Balancing Acts by Zoe Fishman

what happened?” asked Sabine, thinking of her own unwillingness to go out these days, for the very same reasons. It was just so much effort. And for what?
    â€œI showed up to the party, completely uninterested in anything other than saying ‘I told you so’ to my friend. And wouldn’t you know it—there he was.”
    â€œNaturally,” said Sabine. “Unreal! Who approached whom?”
    â€œHe came up to me and just said, ‘Hi, I’m Dan,’” answered Bess.
    â€œNo bullshit,” said Sabine. “Gotta love that.”
    â€œNope. Nada.” She smiled and put her hand over Sabine’s. “And it’s been rainbows and kittens ever since!”
    Sabine laughed. “Really?”
    â€œHell no,” answered Bess. “Relationships are not easy. Especially when you’re already bona fide adults. At least, age-wise.”
    â€œAnd what are you gonna do about the long distance thing? Would you move to LA?”
    â€œNo way. I can’t give up everything for him. Moving out there would erase all of my hard work here. Plus, don’t forget that my move would automatically give him the upper hand. I would always be the one who sacrificed everything for him. Pathetic, really.”
    â€œI mean, I wouldn’t know because I’ve never been in a long-distance relationship, but I feel moving to LA isn’t like moving to the South Pole or something. I’m sure you could get work out there, doing what you want to do. You could make it work. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
    Bess knew Sabine was just trying to help, but her argument might as well have been delivered by a singing Shirley Temple on the Good Ship Lollipop. “Sabine, thanks. I just. . .I think that might be a naïve way of looking at the situation.”
    â€œMaybe. . .but I really don’t like the idea of thinking about ‘upper hands’ in terms of relationships. Seems to me that once you start going there, the magic is already long gone,” Sabine said before looking up suddenly. “Oh shit! I missed my transfer!”
    Bess panicked. She’d been blabbing about herself the whole time and had gotten zero personal details from Sabine.
    â€œUm, stay on the train, we’ll uh. . .we’ll grab lunch!” said Bess. Time was super limited and she had just blown a chunk of it by jabberjawing about her own troubles. What was happening to her?
    â€œI wish I could,” answered Sabine, getting up as the train pulled into the station. “But I have two manuscripts to read this weekend and I have to chain myself to my apartment.”
    The doors opened. “Well, are they good reads at least?” asked Bess.
    Sabine moved toward the door. Looking back over her shoulder she shook her head.
    â€œTerrible. But what can I do? See you next week, Bess!” And with that, she breezed through the subway doors and was gone.
    Bess felt a headache seize her temples. How was she ever going to pull this off? These women were so refreshingly cool and down-to-earth. And smart. That comment Sabine had made about relationships was spot-on. They were almost impossible to not like. Or to judge, for that matter. She looked up to find the man across from her reading the Times intently.
    Almost, thought Bess, but not quite. This story had all the right ingredients for success. She wasn’t going to sabotage her ticket out of tabloid magazine hell because of some girl crushes.
    No excuses, Bess, she said to herself as she got up from her seat. The train pulled into her station and she exited, her magenta hood bobbing through the crowd like a buoy.

Chapter Twelve
Sabine
    S abine lumbered up the subway stairs thinking about Bess. She wasn’t so bad, just a little bit of a big mouth. There was something refreshing about that. And plus, she thinks I’m pretty. Sabine laughed. She was such a sucker for compliments. “Oof, my