“Al!”  I shouted. “Alice!”

She continued to run, dodging past pedestrians and around café tables. I pounded the pavement, increasing my pace.

“Al!  Please! It’s not what you think!”

I finally caught up with her and grabbed hold of her shoulder. She tried to pull away from me but I held on. She turned and we were face to face. Angry tears were rolling down her cheeks, and where her face had been white it was now crimson.

“Fuck off, Dana!”

“Don’t say that!  She was just there, Al, it wasn’t planned!”

“Nothing ever is with you, is it?!” She spat, and tried once more to shake off my hand. “Let go!”

“No! I need to explain!”

She screwed up her face. “I’m tired of listening, Dana. You’re obviously incapable of committing to me!” She finally managed to wrench her arm away, and went to walk away.

“Look!” I thrust the envelope at her. She paused, and without looking, hissed:

“What is it?!”

I pulled out the photos and held them in front of her.

“Ethan sent these to Lara. That’s what she wanted to talk to me about.”

Alice’s mouth opened.

“Oh.”

She put her hands on her hips and then by her side.

“You were –“Her forehead crinkled. “You were touching her.”

I threw my hands up, feeling anger bubbling inside me. “She was upset! How would you feel if you got those through the post?!”

Alice’s jaw jutted forward.

“Don’t blame me for this!”

I grabbed the photos and put them away.

“I’m not blaming you; I just thought you might have trusted me a little more…” I trailed off.

Alice cocked her head.

“Trust you?” She gave a bitter laugh. “Forgive me if I have trouble with that concept!”

Her anger fuelled my own.

“Jesus, Al!  I left Lara for you. I want to be with you now!”

She bit her lip and said sarcastically, “Oh, I’m sorry, you’re sure now. That’s ok then!”

I rolled my eyes in frustration, at the same time noticing we had drawn quite a bit of attention with our display.