“Classic!”

I flung suds at her before I handed hers back, pocketed my ID, and resumed the dishes. Bette asked if I had any plans for tomorrow night, and confirmed that I was plan-free at that moment. She explained that every week the girls got together one night for dinner. Usually a movie, poker, a night swim, or dancing would follow.

“It’s just sort-of like a gossip night, I guess. We started it a few months ago and just kept doing it. It’s fun, a way to check in with each other. Al and I had been having weekly dinners since we broke up, but in the last few months, the others have joined us. You should be here for it.”

I agreed to be there, it sounded like fun. After about a year of these weekly meet-ups, someone had re-named them to family night. I don’t remember who named them that, but I readily took up the new name. Family night… I always wanted to have those when I was a kid, and now I had them. They didn’t always happen every week, and usually not on the same night, and sometimes a spur-of-the-moment one would happen for various reasons, but whenever one was called, plans were cancelled or changed and everyone would be there, for each other.

* * * * *

That first month in WeHo was one of change for me. I started becoming quite close to the ladies I had met, I had a steady job, and I was starting to feel like I had a grip on my life. I had saved all my pay checks and had been living off the tips from the job. I had started looking for a place to live, checking bulletin boards and such anywhere I found them, searching for share houses looking for a roommate. While Bette kept reassuring me that I could stay with her as long as I needed, I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. Of course, the fact that I was only there half the time probably helped me a bit. I started frequenting Milk quite a bit, which meant finding girls to have a good time with quite regularly. If I wasn’t at work, Bette’s or Milk, I was at The Planet. I had paid my tab back to Marina, insisting that I didn’t want to be in debt there. Marina and I got along well, we would find each other at Milk and scour the club for ladies, each with our own style that we respected each other for. Alice and Dana had become two of my closet friends. The three of us easily got along and would spend hours at The Planet, Al commenting on people around us playfully or cynically, Dana occasionally calling Al on her comments, and me usually sitting back listening and observing, or sometimes throwing my own two cents in on the matter. Sometimes Dana would just sit back and watch the commentary that would run between Al and I. Tina started spending more nights at Bette’s, and I found myself talking to her as easily as I did with Bette. While she didn’t know quite as much about me as Bette did, her motherly instincts drew me to her. I know I have never seen them as mothers, but they have become very much like big sisters to me over the years. I didn’t need, but did want, their approval and input on big decisions.