Lara looks around.

Lara “It’s nice.  It’s very loud.”

Alice “What?”

Lara “It’s!”

Lara leans in toward Alice’s left ear.

Lara “It’s very loud.”

Alice “Yeah?  That doesn’t bother you does it?”

Lara “It’s not so bad.  I just don’t like yelling is all.”

Alice “I just realized…you never told anybody your coming out story.”

Alice and Lara lean in closer together, in order to better hear one another, Alice’s hands and Lara’s right hand still gripped together.

Lara “There’s not really much to tell.  I spent my whole life knowing I wasn’t into boys.  The only thing I was interested in from childhood was cooking.  I…met a girl one day and that’s when I knew I liked girls.”

Alice “Just like that?  Wow, she must have been something.”

Lara “Her name was Maryann.  She was…very popular…very pretty.  It was the first time I ever had an attraction to anybody.  We were friends…we talked.  And then…after that…”

Alice waits, seeing a more melancholy expression on Lara’s face.

Alice “What happened?”

Lara “We…had a moment.  We went to high school and college together.  My family knew her family.  And Maryann and I…we had to keep it a secret that we were in love.  I was ready to come out and she wasn’t.  Of course…”

Lara pauses.

Lara “…Of course, it didn’t matter anyway.  One night during Christmas break, her parents walked in on us.  They had gone out for some last minute shopping and we decided to stay behind and have her whole house to ourselves.  And when they walked in on us…it…wasn’t exactly a Merry Christmas.  Maryann wound up transferring to another school and her family no longer talks with my family.  My family blamed me for breaking up generations of friendship.  And um…I don’t really talk with my family anymore.  At this point, they’re not so much family as they are just relatives of mine.  Maryann wound up, ‘becoming saved by Jesus,’ which was probably more of her family forcing her than anything else.  It was a painful coming out.  I left all that behind and wound up in WeHo, trying to make a new life.”

Alice “Shit.”

Lara looks away.

Lara “Yeah.”

Alice places her arms around Lara’s waist, leaning toward her right ear.

Alice “You have family now.  I mean, yeah we’re a little dysfunctional, my friends and I, but…if ya stick around, you just might get used to us.”

Alice and Lara both smile with Lara wrapping her arms around Alice’s shoulders.  That is when Lara sees her.  They just happen to catch one another’s eye and there is no way of avoiding or ignoring it.  She makes her way over to Lara and her hugged friend cautiously.

Robin “Hi.”

Lara “…Hi.”

Alice turns around, seeing the woman Lara has just said hi to.

Alice “Uhh…hi.  Lara, you know her?”

Lara “Robin, this is Alice.  My friend.  Alice…this is Robin.  …She’s a trapeze artist.”