“I’ll walk you out.” Harrison said helpfully. I could tell he was just trying to get me and Alice alone. Well it wasn’t going to work. Shane was still here…somewhere. Oh, fuck.

            “Yeah, I think I’m gonna et going too.” Alice said. I followed her outside and we walked to our cars. “Wanna come to my place?” I looked up at her questioningly. Was the universe trying to talk to me or something? She saw the look  I gave her. “Oh. Please. I am not that desperate.”

“Fuck you, Alice, neither am I.” I laughed.

“Dana, I’m just —“

“What?”

“I’m just, I don’t wanna be one of those people who sleeps with her friends.” I shrugged.

“Neither do I!”

“Right, okay! Let’s not have sex!” It took me a bit longer to answer than it should have.

“No, never!” Even though you’ve got the hottest body I’ve seen all night…

“Okay!” Forget it, Dane. She doesn’t like you that way.

“Never!”

            Well, I did wind up at Al’s house. But only because she’s my best friend and I love spending time with her…because she’s my best friend. She was showing me this weird chart thing she’s come up with to link every lesbian sex activity together. Honestly, the things this girl comes up with.

“Okay, okay. Let’s do you. C’mere. It’ll be fun. I haven’t even put you on it.” We got up and  followed her over to the desk.

“Alright, this is ridiculous. I’ve only slept with two girls my whole life. And I swear to god, if you repeat that I will have to kill you.” I warned. She grinned, lighting a joint.

“Wanna make it three?” I stared at her, shocked. “Just kidding. Don’t worry. Your reputation as a stud is totally safe with me.

“Okay.” I said warily.

“Okay. So.” She exhaled smoke and I swatted it away. She did look kind of hot like that, though…

“Oh, god!” I yelped, partly from the smoke, mostly because of my thoughts. Alice didn’t seem to notice. She grabbed a piece of paper and a marker and wrote Dana in the center, circling it.

“Okay. Name names.”

“Okay, there was the counselor at tennis camp when I was fifteen.” I said.

“Right.”

“Which you know about.”

“Mm-hmm. Name?” She waited, marker poised.

“She’s famous now. I can’t tell you her name.” She rolled her eyes.

“Oh, god. Okay. Ralph. I’ll call her Ralph.” I laughed, watching Alice write Ralph down and draw a line connecting the two names. Then she drew a second line coming from my name.

“Okay. Now. Second name.”

“Melanie.” Her eyes widened and she grinned.

“Mel — I knew it.” She wrote Melanie beneath the second line.

“I… always…”

“I told you about that.” I lied. She shook her head.

“No, you didn’t. But that’s — I know. Okay.” I giggled. She grabbed another sheet of paper and put the two side by side.

“Let’s see how many people it would take to link you and me.” She said, writing some more names on the sheets, then drawing lines between them.

“Whatever, that’s impossible.” I said doubtfully.

“Mm. Mkay. Melanie slept with Heather.” She drew a line between Melanie and Heather.

“Okay.” I was unimpressed.

“Okay. Heather slept with Brooke.” Another line.

“Heather slept with Brooke?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes. Brooke slept with Nina, and I slept with Nina.” She connected the web with a final line between Nina and herself.

“See that?”

“Wow, yeah.” I said, looking at the names.

“So, four. One, two, three, four. That is how many people it takes to link you to me.” She said.

“Okay. Okay. So you and Tina…”

“Mm, well that’s easy. One.” She said, drawing a line from her name to Bette, then Bette to Tina.

“Okay.” I nodded. “That’s really cool, Al. Four people, huh?” She smiled, dragging on the joint.

“Yup. Small world.” You have no idea, I thought.