“Hey” ***** she scared the ***** out of me. I think I squeaked a little for the third time today.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you needed a little time to digest what Alice uncovered in there.”

“You heard that?” to the question, she nods. “And you didn’t come back in? To interject or to shut her up?”

“Sometimes, with Alice, that… truly is an impossibility.” She says smiling and shaking her head.

“True. Very true.”

“But in this case she’s also right. I just thought you should hear from your best friend than from someone you met less than 24 hours ago. It’s not my style.”

“I gathered that. So I’m asking you now. Do you think that fight was about me?”

“I know it was. I was awake when they started. Your brother came into the living room to wake me and tell me that he was leaving. Couldn’t sleep afterwards, so I came outside to smoke and heard those two.”

“What did they say?”

“I don’t paraphrase Bette.” Damn, that was a simple answer. Although it’s not making this any easier.

“Alright. So what should I do?”

“That’s not up to me to tell you Bette. I just met you.”

“Please Shane, I really appreciate that you’re trying to stay neutral and all, but I really need some help here. So, based on what you know, what do you think I should do?”

Cutting to the chase should hopefully work. Sometimes when your talking to a vague, yet insightful person, there are times when you just need to tell them to spit it out. Anyway I think it worked because she’s smiling.

“So what do you know, Shane?”

“Well, based on the story that Alice told me about your encounter with Tina at Mel’s and your expression when you came into the house after I’m guessing she rejected you in some way. I would say leave it alone, let the friends figure it out themselves.”

“Ok.” That was not the answer I was looking for. I could feel it, that was not how I felt. I had to fix this. Or at least understand it a little better.

“You didn’t let me finish Bette. Please listen before you go storming off or something.” How does she know that?

“On the other hand, based on your display on the dance floor, and at the bar. Not forgetting that she asked for your number last night. I would say you at least need to talk to Tina. To clear the air.”

“Shane when you split it up like that, you make it even more confusing. What should I do?”

“Don’t know. Gotta follow your heart. Not your head. Processing this whole thing is gonna make you crazy and no closer to where you truly need to be.”

“So follow my heart then.” Sounds simple enough, I think. ‘

“Yep. It is very difficult thing to do Bette, but it’s what you need to do in this situation.” Ok, breathe, Porter. Just take a deep breath and go.

Before I knew it, I had thrown the car keys at Shane, yelled something about buying breakfast, while my legs clumsily and nervously lead me to Tina’s front door.