Shane did her best to look sheepish and then nodded. “Sorry. I just..”

Dana shrugged. “I get it.” and she found it a little on the weird side that she actually did get it. “You know it’s not really a big deal meeting her friends.” Dana said as she led Shane away from the Planet so that they wouldn’t be spotted.

“Easy for you to say. You and Al already know each other’s friends.” Shane smiled. “I mean this is a big deal for me. I’m usually with a girl barely long enough to learn her last name. And now all of the sudden I’m meeting friends and family. And it’s a big deal. Think about how judgmental we’ve been with all of Alice’s exes and with Lara. Jeez think about all of the great stuff that we said about Tonya.”

Dana winced. “You guys really liked her.” She said dryly as she waited for Shane to continue.

“Look, all I’m saying is that we’ve been right every time. With all of Alice’s, and all of yours, and even with Helena and Tina.” Shane stopped talking and looked over at Dana. “What if they meet me and they know that I’m not right for her?”

Dana looked over at Shane and for the first time since they had met Dana saw the fear in her friends eyes. “Okay, it might be a big deal, but you’re going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know that they’re not going to hate me.”

Dana took a deep breath and smiled. “All I’m trying to say is that it’s not as big a deal as you think. Yes friends can be very critical, but it’s only because your friends are the people that care the most. They’re not like family where they care about you because they have to, these are the people that choose to love you. The people that want you to be happy. Even if it means that you marry an overbearing, endorsement *****. Or date a backstabbing cheating *****, or have a fling with a controlling, British *****. Or even a ***** man.” Shane smiled as Dana went through their latest exes. “My point is that there was nothing wrong with Helena, or Lisa and god forgive me there was nothing wrong with Tonya. It was us. That’s why we were so judgmental. We could all see that those people were not making our friends truly happy. And you guys could see that Tonya wasannoying as all *****.” Dana admitted with a smile, Shane gave a short laugh at this and Dana before she continued. “She loves you Shane, so that means they already love you. You’re going to have a free chance as soon as you walk in the door. After that, it’s all about whether or not they can tell that you love her.”