"A crush on me?" echoed Alice in disbelief. "How... when... why?" she sputtered, giving certain validity to Tina's theory that the confession had indeed broken her brain.
"Don't forget the what and where," Tina joked. Still cupping Alice's cheek, she said, "And in regards to the why portion, I can answer that pretty easily. You're such a sweet person, Al. You do so much for other people and you never think about it as anything less than the natural thing to do. I've never met someone who's as good and as loyal a friend as you. Plus you can somehow make the ugliest outfit look strangely cute." Tilting her head to one side, her hazel eyes twinkling, Tina drawled, "Now you tell me, what's not to have a crush on?"
Absorbing all of this, Alice seemed to let go and managed to accept that for some reason Tina believed everything that she had said to be the truth. Releasing a sigh, Alice met their eyes and with raw and naked emotion then said, "I hope Dana feels the same."
"She does," assured Tina fiercely, pulling Alice into her arms as she took over the role as comfort giver. "Trust me, she does."
Something in Tina wouldn't allow herself to think otherwise. Perhaps because in Alice and her honesty about her feelings for Dana, a small part of Tina had regained her confidence in love existing in its truest form. And Alice being with Dana did give certain validity to her continued belief in its power. Plus there was the fact that the joy of seeing two of her closest friends together would help ease the pain that was currently in her life.
The only worry Tina had was over exactly how long it would take the at times fairly dense Dana to realize the wonderful thing she had in the form of Alice and her love.
---
Ironically enough, other than tennis, Dana's favorite game as a child was hide and seek. Perhaps that explained how she could exist somewhat comfortably for several years of hiding in the closet. Dana didn't consider herself a brave person by any means of the word. Even now, after she had finally come out a large part of her was still scared and hiding.
Not from her sexuality but instead from her feelings. Admitting she was gay was difficult for Dana simply because she had been holding onto it as a secret for so very long. In a strange way, all of the secrets that she kept had become a safety blanket of sorts. They had been in her life for such a long time that Dana didn't know how to exist without them. Which is why when she came out she didn't really come out about everything.
Just the lone fact that she, Dana Fairbanks, was a lesbian.
Certainly she wasn't planning on revealing the fact that since she met Alice Pieszecki she'd been in love with her. No, that secret was one that Dana thought that she might take to the grave. Then Alice had to go and kiss her.
But she was getting off track. This was about her secrets and the idea that letting go of them all at once frightened Dana so much she thought it really might kill her. All her life she was fiercely aware of the roles people were expected to play by their family, friends, and lovers. Her parents expected her to be an obedient daughter, so dedicated to her athletic career she couldn't possibly maintain a long term romance with a man. Her friends expected her to remain a geeky naivete, who didn't have the slightest clue as to what was happening around her. And her lovers? She couldn't remember the last time she had cared enough to think about what they wanted her to be.
Ralph maybe. Ralph... ha. Stephanie was her name. These were only her thoughts. She could use her real name here. Yes, the last time Dana was totally honest and let someone see everything that she was had been with Stephanie. And what had it gotten her? Nothing but pain.
Since that day, Dana hid who she was and had done a damn good job of it too. After all, she had been in love with Alice for years now and not one of their friends had guessed. Not even Alice herself had figured it out and Alice was probably the most observant person Dana had ever met.
That first meeting was still fresh in Dana's mind, as if it happened only yesterday. She just started practicing at the club and they were in that period where all the employees were doing their best to impress her as to ensure she stayed on. Having an up and coming tennis player practicing on their courts gave the club an added prestige they felt and Dana benefited greatly from that belief.
Though she admittedly found the attention a tad embarrassing. She was dealing with said attention, barely fending off the ridiculously detailed questions her waiter posed over the rather simple fruit salad she ordered when Alice appeared before her. And Dana did mean appeared, one minute she'd been trying to get rid of the creepily fake waiter and the next there was a dyed blonde, hair in pigtails, brown eyes twinkling, with a quirky smile playing on her lips standing right in front of her.
"I was wondering if you could help me," Alice began, a smile lighting up her face. She placed her hands on the table and leaned in, leaving their faces only a breath apart, giving Dana an excellent chance to smell her intoxicating perfume. "I'm doing a story about this club for LA Magazine but they don't know that mostly because if they did know I wouldn't be able to give an impartial review as I'm sure they'd spend their time sucking up to me. That being said, I'm not really getting anywhere with the whole ordering of food issue." Releasing a derisive chuckle, Alice looked over her outfit which was basically a mock Catholic schoolgirl uniform and said, "I think it's the clothes."
At this, Dana studied her clothing more closely, noting that the short pleated skirt was a red and black plaid pattern, the shirt was white and short sleeved, and the black tie around her neck had an anarchy symbol in red print on the center of it. While Dana thought the woman looked a tad strange she was incredibly attractive nonetheless. That said, she did understand why the snobbish club staff weren't giving the blonde in front of her much attention. She didn't look like a member in the slightest sense of the word and they were trained to give their best to the club members, no one else.
That left this woman out in the cold so to speak.
"Probably," Dana found herself agreeing solemnly, only to be mortified seconds later as the blonde laughed at this. "I didn't mean it like in a bad way because you look really good in those clothes but I can see why the club staff might not think so. They're big with the stuffed shirts and--"
"It's okay, I totally get what you're trying to say," the blonde reassured, smiling. Holding out a hand, she said, "I'm Alice Pieszecki and if you wouldn't mind too much I'd love to have lunch with you."
"Of course! My name's Dana Fairbanks and I don't mind at all, what do you want? I can get the creepy waiter back and you can order your food finally," stammered Dana nervously, moving into a stance that wasn't completely standing but wasn't sitting either. All in all, it made for an adorable picture. Especially when you added in the fact that she was waving her hands wildly. "What do you want to eat? I ordered fruit salad but that's me. Most people eat more than I do but you're tiny..."
"I'm tiny?" repeated Alice, a slow smile spreading on her features. Resting her elbows on the table, she held her chin in the palm of her hand as warm brown eyes studied the other woman. "You know, you're not what I expected from a pro tennis player. I thought that paid athletes were born and bred to have buckets of confidence."
Seeing that she had gotten the creepy waiter's attention, Dana sat back in her chair and said absently, "I'm not most tennis players." Then she froze and reran what the blonde had just said. "Wait," Dana frowned, "how did you know that's what I do?"
Instead of replying, Alice nodded to the outfit Dana had on that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than tennis player garb. But that didn't explain how she know Dana played professionally. As if knowing that was going to be the next question posed, Alice smiled playfully and leaned in to say in hushed tones, "I dated one of your ball girls." Dana's eyes went wide at this and Alice sat back in her seat and eyes twinkling mischievously, she drawled, "Her name's Melanie. She's the blonde with all the curves. I believe you two have run into each other a few times while perusing local nightlife."
An immediate sense of panic filled Dana and she darted her eyes around the club, somehow feeling as if they all knew her secret as this woman obviously did.
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