It was four days later and all Tina could think about was that kiss. She had driven home in a stupor, and lain in bed trying to fall asleep for hours, kept awake by her thoughts. What had it meant? Had it actually even happened? How did she go from going to pick up a lost earring to having this stunning, not to mention successful, woman kissing her?

She was confused. And these feelings upset her–she didn’t know what to do. She was with Eric, and… she loved him. But she had never felt anything like that before. She had felt that kiss all the way down to her toes. In the days since her meeting with Bette, every time Eric kissed her, all she could imagine was Bette. Eric had always satisfied her, but now the thought of being intimate with him almost repulsed her. He seemed so grabby and dominating in comparison to Bette’s gentle and confident lips.

Every time she caught herself thinking these thoughts, she had to mentally slap herself. Bette was a woman, and Tina was straight. It seemed like that had made the kiss okay–if it had been a man, it would have been more "real," and she probably would have told Eric. But… something kept her from telling him. She told herself it was because he was friends with Bette, and he had formed so many connections because of her that she didn’t want to ruin that for him. 

Deep down, though, she knew that wasn’t the real reason. She couldn’t admit to herself what that real reason was, though.

She had been toying with the idea for a few days. She stared at her phone and tentatively pressed the "talk" button and lifted it to her ear. Dial tone. Her finger hesitated above the number pad, and then decided upon the "end" button instead. She sighed.

Tina took a deep breath and said out loud to herself, "Just do it." She reached across the table to pull a slip of paper toward her. Bette Porter, and a phone number were scrawled across it in Tina’s messy handwriting. She had copied the number out of Eric’s address book when he was in the shower. She couldn’t figure out why she had done it behind his back, either. She knew she could have just asked him for the number, and he wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But something kept her from doing that.