“Interested in Bette?” Eric had grinned. “I’m only interested in you, honey. Besides, Bette’s a ***** so even if I didn’t have you, I wouldn’t hit on her. But hey,” he said, teasing back, “maybe you’ll be interested. She’s very beautiful.”

Tina had laughed, continuing the joking, “Well, she’d have to be incredibly beautiful for me to be interested in a woman.”

A few years ago the comment about a woman being a ***** would have thrown her off balance, but not so today. She had not really seen the ***** life style much in college but had moved to West Hollywood after getting her degree at the University of Southern California. She knew West Hollywood was a ***** center and wanted to know about that type of lifestyle.

After all, she was a script consultant at Alphaville and an up and coming young executive. There were a fair number of ***** people in show business and she thought she ought to know more about it. She enjoyed West Hollywood and its freedom and had seen many PDAs, public displays of affection, from same-***** couples. Although she was now used to that, she had not gone to the clubs and bars that were known as *****.

But Tina had actually made a ***** friend since moving to WeHo. Val lived in the same apartment building and they had met out by the pool. She was the first ***** friend Tina had had, but Val didn’t talk much about her personal life or the ***** community. They had had coffee together and lunch, sometimes dinner. They both enjoyed jogging in the morning and often went running together. Val was intelligent, funny, attractive and Tina enjoyed talking with her and had not realized at first that Val was *****. When Tina had suggested setting her up with one of Eric’s friends, Val had smiled, biting her lip. “I’m *****, Tina. But thanks. Sue’s my girlfriend.”

Tina had been startled by Val’s revelation. “I didn’t realize,” Tina said, shaking her head.

“I thought you knew.” said Val, frowning slightly.

Tina was OK with it but was still very surprised. A *****, she thought. And Sue is her girlfriend, not just her friend. They sleep together! Well, I guess I moved to West Hollywood for more of a variety of lifestyle and now I’m seeing it.

One time, while sitting by the apartment complex pool, Tina wondered why Val had never shown any interest in her; Tina knew she was attractive enough. Then she was instantly embarrassed by the thought. She looked around at the other people by the pool as if they could see what she was thinking. They hadn’t noticed.

When she and Eric went through the gallery doors, Tina saw a very attractive space. A large room, longer than it was wide. It was several stories tall and had an industrial look, exposed metal beams and air ducts, all silver-gray. The walls used for exhibition space were of a variety of colors and the art displayed there fit very naturally. Was the color created by wall hangings or something else, Tina thought curiously. There were some exhibits in the center of the gallery and a few objects were hanging from beams. The entire effect was beautiful, dramatic and Tina really liked it. She was surprised that she was so drawn to it.

“Doesn’t this gallery have a great look?” Eric asked, picking up brochures for both of them. “There’s Bette,” he said, leading Tina toward the center of the gallery. As they walked toward a group of people, she wondered which was Bette. None of these women was exceptionally beautiful although a few had their backs toward her.

As they were walking toward them, the group started to break up. Eric speeded up and called, “Bette.” One of the women turned around, saw Eric and smiled. She walked toward them and extended her hand to him. “So glad you could make it.”

“Bette, this is my girlfriend, Tina Kennard,” he said looking at Tina. Then Bette, for the first time, turned her attention to Eric’s guest.

“How do you do, Ms. Kennard,” Bette smiled cordially as she extended her hand to Tina. Tina took Bette’s hand and her life changed forever.