Chapter 68: Plots and Plans

Sunday, February 24, 1985

Cammie and Mel worked their usual breakfast semi-miracle, so we had quite a nice little buffet for Candice and Sherry when they emerged.

We made it through breakfast before Candice said, “Okay! We’ve decided. I’m accepting A&M’s scholarship, Sherry’s giving the Financial Aid office a nudge, and we’ll take the basement, assuming you’ll still have us.”

“Yay!” Angie said, bouncing.

That was quickly followed by the rest of us.

Candice misted up after a few seconds, and I noticed that Sherry was following her.

“You guys...” Candice said, sniffling a couple of times. “I mean, not just Angie and Steve. Mel, of course, and now I’ve gotten to know the rest of you, just not as well. But ... Angie and Steve, above all. It’s not a secret what almost happened, and ... I’m better. I’m so much better! But ... this, right here, this is a miracle! It’s my miracle...”

“And mine,” Sherry said, hugging Candice.

“Our miracle,” Candice said, grinning a bit. “I’m not ... I mean ... just ... it’s special, that’s all. It feels like something going full circle, from really good to completely tattered and broken to even better than anyone could have imagined. I don’t think we would have made it...”

She was looking at me when she said that. I nodded, smiling.

“We were great, and we were ... we were exactly what I needed right then,” she said, sniffling. “But we’re not what either of us needed except for that magic few months when it made all of the difference in the world.”

Angie was sniffly, too (for that matter, my eyes weren’t dry either). She said, “You two were perfect, when you were perfect.”

“That. Yes!” Candice said. “Anyway ... this is magical and special and we’re totally grateful that we get to share that with people who get us in a way no one else ever can.”

Sherry said, “I mean it, y’all! Especially Angie and Steve, obviously, but all of you ... Candice is...”

Mel said, “Don’t worry. We get it. Cammie is that for me and I almost lost her.”

She and Cammie held hands tightly.

“We keep getting the whole ‘You’re so young!’ thing,” Sherry said, “But, if anyone knows that and is beating the odds so far, it’s y’all.”

“We’re in your corner all the way!” Paige said.

“It helps that you’re all in the lesbian club. Well, not Steve and Jasmine, but you two are honorary members,” Sherry said, giggling.

“Steve’s got the receipts!” Paige said, grinning.

I may have blushed. Probably.

“It’ll be nice to be where that’s just 100% accepted, no questions, and everyone knows,” Sherry said.

“I should warn you,” Paige said. “We have some stupid fundamentalist evangelical whatever-you-call-it neighbors who are annoying.”

“We think they’re harmless, though,” Angie said.

“Yeah. Just annoying!” Cammie said.

“We can handle that!” Sherry said, grinning.

“Yes, we can!” Candice said.

Some of the ‘GSS Gang’ (Lindsay, John, Ed, and Sandra, plus newcomer Katy) arrived early enough to meet Candice and Sherry. When we explained they were moving in with us in the fall, they got extra-warm welcomes. Lindsay and Katy, in particular, promised to introduce them to ‘everyone,’ though I figured Angie, Paige, and Cammie would be on that anyway.

Candice and Sherry left when they had to, with lots of hugs on their way out. They promised to call once things were sorted out with the parents. Cammie gave them a full set of house pictures to show to their families, so they’d know their kids were going to be in a nice, safe place. Sandy and Erwin would’ve been convinced nearly no matter what, simply because it was Angie and me, but Sherry’s parents probably needed more.

The rest of the gang (Brent, Tom, Allison, Wyatt, and Monique, plus newcomers Karen and Jeff) came over later in the afternoon. No one really put a name on today’s get-together beyond ‘come hang out at the cool freshmen’s house.’ Most of them were now underage, legally speaking, so I suspected we were violating the law by serving them beer, but we did so anyway.

As before, I was in charge of the grill. John, Jeff, and Katy each took shifts at the grill, though.

The newcomers were all engineers of one sort or another. Karen was in Industrial, Jeff was in Mechanical (but not yet in any of Mel’s classes), and Katy was in Electrical. Karen was from Dallas, while Jeff and Katy were both from North Houston. Separate high schools, though.

All of them seemed pretty cool. I was at least a trifle suspicious that Jas was interested in Karen or Katy (and, hopefully, vice versa). Karen was a short blonde, while Katy was a medium-height brunette. Both of them were quite cute, and I certainly couldn’t fault Jas’s taste if she was interested. But, if she was, or they were, either everyone was quiet about it, or whatever flirting went on happened while I was at the grill.

After a while, I wound up on the couch in the living room. Lindsay sat down next to me, clinking her beer bottle against mine.

“How’s it going?” she said. “I mean, yeah, I saw you two days ago, but sometimes that seems farther away than other times. Plus, you were a bit quieter than usual.”

“It’s going well,” I said. “Late night the night before.”

“Ah,” she said, chuckling. “Your friends are nice.”

“Candice and I dated, long ago. Water far under the bridge, but she’s awesome and I’m really happy that they’re moving here.”

“She’s a freshman next year and you dated ‘long ago?’”

