Shane held up two fingers to the approaching waitress, requesting another round of drinks. And from the expression on Alice’s face, Shane had the distinct impression that this would not be the last round.

“All right. Soyou and Dana are dating?” Shane asked patiently.

“Notexactly,” Alice muttered.

“But you’remore than friends, right?”

“I guess.”

“Al. I was there for the lemon curd liplock. I’d say you’re definitely more than friends,” Shane said, leaning back in her chair.

“That was”

“That was ***** awesome,” Shane grinned.

“Yeah?” Alice asked, a small smile tugging at her lips.

“Are you kidding me? That Patricia chick is never going to get over that.”

“Unfortunately, things have gone downhill from there.”

“Okay,” Shane said, rubbing her eyes wearily. “What’s going on?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly have a plan, you know? I mean, after the whole cakething. And now we’re kind of in this weirdin between place.” Alice took a bracing drink of her beer.

“In between what?”

“You knowin between,” Alice intoned, raising her eyebrows.

“Ohhhh. Right. In between,” Shane nodded. “Sowhat’s the hold up?”

“I don’t know,” Alice threw up her hands. “It’s awkward. Like, I thought it would be easier tobe with someone you’d already been friends with. But now? Definitely not easier.”

“So you’re more than friends but you aren’t quite”

“Exactly. In between.”

“Do you still want to” Shane coaxed.

“Oh, God. Yeah. Totally, I want to.”

“It’s just a matter ofhow.”

“Any suggestions?”

“I don’t do the wholefriends thing. I like to keep itseparate.”

“Right,” Alice nodded miserably.

“What about Miss Dana? What kind of signals is she sending?”

“Dana’s absolutely no help. She’sshe doesn’t exactly have a lot of experience in the”

“Al. Whoa. Too much information, okay? Keep it general,” Shane interrupted, sitting up straight.

“Oh. Sorry. General. Okay. Generally speaking? If we’re ever going to get from holding hands to holding” Alice stopped, noticing Shane’s warning glance, then redirected her train of thought. “Anyway. It’s going to be up to me.”

“Did you try asking her out?”

“On a date?”

“Wellyeah. To start.”

“Like…dinner? Together?”

“Only the two of you,” Shane smirked.

“We go to dinner all the time. What’s going to make this different?”

“I don’t know. Maybeflowers. What if you sent her flowers? Or candy.”

“You’ve never actually done this, have you?” Alice asked, incredulous.

“What?”

“Asked someone out on a date. You go from ‘Hi, I’m Shane’ to ‘Thanks, I’ll call you sometime.’”

“I’m not the one complaining,” Shane said, raising her beer glass and clinking it against Alice’s.

They sat without talking, watching the bar fill up with happy hour drinkers.

“Flowers? Or candy?” Alice finally asked.

“Why not both? Show her you’re serious.”

“Roses?”

“Not that serious,” Shane said.

Alice sighed and shook her head. “I thought I already did the hard part.”

“You did. This is the fun part.”

“Are we having fun yet?” Alice asked.

“I am.”