Helena was talking while Bette had gone online, "Yeah," she answered, "I remember being really shocked when I saw it.  A friend of mine from way back tweeted about it, and I since I was in Paris at that time, I decided to pick up a copy."

"Woah!," Bette and Tina exclaimed simultaneously, as Bette clicked on the story about Marissa, and the article’s cover shot displayed. 

 "I know!," Helena answered. "Believe me, she was nothing like that in school.  For a moment, I’d thought that the shots taken were of a twin or something. But the closer I looked, the more I realized the shots really were of Marissa."

"Is she this glamorous in real life?," Bette asked.  "Or that hot?," Tina added. She and Bette exchanged bemused glances.

"I thought she wasn’t," Helena responded. "But who knows?  I haven’t seen her in 20 years or so. I was just entering middle school when she was a senior, you know."

"But still… I never thought she’d become as hot as that, Tina, so, goes to show: people can change," Helena added.

They exchanged goodbyes minutes later, as Bette sent a quick note via iMessage to Marissa, suggesting a FaceTime session with her, if convenient, in 20-30 minutes.  Earlier that evening, after she and Tina had jointly decided to hear what Marissa had to say, Bette had sent her a text, to indicate that she’d gotten Marissa’s message to her in the office, and that they could talk later in the evening.

Marissa responded quickly to Bette, saying she could do a FaceTime session immediately, rather than wait for half an hour.

Bette raised her eyebrows, pointing to Marissa’s response to Tina, which was displayed on the large HD screen on one wall.  Tina had turned to look at something in her tablet, but looked up at the screen, as Bette had suggested.  Meanwhile, she showed Bette an email from Liz, which briefly mentioned that Liz and Marissa had spoken, and that Marissa was going to reach out to either Bette or Tina.

"Are you ready, T?," Bette asked, as she opened her FaceTime app.

Tina nodded, and took a seat next to Bette in the unique couch in Bette’s office. Bette had positioned the computer’s built in camera to direct it toward the couch.