“That’s not helpful Alice.” said Tina, frowning deeply.

“What are you going to do Tina?”

“If I knew that, then I wouldn’t be sat here talking to you, now would I?”

“I guess not. But still, you need to figure it out.”

“Yeah, thanks, because I never thought of that.” replied Tina, knowing that she was making Alice the brunt of her frustration.

“Shane is interesting though….”

“And charming.” said Tina, smiling slightly at the thought of Shane.

“OK, you really do need to sort this out.” said Alice firmly, seeing Tina smile.

“So what do you suggest?”

“First of all there is something that I need to tell you.” said Alice, squirming slightly in her seat.

“What have you done?” replied Tina, fixing Alice with a stare.

“I invited Shane to join us.”

“You did what?” asked Tina, raising her voice enough so that people at nearby tables turned around to look.

“How was I supposed to know that you were hot for her.” said Alice, protesting her innocence.

“I’m not hot for her.”

“You are, and it’s getting you into trouble.”

“So like I said earlier. What am I going to do about it?”

“Nothing. Don’t do anything about it. Just pretend it not happening and eventually it’ll go away,”

“I don’t think I can do that.” said Tina, letting out a sigh of resignation.

“Tina, I don’t think that you have any choice. The thing with Shane, however you want to classify it, it’s just something new. Something different. In a couple if weeks time you’ll be wondering what all the fuss was about.”

“I don’t know Alice. I’ve been thinking about Shane a lot. Too much for someone that’s supposed to be in love with someone else.”

“Well, that’s you’re answer then. Every time Shane pops into your head force her out and think about Bette instead. Simple.” said Alice, feeling very pleased with herself.

“Simple when you say it like that, anyway.”

“It is simple Tina, you’re dating Bette Porter. Having been there I know how great that is, and even though I always knew that we were never going to last, I would swap that experience for anything. We both know that when Bette gets you in her sight you’re….powerless to do anything about it.”