Not having to be told twice when it came to coffee, she sat up slowly taking the coffee with a nod of thanks.

“We need to do something,” Alice suggested. “Something fun…”

“Thanks, Alice,” Tina said with a smile to the other blonde to ensure she knew what she was kidding.

“You know what I mean. All we do now a days is go to the Planet or Milk and occasionally invade your house. And while I do not want this to change we should do something new… I don’t know mix it up a bit.”

“We could do something next weekend. I don’t think we have anything on our calendar,” Tina suggested liking the idea immediately as she and Dana walked around the pool to join the group.

“I’m in,” Shane said with a shrug.

“Depending on what you are thinking,” Bette said eyeing Alice cautiously. “As long it isn’t one of your weird ideas.”

“Dana,” Alice questioned hopefully?

“I can’t,” Dana said with regret at seeing Alice frown. “Next weekend I am out of town remember? I have a tournament at Berkeley…”

“At Berkeley?! That is perfect,” Alice said exclaimed. “That is right by San Francisco.”

“Right,” Shane said with a smile catching on to what Alice was thinking.

“What,” the athlete questioned?

“It’s perfect timing,” Alice exclaimed.

“What is,” Dana quested a second time?

“That is a great idea,” Tina said with a smile. “We haven’t been in a few years.”

“But you guys were just in San Francisco, last month,” Dana stated thoroughly confused about what her friends were talking about.

“Pride is next weekend, Dana,” Bette explained.

Understanding washed over the brunette. “Oh hell no! I can’t go to that what if….”

“Dana, no one will see you. You will be in a crowd of thousands of people,” Tina cut it trying to calm the brunette who seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. Dana hadn’t gotten this worked up in a while. She had even began going to the club a few times and seemed to relax a little.

“Yeah Dana, you can even wear a mask or something if it makes you feel better,” Alice suggested, trying her hardest not voice her thoughts about why Dana was freaking out. She had already put her foot in her mouth yesterday. She didn’t need to do it two days in a row.

“I’ve got the tournament….” Dana tried.

“So, we’ll watch you kick some ass during the day and after you win. We’ll go out,” Alice suggested.

That brought Dana up short. “You’d come to my tournament? But I thought Pride started during the day? I won’t be finished until maybe five or six o’clock. You’ll miss out on…”

“We miss out on anything,” cut in Shane. “I haven’t seen you play this season…”

“Yeah, besides, this is about all of us hanging out,” Tina added.

“And the parties will be going on all night. A friend of ours has a condo in the city so we can probably stay there and make our way back Sunday or maybe Monday,” Bette suggested.

“Okay, now Bette is willing to take a day off work,” Alice exclaimed, “you have to be in Dana. Please. Please. Please.”

Sighing, Dana nodded and was immediately pulled into a bear hug by Alice.

“Wahoo,” the blonde said. “Thanks Dana. You won’t regret it. We will have so much fun.”

Dana gave a hesitant smile, still worried about what she was getting herself into, as Alice let go of her.

Noticing this, Alice looked her best friend square in the eye and said, “Don’t worry, Dana. I’ll take care of you. I promise.”

At the blonde’s words, Dana felt something inside of her ease a little. Alice always kept her promises.

“Okay,” Dana said. “I guess, Pride here we come.”

TBC