Mitch gave a resigned sigh. “It does. I just feel so bad for both of you, having to have sex with men.” She made a face, like a three-year-old being forced to eat her cauliflower. “Maybe someday you’ll come to your senses.”
We headed out to a local club with live music and dancing. After getting our hands stamped as minors we entered and I was a little overwhelmed. I’d been to a few, well, I guess you’d call them country-dances as a kid, but I’d never seen anything like this before. The lights were low, but there was plenty of neon glowing from the ceiling and from people on the dance floor itself.
Luckily it was still relatively early, so we were able to find a table. What really worried me was the possibility of Mitch trying to score booze, as she seemed the type. Sure enough she headed off toward the bar, where she shouldn’t be able to get anything stronger than Coca-Cola. I asked for a Sprite, trying to be very clear that I wasn’t in the mood for any playful spiking of my drinks.
I tried to relax and take in my surroundings, watching the mass of young bodies dancing on the floor. The girls were wearing impossibly short skirts, bodies glistening with sweat and showing more skin than my admittedly conservative bathing suit did. The guys I saw were wearing looks of naked hunger that sent a shiver down my spine, and not in a good way. I shouldn’t have to worry about that. I had a boyfriend. Where the hell was Mitch?
I looked toward the bar where I saw her chatting with a girl in a halter top with long dark hair and a big tattoo on her shoulder. Eventually the bartender slid three glasses next to her. Mitch picked them up and nodded toward our table before standing up. She leaned forward and whispered something in the girl’s ear, which made her smile and nod.
When Mitch got back to our table she dropped off our drinks. “Alright ladies, have fun, I’ve got to get back.”
I looked at her askance. “Already? Geez, Mitch. That was fast.”
“Spencer, she was eyeing me all the way to the bar. And she just wants to dance. It’s why I came, after all. Bye.”
I watched her swagger back toward the girl, feeling my mood sour as she went. She smiled as Mitch approached, standing and slipping her arm into my friend’s as they made their way to the dance floor. They disappeared into the mass of bodies, and I forced myself to look away and take a sip of my Sprite. It tasted normal, so there wasn’t anything funny there, at least.
Carrie was moving to the music in her seat, and her gyrations seemed to summon a couple of guys like magic.
“You want to dance?” One held his hand out to Carrie, and she took it and disappeared into the maw. His buddy looked at me with a smile that I’m sure he thought was winning, but it just made me sick inside.
“I’m sorry, I’m just here with my friends.”
“They’re out dancing.”
“No, thanks.”
He held up his hands. “Okay.” With that he disappeared, leaving me to my bad mood.
After fifteen minutes Carrie reappeared. “Are you still sitting here? Come dance.”
“I have a boyfriend. And that is a total meat market out there and you know it.”
“Maybe, but a lot of it is Grade A beef.”
That made me giggle, and Carrie took my hand. “C’mon, one dance. I’ll keep my hands to myself, I promise.” I followed her out onto the dance floor and started to move to the music. For a moment I was nervous people would think bad things about the two of us, but we weren’t the only girls dancing together without being obviously ‘together’ by any stretch.
I was just starting to enjoy myself when I saw Mitch. She was dancing with that girl still, and in a very different way than Carrie and I were. Mitch’s arms were around her waist, pulling her tight, and their bodies were moving together.
They were staring into each other’s eyes, and Mitch edged forward and kissed her partner. The other girl leaned into the contact, and I crashed into the guy dancing next to me. Luckily the young man was steady on his feet, and he kept both himself and me from falling. The people around us parted slightly to give us space, and I took advantage to stumble off the floor, with Carrie following me.
I made it back to our table blushing furiously. I’m not sure if Mitch had even noticed me, although I’d have been shocked if she hadn’t, given the commotion I’d made. Unfortunately, I had the question answered after only a few moments, as Mitch made her way over. I expected her to be laughing at me, but her eyes were just concerned.
“You okay, Cindy?”
I tried to laugh it off. “I’m fine, just a klutz, I guess. I’m not used to all this.” I waved at the undulating mass of humanity on the dance floor, still pulsing to the ever-present beat of the music. The girl Mitch had been dancing with was standing to the side, a concerned look on her face. Not for me, I didn’t think, but she did want my friend’s attention back on her. I pushed a smile across my face. “You should go back to your friend. You looked like you were having fun.”
Mitch’s face told me she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t push the issue. Carrie emerged from the crowd a few moments later, and I had to repeat my assurances to her. Mitch drew away and went back to the girl she’d been dancing with. I watched them until they were out of sight before turning to Carrie, who was looking at me strangely.
“What?”
Carrie shook her head. “Nothing. Come back out and dance?”
I shook my head. “I think I twisted my ankle a little. I better sit a few out.” I was lying, but I didn’t want to see Mitch again. So I sat, listening to the music, watching the couples move on the dance floor.
