“I’m not lying!” Alice’s voice rose in indignation. “Bette did so cheat on me!”

Tina’s eyes narrowed as she instinctually stepped up to defend the woman she loved. Bette may have cheated on her, and yes she was cheating on Jodie, but she wouldn’t sit here and have a woman that is supposed to be one of their closest confidants make up lies about Bette’s history. “Explain to me how someone who you were casually dating for only six weeks could cheat on you?”

“Hey!” Alice took offense. “Just like you two we were in a relationship!”

At this declaration Tina’s voice turned hard as steel. “Don’t you dare equate your six weeks of dating to our eight year marriage! Don’t you dare! I mean it Alice, six weeks doesn’t make a relationship! Hell, it took me longer than that just to learn how to spell your last name!”

“Oh, that’s low Tina.”

“Tell me Al, during that six weeks did either of you ever talk about monogamy? Did you actually verbally make a commitment to each other? Hmmm? Or was it just what we all know it was…casual dating?!”

“Quit negating my time with Bette,” Alice said sadly.

“I’m not negating it Alice, but I am putting it in perspective.” Tina sighed, not wanting to deliberately hurt Alice’s feelings, but at the same time wanting to provoke her enough to get answers for this new revisionist history she was spouting. “I know your time with Bette was important to you, and I’m not saying Bette didn’t enjoy it as well, but Al, if Bette was committed to being monogamous with you there would have been no doubt in your mind.”

“How do you know what our level of commitment was?!” Alice snapped.

Tina looked at Alice sadly and it hit her that maybe all this talk about Bette cheating on Alice stemmed from the fact that even after all these years Alice still held onto some hurt feelings because after only six short weeks Bette had decided she didn’t want their relationship to be sexual anymore. She didn’t think that was the case, but because no answers were coming from Alice, Tina could only guess at the motivation behind the reporter’s storytelling. It still confounded Tina that the two women had dated at all. She didn’t see the attraction, never had. Which is probably why they only lasted six weeks, Tina thought.