Dana was having an 18th birthday party at her family’s beach house in Los Angeles. They did everything that night. Drank excessively, having access to Dana’s parents liquor cabinet, some people were hooking up, others playing strip poker. Bette was one of the players, along with Alice and Tina and some of the other kids who ran in their circle—two boys named Michael Bartleby and Eric Mayer (Tina’s boyfriend at the time) and a straight girl named Phoebe Cadlack (who Bette had a small crush on). Helena and Dana looked on in disbelief at what was unfolding, but they were too drunk to stop it.

"Aww, fuck! I lose again!?" Bette groaned. She was already stripped to panties and a bra.

"You better believe it!" Eric called out, "Take something off!" He whistled. Tina shot him a look. Not because she was angry at him for checking out other females, but because she didn’t like people calling her Bette out like that.

"Chill, Eric. You do know I’m gay right? Seeing me naked is not going to do you any good." Bette winked at Tina. Not because she was hitting on her, but because she wanted her to know that, no matter what, she wouldn’t be vying for Eric’s attention. Bette stood up and unsnapped her bra and dropped it to the floor, not caring who was seeing her. Maybe it was the shots of tequila in her system blinding her judgement, maybe it was her new found confidence in her own mojo.

In the three years since Bette realized her attraction to girls, she’d gotten rather cocky. She found it simple to get with girls, and got with as many as she could. Straight girls, gay girls, bisexual girls. Black girls, white girls, latinas. Rich ones, poor ones, middle class girls. By this point she’d had her share of all of them.

She looked to her left to see Tina’s eyes on her, traveling the cleavage her breast were creating as she cradled them against her arm. She turned to her right and Helena was watching her.

"I say we all take everything off and jump into the pool." An inebriated Helena suggested, her eyebrow raised as she began unbuttoning her jeans. Bette stood up and walked over to Helena.