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"See!" yelled Sassy. The triumph on her face was unmistakable, even over video chat. "I fucking told you she was bi, didn't I?!"
Rebecca's response was little more than a non-committal grunt as she tossed back a mouthful of rich red wine.
"But, Stinky," Sassy went on more quietly. "The real question is... what are you going to do now that you know for sure?"
"What do you mean “do”? There's nothing for me to do other than support my friend, like I always have. You know that I don't care a jot whether my friends are gay or straight..."
"Or bi."
"Exactly. Or bi. I just want her to be happy."
Sassy swigged a mouthful of Sauvignon Blanc before continuing, then sighed.
"I know you do. I wasn't suggesting that you were a homophobe, Stinky. I know you quite well enough to know that for sure."
"Thank you."
"But... well, what about you?"
"What about me?"
"You know exactly what I mean. When do you finally get to let yourself be happy?"
"Sassy..." Rebecca started. Her voice wavered a little more than she wanted, the tone not quite managing to land fully on warning or tired and sad.
"No. You don't get to just deny it, Stinky. I know we weren't actually talking at the time, but I'm pretty sure that you've had a crush on her practically since the day you first met. And, honestly, I don't think she's entirely immune to your very obvious charms, either."
One of the dark corners of the anonymous hotel room was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world for Rebecca to look at as she tried hard, and failed, to keep images of the subject of the conversation from manifesting in her mind’s eye. She took another sip of her chianti, but the rich cherry flavours were lost on her palate right now.
Unfortunately, her other good friend wasn’t in the next room waiting to watch the following day’s match with her, but once again away with her new partner. Apparently, they were doing something else spectacularly unmissable. This time in Venice.
"That's not true..."
"Try again, Stinky. Your face says otherwise."
"We're friends!"
"Yes, I know. And I love that for you. I really do. But are you completely sure about...?"
"Yes, Sassy. Friends. Just friends" Rebecca tried another sip of her wine, but she realised she no longer wanted to drink it. She knew she sounded like she was pleading for Sassy to believe her. And she was more than a little scared that she was also pleading with herself. "Especially," she continued a touch hoarsely, "as long as she's dating Jack."
Sassy huffed in frustration. "Why are we doing this over the phone, again?"
"Because I'm in bloody Nottingham on a weeknight, and Nora has school."
"Damnit. Now you're just being all reasonable at me. I don't want you being reasonable."
"I know you don't. But I have to be. I can't live on flights of fancy..."
Sassy laughed.
"You own a football club, Stinky. Isn't that all about flights of fancy?"
"Hey!"
"Fine. I'll let it go. For now. But, when you're back, we're going to get together with several of your extremely good bottles of wine and we're going get really drunk and then talk about this some more. And then I'm going to give you a damned good hug... "
Rebecca sighed but still smiled at her oldest friend.
"I'll take the abuse in exchange for the hug."
"I know you will," said Sassy, smiling over the last of her wine. "You always have!"
"Oi!"
"G'night, Stinky. Good luck with the game tomorrow. And wet... no, sorry, I meant sweet dreams!"
Rebecca snorted at Sassy’s smirking face. However, she couldn't suppress a grin in return.
"Good night, Sassy. Love you! And love to Nora."
"Love you too, Stinky. As does Nora. And maybe, you know, someone else does too!"