"After you, my dear."
"Thanks, Eric."
Tina took his arm as they walked through the magnificent oak-paneled doors. She drew in a sharp breath of delight when she walked into the lobby – it was modern, to be sure, but without the awkward angles and sterility that commonly accompanied modern architecture. It was beautiful indeed.
"Nice, isn't it? Bette Porter has a fantastic eye I must say," said Eric cheerfully as they walked into the main gallery, the look of which had fallen gently into minimalist, clean lines. Tina practically shuddered in delight – the whole place had such a lovely cultured feel to it.
She frowned and turned to Eric.
"Oh…she designed this? I thought you said she did art history? I thought art history grads curate or something."
"Yeah, kind of. Bette's no architect, but she advised on this and it turned out excellent," replied Eric, handing their invitations to the doorman before starting into the room with a slight bounce. "Okay! Let's look around."
They wandered around for a bit. The pieces were all centred around women, Tina soon noticed, so she turned and asked Eric why.
He laughed.
"Well it's the theme. As to why she has this theme today it's probably artistic choice…but maybe she just loves women, ha-ha, if you get my drift."
Tina winced slightly at his slight crudeness. Well, so the Bette woman was gay. That wasn't uncommon. Quite interesting, actually. It made the idea of her more exotic. Tina wondered if she was beautiful. It was at that moment when she noticed the lady in the black pantsuit. She was standing in the middle of the gallery, her back turned to Tina, her posture easy. Her hair was short, Tina noticed, but short in a ladylike way, dark, lightly curled in at the ends. She was tall; she really was. Her legs were long, and she was slender in a way that made Tina feel flabby. And she wears high heels too. That is just one intimidating woman. I hope I don't cross her.
"Who is that lady, Eric?" Tina gestured toward the tall lady. Eric glanced in the direction she was looking.
"Who, m'dear? Oh that one? That's Bette Porter! We need to go say hi, come on, need to ask her something."
Without another word Eric steered her straight towards the Tall Lady. Tina felt ridiculously filled with trepidation. "Excuse me, Bette," sang Eric, rather self-importantly, Tina thought.
And then the Tall Lady turned.
And Tina just stared at her. In that instance she felt all those clichéd things all at once – her face flushing, her legs going weak, her limbs going numb. Bette Porter was absolutely beautiful. She was dark and her make-up was rather thick, accentuating large, perfect features all put together on a sharp, longish face. In some that would have turned out rather unattractive. On Bette Porter her features were set proudly and easily on her face as if they knew they had every darn right to be there , just as how her suit just seemed to fit so smugly about her, and how she herself stood like she knew that she had what it took. And her smile – she was smiling – was just the most arresting of all. The wide smile stretched broadly and perfectly across her face, showing one of the straightest, whitest set of pearly-whites Tina had ever seen. The smile went to her eyes, Tina noticed in wonder. Those eyes seemed to dance with expression, completing the picture and hitting Tina with a wave of radiance so strong she felt almost physically assaulted.
"Here's my girlfriend Tina Kennard; she heads a development in Alphaville," introduced Eric. Bette Porter transferred her smile onto Tina, and locked eyes with her for several long moments. Tina normally didn't like people who stared – she felt it was rude, but the way Bette Porter stared wasn't insolent. It wasn't even really a stare. It felt more like an understanding.
"Tina, Bette Porter."
"Nice to meet you."
Tina heard her speak for the first time. It was thrilling. Her voice was refined, mellow, slightly low. Then Tina realized with acute embarrassment that she was wearing the most stupid and nervous smile possible. Struggling to pull herself together, she said faintly, "Hi…nice to meet you."
Seemingly unaware of how totally thrown off her feet Tina felt, Eric went on quickly. "Bette, we were wondering…how would Katherine Opie feel about us blowing up that print there to 5x6 feet?"
Bette smiled at Eric. "Well why don't you ask her yourself, she's right over there," she suggested disarmingly, gesturing toward a short-haired woman some distance away. Eric looked questioningly at Tina. She gave him a small smile.
"I think I'll just stay here."
"Okay, excellent."
