Bette: No.  Parent’s getting a divorce.

Dana: Omg, I’m sorry.  Do you need anything?

Bette: No, but thanks.  Stayed in my mom’s bed all night.  Things r fucked.

Dana: You wanna hang out tonight?  We can watch movies, binge on popcorn and sweets?  All of us girls.

Bette: Sounds nice.  I’ll call you tonight.  Let me know how it goes with Howie.

Dana closed her phone and made her way towards her brother’s bedroom.  Knocking on the door, she waited for Howie to appear.

“What do you want?” Howie asked.

“I was hoping we could talk.” Noticing his sister’s demeanor changing, he nodded and let her in his dirty room.

She looked for a clean place to sit, finding it at his computer desk.

“What’s going on Dane?”

“So, I, um, well, I…I don’t think that you would feel differently if I told you…”

“Told me what, Dana?  Spit it out.”

“Howie, I’m gay.”

“Duh.” Howie shrugged, “I’m not nearly as dense as mom and dad.  I’ve seen you and Alice together.  You guys are dating, right?”

“Yeah.  How’d you know?”

“You’re pretty obvious at school.  Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to mom and dad unless you want me to.”

“Are you serious?”

“Why would I rat you out?  I have secrets to, you know?”

They stared at one another for a second before Dana spoke again.

“Wait, you’re not telling me that you’re…”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Howie, you’re gay too!”

“Yeah, but be quiet.” She covered her mouth with her hand, but her eyes smiled at him,” And I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“You know that I won’t.”

“Pinky swear.”

Dana laughed, but agreed with Howie that they wouldn’t talk about it.

~~

Shane walked across the street to meet Molly, who was already standing on her stairs.

“Hey, you want to come hang out with my friends.  Bette’s parents are splitting up and she needs some company.”

“Yeah, what are we doing?”

“Going to a drive-in movie.  In a couple of hours.  Change into something comfy.”

Molly coaxed Shane into the house and into her bedroom.  She slid out of her skirt and shirt and into a pair of jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt.

“I told Richard.”

“About us?”

“Well, not quite.  I broke up with him.  Apparently, his friends told him that I was hanging around you guys.  I told him that I fucked one of you, but I didn’t say who.”

Shane chuckled, “I’m sure he didn’t like that.”

“No, he didn’t, but I don’t care what Richard thinks.  Richard is a prick and so are all of his friends.”

“He definitely is if he’d listen to his friends before he asked you about it, not that his friends weren’t completely right.”

Molly took a seat next to Shane on the bed.

“If your friends told you something about me, you’d believe them, wouldn’t you?”

Shane nodded and looked at Molly, “I would.”

“Well, how does that make you any different than Richard and his friends any different from yours.”

“My friends are not just ‘friends’, they’re family.”

~~

One large van, owned by Dana’s mother, pulled into a space at the drive-in.  The girls inside, all ready to just spend their night together, settled easily in their seats.  Bette leaned against the window and propped her leg up in the seat and allowing Helena to move in between them.  Helena rested her head against Bette’s shoulder.

“Thanks for being there for me last night.” Bette whispered.

“I only did what I was supposed to do, darling.”

Alice and Dana dropped the passenger and driver seats back, holding hands and smiling at one another.  Molly and Shane cuddled up quickly as well.

A loud crash could be heard from behind the car.  Everybody inside perked up.

“What the fuck was that?” Alice asked, followed by another crash.

Dana peeked her head out of the window.

“It’s a bunch of guys throwing bottles.”

Molly looked out of the rearview.

“It’s fucking Richard.”