AGAIN

Impulsive Bette

Present time

   Bette did it. She couldn't take it anymore. Being back in California and not seeing Tina, it just didn't seem to make any sense. She just couldn't.

   She went over to La Petit Mansion. It was a Tuesday night so she hoped it wouldn't be too crowded and maybe, just maybe, Tina would be there. After having parked her car, she went in and was greeted by Tina's girlfriend.

   "Excuse me, are you Bette Porter?" Claire asked.

   A million things went through Bette's mind right then. First one was, Claire was gorgeous, even more so in person. The second was, had Tina mentioned Bette to Claire? She could have, seeing as their relationship had lasted quite a bit and was very solid. Or maybe not. Bette was extremely confused.

   "I am. And you are...?"

   Claire smiled. "Sorry. I'm Claire Thompson, I work here with social media and digital marketing."

   "It's nice to meet you, Claire." Bette gave her a polite smile.

   "Likewise! It's great to have you here. I've been following you for a while now and rumor has it you're back in California for good?"

   Bette smiled, a little uptightly. She honestly just wanted to see Tina. "Rumor has it I am."

   "Let me get you a table. There's quite a lot of people here tonight, as per usual, but I'm sure I can find-"

   Bette interrupted her. "That's fine, Claire, I actually just wanted to see Tina. Is she here?"

   "Oh you know Tina? She never told me that!"

   "Yes, well, it's been a few years. Is she here?"

   Claire shook her head sadly. "She actually isn't right now. I could call her – she's my girlfriend, by the way." Yes, Bette thought, I fucking know that already.

   "No, it's really - it's fine. I'll just come back another time. Really good meeting you, Claire." Bette gave her another forced smile and turned around to leave.

   Fuck.

   Not only did she not see Tina, she also had to meet her fabulous new girlfriend.

   Bette decided to go home and call Kit once again. On her way home, she held back her tears and felt completely stupid for having even tried. Tina was not gonna come back to her just like that. Tina had a whole life structured, a restaurant, a girlfriend... And Bette had everything she could have ever wanted, her life was structured and she should be happy, she really should! But she wasn't, because one thing was missing - Tina. She almost felt bad for making her decision to leave LA and go to NY to pursue her career... She had everything, but no one to share it with.

   "Kit, I went to see Tina." She said first thing.

   "Bette? Are you out of your mind?? Hadn't we talked about this before?"

   Bette sat down on the couch and let the tears run down her face freely as she couldn't even answer Kit anymore.

   "Oh, baby sis. What happened?"