The silent standoff continued until a blur of purple came forward and grabbed Shane.

“Shaney!”  Harrison squealed.

Once Shane realized what was going on, she returned the exuberant hug.  “Harrison?  Man…  It’s been too long.”  

The two of them broke their embrace to find Alice and Dana staring at them with identical what-the-fuck expressions.  Harrison was quick to explain.

“Shane and I go way back.  We haven’t seen each other in a long time, though.  We used to run into each other at some clubs.”  Harrison left it at that.  Some stories were better left untold.  Dana and Harrison jogged off to finish getting the team warmed up.

Alice was shocked at how much Shane got into the game.  Anytime the Badgers got near the opponent’s goal, she would be on her feet and cheering.  She freely admitted that she had no idea what the rules were except that you had to kick into the other guy’s goal.  Alice had a great time watching Daniel play, Shane cheer and Dana coach.  She couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning.

Alex ran over to Alice after the game.  Daniel was talking to Harrison about something and hadn’t come over, yet.  

“Miss Alice?  Are you guys going to be able to come have pizza with us?  Please?”  Alice was too caught up with the “please” from the young boy to notice his mom almost holding her breath as she looked on.  It was Alex’s idea to ask, but, Dana had a vested interest in the outcome.  Shane was trying to hide a grin with her hand.  

“We have been looking forward to it all week.”  Alice said with a smile.  “We can’t wait to see your pizza place.”  Alex smiled and with a “Cool!” ran off to tell Daniel.

Dana wandered over slowly wearing her own smile.

“Thank goodness.  He has been talking about it all week.  He can’t wait to show Daniel the game room.”  Alice felt the skip in her heart that she always seemed to get when she was near Dana.

“Daniel has been mentioning it, too.”  She lowered her eyes and scuffed the ground a bit.  “And his mom has been looking forward to it.”

Shane just watched the two women as the interacted.  Of course she had heard about Dana from Alice.  And from Daniel.  They both seemed smitten in their own ways.  Shane could easily see the connection between the two that was more than just a casual friendship.  And she hoped that the two would find some way to get together – and vowed to help in any way she could.

The whole group headed over to the pizza place.  Shane considered taking a pass to get some sleep, but, decided a pizza breakfast was a good idea.  It might also give her some insight in how to help Alice with this burgeoning relationship.

The two boys ate quickly.  It was as much due to hunger as it was the excitement at going to the game room.  Shane and Harrison agreed to watch them as they headed off which left Dana and Alice alone at the table.

The two women got silent as they sat at the table alone.  Each had a hundred things to say, but, found it hard to talk now that they were alone and face-to-face.  They took turns looking at the table and then looking up shyly at each other.

Shane and Harrison watched from the window in the game room.  Their faces had identical expressions as they stared forward.  

“Are they always this way?”  Shane asked incredulously.

“Yep.”  Harrison answered.  “I can’t seem to get Dana to make any sort of move.”

“And Alice isn’t ready to take that step without some serious encouragement.”  Shane said and then thought a bit.  “They need help.”  She turned to look seriously at Harrison.  “You in?”

“I am more than in.  They at least need their shot at happiness.”  Harrison said and then added almost to himself.  “And there is definitely something there worth fighting for.”