Tina was in a teasing mood, Bette saw. That’s good. She also mentioned Eric without a flicker of pain her eyes. Another good sign.

In a better mood now, Tina picked up her own mug, poured herself some coffee, then went around the sofa to sit at the other end of the sofa. Like Bette, she drew her legs up, and sat on one of them. She stretched the other leg out. They relaxed into a shared silence, enjoying the quiet, and the smell of high quality coffee.  Soon they were chatting amiably about the funnier things they’d seen last night, carefully avoiding mentioning anything more about Eric. Tina continued to be in a teasing mood, rolling her eyes while recounting to Bette the giggles and stares directed Bette’s way from some of ”those hot young women” in the gallery.

”I swear Bette you could have had sex with any one of them last night if you’d wanted to.  That black silk was really doing a number on them, let me tell you,” Tina was laughing at the blush clearly evident in the Bette’s cheeks, even as Bette was trying to deny Tina’s teasing observation. 

In reality, Tina knew she was trying to hide her own reaction, acknowledging to herself that she knew the Bette’s dress did not only unsettle ”the hot young women” ogling Bette.  Tina remembered her own reaction when Eric had introduced the two of them, and later when they were sitting in the video art room.  Tina quickly drank some more of the delicious coffee, to force something down a suddenly dry throat, and tamp down rising emotion.

After a stretch of silence, Tina was close to draining her cup. She licked her lips, and thought about probing Bette a bit more.  She stretched her arm along the top of the sofa; let her fingers creep up to near where Bette’s hand rested.  She found the hand and began stroking it, slowly entangling her fingers with Bette’s.

”So, Paris. What was that about? What happened to you there?,” she asked the brunette softly.

Bette glanced over at Tina, shifting her eyes from looking at their fingers playing with one another.  She saw a warm, supportive friendliness in the hazel eyes, and judged that the sexy blonde just wanted to reach out to her, in some way, to try to understand her a bit more. Her heart warmed at the increased feeling of closeness that she was experiencing with Tina.