The rain beat solidly against the window as Bette sat in her office looking out.  The rain’s dull tattoo did nothing to help her focus her mind, her thoughts flitted here and there without any semblance of order or logic.  Bette was bored.  The arrangements for her latest show at the gallery had gone like clockwork, in fact the whole process had been so easy – too easy.  The show opened tomorrow and everything was ready, everything in place, everyone prepared and there was still over twenty four hours to go. Bette realised she currently had absolutely nothing to do and she frowned.  She needed a challenge, she needed something to get her teeth into, she needed something to tax her.  Life was currently far too easy.

Bette focussed on the street and realised that the rain had stopped and that the sun was starting to dry up the
sidewalk.  She spun herself slowly around in her chair a few times then threw her pen on the desk and sighed.  Bette stood up quickly, grabbed her purse and headed for the door.  She decided she would stroll the couple of blocks to The Planet and grab a sandwich and a coffee and maybe have a quick chat with Kit if she wasn’t too busy.  At least it would occupy her time for a little while and maybe she would think of something to do that would give her a bit of a buzz.

She entered The Planet and Kit immediately saw her and came across the café to give her a hug.  “What you doing here girl?” she said “You got a show tomorrow and probably got all hell breaking loose at your gallery”

Bette laughed “That’s just the point Kit, the show is all ready to go, everything is calm and quiet and I am about to die from boredom!”  Kit laughed, “Then you had better sit down and I will get you a coffee and a club sandwich, it won’t stop you dying of boredom but it will sure occupy your last few minutes.”

Bette sat at an empty table with her back to the wall but with a commanding view of the whole of the café.  From this vantage point she could take her time with her lunch and watch people unobtrusively.  Kit brought over her sandwich and coffee and shook her head as she walked away chuckling to herself.  Bette started to eat the delicious food and looked slowly around the café.  There were a couple of guys in suits obviously having a business lunch alternating eating with poring over buff files crammed with yellow legal paper.  On another table a group of androgynous twenty something lesbians were drinking their wine and hooting with laughter at a joke one of them had told.  Various other tables were inhabited by singles who were studying the paper or reading a book and sipping their very large cups of coffee. Bette’s eyes made another quick sweep of the room and then she froze, her sandwich stalled half way to her mouth and her stomach did a quick back
flip.  Slowly she replaced her sandwich on the plate in front of her, her eyes fixed and unblinking as she suddenly bcame aware that her heart was beating so loudly that she was afraid the whole f The Planet could hear it.  Her mouth as very dry and she tried hard to swallow, it turned into a sort of a gulp and she realised her eyes were as dry as her mouth as she had not blinked for what seemed like hours.  Try as she might
Bette could not look away from the woman who had quite spectacularly grabbed and held her attention.  The woman was truly beautiful, but her fascination did not stop there, Bette was drawn to her in ways she could not instantly fathom.  She felt as though she knew this woman, indeed had known her all her life, she made Bette feel safe and yet excited at the same time.