Max had set up the cameras before Dylan arrived. One would be behind Alice, the other behind the Dylan and the last across the room to capture them sitting face to face. After the usual greetings Alice and Dylan sat across each other. The official reason for their meeting was to discuss the release of Dylan’s documentary,  ‘Hood Girlz’. However, each had her own underlying agenda.

Dylan explained to Alice that she met these women who were deeply involved in gang life. This was a way of life for them. The drugs, guns, power struggles and the violence that accompanied them was a constant presence in their lives, from birth to death. “Thug life ‘til I die” was the mantra for the men and the women. There was no room for softness in this climate. Any sign of weakness meant a life of being abused and stepped on. The women supporting the gangbangers were just as tough, if not tougher, than their men. The untold or under told story was the support these women gave to each other. Discretely, there were many sexual relationships that developed as their men were killed or imprisoned. These relationships frequently took on the role playing butch-femme stereotypes, where the stronger women took on the role of the missing men. Many family and support structures developed out of these pairings.

Dylan befriended several of these women, she could identify with their desire for family and structure. This desire was what got her involved with Danny in the first place. Dylan began to describe to Alice the most difficult night with them, when one of the women she particularly became close to was gunned down. In addition to the flash back of that dreadful night when her friend was killed, she had to suppress the memory of sharing that story with Helena. Helena had visited the apartment she shared with Danny to review some of the footage she made. Since their first meeting she looked forward to seeing Helena again. She dismissed the giddy feelings she had at the initial meeting as just excitement over finding funding to complete the project. But when she sat side by side with Helena to review the footage, she was again drawn into her eyes. She was already feeling emotionally vulnerable about discussing the death of her friend but it was an entirely different and new emotion that she felt that drove her to kiss Helena. Dylan closed her eyes and became slightly choked up over the memory of the first kiss she shared with Helena. She was lost in thought when she heard Alice ask, “Dylan, are you okay?”