Alice swallowed hard and shook her head. She stood up straight and shut the water off. She slowly turned around to face Dana, a huge smile on her face. Unfortunately, Dana knew Alice way too well and knew that wasn’t the real deal. Dana knew each and every smile Alice had. She knew what every single one meant. This one right here was not one of the real ones.

“Nothing happened. I’m fine. Sorry.” Alice said, wrapping her arms around Dana’s waist, resting her head on her shoulder.

“Nice try, Al. Talk to me, please. Something happened. Your whole demeanor changed.”

“Nothing, Dane, really.” Alice said, pulling away from Dana. “So what lse is in that bag?” She asked, making her way back to the couch.

Dana walked back to the living room and sat down nect to Alice, “Why won’t you talk to me? Al, you always talk to me. Even when I don’t want to hear it!”

“Dane, it’s sort of different now. You aren’t Dana, goofy best friend. You’re Dana, hot chick I’m kinda dating.”

“But Al, I’m still me.” Dana said, genuinely confused. “Why is it different? Shouldn’t that make it better?”

Alice smiled at Dana, “You’re so sweet. Naive, but sweet.” Alice said, leaning in and kissing Dana softly on the forehead. “Yes, in theory, that should make it all that much easier. But it also makes it harder. It kind of makes it scarier.”

“Scarier?”

“Yeah, scarier. Dane, with you, it’s all or nothing. There is no middle ground. We know each other too well, we care about each other too much as people for anything else.”

“Right. I don’t get why that’s scary, Al.”

“Dane, how long do you know me?”

“Like six years, or almost six years.”

“Right. So now, in the last six years, how many times have you seen me give anyone all? And how many times have you seen me get all from anyone?”

Dana was quiet for a bit as she went back in time and tried to remember the people Alice has dated. “You sort of did with Gabby.”

“That so doesn’t count. I always knew that wasn’t going to work, I gave it a lot of attention because it was safe to, it was never going to amount to anything. Who else?”