She paused, took a breath before saying, ”And yes, she asked me twice about going out to dinner…. Or something.  If not that night, then, yes, she wanted to go out with me last night.”

”I told her no, I was not interested, and wasn’t intending to be ever. She asked me if there was someone else, and I said yes, that there was or could be. I just didn’t know yet.”

She looked over at Tina. Still no reaction from her.  The blonde had broken eye contact and was staring straight ahead.  Bette paused and angled her head to search those hazel eyes, but Tina was stoic, and was giving nothing away.  With a sigh, Bette continued, ”I also told Kelly that I was willing to wait for this person, and that I would do what it took to give it a try. You know, make it work with her… this person, I mean, that Kelly guessed I was interested in.”  Very interested in, actually.

”So that’s when she leaned in, I guess, and kissed me, to check things out.  At that point, you may have walked away, but believe me she came away from that kiss knowing that nothing would be possible between her and me.  I felt nothing….. nothing in the kiss.  And she knew it.”

”So she invited me for a cup of coffee, just to catch up. She wanted some advice since she planned to open a gallery, and was in Paris, in fact to meet some artists.”

Bette stopped talking, since that was the end of her story about Kelly.  The point being there was no story.  She could explain more, try to dispel any lingering doubts Tina had, but the blonde remained silent.  So she turned away from Tina, and faced forward, just as Tina was.

After a few minutes, Tina turned to the Bette, lifted the brunette’s arm to put it around her shoulder, like before, and snuggled against Bette’s warm frame.

She finally opened her mouth to speak, in a quiet voice, ”I think you don’t know the power of your charms, Bette, and how seductive your flirtations can be.  You are a born flirt.  It’s as simple, and as complicated, as that.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s something in you, and you feed off of people’s reactions to you.”