hello?” Tina half-inquired, forgetting to ask her assistant who she was supposed to be speaking to on the other line.

“Hey Tina… it’s Bette Porter.” Tina felt her heart sink to her stomach as she heard Bette’s voice.

Tina knew that today was going to be another hectic one for her, as she wearily looked at the endless piles of scripts she had to proof read for the rest of the week. Her office proved to be quite the striking contrast from Bette’s, papers and sticky post-it notes were haplessly stacked on top of her table, practically begging for attention. Everything was moving so fast around her, deadlines had to be met, meetings had to be arranged, people had to be convinced, and yet she felt her world stop when she heard Bette’s voice talking to her from the other line.

“Oh hi Bette… what can I do for you?” said Tina feeling her heart oddly skip a pace faster than usual.

Bette could’ve thought of a thousand things Tina could do for her, but unfortunately none of them, in her opinion, were appropriate enough to be said over a casual phone conversation, ‘But what if I did just that, and tell her exactly what I wanted?’ Bette pondered, ‘Then, what would she think of me?’

Bette searched her thoughts for an answer.

‘God, she’d probably think I’m one of those closet pervs who spend most of their free time talking to some willing operator from one of those 1-800 numbers.’ she mused. But this wasn’t one of those silly hotlines Bette thought, and she wasn’t talking to a lowly phone operator, this was Tina Kennard, the woman she couldn’t help but think about for the past 8 days, ‘So pull yourself together Porter!’ she scolded herself.

“It’s more like something I can do for you actually…” she slowly said into the phone, See I found your earring a couple of days ago and””

“Oh my god I never thought I’d see that thing again!” Tina exclaimed, unaware of the satisfied smile that Bette had on the other line.

“Well you can get it here today if you want…”

“Uhm… Okay, I’ll drop by later. Is around six okay?”

“Yeah, sure no problem… I’ll see you later. Bye Tina.”

“Bye Bette and thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

As Tina hung up the phone she felt an unexplainable feeling creep it’s way into the pit of her stomach. ‘What’s happening to me?’ she thought. Hearing Bette’s voice over the phone was enough to get heart pumping, her palms all sweaty, and her mind racing, all done in two minutes flat. Not even Eric was capable of getting the same effect out of her. ‘Get a grip Tina.’ was all she could muster telling herself as she stared at the phone, unaware of the goofy smile she was wearing on her face.
___________________________________

Bette bit her lip; she wasn’t sure what she was getting herself into. The day had worn on and she knew the moment of truth was coming. She heard the clock tick through the otherwise quiet surroundings of her office. Soon it would be six o’clock, and she would be seeing Tina’s angelic face again.

“Bette?” Alice’s voice boomed through on the other side of the phone, demanding to be heard.

“I’m still here Al…” Bette replied, almost forgetting that she was holding the phone.

“Okay, what did I just say?” Alice asked skeptically, she just loved it when she catches Bette in an unguarded moment:

“I” Uhm…”

“Bette you have to focus! This whole day dreaming thing is beginning to become a habit with you.’”

“All right… all right I’m sorry…” Bette profusely apologized, grateful that Alice wasn’t there to see her blush.

“So I take it that your little talk with Tina went well…”

“Yes, it did.”

“And she’s coming over…” Alice let her words linger, expecting that Bette would finish her sentence for her.

“Any minute now actually.”

“So I guess I’ll take that as my cue to hang up huh?” Alice asked rhetorically, ” Tell me what happened later ‘K?”

“Bye Al…” Bette said dryly, not wanting to give Alice any false hope about her getting into the gory details regarding Tina later.

“Bye.” Alice said letting disappointment show through her voice, she sighed knowing that whatever was going to happen tonight was going to stay with Bette, and Bette alone.

Bette put the phone back onto its receiver, ‘What if this turns into a disaster?’ she questioned, as she turned her attention to the clock that was ticking so humbly just a few moments ago. It was now 6:05, ‘Where is Tina?’

*TBC* (Maybe or Maybe not…)