Reference no: EM133308879

Assignment: Deandra and Shay are lifelong friends. Born in the Midwest, they met each other as young girls in the fourth grade, and were inseparable through high school and college. When Deandra went to graduate school in New York, Shay got a job in Manhattan and moved with her. The closest of friends through the usual dating woes and even with the breakup of Shay and her fiancé a year earlier, the two women were always there for one another as support and comfort. Men entered and exited the lives of one or both of the women for the first two years in the city, and still the bonds of friendship between the two remained strong. Deandra received her graduate degree and decided to remain in New York. She had met someone at school, and had shared with Shay that she felt that, for the first time in her life, she was in love. For Shay, this news came as a bit of a surprise. Deandra had not mentioned this developing relationship much at all over the past few months. Shay's surprise turned to shock when Deandra revealed that her new love interest was a woman named Beth. Beth was younger, just out of college, and living on her own for the first time. Unlike the studious Deandra, Beth was a self-described "party animal" who loved being with people and living a life of play.

As the months went by, Shay found it harder to maintain the level of relationship she and Deandra had enjoyed for so many years. Beth was spending more time with them now, she and Deandra had announced that they were now exclusive, and Shay was beginning to feel more and more relegated to the sidelines as Deandra fell deeper in love with Beth. Still, as her friend of so many years, Shay remained supportive of Deandra despite her own personal reservations that Beth was going through a phase and would soon move on to someone else.

One evening, as Shay and a group of coworkers met for happy hour at a neighborhood pub, something happened that would change the long time interpersonal relationship between Deandra and Shay forever. As she went to the bar to order another round for her group, Shay saw a familiar face at a corner table. As she watched in horror, Beth and a man were locked in a passionate embrace, kissing, and touching despite the public setting. After a while, Beth and the man left the tavern, arm-in-arm, and walked into the night. As the initial shock subsided, Shay realized that her best friend was being played and that she was going to get hurt badly. Nobody else had witnessed the encounter between Beth and her male companion, and Shay began to weigh her options as to how she would handle what she now knew.