Shane walked through the front door of the ballroom and looked around at the extravagant foyer.  The chandelier dripping with melodramatic symbolism hung above her head and well out of her reach.  She was here for one thing and one thing only and that was certainty. 

Shane crossed the room and for once felt somewhat out of place.  Normally she owned a room but here she was a foreigner.  She quickly searched the crowd and smiled knowing exactly where she needed to go.  She spotted the balcony and moved towards it as she saw the silhouette of the woman she’d come to see; the eternal debutant who would be hers if only for a moment in time. 

There she stood with her hand pressed flat against the glass door.  The moisture quickly formed a trace around her hand from the heat pumping within her body.  It was now or never.  She could feel through the glass that this would be there last rendezvous as the people they were today.  They’d either move on together or go their separate ways, but no matter what they’d never be the same and Shane for the first time in over six years wanted their silent affair to go on.    

Shane slid the door open and stepped out onto the balcony and felt the chill of the brisk winter night.  Being the selfless one she was cursed to be, she slid the tuxedo jacket off her body and placed it across the woman’s shoulders.  She smiled to herself as she took in her deep blue gown that seemed to cling and hang like a work of art as she adjusted the white jacket on her shoulders. 

The woman never bothered to turn around but froze when the jacket was first placed on her shoulders.  It wasn’t who she expected. She hugged the coat around herself and cursed herself for getting her hopes up.  She should have known.  Things were different now.  No one was the same and she couldn’t expect the love of her life to hold up an unspoken promise they’d made over six years ago.

Shane wasn’t sure what was running through the woman’s head but was hesitant when she didn’t bother to turn around.  She took what would be the hundredth risk of the night and wrapped her arms around the woman.  The woman relaxed and melted into her body enjoying the perfect fit.  Shane nuzzled into the crook of her neck and enjoyed the unspoken conversation they held once a year for the past six years.