As she finished Shane looked down at Alice’s face and saw silent tears rolling down her cheeks.  That was all it took to send one cascading down Shane’s own face.  She reached up quickly to brush it away desperate to maintain her cool exterior and be the supportive one for her troubled friend.  Again they sat in silence for a few moments both struggling to regain their composure.  Then Alice whispered “How come we never talk about her Shane?  How come it seems like we’re able to just let her fall right out of our lives.  She was more important than that.” The whispers turned to sobs as she finished “She was Dana, our Dana, and sometimes we just pretend like she never existed.”

Shane felt a lump develop in her throat and knew she wouldn’t be able to get words out.  She was startled by what Alice had said but on reflection she realised it was true.  She knew she needed to make sure the writer understood the reasons behind it.  Shifting her body weight she eased them both forward slightly so she could turn and look Alice in the eye.  Swallowing hard to ensure that the words would come out Shane began.

“Alice you’re right, we don’t talk about her enough and she was more important than that but we all loved her Al.  We always will and I think I can speak for everyone when I say we all think about her all the time.   Every day something will remind me of her.  In the beginning it was always painful when that happened you know.  No matter what the memory started off being it would end up with the image of her in that fucking bed wasting away in front of our eyes.  Recently though I’ve found I can remember some of the happy times and smile and leave it at that.  Just the other day Jared roped me in to watching this spy movie with him and I just kept playing that whole escapade of us all in the country club that day trying to figure out if Lara was gay over and over in my head.”  Shane paused a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth and she saw Alice look up at her with a hint of a smile in her eyes.