Alice kissed Dana’s one cheek & walked away to her mini. “See you at the club tonight” she shouted without stopping or turning back.

Dana finally sat on her leather driver’s seat & let out a “Wow” from her mouth. She rested her head before she turned on the engine. Maybe she was moving too fast with Tonya after all.

*****


About 8 PM, Alice finally chose to wear a light blue tank top and grey shorts that matched perfectly. Fearing that it might be a little cold, she wore sweat pants & a shirt on them. She looked at herself in the mirror and “Ready to play tennis Pieszecki?” she asked herself.

The living room was a total mess with used dishes, some clothing, CD – DVD covers laid around Alice sighed at the view and searched for the phone set. “There you are” she yelled cheerfully and swept the clothes on the couch to make a room to sit. “Hey Tee, what’s up?” she called her friend.

“Hi Al, glad you called.” “Why, what’s wrong?” she demanded with a concerned voice. Alice felt Tina smiling so whatever that was, it could not be bad. She walked to kitchen to grab same diet coke while wondering if it was a good idea to exercise with a stomach full of fluid.

“It’s very crowded here. Bette’s very nervous. She walks like a bomb ready to explode any second. Good thing I took your advice.” Tina sat more comfortably over the couch in Bette’s office. She switched her ear that she listened Alice on the cell phone.

“Tina: you didn’t!!!” Alice shocked about the possibilities. She almost choked with the small amount of sip she took a second ago. “Down Alice! You’re unbelievable you know that?” Tina stated laughing. “You’re either having too much ***** these days or none I can’t tell which”

“Ha ha. Funny” Alice said in a mock offended tone. “I mean ‘being there for her’ I don’t think she would even remember to sit for a second or eat a bite if it wasn’t for me. She’s very tired Al. And acting very weird.”

“Well, to be honest I wouldn’t want to be working with Bette right now. Poor CAC personnel.” Alice commented. “Absolutely, she’s yelling, ordering around, she even had words with Franklin. And remember the girl from last night? Candace? The carpenter? Bette is really mean to her I cannot understand She’s such a nice woman and apparently very good at her job. Why won’t Bette give her a break? After all Candace helped her a lot yesterday.” Tina played with her hair.

“Maybe they had a fight at the police station, you know?” Alice suggested. “The two were alone in another cell separated from us. Or maybe Bette’s just being Bette! Always in control. Always demands the best” She checked her watch.

“Listen Tina gotta go. I’ve told you about the situation with my boss? Dana will teach me a trick or two. We’re meeting at the club tonight.” Alice explained while searching for her sports shoes. . It is apparent that the shoes are seldom used as it not placed together with Alice’s everyday shoes.

“Yes, Paul was it? Are you sure you don’t have hots for this guy? I mean, this is a lot of trouble to impress your boss if he’s only your boss.” Tina started to bite her nails. She knew Alice too well, if Alice had feelings for Paul, she wouldn’t hide it from her friends especially when asked with such consideration. She either was telling the truth which was having no feelings at all or it did not sink into her ‘yet’.

“Hey, it’s always a good thing if your boss likes you. Besides, you know I occasionally see Andrew.” Alice did not mention Andrew’s name with delight as she normally would. “But you’re not exclusive. And you don’t sound happy to me about it Al.” Tina argued.

“To be honest, I think I’ve missed the ‘***** drama’ that I’ve been always complaining about. He’s OK and the ***** is OK I guess Whatever, I don’t know. Something’s missing” Her voice dropped significantly, it was obvious that there was something needed to be resolved inside of her head, but the doors were shut pretty tight.

“Wow Tee, gotta go or my trainer will bang my head with her racket. Take care of Bette and you will tell me every detail about tonight, promise?” Tina grinned to herself and thought “Never gonna happen!!!” but answered “Sure.” She was about to say goodbye but instead she said: “Hey Al! Speaking of Dana, take it easy about the Tonya thing all right? Maybe it’s for the best and we did everything we could as Dana’s friends.”

Alice hated to remember Tonya again. “Don’t worry. We’ve already talked about her. We’re cool. But anyway, I’m not buying ‘the angel Tonya’ story so I’m going to watch them like a hawk only not gonna say anything to upset Dana.” She reasoned.

“Bye Tee, good luck!” “Yeah, you too.” Alice finally wore the shoes she has found during the phone talk. They were surely relaxing compared to her everyday shoes with high heels. She looked around her living room, grabbed the bag she prepared before and left.

She arrived at the club late. The traffic was heavier than usual. If it wasn’t for the phone call, she would probably be late again eventually but it was ‘unreasonably late’ now. Dana would probably kill Alice on the court as a revenge if not break off the plan completely. Only if Dana’s phone was in service. Stupid cell phones! Alice cursed. What good are you?

Alice ran to the information desk near the entrance and started to talk between her heavy breaths: “Hi, I’m supposed to play tennis with a friend. Dana Fairbanks? Has she left? Did she leave a message?” The cute woman on the desk smiled kindly and informed Alice that there was a reservation on Court 20 for Dana Fairbanks and guest but she did not come or called to cancel. Then she happily announced that since it was not a busy night -in fact, the place was pretty much empty- their reservation was still on.

Alice was relieved for a minute for not facing the ‘Where the ***** have you been’ lecture but then she panicked: Where the ***** has Dana been?

“I’m soooooooo sorry” Dana hurried towards Alice. She stopped next to Alice and tried to catch her breath.. Alice did not say anything at first, turned to the cute woman at the desk, winked at her and smiled. Turning back to face Dana once again she prepared an angry face and started to shake her head from right to left, then back again.

“Where the ***** have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for almost an hour now” A giggle almost formed on her face but she cleared her throat to dismiss it.

“Tonya called me from home and I could not make her stop talking I’m really sorry”

“Well Fairbanks, that was rude See if I forgive you tonight” She started walking through the locker room with a huge smile hanging on her face. Too bad Dana could not see it and felt really bad for being late.

The cute woman observed them with amusement. The girl with Dana Fairbanks was such a tease And so sweet. From their interaction, she could have swore they were a couple.But then she remembered that there was another woman in the picture. She was not altogether a pleasant person, mean, loud, controlling She’s been seeing her with Dana for some time now. She almost felt bad for the tennis star. “Enjoy your game!” she called out.


TBC