Alice got up from her spot on the couch, and looked into Dana’s eyes only to look back down at the ground again.

“Yeah that’s fine,” she replied in an unconvincing tone. “Look Dane, I hope you don’t mind but, well, I’m feeling a little tired so I think I may just go to bed. You probably should too, with the tournament and all… so um, yeah the bed in the spare room is made. Night,” and with that Alice ducked into her room, closing the door and collapsing at the base of it.

“You’re so ***** stupid,” she quietly cursed herself over and over again as she lay her head on her door.

Outside, Dana was still sitting in the exact same position, shocked at how fast she had fucked things up with Alice. After months without any of her friends, merely weeks after her girlfriend had left her for someone else; Alice’s life had been made worse by Dana’s stupid comments. Why couldn’t she have told Alice earlier today, or just on the phone beforehand? Dana hit her forehead with her palm as she went over the events in her head, realising how many ways she could have spared Alice’s feelings had she only just thought things through.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Dana woke up at ten the next morning due to jet lag. She stumbled out of Alice’s spare bedroom to find the house empty, a simple note on the fridge explaining that Alice had gone to work and would be back at five. She was disappointed that Alice had left without saying goodbye, but when she remembered the events of the night before, she felt grateful that she had until that afternoon to make it up to Alice.

Dana quickly got dressed and headed out herself, determined to astound Alice that night with a wonderful surprise of her own.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

 “Shane I just – I don’t know what to say to her when I get back,” Alice explained over the phone from her ‘office,’ a small make do room with a desk and phone which Alice had used all of five times in the last few months. “I completely blew things out of proportion. I mean she came all the way from home, with my guitar, only to have me act like a child because she also had a tournament.”