“Well, now that you ask…” Alice said in a song-song voice, wanting to
play it cool as much as Shane did. Inviting Shane inside, she recounted
the afternoon’s events to her: breaking up with Bette, meeting Dana,
running into Heather. She had just finished re-telling the part about
Heather’s “going south” line and Shane was on the floor laughing,
trying to imagine a straight, innocent-looking, red-faced, brunette.

“Oh *****, I wish I coulda been there… heeheehee …I definitely have got to meet this girl!”

“Oh, sure! You’ll meet her at the Grind tonight.”

“You know she could get meet-tagged, right, Alice? Then again, you’re
back on the market, so maybe the girls won’t even notice.” Shane
chuckled, watching Alice go through her closet, already picking out
what to wear.

“Exactly! There’s nothing like a good night of drinking, dancing and
***** to help you get over a breakup, right?” Alice thought out loud,
already thinking of how she could get Dana to dance with her.

The thoughtful look on her face was not lost on Shane. “Alice, she’s
straight, right… isn’t that what you said? Or is that the story she’s going with?” Alice paused in her movements and looked up at Shane, smiling.

“Exactly!” She replied, pointing a finger at Shane and winking. She
went back to rummage through her closet, mumbling in an undertone that
was still audible to Shane. “That’s the story she’s going with …for
now.”

——————-

Once upstairs, Dana hurried to find the right office, hoping to still catch her appointment.

“Hi! I’m Dana Fairbanks. I know I’m a little late but I have an appointment with Mr. P-”

“I’m sorry, you’re alot late,
actually.” The girl at the desk interrupted her curtly. “Mr.
Piddlestone tried to wait but he’s gone in early with someone else.”
Dana could tell by the scowl on the girl’s face that it would be best
not to argue. “If you want to, you can wait and I’ll try and
see if he’ll take you after he finishes with Harrison.” Although her
words sounded comforting, the tone in her voice told Dana she wouldn’t
be “trying” very hard.

Dana idled around the waiting area. She would try to sit down, but
would get restless in a matter of minutes and she’d either switch
chairs, rifle through sports magazines or walk curiously around the
room looking at paintings. She hated being late and, worse, she hated
waiting around doing nothing! But the tardiness was her fault. Arthur
had dropped her off with enough time to spare and get lost. Her
thoughts eventually led her to the beautiful blonde she’d met by
accident and had taken up her time.