Kit and Tina buried their faces in each other’s shoulders, failing to muffle their snorts of laughter. The rest of the group were bug-eyed, while Shane attempted to lighten the moment.

"Hey, it’s autographed!" she announced a little too loudly.

Alice didn’t bother hiding her disdain and rolled her eyes into next year. "Is that it? With the advance she got, you’d think she’d un-ass some of that money and get a better gift!"

"Alice!" Tasha reprimanded.  "It’s the thought that counts."

She dipped her head and looked at Tasha sweetly. "Oh, honey, that’s why I love you – you ground me!"

"Now you’re just mocking me," she replied sternly, but proved unable to maintain a straight face when everyone started to laugh.

The lights dimmed as the DJ began spinning tunes. Shane lit up and grabbed Kit.

"Ooh, I love this song! C’mon, you guys, dance with me!"

Bette and Tina shared a glance, knowing that neither felt like dancing. Tina shook her head.

"I think we’re just gonna stay here for a bit."

Everyone took off for the dance floor as they watched in comfortable silence. After a few moments, Tina brought out a wrapped gift and handed it to Bette, who hefted the small box and smiled at a memory.

"It’s too light for an ashtray."

Tina grinned and quipped, "You don’t smoke anymore. But it is a souvenir of sorts … "

Bette made a show of patiently removing the wrapper and opened the box: she took out a pink babydoll T-shirt and unfolded it, revealing "She’s My Bitch". Bette let out a laugh and looked incredulously over at Tina, who simply smiled.

"I give up – I’m not opening any more presents."

"Let’s just say I never got around giving that to you." Tina jutted her chin. "There’s something else at the bottom."

Bette sighed and warily prodded through the tissue paper. Her expression softened as she gingerly picked up a hand-bound book encased in a slipcover. Tina pointed at it excitedly.

"It’s the print edition by Kiki Smyth to accompany Emily Dickinsen’s poetry – only forty copies were made. See how the sheets are hand-sewn?"

"Oh, Tee … " She leafed through the pages carefully. "This cost a small fortune! I can’t accept it … "