“I’m calling Alice.” Shane said popping up out of her seat and reaching in her pocket for her phone.

“No, Shane I …” Bette said standing to protest, but she half heartedly wanted Alice there to share this as well. Shane was still standing there holding her phone in her hand when she received the soft “go ahead” nod from Bette. On the phone Shane was very vague and non descriptive when she called Alice, she said just enough to have Alice rushing through traffic to get to Bette’s house. Alice pulled up to Bette’s house and saw the look of gloom on both Shane and Bette’s faces.

“What? What happened?” Alice said as panic sprang in her voice’s pitch. “Did something happen to Tina?” Alice said clutching her chest and staring at her friends who were to blank to give her an answer. “Will somebody answer me, God-Damn it?!” Alice said dropping her bag and stomping her foot.

Shane rushed over and said in a hurried voice “No, no, no, no, Al it’s nothing fatal I swear. It’s just there’s this message.” Bette started to walk over with her phone in hand she brought it up to Alice’s face for her to read. Alice read the message and breathed out the breath she was holding since the inexplicit phone call from Shane.

“Oh my god!” Alice said beating both Shane and Bette around the arms as they both stood at her side trying to dodge her small flying fists. “You fuckers, scared the shit outta me!”

“Hey, this is serious. We don’t know what to do about this.” Bette said trying to back away from Alice without falling over her own furniture.

“No serious is something happened to Tina. The way Shane sounded on the phone I thought you had killed Justine and needed some help disposing of the fucking body, this” she said holding up the phone for emphasis “is a fucking text message.” she said finally throwing a couch pillow at Bette as she had already fallen over the couch and was laughingly taking the tiny punches in her arms.

“And you” she said turning and pointing to Shane “Come here fatty, the next time you call me like that, there had better be a shovel and a body waiting for me.” Shane couldn’t help the laughter that escaped her lips as she was trying to be serious for Alice’s sake. “Oh you think it’s funny.” she said quickly throwing Shane into a head lock and swirling her around the living room. Bette looked and she couldn’t help the laughs that invaded her body, she hadn’t laughed at or with her friends in so long it felt so deserved she felt as though her life was finally released from pause.