The honking of the car
horn behind her brought Tina back to the present reality. The light at the
intersection had turned green and Tina was so caught up in her thoughts about
the past that she hadn’t noticed. Tina progressed swiftly towards the CAC using
the surface streets. The only hindrances were red lights. It was at those that
she spent the most time and had the most to reflect about her past experiences
with Bette. It was those instances that solidified her thoughts that Bette was
truly the person she was destined to spend the rest of her life. Before Tina
had even realized it, she had arrived at the parking structure adjacent to the
CAC.

Tina parked the car and
rode, yet again, another elevator to the street level. She glanced at her watch
while she waited for the doors to open and release her from the metal box that
hummed and creaked its path along the elevator shaft. It was now after 5 pm and
Tina was hoping that this would be the location that she finally caught up with
Bette. The doors slowly slid agape – Tina couldn’t wait any longer and didn’t
wait for them to become completely passable. As she tried to slide passed the
barely open doors, she caught her shoulder on one of the edges. The impact sent
a resounding pain through her arm.

Tina: Argh! Damn it! Jesus
Tina, calm down.

Tina chastised herself for
her own anxiousness. She needed to remain calm and focused. If Bette was here,
she didn’t need to see Tina as some sort of hormonal lunatic. Tina’s
anxiousness switched momentarily to fear when she thought about seeing Bette.

Tina: (Thinking to
herself) What if Bette doesn’t want to see me? What if I’m too late and Bette
has already moved on? Oh my gosh – what am I going to say? Get a grip on
yourself. Everyone today has said that she still loves me – what am I so
worried about?

Tina had processed all of
her thoughts and proceeded to the CAC’s entry. Upon entering the doors, she
noticed that the displays had continued to change despite she witnessing them
or Bette’s stressful days leading up to a new exhibit. Tina had always been by
Bette’s side during the demanding periods to help ease the tension. Tina
thought about how difficult it must have been for Bette to go through all that
alone. Tina had her fair share of difficulties to handle and remembered how
much it helped having the girls to lean on during those trying times. Bette
didn’t have that luxury – Tina had seen to that by never correcting the girls
or taking a stance against their actions and comments when they had clearly
chosen her side over Bette’s. Tina felt remorse for what Bette had to endure
after the split. Although most people felt that Tina was justified, she knew
that she wasn’t the sort of person to purposely hurt another just to ease her
own pain.