«Alice, are you sure you counted these fucking bottles right ? It doesn’t add up…». Pencil in hand, Bette looked straight at Alice and it wasn’t a very happy face. Alice rolled her eyes in total exasperation.

«Jesus, Bette, I spent an hour counting them, so you’re the one who needs a calculator… Geez, and you’re supposed to be a Yale graduate ? What did you do ? Buy your diploma from some poor sucker?»

Bette went from unhappy to plain angry. «Fine, if you want to act like a two year old whenever I make a comment, go ahead… Sometimes I wonder why I went into this project with you», Bette told her, throwing her pen and paper on the nearest table. She was trying to act cool when all she wanted to do was ring Alice’s neck.

«Guys, guys…». Shane put herself between the two women who seemed ready to fight each other. «I know we don’t have much time before the opening and everyone is on edge, but that’s no excuse to start on the insults, OK ? We still have a lot of work to do», she said, hoping to save the day.

Bette, Alice and Shane had bought a vacant building in West Hollywood three months ago and had decided to open a coffee shop by day and turn the place into a gay bar by night. Dana was a silence partner in that business venture since she didn’t want her fans to know she was a lesbian. The girls had decided to call the new place The Planet.

Bette threw her hands up in the air, remembering one of the basics of her anger management course she had taken a few months ago. «Learn how to deal with work frustration». She took a deep breath and smiled to Alice. «I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. Feel better now?»

«I’ll feel better when you realise you’re not the mayor of Alphaville and we are not your subjects. We are equal partner, so don’t act like Shane, Dana and I don’t have anything to lose here. Jesus, no wonder we only lasted six weeks», Alice said, mumbling the last part to herself.

Bette’s eyes bore into her like two laser beam. «What did you just say?»