“I warned Bette this was going to quickly get out of hand,” Tina laughed as Alice slammed her hands on the one open spot on the crowded kitchen island, and then smiled as their friend pretended to pull her hair out.

“Well, if that red-head cheffie friend of yours would just work faster whipping out the parmesan crusts that she insists we serve this mousse-y thing on top of, instead of making eyes at my girlfriend,” Alice said a little heatedly, nodding her head in the direction of the other end of the kitchen, where Lara was laughing at something Dana said. “Then we wouldn’t be running out of that appetizer everyone seems to be crazy about, TK!”

Tina glanced up at Alice in amusement, as she peeled off the saran cover wrapped over another bowl of the concoction of sweet green figs, creamy goat cheese, and prosciutto that Lara ran through a blender, and then whipped into a mousse.  Earlier, Lara had instructed Tina on how to spoon the mousse over cracked pieces of the parmesan crisps that Lara had also made earlier, then lined up for Tina to finish prepping.

“Ooops…I meant TPK, of course!,” Alice apologized, as she covered her mouth in embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about it Al,” Tina laughed, shaking her head. She finished with the last crisp in the batch, and smiled as she handed the serving tray to Alice.  “You’ve got to admit these appetizers are great, though,” Tina said, trying to talk above the din in the kitchen area.  She slipped one into Alice’ mouth, who nodded reluctantly, as she turned to bring the refreshed tray of appetizers to the table set up near the middle section of the open-spaced first floor area of Bette and Tina’s duplex.               

Tina blew a long, tired breath out as she considered the mad scene around her.  It was bedlam all over their house today — the casual gathering they’d planned  on having for a few their friends for Thanksgiving soon mushroomed into a block party for their neighborhood, it seemed. 

It was certainly the most number of guests they’d ever hosted at any one time in their new home, and she worried how they’d be able to both feed everyone and keep the liquids flowing. At least everyone seemed to be having a blast, as their duplex had quickly filled with raucous sounds of laughter, loud music, and excited chatter.