“OH!” She heard her mother call out as she turned back toward the house. “Dana what happened to your furniture?!?”

* * * * * * *

Alice plopped down on the couch and sighed. It had been almost two months since she had moved in and she was still sleeping in the living room on the couch with her father’s night stand sitting next to her. She had never even bothered to straighten the couch out. It still sat in the middle of the room, facing the TV that Dana had also insisted that she take. Her boxes still sat around her, due to the fact that she had only been unpacking things when she needed them. The only boxes that she had managed to completely empty were the ones that held her clothing, that was now stacked unceremoniously all over her bed and shoved in her dresser. She missed the closet space in her and Dana’s bedroom. Actually the closet had been more like an extra room that they had been converted into a closet by the previous owners. And since Alice was still sleeping on the couch, she had done the same thing to her bedroom. Alice wondered what Dana was doing. She stared over at the clock. Six twenty two. Normally, Dana might just be getting home from an evening jog. But now her and Lara were probably getting home form an evening jog. Alice felt the sick feeling that always accompanied her thoughts when they were filled with Lara and Dana. After that late night conversation wit Lara She understood with out a doubt that Dana and Lara would never have a relationship, but it didn’t stop her from being jealous. It didn’t put an end to the sleepless nights she tossed and turned through. Alice took her cell phone out of her pocket and looked at it contemplating the same thing that she did every night. She wanted to call her, if only to hear her voice. She missed everything about Dana, but she thought that she might be able to sleep a tiny bit better if she could just hear Dana say goodnight to her. So for the millionth time, Alice hit number one on her speed dial and waited for her cell phone to connect the call. When it finally started to ring she quickly lost her nerve and hit the end key on her phone and threw it down in disgust. Alice blew a loud breath of air out of her lungs and threw her head back onto the softness of the couch pillows. She had never actually realized how much of her time that Dana had filled. Now that she and the other woman were separated there never seemed to be anything for Alice to do. Especially since all of her friends were busy with their own relationships.