Chapter 1

“Alice…Alice!” Dana yelled as she slammed the front door behind her. She quickly dropped her tennis gear by the door and walked through Alice’s apartment.  

Alice was just ending a much needed shower after pulling an all-nighter to meet the deadline for her latest LA Magazine piece. She wrapped herself up in a towel, took a quick look in the fogged-up mirror, and tried unsuccessfully to tame the unruly mess of hair sitting atop her head.  

“Alice!” Dana was now standing outside the bathroom door, tapping her foot impatiently until her girlfriend emerged from behind it.

“Jesus Christ, Dane, where’s the fire?” She gave Dana a quick peck on the cheek and strode past her into the bedroom, pulling out an outfit to wear for her lunch with Shane.

Dana sighed and followed her into the room. “Alice. We need to talk.”

Alice abruptly stopped what she was doing, but refused to turn around and look at Dana. She knew that nothing good usually proceeded we need to talk. Plus, Dana’s serious tone was another sign that something was up. ‘Shit,’ Alice thought, ‘what if Dana found out what I was really up to this morning?’

“Al, can you please look at me?” Dana waited for Alice to turn around. And when she did, the writer immediately took notice of the sad, almost pitiful look on Dana’s face. She gave her a nervous smile.

“What’s up, Dane?”

“Al…where were you this morning?”

“What…what do you mean?” she asked hesitantly.

“I mean, were you at the Planet before?”

Alice laughed nervously, but Dana didn’t find it funny. “Before? Well…what do you think? I mean, you were there right? And if I was there don’t you think I would have come over and sat down, maybe had a cup o’ Jo with my girlfriend?”

“No Alice. Actually, I think you would have hidden in the parking lot behind your car and secretly watched Lara and I have coffee together after my workout.”

Alice felt her face turning an undesirable shade of crimson, but she couldn’t do anything to avoid it. She was busted.

“But how-“

“Lara noticed your Mini in the lot and asked if you were supposed to meet me here. I saw you crouched down behind it, but I figured, ‘Hell, Alice and I have talked about this whole irrational jealousy thing more times than I care to remember…I’m sure by now she realizes that spying on me and keeping tabs isn’t the best idea. She probably just dropped her keys by her car and is out there trying to find them.’ And then a good 20 minutes passed and I sort of realized you weren’t planning on coming inside.”