Dana seemed to glide across the room, turning a few heads as she walked towards the sofas where Alice was waiting.

“Hey Al, I’m going to get a coffee, you want one?”

“Yes please, I’ll just have my usual”

“I’ll be right back”

With that she turned and walked towards the counter.

Alice was completely stunned at how calm Dana was acting. But at least it was going to make it easier to tell her how she feels.

Dana had been at the counter for 5 minutes for when Alice heard Dana’s unmistakable giggle. She turned and saw Dana surrounded by about 5 women, all wanting her to sign various copies of her Subaru ad. Alice couldn’t believe she was lucky enough to have kissed the girl that every woman in the room was lusting after, including herself.

After her impromptu autograph session, Dana returned to the table and sat on the sofa across from Alice, who was nervously playing with her hair. A silence passed between them for a moment as they both gathered their thoughts and took a sip of their coffee.

Dana inhaled deeply and was about to speak when Alice interrupted her.

“No, Dana, let me go first. I don’t want you to be freaked out at what happened last night, but it seemed like the only way I could show you how I feel. So now you know. I like…no… I love you Dana. I know I have always preached about how friends should never get involved, but I can’t think of anybody who could know me as well as you do, or make me feel like I do when I’m around you. I guess the thought of losing you to Tonya made me realise my feelings…”

With that declaration, all Alice could do was stare at her coffee mug and berate herself like she did when she arrived home the night before.

“Tonya’s gone.” Dana said nonchalantly as she sat back on the sofa and made herself comfortable.

Alice’s head snapped up and her eyes met Dana’s. “Gone? What do you mean gone? I thought you love her?”

“No, I don’t love her. When you kissed me last night, you opened up my eyes and everything clicked into place. I went straight upstairs to Tonya and saw her for who she really is. So I told her I thought she had been taking money from my purse, which I had been suspecting for a while and that she only wants me because I’m getting famous, and told her to leave.”

“I can’t believe you got rid of her that easily”

“Well, it wasn’t that easy, I told her she could keep all the stuff I had bought her, including the ring. That seemed to be all the encouragement she needed.”

“Do you think she’ll try and get you back?” Alice was so stunned by this turn in events that she momentarily forgot why Dana had done this.

“Probably, but I don’t want her back. She represents everything that has been wrong with my life. I have always let people tell me what to do and I guess the final straw with her was that she kept trying to make herself indispensable to me. It just seems like I have spent my whole life hiding behind something. Firstly it was hiding behind tennis, then I was unnecessarily in the closet for so long, then I was clinging onto Tonya when the Subaru ads went national and when Mr P died. I have spent my whole life doing what other people tell me to do, but I don’t want to be that person anymore. I am totally out for the first time ever, I have excellent sponsorship and I’m playing the best tennis of my life! I want to be me, and make my own decisions.”

Alice was astonished at how animated Dana had just became, and it made her want her even more. Seeing Dana take a stand for herself made Alice so proud. “So where does that leave us Dana? You can make your second major decision now…Are we going to take our friedship up a level? I mean last night you called and thanked me for the kiss, so you felt something right?”

“Yeah I felt something Al, I kissed you back remember?! But I’m sorry Alice, I didn’t kiss you back because I felt love, I kissed you because I felt free.”