“Dana… are you okay? Was it something I said?” Alice asked, sincerely
concerned. That seemed to take the other girl out of trance.

“No… well, yes… I mean, where I.m from I’m just not used to people
being so direct like that.” Dana admitted, not sure why exactly she
felt the need to be honest to this almost stranger.

“Hey, lemme guess – Orange County? …on the beaches …Huntington or Laguna?”

“Dana Point, actually.” She corrected, matter-of-factly.

“You have got to be kidding me?” Alice asked, but Dana just gave her a
what-are-you-talking-about look. “Oh… you’re serious. Hmm, must be
…nice, at… Dana Point…” she was picking at strings, but Alice
tried really hard not to laugh.

“Really funny, Alice. I’m not THAT nave, and neither are my parents,
at least I think not. If you’re good, then maybe one day I’ll tell you
the story.” Dana winked, feeling at ease with the blonde again. Unable
to stop the urge to tease, Alice winked back.

“Oh, I’ll be good, no doubt about that. But I can be bad too, y’know?”

The only sound that could be heard in the now empty hallway was a high-pitched squeak from the yet again nervous brunette.

——————-

By the time they reached the sports centre, it was twenty minutes past
3pm. They parted ways with a promise to meet up later and go to the
Grind. Alice headed up the walkway to the residences after taking one
last look back at Dana running into the building, a piece of paper with
Alice’s room number on it crumpled in her hand.

Alice got off the elevator with bits of her twenty-five minutes with
Dana still replaying itself in her mind. She put her hand in her pocket
to fish out her room key when she felt her phone.

“Oh, *****! Shane!” she muttered to herself. She scrunched her eyes shut
in exasperation and nearly growled at her own absent-mindedness. She
didn’t even see the person sitting on the floor by her room until they
spoke.

“That’s right! You better have a damn good explanation!”

Alice opened her eyes and internally debated whether she should be
happy to see her friend or not. “I’m so sorry, Shane. Damn, I totally
forgot you were on the phone!”

“What were you doing anyway? Were you with Bette or something? I
thought I heard another voice…” Shane asked coolly, standing up and
acting as if the situation didn’t bug her.