Shane nods.

Shane: And you’re still friends with her…close friends….closer than before…

Lara: Yeah we are, Shane.  And you know what?  That’s a shame when you think about it.

Shane: …What do you mean…?

Lara: How long have you known me?

Shane thinks about that for a few seconds and shrugs.

Shane: I dunno….couple of years?

Lara: Correct.  Two years.  I wound up in this group of friends and all the while didn’t even feel like part of the group.  You know what I was back then?  Just Dana’s girlfriend.  And then….things happened as they did….now I’m with Alice and what happened?  I was now seen by the group as Just Alice’s girlfriend and why are they together anyway?  Did I even exist…as part of the group in your eyes or did you finally notice when suddenly I was close with someone who with you?

Shane’s arms are crossed and there’s a sense of resentment in her body language.

Lara: You know, for a group of great friends, you guys tend to sometimes think only about yourselves.

Shane: Excuse me?

Lara: You heard me, Shane.  Think about it.  Outside of you and Al and Bette and Tina, whoe else did you all confide in all that much?

Shane: What the fuck are you talking about…?

Lara: I’ll tell you what I’m talking about, but you need to think about this for a moment.  Think of every friend who’s come into the picture since me and Dana first met.  Just name a name…any.

Shane shakes her head in bewilderment.

Lara: Give me a name!

Shane: Fine.  Jenny.

Lara: Jenny…Jenny who was engaged to some guy named Tim and suddenly wound up seeing Marina behind his back.  But because that was a guy, it was okay.  Right?

Shane: It was none of our busi-

Lara: Bullshit.  It was your business.  Everybody sat by while she ruined herself and her relationships.  The fact that she can still look at any of us as friends to her is remarkable.

Shane: Right…that’s why I was there when she was at ler lowest.  I helped her get treatment.  Where the fuck were you?

Lara: I was being villified by your ass, that’s where.

Shane: What???

Lara: True or false, Shane….when Dana broke up with Alice, you dismissed it as just me stealing Dana away…