“She had a health problem our freshman year — while we were dating — and wound up having to repeat. All better now,” I said.

“Oh! Yeah, she looked fine now. That’s sad, but I’m glad she’s better.”

“She never would have met Sherry if not for that, so ... sometimes the universe moves in mysterious ways.”

“Yes, it does! Definitely!” she said.

“And how’s it going for you?”

“Believe it or not, I have a date!”

“That is good news!” I said.

“Well, hopefully. She’s ... um ... so. I don’t really know what to make of her. She says she’s ‘questioning,’ but I’m reading total lezzie. Maybe I’m misunderstanding, or maybe she thinks coming on less strong is good. I’ve had a girl ditch me by saying ‘I’m not really gay after all,’ then turn around and date three more girls, no guys. So ... I don’t know. Still, I like her, she seems to like me, and I think we’ll have fun. It’s not like it’s a lifetime commitment.”

“No, of course it’s not. Hopefully, it all goes well. That sucks about someone backing out of things that way. On the other hand, some girls really are bi at one level or another. Maybe she’s one? If you’re doubting it, you might be right, but it does offer an interesting approach to breaking things off. I’d never thought of that, really.”

She chuckled and said, “It’s an extra trick we get to play. No straight guy is gonna say ‘Oh, sorry, I’m breaking up with you because I’m gay’ unless he is or she’s a total serial killer psycho. Gay girls can play the ‘I was confused, now I’m straight’ card pretty much with impunity.”

“Odd but interesting.”

“It makes things even harder for bi girls, I think. A lot of people think they’re not ‘committed’ or something.”

“I’d imagine especially girls like Jas, Angie, and Paige, who could date guys and be happy with that. Mel, too, if less so.”

“Yeah,” Lindsay said. “Angie and I talked about that. I’ve seen some girls being all ‘Nope, you’re not a real lezzie! Get out of here, traitor!’ It’s so stupid! Angie and Paige are about as ‘out’ as out gets, at least nationally. Newspaper coverage, pictures, all that good stuff. Jas, okay. She’s nominally maybe a bit ‘closeted,’ but it’s ok to be that. Anyway, I understand the people who put down bi girls, but all it does is make them attacked by both sides. It sucks!”

“Not my fight,” I said. “I mean, in a way it is. Anyone who slights any of them...”

Lindsay nodded.

“But beyond that, I’m the unabashedly straight guy. It’s not my place to tell people who aren’t straight how best to not be straight.”

She chuckled at that.

“Something some people could learn! Not you, not Lynn, not really anyone else in GSS, but overall, there’s a lot of that.”

“I try to keep it in mind. I’ve been accused before of having the whole ‘great white savior’ thing going on, and that’s not how I want to act.”

She snorted a bit, then said, “Great white savior?”

“The white guy in the movie who sweeps in and ‘fixes’ everything for a bunch of poor, ignorant non-white savages, pretty much. Same with some guy coming in and ‘fixing’ a bunch of women’s problems, or whatever. I’m not going to apologize for wanting to help where I can help, but I’m also going to keep telling myself I don’t have all the answers and I don’t even understand some of the questions.”

She nodded.

“Makes sense. Sometimes it really takes straight people to stand up. That’s the thing. Like, your friends Lizzie and Janet. Sure, they should’ve been able to go to their prom just because they were seniors and that’s what seniors do. But, practically speaking, if all the straight kids had been ‘Nope, no way, no lezzies!’ what are they going to do except maybe sue and try to use force? If most of the straight kids go, ‘Hey, the more the merrier! Come join us!’, though, everybody wins except the bigots.”

“And we’re okay with them losing.”

“We are!”

We chatted a bit more, then Jas called me to the kitchen to talk to Katy. There wasn’t anything big there. Katy just had some observations about classes, plus she’d been praising the house and Jas wanted me in on it.

I wasn’t getting anything definite about the two of them, but I continued to be suspicious. That said, I wanted Jas to have her fun. The longer I went without asking, the better.

Candice called during the meeting and let us know they’d gotten home safely. Also, she said Sandy and Erwin were thrilled that she was moving into our house. They couldn’t wait to see it!

Monday, February 25, 1985

I sat next to Claire again, much to the delight of Jas and Paige (at least). Matt and Lisa looked amused. I’m not sure how much they knew, or how far they expected things to go, but this was a bit of a soap opera for them.

We didn’t talk much until after class, when we hung out just long enough to compare notes on our weekends (both good) and plan a tentative date for this coming weekend. Maybe another movie, possibly including dinner as well.

Claire joked about ‘going right to the goodnight kiss,’ which I could have taken as a hint that the other things weren’t important. I didn’t. Or, I could’ve taken it as a test. I didn’t do that either. I just saw it as being honest. The kissing had been good, and we both wanted more of it, but kissing (and what might come after it) wasn’t the only thing.

We’d see each other Wednesday, and then again on Friday. There was plenty of time to plan something.

Claire was a bit jealous that we were heading off to see U2, but it was too late to get her a ticket. We might be able to get her in, but she’d be nowhere near us, and that wouldn’t be any fun at all.