“So Tee how was the trip?”  Alice‘s eyes flashed, she was looking over the
crowd, not seeing Quin anywhere.  She
sighed Tina shrugged.  She didn’t want to
allude to what had happened, she didn’t want to mention Cassandra’s name, it
was too hard to think about her.  Her
blue green eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and elegant limbs.  The flared hips that loved to move to a Latin
beat, the lips that kissed you so gently you were sure they were kisses sent
directly from the angel’s above.

            “It was good.”  Tina simply said, Marina and Jenny asked to sit and Shane waved to the table.  A wicked smile on her face as she wiggled her
eyebrows.

            “Lot‘s of place, right?”  They laughed and Shane smiled, they were avoiding the fact that
she couldn’t see a thing, and were acting like she was fine.  When they all knew she wasn’t. 

            The huge elephant sat in the
middle of the room, and Shane was the only one that could see it.  They were not going to talk about it; they
were going to act like she was good old Shane.  The
one who hadn’t falling in love with a married woman, the one that hadn’t been
beaten nearly to death.  The one who wasn’t
blind.

            “Shane, you look wonderful tonight.”  Marina said without thinking and Shane shot back, with a wicked grin.  She’d learned that making a joke, made
everyone very uncomfortable, and she liked that.  She wanted them to remember that she wasn’t who
she had been two months before.  “I
wouldn’t know.” 

            Dana slapped her arm playfully and Shane had to smile, her sense of humor had
taken a turn to the dark side.  Dana wagged a finger at her.  Shane kept laughing and swatted at Dana‘s wagging finger.

            “Shane….”  Dana said in a threatening voice and Shane laughed at her tone, wiggling her
eyebrows again; and reaching for her drink, finding it easily and taking a sip
of the soda.

            “What?  I’m not the one pretending to that I’m not
sightless.”  Shane scoffed and Tina reached over and took her hand from
across the table. 

            “I’m sorry Shane; I just don’t know what to say or how to
act?”  Tina admitted, and Shane sighed, wishing they’d stop acting like
she was dying and dancing around the subject at hand.  She decided to just be blunt about it all.