“You had a girlfriend last time, right? Did you have to break up to go back to Iowa?”
“Idaho.”
“Yeah, I meant Idaho. I get those mixed up.”
“No, it was just before I left, though. The week before Christmas. I guess it was for the best.”
“It usually is. Still …”
“Yeah.”
Her hotel room was practically an apartment; it was so huge. I slept on a giant futon that pulled out flat. It was more comfortable than my dad’s bed back on the farm. We talked for a few minutes, and I wrote in my journal and went to sleep.
March 8, 2013
This morning, when I finished with my IT (we call it IS for Information Systems, but I still say IT) group meeting, I met with Alma and my other boss, the IT Team Leader, Vince. The grant I’m working under runs out in June, but they believe I can be covered by a new grant that will begin funding in September, if I can just hang on until then.
They are really happy with my work, and our group has started a map documenting all the fracking incidents across the US. One of our wish list items is to create an app to help local activists organize and respond to fracking proposals, long before the companies move in and poison the local water supply and destabilize the ground structure. Anyway, enough of my soap box. Alma and Vince want me to stay on, and they said it would be easier if I had the ability to come in to the office at least a couple of times a month, no pressure.
Chloe’s meeting went longer than mine, so I said my goodbyes and headed back to Capitol Hill. I wanted to peruse Ada’s Technical Book store and see if I could find a small thank you present for Liv for watching Frodo while I’m gone. I found an iOS guide that might help me frame the app question a little better. At a gift shop around the corner, I found a little stuffed Scottie for Liv. Knowing her, she’ll be fully bonded with him by the time I get back. Hmm. I wonder if that could solve a problem? Anyway, Chloe met up with me at a Pho place a couple of blocks from another bar, where they have a mostly gay night on Fridays and mostly lesbian night on Saturdays. Chloe said she wouldn’t mind hooking up with someone if it was the right person. She’s not a slut, or anything, but she says she is overdue.
When we got to the club, the music was blasting. As usual, I could barely hear anything, but the energy was definitely more frantic than the Wild Rose. We made our way to the bar, and Chloe got us a couple of Jell-O shots and we went out to the dance floor. There was this song playing. I don’t know the name of it or who sings it, but it was almost like a cheer. Something like “everybody get down like that, clap, clap, clap, clap”, something about staying up all night, fighting, and then everything disappearing in the morning. It was kind of cool. Everybody perked up, anyway. I really got into it.
Chloe went to the bathroom, and I found a table with tall chairs that was empty and staked a claim there. I had just gotten another drink, when who did I see on the dance floor? You guessed it. Ton-Ton was slow grinding on a little Bieber clone who looked catatonic in her teal flannel shirt. Was that what I looked like when I was with her?
“Hey, isn’t that your ex?” Chloe sat another set of drinks on the table. I finished my last one and started the next. “We can go somewhere else if you want.”
“No, I’m fine.” Ton-Ton bit her lower lip the way she used to at crucial times during sex. I felt like I was staring into the Grand Canyon, wondering whether I should jump or not.
A woman approached our table, and thinking she was a waitress, I pointed to my drink and yelled, “No, thanks!” She turned out to be someone Chloe had just met, and she either ignored me or never heard what I said. She went around to Chloe’s side and started talking into her ear. Chloe nodded, and they laughed. After a few minutes, they moved toward the dance floor. Chloe grabbed my arm. “Come dance with us.”
“S’okay.” I didn’t feel much like dancing. “Go ahead.”
“You sure?”
I nodded, and they went on.
I tried not to stare at Ton-Ton, but I kept glancing her direction. It’s hard to say all the feelings that were swirling around me at that moment, but I had almost convinced myself to go talk to her, to tell her I wasn’t mad or hurt anymore, even if it was not all the way true just yet, when Chloe came back to say that she was ready to go and the girl she just met was leaving with her. I could either hang out at the lounge of the hotel or she could stop back by and pick me up in a couple of hours. Third wheel status, unappealing as it was, was still better than the thought of staying at the bar with Ton-Ton there, being without a place to sleep, or missing my flight tomorrow. I opted to go with them.
When we started to leave, we had to stop for a group clustered around the bar. At that moment, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned around, two lips pressed against mine, followed by a slow-probing tongue. My choice to fight or succumb to the kiss was slowed down a little
