Tina had rarely seen Bette so raw and vulnerable which made her want to protect Bette but decided that for once she needed Bette to face her shortfalls. “You’re a control freak.”

Typical for Bette she shrugged it off with a dismissive laugh and immediately turned defensive but Tina wouldn’t make it easy for her. “You are.”

“So?” Bette answered in a condescending tone; not liking that Tina’s words echoed those of her ex-girlfriend Jodi Lerner. It had caused her distress when Jodi said it and it was causing her distress now, but she couldn’t deny the truth in what was being said. Still she tried to defend it. “That’s fucking ridiculous. Everybody’s a control freak sometimes. That’s what you have to do to get things done.”

“Yeah, but you think your things are more important than everyone else’s and that’s really, really hard in a relationship. When your work, your needs, your ideas are always right, always on a higher plane … you’re more enlightened, your more informed, you’re more intuitive..”

Tina’s words had gotten through to Bette. She broke down again. “It must have been hideous. I’m sorry … I’m sorry” she said through fresh tears.

Tina again embraced her friend; their proximity having a notable effect. “I’ll take it over the safe, boring man I’ve been seeing any day.”

“You would?”

Tina nodded her head in the affirmative as she too was brought to tears. “It’s so hard, Bette. I miss you so much sometimes. I miss our life. I miss the way we communicated subtly … I miss the way that we worked together to make everything around us so beautiful. I miss being surrounded by women and feeling part of something so secret and special. I’ve been thinking a lot about my sexuality and sometimes I think I made a mistake.”

If Bette was caught off guard before by Tina’s forthrightness now she was dumbfounded. It took her a minute to respond. She didn’t want Tina to take her silence as indifference but she also wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Was Tina saying she wanted to get back together with her or did she just get caught up the moment? Bette decided to play it safe.