Les slung his backpack over his shoulder and
slowly headed out of the school laboratory classroom. He found his
way down the stairs of the Science building and out into the crisp
fall evening, heading across campus to his dormitory apartments. It
was the beginning of his sophomore year at UCLA. He had spent last
summer, after his first year of college, as a senior counselor at
Crowshaven. Surprisingly, he had been the only one of his junior
counselor friends to come back that summer. He shivered and zipped
up his sweatshirt. The weather was uncommonly cool for Los Angeles
this year.
As he made his way across campus, a voice called
out to him. Turning he saw his room-mate and friends, Scott and
Mitch, coming towards him.
“Dude, you're coming with us!” Scott demanded,
slapping him on the back enthusiastically like an overgrown puppy.
“Where?” Les asked confusedly.
“Sorority party, man!” Scott answered and Les
could tel he was already pretty high.
“You in?” Mitch wanted to know. Les looked at
his friends, their stoney grins and squinty eyes were a desirable
influence after his long day of school and work. He nodded at them
and they turned, leading him back in the direction that they had
come.
“The girls at this party, man,” Scott began
and Les thought he saw drool coming out of his mouth.
“Close your mouth, Scott,” Mitch laughed.
“You don't want to catch any flies!”
They all laughed. For his part, Les was somewhat
anxious about the girls at the party. He hadn't had too many
conversations, let alone dated, any girls since coming to college.
Sad but a fact of reality at that. He had a brief fling with another
counselor last summer but that had fizzled out with the end of
summer.
Mitch and Scott guided Les down the street, the
few blocks apart from campus to sorority and fraternity row. None of
them were frat boys themselves, but the parties were always the best
place to get drunk and laid, not necessarily at the same time either.
The sorority house in question was just what one
would expect, large two story house with shared bedrooms. Large
living room opening onto a dining room that was at present busy with
girls in skimpy dresses passing back and forth flirting demurely with
anyone who caught their eye. All sorts of guys had come to be
eye-caught by these sisters, from fellow frat brothers, to football
jocks, to those of Les' tribe, slightly on the geeky side.
The boys entered the building and made themselves
appear casual as they strolled through the house. Although
butterflies flitted about Les's stomach as it had been awhile since
he had been out in the party scene. A blonde cheerleader type
bounced up to them and winked at Les.
“Hi!” she said, cheerfully and Les'
half-expected her to start up a cheer. “Welcome to Phi Delta
Kappa, boys! First time here, can I get you anything? Drinks and food
in the kitchen!”
Without waiting for them to answer, she pointed
down the hall to the kitchen, then skipped off to welcome more
new-coming guests. They headed into the kitchen, which was packed
with people in itself, those sitting on counters or standing around
talking while sipping their drinks and eating the chips. Mitch
fetched three beers for each of them and then looked around for a
bottle opener for them.
Across the room, Les spied a girl with very curly
long brown hair leaning against the sink and talking to a small
circle of friends. He wasn't sure but he thought it might be...
“Trip?” the girl broke his train of thought
and came towards him smiling.
“Tera?” he responded. “I thought that was
you.”
Scott looked over at him and his mouth moved with
the question “Trip?” Les ignored him, choosing instead to hug
and greet Tera.
“Hi, how've you been?” Les continued unabated.
“I didn't know you went here.”
“Yeah, just transferred this term,” she began.
“I'm not in this sorority, my friend is though, she invited me.
You go here?”
He nodded and then said, “I didn't see you at
camp last summer.”
“No,” she shook her head slowly. “Did you
go? Wait, that's a stupid question, don't answer that!”
Les laughed at her and said, “But yeah, first
year as senior counselor!”
“Right on!” she said encouragingly. “Yeah,
just got busy with work. Joined the volunteer fire department so,
just didn't have time.”
Her eyes darted around the room and she saw her
discarded drink on the counter by the sink. She glanced up at him
and nodded towards it. He nodded back and she hurried over for it,
quickly returning to his side.
“So, you want go somewhere and talk? Play
catch-up?” She smiled in her friendly Tera fashion.
“Yeah, I'd like that,” and she led him into
the noisy living room with the many chattering voices and the DJ's
music.
They found a semi-quiet spot on the front porch.
They sat down and sipped their drinks, taking in the views around
them. The cars passing by, the college students walking back and
forth between sorority and fraternity house parties, the street lamps
burning brightly.
“All this noise kind of makes me miss it, you
know, Crowshaven,” she said, looking around at him. He nodded at
her, smiling slightly. “So, who else went?”
“No one from our group,” he informed her and
then took a swig of beer.
“Oh,” she said and then stared back out at the
street. “You still keep in contact with anyone though? Like, I
don't know, Geoff?”
“Oh, yeah,” Les began and laughed. “You
know, he came out to me about a month ago!”
“What?” Tera said, turning to him hungry for
more details.
“Yeah, he called me up with big news, said he
met someone, said his name was Sam, I'm like “him”, and Geoff's
like well, yeah, I'm gay or something, you're the first person I'm
telling,” Les explained. “I was kind of honored.”
“Wow,” was all Tera could say. “I would
never have guessed.”
“Yeah, I know,” Les agreed. “But, you know,
he's happy so that's all that counts.”
They were silent for a moment as they both nursed
their drinks.
“Anyone else?” Tera asked. “Um, Jess?”
“College, in Berkeley,” was all Les would
bitterly volunteer. Tera didn't press for more. In a moment, he
cleared his throat and said, quietly, “So, how's Ruby?”
“Oh, she's in New York now,” Tera answered.
“I thought she went to Oregon or something?”
“Yeah, she was,” Tera explained. “She was
going to school up there and fell in love with one of her professors,
then followed him to New York and stuff.”
“Are they still together?” Les wanted to know.
“I think its an on and off kind of thing,” was
all Tera could answer.
“So, what's she doing out there?”
“Working at a video store and going to gigs at
night or whatever,” Tera informed.
“Gigs?”
“She's still song-writing, thinks she's going to
become the next Jewel or something, you know,” Tera smiled. “More
power to her, right?”
“Yeah, really, I hope she does make it,” was
all Les would answer.
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