AGAIN

Stalker

PRESENT TIME

    Bette had not slept all night. She'd stayed up thinking about Tina's text. She even thought about replying but frankly, what would she say to that? Tina had moved on and had made it perfectly clear that Bette should keep her distance.

    After beating herself up for a few hours for having shown up at Tina's restaurant in the first place, Bette decided to hit the gym. She bought a day pass to some gym close by and put on her running outfit and sneakers. She could definitely use a run. After getting her AirPods in and her Apple Watch, off she went.

    Upon arrival, Bette decided to run on the treadmill to get herself warmed up. She chose a random playlist and ran for at least one hour, not really listening to any of the songs that were playing - they were simply background noise to her thoughts.

    Feeling exhausted and physically drained - but ready for more -, Bette headed to the lifting equipment to get her set started. At that time, she was pretty relaxed and distracted, listening to music and focusing on her workout, when a woman touched her arm. 

    She turned around. No way. It just couldn't be.

    "Are you fucking stalking me, Bette?" Tina asked. "I know you read my text. So please just stop."

    Bette had no idea what was going on. One minute she was focused on her workout, the other, Tina was there. And she was absolutely stunning. Sweaty, a little pissed off, and extremely hot. She had no reaction. She stood there watching Tina go off on her while she absorbed what was happening. Tina finished by saying something like "quit stalking me" and Bette understood how that appeared from her perspective.

   "Tina, hold up," Bette asked and Tina turned around looking, once again, pretty upset. "I was not stalking you, okay? I know it may seem that way, but it isn't anything I would do. Come on, Tee, you know me better than to think I would do something that made you feel uncomfortable."

   "I don't, actually," Tina fired.

   Bette shook her head. "I was just looking for a gym close by, that's all. Anyway, I was just leaving."

   "Stay," Tina said before Bette could leave. Oh, if that wasn't the word Bette would love to hear in a different context...

    Tina felt a little wrong. If Bette really wasn't stalking her, like she assumed she had been, then she was entitled to work out just as much as Tina.

   "I mean, you weren't leaving. This is a big gym. You just um, you do you," Tina finished and left Bette alone. She couldn't help but notice Bette had even more muscles now than she did back then. They were more defined and her shape was just amazing. For a second, Tina wondered what Bette looked like naked now. And that was fine. It's normal to think that about your ex, right? Nothing out of the ordinary. It only lasted a second. So really, nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing. At all.

   Bette continued her workout for 20 more minutes and left the gym. Tina was still there and she thought about saying goodbye, but what good would that do? She would only seem more stalkerish to Tina - and a girl's gotta keep her self-esteem high.

______________________

   "Kit, I just ran into her." Bette said as soon as Kit picked up the phone. She didn't want to bother her sister every time she had something to say regarding Tina, but she felt a bit helpless. Who else would she reach out to? Her friends, although understanding and caring, didn't seem exactly open to the whole I-want-Tina-back subject. She was trying her best to respect that.

   "Bette, are you out of your mind? She specifically asked for space-" 

   "You don't understand, I ran into her. I didn't plan on seeing her. It's all so fucked up, Kit." Bette interrupted her sister.