Eric marched off and Tina was left alone with Bette Porter. Tina barely dared look at her. She sufficed by glancing up at her once in a while.
"So you're in film, Tina?"
"Yeah, yeah I am. I'm a development executive right now. I haven't been doing this for very long."
Bette smiled at her again. Tina felt like collapsing. She is too charming, really. I need to sit down.
"Yeah, well me neither actually," Bette laughed. "I graduated just a couple of years ago. But I've done quite a few of these exhibitions because it's something I'm just really passionate about. I think it's important to love what you do."
Tina marveled at how warm and open she was, how sincere.
"Yes it is, I think so too. This is my first time at one of your exhibitions but I'm sorry I didn't come before. It's beautiful, you have great taste."
She was rewarded with another brilliant smile.
"Thank you very much. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Which pieces do you like in particular? My personal favourite is Sleeping in the Light."
Tina smiled in delighted surprise. What a coincidence, to be sure. "That was lovely. I thought it sent such a evocative message," said Tina happily, glad they had similar taste. It was suddenly wildly important for an unfathomable reason. This woman wasn't intimidating. She sure wasn't as scary as she looked and Tina felt herself loosening up.
Laughing slightly, she admitted, "I feel a little out of my depth here to tell the truth. Eric raves about all this but I'm no expert."
"Well your ignorance is charming, because it makes me feel really useful. Let me take you around, come on."
Tina cast an obligatory glance at Eric – he was engrossed in conversation elsewhere – before willingly letting herself be led away by this fantastic specimen of a woman.
***
"Excuse me, Bette."
Bette turned around and saw Eric, the entertainment lawyer. Then her eyes fell upon the blond lady next to him. Bette's heart skipped a beat.
This woman couldn't be much younger than herself, but she seemed so young, and fresh. Her skin was white and tinged with pink, her features small and delicate. She wasn't wildly beautiful or stunningly hot, but Bette felt overwhelmed in a moment by an urge to find out more about her. This is crazy. She's probably Eric's girlfriend.
His next words confirmed her fears. Fuck. Now she had to face being strangely and intensely attracted to her acquaintance's straight girlfriend. Attached, straight, but cute. Very, very cute. Bette couldn't stop staring. There was something about her. She noticed that the little blond girl – Tina was her name, it emerged – was a little nervous. Bette hoped she wasn't scaring her. She often scared people with her self-confidence.
Eric was in the way. So she diverted him to Katherine Opie, who would certainly keep him occupied for a fair period of time. Then the two women began to talk. Tina was less shy than she had appeared originally. She talked freely and intelligently – they liked the same painting! Bette was captivated in a way that felt disturbingly unfamiliar to her. So she offered to lead her round the gallery; something, the straight girl hopefully did not know, the famous Bette Porter normally didn't do for the girl of some average guest.
And as Bette led the intriguing straight girl off deeper into the gallery, she thought ruefully to herself that she was in great danger of falling very hard for the most inappropriate person. Shit.
***
Tina lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling. Eric had been a tad annoyed with her for having disappeared for so long during the exhibition, but he had been impressed to hear that Tina had "managed to talk Bette Porter into showing (her) around". Tina scoffed at the thought. She hadn't needed to beg. Beautiful Bette Porter had been perfectly amiable and accommodating. She had offered to show her around, damn it. She was just so nice.
"It's her smile. Her smile is so nice," Tina said aloud to herself, feeling foolish immediately after she said it. Get a grip, Tina. You're too old for a girl crush. Tina sighed. I wonder if she has a girlfriend. Not, of course, that I want to be her girlfriend. She's just interesting.
The direction her thoughts were taking her was disconcerting. She wasn't homo-phobic at all, but she was supposed to be hot for Eric, and not entertaining thoughts of a borderline homosexual nature about a hot Yale grad she barely knew. Okay. Eric, Eric, Eric.
Ah screw Eric, seriously. She hadn't even known him for all that long. He was a nice guy with respectable interests, but he was just a little too boyish and over-excited at times. The way Bette had steered him off towards Katherine something earlier had made him look a bit silly.
I wonder when I'll see Bette Porter again.