***
I realized the next morning that I hadn’t once wished that Ethan had been there so I could have had someone to dance with. I’d had plenty of opportunities, but eventually my standoffish attitude succeeded in that the guys gave up trying.
I slept in the next morning. I hadn’t gotten back particularly late, but I’d tossed and turned most of the night. The image of Mitch kissing that girl kept appearing in my head every time I closed my eyes. Why the hell did that bother me so much? I’d been taught from the cradle that homosexuality was wrong, unnatural, and against God’s plan, but I also knew that it wasn’t that simple.
I couldn’t imagine Michelle Kirkpatrick with a man. That would be unnatural. But still it was so difficult to think about anything else. I wondered if she’d gone home with that girl. If she had, they’d likely had a lot more fun last night than I did.
I heard Lana, my roommate, gather up her toiletries and head to the showers a little before ten, and I just lay there, staring at the ceiling until my phone chimed half an hour later.
Mitch — Just wondering if you’re still willing to help me w/ algebra. If not I understand. LMK.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back into the pillow. I’d forgotten all about that. If I went she was going to tell me all the sordid details about that girl last night. My brain wasn’t working properly yet, but I knew I didn’t want that.
My phone chimed again.
Mitch — I REALLY need your help, though. She concluded with the brain-exploding emoji, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d promised, so I texted back that I’d see her in an hour. We met at the Bulldog Cafe for lunch, and I followed Mitch’s lead by getting a burger and onion rings instead of the healthier options I usually chose.
“No salad?” Mitch’s eyes were twinkling with laughter.
I blushed and repeated her own words back to her. “There’s lettuce, tomato and onion. Besides, I’m hungry, and if I’m going to try to teach you math I’m going to need my strength.”
“True that.” Mitch took a pull from her soda, and I laughed. I’d been dreading seeing her, but once she was near me I couldn’t help relaxing. And she didn’t once bring up what had happened with that girl last night. Maybe she was just trying to keep me from running out.
When we finished Mitch nodded toward her dorm. “So, you want to head back to my room to work?”
I shook my head “No way, too many distractions. I’m going to introduce you to a special building on campus. It’s called the li-bra-ry.” I said the last word with as much condescension as I could muster.
Mitch just made a face at me. “I know what a library is. Where it is, not so much.”
Fifteen minutes later we were ensconced at a table on the fourth floor of Main Library. You should have seen Mitch’s eyes bug out when I started drawing on the walls. She really hadn’t been here much, and had no idea they were all huge dry erase boards.
She’d had the most trouble on her original test in solving quadratic equations, particularly with factoring. After we corrected her test, I quickly made up a few additional problems for her to work in the style of the quadratics she’d missed in order to instill some confidence.
“See, these just take forever, and I don’t know how to start.”
“OK, you start with this number.” I circled the constant on the right of the three terms. “You need two numbers that multiply to be this number, and add to this number.” I pointed to the coefficient of the x term. “Assuming that the x squared coefficient is one, that is. It was on this test, so we’ll stick with that. So the constant here is eight. What numbers multiply to get eight?”
“Two and four.”
“And?”
Mitch shrugged and I tried to keep from looking frustrated. “You missed the obvious one. It’ll always be there.”
“Oh, one and eight.”
“Right, don’t forget that one. Now, is the eight in the equation positive or negative?” I continued to walk her through the questions to ask as she attempted to factor the quadratic, and I had her solve several additional problems I invented on the spot, forcing her to walk through the steps one at a time. True to her personality, Mitch was not a one at a time sort of girl, and she always wanted to power through and skip to the end.
“Look, the better you get at these, the more you’ll be able to skip steps, but for now,” I put on my best Mr. Miyagi imitation, “first learn walk, then learn fly. Nature rule, Mitch-san, not mine.”
Mitch cracked a huge smile, holding back her laugh for only a second. “You’re terrible at that.”
I laughed too, getting a stare from someone working nearby. I didn’t feel too bad, this section was kind of designed for groups. If they wanted quiet there were other places they could go. “I know, but I’m still right.”
“Besides, I never pegged you for a Mr. Miyagi. You’re a lot more of a Willow.”
“Are you saying I’m weepy?”
Mitch’s face screwed up in confusion. “What?”
“Weepy. A weeping willow. You called me a tree.”
Mitch rolled her eyes. “You’re killing me, Smalls. Not the tree, Willow Rosenberg. Alyson Hannigan’s character from Buffy.”
I smiled weakly and shook my head, indicating I didn’t know whom she was talking about. Mitch just stared at me incredulously. “Seriously? You’ve never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”
“I’ve heard of it. It has, like, demons and witches and things in it, right?”
“Um, yeah.” Mitch sounded like mine was the dumbest statement in the history of mankind.
“So it wouldn’t have been allowed in my house.”
Disbelief was etched across Michelle’s face. “Okay, we have to fix this. I can’t be friends with someone who’s never seen Buffy. Do you have any moral objections to witches and demons and stuff?”