“What are you saying?” Dana asked daftly

Leisha took a deep breath. “I’m saying that I still want to keep seeing you, even though I highly suspect that you were going to tell me that we should stop seeing each other. And we can do that if that’s what you want. But I know that you like me. And I’ve just told you how I feel. So I think that we should just, go with it.” Leisha shrugged her shoulders and paused to let Dana’s brain wrap around everything that she had just said. She looked at the woman sitting before her, still struggling with what she should do. When she saw Dana’s face contort indicating that she was about to start crying, Leisha slid off of her stool and walked over to stand in front of Dana. “Hey, look, you don’t have to decide now, okay. I could come back, or you could call me.”

“I justdon’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want anyone to expect anything from me.” She said thinking about Lara. Dana got her composure back and looked up to try and read Leisha’s face.

“Hmm. Dana,” she began in a practical voice. “I know that you don’t have any kind of deep, meaningful feelings for me. And trust me I haven’t fooled myself into thinking that I’m in love with you either. We have fun together and all I’m saying is that we should see how things unfold.” Leisha shrugged again and this time shook her head a little as she spoke. “This might turn into something, and it might not. I’m just offering you astep, on the ladder of getting over being hurt. And if it gets too difficult for either one of us, we walk away, maybe as friends. Until then, I think that you and I should justgo with the flow.” Dana smiled at the words and was finally able to grasp what Leisha was offering her and she leaned forward and kissed her, sealing the deal. It was only when Leisha’s slender fingers had snaked under her shirt and pulled it over her head that they broke apart at the gasp that had just been heard form the doorway.

Dana looked up in time to see the flash of red hair turn to rush back out of the house. “Lara! Lara, Wait!” She called as she grabbed the discarded shirt and struggled back into it as she ran after her friend. “Wait I can explain!”