“Great.” Helen was looking forward to moving forward on the project. “When can we start?”

“Well, not until after lunch, at least.”

“Oh, big plans, then, Dean Porter?”

“Please, call me Bette.”

“Of course.”

“And,” Bette gave a fetching smile, “perhaps I am looking forward to seeing someone special over lunch.”

After the morning’s disagreement, Helen felt a small stab of jealousy at Bette’s obvious excitement at seeing her someone special. Without specifically being told, Helen had a feeling that this was the deaf woman that she had met the other day.

“But from a more practical standpoint,” Bette continued, “trying to get grad students together this quickly would be like trying to herd cats. What I will do is make sure they get this information, and then set a meeting for a couple days.”

“Alright.” Helen took one last look at everything covering the table. “I’ll wait to hear what we’ve got scheduled.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

And with that Helen headed out, wondering about maybe seeing the ocean. At this point, it was something she wanted to do, alone. The thought saddened her.

# # #

“TK, you’re back in the land of lesbians, again.” Alice invited herself to sit at Tina’s table.

Refraining from commenting directly on the implications of her friend’s statement, Tina just waited, knowing Alice would soon fill any gaps in the conversation.

“So, what’s up?”

“I just needed a little time away.” Honest enough.

“Away from the studio? Away from boys?”

“All of the above.” Tina gave a shrug, hoping she didn’t look as down as she currently felt.

“Oh.”

Tina wasn’t quite sure how much to share with her friends about her relationship with Henry. Her ex-relationship with Henry, she thought, correcting herself. She had considered The Planet as a place of comfort. Now, perhaps she was just too familiar.

“You know, it is …” Alice’s words dropped off at the end of the sentence.

“Is what?” Tina tried prodding her friend into completing the thought. Not succeeding, she followed Alice’s line of sight, not surprised to find her friend gazing at a tall, dark-haired woman who had just entered. “Alice, I thought you were seeing someone.”