It couldn’t hurt. Scratch that. It could hurt.

Would hurt.

Did hurt.

A lot.

Bette sighed. She had a lot of thinking to do, "I’m gonna head home"

"Okay but don’t forget about Friday" Alice spoke up as Bette was getting up from her chair.

"I’ll see if I can make it" Bette grabbed her purse to leave.

Friday. Tina’s birthday dinner at The Planet. Where she would probably meet someone she liked. Someone who wasn’t Bette.

"You’ll try? Bette come on, you can’t miss it"

"I said I’ll try Al. Okay?"

Alice saw the look on her friend’s face and immediately relented, sighing sadly with a look of defeat. "Okay"

Just before Bette could turn to walk out, Shane got up from her seat and placed a comforting hand on her friend’s arm. "You okay, Bette?"

"Yeah" Bette offered a small smile, "Just tired. I’ll see you tomorrow"

As Bette made her way out of the cafe, Janice walked in and immediately noticed the brunette. She greeted the sad and distracted gallery owner only to get a mumbled, "Hey" as a response. She brushed it off due to more important matters on her mind.

"Listen Bette . . can we have lunch sometime this week? I really want to talk-"

"Can we do this another time, Jan? I’m really not feeling well"

With that Bette went back into motion to exit the cafe, leaving a stunned and confused Janice in her place.

"Uh . . well I didn’t mean now but . . o-okay. Bye"

She watched Bette take her leave before walking over to the table of her overlooking friends. She, like Bette and Alice before, slumped in her seat with defeat and sighed loudly.

"Is she ever going to forgive me for that kiss? I mean, how can I fix things between us when she won’t even talk to me?"

Alice had her hands folded on the table, nodding in understanding as if she were about to offer something wise. "I think you should just give up"

She continued to nod as she caught Dana staring at her from the corner of her eye. She looked to her wife with the same innocence she had given the group earlier.

"What?"

Dana shook her head, "You’re just full of good advice today, aren’t you?"