Sometimes Partners Hold Hands

Read Between the Lines

Scene 5

EXT. The Elevator

"Alex is gay?", Bradley repeats to herself as the elevator is taking her down to the 1st floor.

"There is no way".

Make no mistake, Bradley sure had seen the way her co-host's eyes sometimes had lingered on a handful of women.

Or how a powerful pant suit had seemed to be her go to choice over a much more expected feminine dress.

However, she figured this had to do with Alex's need to always be in control; that the lingering eyes was her way of judging the competing women, and the pantsuits- well maybe that just came down to comfort.

Besides this, Alex had never shown any signs of possibly being attracted to the same sex.

Then again, neither had she in front of the public eye.

-

"Are you coming out?", a male voice suddenly asks as the door open.

"Huh?", asks Bradley as she's forced to stop her pondering.

"Are you coming out, miss?", the doorman asks her  again.

"Oh, no- no I'm going back up", she replies, before pressing the button up to Alex's floor.

INT. Alex's Apartment

"You're gay?", Bradley asks before her co-host is able to say anything as when the doors finally open again, 2 minutes later.

Alex, still standing on her mark, loses the distraught expression on her face and replaces it with a slight smirk. "Yes, yes, I am", she confirms.

"Those gay journalists I was talking about... that's me. I'm one of them".

Bradley steps out of the elevator, not knowing where the two on-air partners are going to take it from here.

But then again, one rarely does when it comes to Alex Levy.

"You're not fucking with me right now, are you?", the shorter blonde asks. "I suppose the more accurate term would be bi, but no, I'm not fucking with you", the taller blonde adds.

"How long?", she asks again, as she simply can't understand how she possibly could have failed to recognize this. "How long have you been...".

"How long I've been gay? Well... let's just says I've fucked a few gay journalists throughout the span of my career", Alex unveils.

"Journalists?".

"Well, there's been a few non-journalists as well", she adds with a wink.

"What about Laura?", Bradley suddenly asks, addressing the elephant in the room.

"What about her?".

"Have you...".

"If I've fucked, Laura?".

Bradley glares at her co-host, while waiting for an answer. "I have...I sure have", Alex eventually replies.

"You have?".

"You're not the only one who's had you head between her legs, honey", the tall blonde says, almost amusingly.

"Oh my god. Oh my-", the shorter blonde begins, dropping her face in her hands.

"Oh, c'mon Bradley! Why did you think Laura and I can't stand each other?", the tall blonde asks.

"Because of some rivalry bullshit? You seriously can't be that ignorant".

"No, but we never... she never said".

"Right...", the tall blonde says, almost humming it in a way.

"No, don't do that...".

"What?!".

"Don't turn it into something that it's not!", the shorter blonde shrieks.

"Excuse me?".

"Fine, Laura didn't say anything... and she probably should have, but neither did you, Alex! Neither did you!".

"Why would I fucking tell you?!", Alex asks. "We aren't dating... or having an affair... we aren't whatever the fuck you and Laura have got going on!"

"Whatever the fuck Laura and I have got going on?!", Bradley repeats her co-host, still not understanding why their relationship seems to bother her so much.

"I don't understand... why does it upset you so much?! I mean if it isn't that you don't accept it, then what is it?".

"You think I accept it all of a sudden? I don't fucking accept it, no!".

"Why, Alex?! Why?!".

"Oh my god...", the taller blonde murmurs before taking a deep breath. "Do I really have to spell this out for you, Bradley?!".

"What do you mean?", Bradley replies as Alex starts getting worked up again, proving that their so- called explosion is nowhere near finished.

"C'mon! Why do you think I reacted the fucking way I did when you told me you've been fucking her too?".

"I don't... I don't know".

"You don't know?".

"Do you still have feelings for...", the shorter blonde begins.

"For Laura? For fucks sake, Bradley no. I do not have feelings for Laura fucking Peterson!", the taller blonde states.

"I mean c'mon... you're supposed to be a god damn journalist, Bradley!".

"Yeah, but...".

"Whatever happened to Bradley- the truth seeker? The one who would read between the lines... who'd do anything in her power to find the truth and get to the bottom of things!".

Read between the lines...

Her co-host's comment takes her back to a time she once did just that.

Like the time she first got placed in the anchor seat on TMS, as Alex Levy's co-host. "I'm with you the whole time".

"I'm not sure I believe in love". Back when she was just getting to know her on-air partner and found herself over analyzing anything she'd say. "That's a shame".

From time to time, she'd convince herself her analyzes made sense. "Maybe you and I are in love". Until her co-host would go cold again, cold as an ice-queen, and it no longer did.

But that was until this moment.