Watching Alice drive away, Dana felt her head swimming with endless questions.

“What was that all about?”… “What did I just do?”… “Where did her kiss come from?”… “And where the ***** was MINE hiding?”.

Her mind flashed from Alice to Tonya, Lara, Gabby, Bette… she couldn’t stop the whirlwind of images and words from consuming her emotions. She took a deep breath to compose herself and headed back inside. This was all too much, sleep wasn’t going to happen, Dana needed to think, now.

She placed her hand on Tonya’s bare shoulder and whispered that she had to go out for a while. Tonya sat up and began questioning Dana, who could only shake her head and say “I can’t explain, I just … I can’t sleep right now, I’ll be okay”. She got dressed and left saying a quick “bye” without even looking at Tonya, who was now wrestling with her own thoughts and questions.

Dana got in her car and drove. Where was she headed? She couldn’t go to Alice’s … although she was probably awake too. Dana decided to drive to the country club. It was closed of course, but the parking lot outside had a magnificent view of the gardens surrounding it. She parked her car and turned it off, enjoying a peaceful moment of solitude as she contemplated the events that had taken place.

“OK Dana, focus, focus”. She took a deep breath and put her hands over her eyes and rubbed her face as she started to process her thoughts and actions.

“Was that the REAL Alice?”… “Was she drunk?”… “Was she crazy?”… “Why did she kiss me?”… “How long had she wanted to do that?”.

Dana ran through every interaction with Alice that she could remember. She tried to find any hint of previously hidden attraction from Alice… comments, touches, looks, anything. Alice always had a sharp tongue when it came to Dana, teasing her and making her painfully aware of her dorky shortcomings. Dana recalled the times she would hear Alice comment “yuck!” whenever she showed affection to someone else, Lara… Tonya. Was this her oh-so-subtle way of expressing her wish that SHE was the one with Dana?

And there was Alice on her front porch telling her she couldn’t marry Tonya… “because apparently Alice needed to kiss me?” questioned Dana to herself. It didn’t make sense to her, and no amount of thinking could make Alice’s side of the story any clearer. “I have to talk to her” Dana stated matter of factly.

She took a deep breath and turned the key in the ignition. Dana went to change gear but a peculiar look spread across her face. “Goddddd!” she exclaimed, turning the engine off and leaning her head forward, gently banging on the steering wheel. She kept her head down and let out a long “grrrrrr!”.

“Why did I kiss her back?”. Dana let out a long sigh as she sat up and rested her head back against the seat’s headrest. She gazed out the window deep in thought, searching for explanation. Why did she, engaged-to-be-married dorky tennis ace, kiss her gossipy condescending, but undeniably cute best friend? What had changed? Why now?

Dana’s mind flipped back to the kiss. She recalled the moment Alice finally looked up into her eyes, and they connected briefly. Long enough for Alice to take the Dane by the horns and move in for the kiss. THAT kiss… the feel of Alice’s lips against hers made Dana close her eyes and sigh again in recollection. She remembered the closeness and the sensation of being in that kiss. The confusion that ran through her head at the realisation of what was was taking place.

“ALICE is kissing ME!… what the *****?”. On that thought the kiss had ended. Dana recalled how quiet it soon became, and how awkward the moment was. But most vividly she remembered thinking “hey… don’t stop now… I was just getting into that!”. From that point on the passion that ensued was a fuzzy tingly blur to Dana. She knew she was liking it, as much as any other kiss she’d had, but this was Alice. Why did that make it so different, so unexpected, so damn good?!

Then it hit her… Alice. It was Alice, that’s why. This was her friend, the woman who had been there for Dana through thick and thin. And even though Dana felt Alice was overly critical of her, underneath it all the love and care was always there. She remembered all the times that Alice would have a laugh at Dana’s expense. It was akin to the generic notion of a young boy teasing and picking on a young girl in school, but deep down he actually had the hots for her.

“So that’s what this is… she likes me, she actually likes me?” Dana said, trying not to sound too Sally Field-ish. “Do I like her?” Dana pondered… “yeah, I do” she said as she nodded. She gripped the steering wheel and grinned as she pictured an image of Alice’s sweet portrait in her mind. She relaxed her hands and caught a glimpse of something that made her heart sink. The contrast in her facial expressions in those 3 seconds of realisation went from a giddy happiness to gut wrenching torment.

“Tonya” she whispered to herself as she spun her shining engagement ring around her finger.


~ to be continued ~