With tears in her eyes from laughing so hard Bette spoke first,  “Tina, I am sooo sorry about that.” And then they both burst out laughing again. 

The waiter arrived with an assortment of appetizers, which brought them back to earth.

“Oh, Bette these look wonderful”.

“Wait till you taste them.”

They sampled and talked about the food for a few moments when Tina asked:   “Bette, may I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure, we’re friends, right”

“Well, was that a current or ex girlfriend?”

“Ex, definitely Ex.   I’ve been trying to break up with her for close to a month, but I don’t know, she doesn’t seem to get it.”

“Well, why didn’t you just tell that we’re just friends?”

“Um, I don’t know.  The truth is I was kind of mad at her for disturbing us.  Maybe it’s for the best.  If she thinks I’m with someone she’ll give it up and move on.”

“Oh, um okay”

The waiter brought another round of food and they settled into a thoughtful silence.  Bette looked at Tina and couldn’t help but smile at the gusto with which the blonde was enjoying the food. 

“Tina, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure”

“Did you know that I was a lesbian?”

Tina was caught off guard by the direct question but recovered quickly.

“Um, I’m not sure.  I mean, I didn’t know, but for some reason it didn’t really surprise me that she was your girlfriend – ex girlfriend.  Does that make any sense at all?”

“In some strange way it sort of does.  Does that mean that you’re not freaked out?”

“Far from it.  Did you think I would be?”

“Well, I guess I’m just used to people who live more traditional lifestyle as being a little more, I don’t know, judgmental of nontraditional lifestyles.”

“I guess it might be because … well everyone who meets me just assumes I live a predictable, suburban, soccer mom, Martha Stewart life and they make all sorts of assumptions about who I am and frankly it drives me crazy.  Maybe because in my own way, I’ve lived a pretty nontraditional life, I really try not to make assumptions about people.  I know how it feels to be on the outside looking in and I’d never wanted to be the cause of that kind of pain.  It hurts too much.  Does that make sense?”