”Wake up sleepyhead!” she prodded Bette with a soft, teasing voice when she saw her friend was still trying to rouse herself, propped up on an elbow, stretched out on the bed. She slipped a hand under one of the brunette’s arms to try to pull Bette up gently.

”I’m up! I’m up!” Bette grumbled, slowly sitting up. ”What time is it anyway? Seems a little early for you to be so chipper.”

”It’s one o’clock sweetie! You’ve slept the whole morning off already!” Diane exclaimed. ”Planning to sleep in the rest of the day?”

”What?!” Bette asked, disbelieving as she sat bolt upright.

”Yeah! Everyone’s outside, getting ready for lunch. Peter suggested we head into town to grab lunch there,” Diane laughed lightly at her friend’s consternation. She continued,”Tina asked me to come in and get you. She said you could have plopped back into bed even though you were getting ready along with her an hour ago.”

”But when you didn’t show she asked me to check on you since I was getting my purse from our room,” she added.

Bette stood up laughing lightly, looking down at her unzipped linen slacks.  The sleeveless, collared sheer blouse Tina had suggested she wear, to cover the hickeys and marks Tina had left on her neck, throat, and shoulders, sat on the edge of the bed, carefully laid out.

”Guess Tina was right about me,” she said ruefully, accepting the blouse from Diane, who’d picked it up for her. ”As usual! Hope I haven’t delayed everyone?”

”Don’t worry about it, Bette. Jules woke up pretty late, too. You two must have been tired out from what yesterday?” Diane observed the love marks that dotted her friend’s neck and shoulder area with a smile but said nothing.

”Probably,” Bette nodded, and then winked at Diane after tucking her shirt in, and started zipping her pants up. ”Pretty sure all of that moaning and screaming last night in your room had more to do with how sleepy Jules was feeling this morning though!”

Diane blushed slightly and shot back, ”Look who’s talking! I could hear Tina on our side of the wall, too, you know, just before I fell asleep. All those legendary Bette Porter skills driving her wild, I thought. Not a lot of moaning from you, so you must have been making her …”