"Neither." Bette deadpanned. "So eat." She ordered as she pointed to the food in front of Helena.

Helena laughed as she began to put small portions of each dish on her plate. "If you say so Bette." About ten minutes into the meal, Helena finally noticed that Bette wasn’t eating. She was just playing with the food on her plate with her fork. Helena was just about to call Bette on it when the brunette spoke up first.

"Hey Hel.."

"Yes dear?"

"You’re wise right?"

"What?" Helena laughed at Bette’s question.

"I mean, you’re older than me. You’ve finally graduated from college. So.. you must have accumulated a little bit of wisdom throughout the years right?" Bette looked at Helena with a kind of innocent reverence, as if she had answers to life’s mysteries.

"I’m not that old, Bette." Helena looked at Bette in amusement. Sometimes her dear friend had the tendency to be cute. Most especially right now when she looked utterly lost and helpless, as if in dire need of some good advice. "What’s the problem Bette?" Helena asked, her eyes twinkling. "Is something bothering you?"

"Oh! It’s not about me!" Bette shook her head vehemently. "Not about me at all." She said, completely in denial.

Helena narrowed her eyes. "Okaaay."

"I have this.. friend.." Bette slowly spoke, her own eyes betraying her as they told Helena just who the "friend" was. But Helena decided to play along.

"Sam?"

"No."

"Alice?"

"No."

"Shane?"

"No."

"You have other friends?!" Helena feigned shock.

"Shut up." Bette rolled her eyes as she playfully threw a balled up napkin in Helena’s direction.

Helena laughed as she dodged the projectile napkin. "So.." She smiled at Bette. "What about your "friend"?" She asked as she made air quotes with her fingers as she said the last word.

"Umm, you see.. I’m worried about my.. friend." Bette coughed as she looked down on her lap.

"Why?" Helena asked.

"She’s been acting strangely out of character for a couple of days now."

"How strange?"

"Well, for one.. she’s a person who loves her sleep. Her head would hit the pillow and she’d be out like a light in a snap of a finger." Bette let out a sigh before she continued. "But now.. she finds herself tossing and turning in bed each night. Trying to fall asleep was a difficult task and maintaining it when it came was extremely hard. In the past few nights, she’s been sleeping for only about three hours, max."