Bette licked her lips. She glanced up and saw Tina smiling at her. She cleared her throat. Tina squeezed Bette’s hand again and didn’t let go. She needed that connection and she knew Bette needed the connection as well. When they didn’t know how to communicate with each other, their bodies always knew what to do. Tina began drawing tiny circles on the back of Bette’s hand. Bette started to move her hand. Then Tina used her forefinger and thumb to encircle Bette’s thumb. 

Bette took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. 

Julia watched the exchange. She realized the problem and it was going to take work on both of their parts to get the fuck over themselves to put it into clinical terms. 

Julia cleared her throat. Tina and Bette turned their attention to the monitor. 

“Okay. That’s very good. Thank you for doing the homework. Oh…one more thing…did you hold hands?” 

They both looked down at their hands and nodded. 

“No sex?” Julia raised her brow. 

Bette rolled her eyes. Tina instinctively tugged on Bette’s thumb. 

“No sex,” Tina confirmed.

“No kissing. Just cuddling,” Tina added. 

She decided not to tell Julia they had been sleeping in the same bed.

“Good. Good. Good. Now…tell me about the other date. What inspired it? Did you connect?”

“It was perfect,” Tina blurted. 

She squeezed Bette’s thumb to encourage her to continue. 

“Tina inspired me,” Bette said plainly. 

Tina turned to look at Bette. 

“How,” Julia probed. 

Bette ran her free hand through her hair. Tina squeezed her thumb again signaling her to keep going.

“After the initial unease of the do over date, the night really was fucking fantastic,” Bette exhaled.

“We talked for hours when we got home. And I wanted more of that feeling. The feeling of being close to Tina. I miss our closeness more than anything. So, I asked her out.”

Tina could see the tears in Bette’s eyes. She squeezed her thumb again.

“And how did you feel when Bette asked you out, Tina?”

Tina kept staring at the side of Bette’s face. She loved this woman so much.  

“Tina?”

Silence.

Bette turned to face Tina. Their eyes locked. 

“Tina?” Julia said again. 

Tina kept staring into Bette’s beautiful brown eyes.