“The woman I met here the other day. I told you about her before we started dancing.”

“You want to talk to her now?” asked Bette, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I should do really. I asked her to come and now I’ve completely abandoned her. She’s with Alice, who knows what could have happened to her.”

“They look like they’re getting on quite well.” said Bette, looking over to where Alice and another woman, who she presumed to be Shane were standing.

“Alice is probably bombarding her with gossip” replied Tina, grimacing at the thought.

“They’re fine. Come on, I want to go home.” said Bette, tugging on Tina’s hand.

Tina stood on the dance floor. She wasn’t just in two minds about what she should do, she was in three or four. She knew that she should go home with Bette, no questions asked and yet she felt guilty. When she had looked over at Shane and Alice she knew that they were both fine. In fact it was probably the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and yet there was something nagging at her. She felt it was wrong. She felt that she should be the one standing by the bar talking to Shane.

“Are you coming?” asked Bette, pulling a little harder in Tina’s hand.

“Yes, sorry. I’m coming.” said Tina, knowing that there would be too many questions to answer if she didn’t.

**************

Tina took her pyjama’s into the bathroom with her. She took off her clothes and put her pyjamas on. She couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt off. She hadn’t said a word in the car home. She could see Bette looking at her out of the corner of her eye but she didn’t respond. There was nothing she could say that would explain her feelings right now.

Tina took her toothbrush and started to clean her teeth. Maybe if she brushed the dirt off of her teeth she could brush the dirt off of her life. Tina was aware that she had been in the bathroom a long time, and she had never got changed in there. In fact, she could barely remember a time when it wasn’t Bette that was helping her get changed.

“Tina, are you OK in there?” shouted Bette from the bedroom.

“I’m fine. Just give me a minute and I’ll be out.” replied Tina, taking a deep breath in, steeling herself for Bette’s reaction.

“You’ve got pyjama’s on.” said Bette, as Tina emerged from the bathroom.

“Is that not OK?” asked Tina, knowing how unusual that was.

“It’s fine. I guess.” replied Bette, the look on her face giving her away that it was the opposite of fine.

“Bette. I’m tired and I need to go to sleep.” replied Tina, getting into bed.

“Like I said, it’s fine.” said Bette, the tension emanating from her.

“Bette, are you sure you’re OK with it. It doesn’t mean anything. I just need some sleep.” said Tina, trying to placate Bette.

“Do you want me to hold you?” asked Bette, biting her bottom lip as she spoke.

“That would be nice.”

“Do you want to come over here?”

“I do.” said Tina, wriggling over to Bette’s side of the bed.

“Let’s just go to sleep”

“Bette, are you sure you’re OK?” asked Tina, knowing that Bette wasn’t.

“Tina, lets just sleep.” replied Bette, not really wanting to talk anymore.

Tina shut her eyes and tried to fall asleep. She listened to Bette’s breathing regulate and she knew that Bette was sleeping. It was then that she extricated herself from Bette’s arms and heading for the kitchen. She needed a drink to clear her head. It was going to be a long night.