Nadine met Lita a month ago at the Fundamentals of Birding for Beginners class at the local college. No one else was there.

“Do you think we’re in the wrong place?” Nadine asked.

“The paper said 317 Fortner Hall,” Lita said.

“Maybe the wrong time?”

“It said five pm, Tuesday, March 22. That’s today, five minutes ago.”

“Hm,” murmured Nadine. “I wonder what happened?”

“Some kind of fuck up,” Lita said.

Nadine, not used to coarse language, blushed.

Lita smiled. “You’re so cute,” she said. “And I love your sexy sneakers.”

Nadine looked down. Then at Lita’s shoes. They were the same.

“We have the same brand binoculars, too,” Lita said. “And the same bird’s nest hair.”

Nadine’s hand moved toward her head, but she stopped herself.

“So here we are,” Lita said. “We might as well make the best of it.”

“What do you m—” Nadine started to say, but before she could get the last word out, Lita had Nadine’s bottom lip between her own, and a moment later her tongue was in Nadine’s mouth, and the kiss continued almost until six o’clock.

That was a month ago, and before that, Nadine had never considered getting involved that way with a girl. Truth is, she’d never really gotten involved with a boy. She’d dated a few in high school, but the boys made her uneasy, so she found ways to decline all their offers and entreaties. College had been much the same. She hadn’t been sad, but she hadn’t been happy. And now, since Lita, she was joyous. Every moment with Lita was wonderfully special, and she spent almost all her time, certainly all her nights, in Lita’s apartment. It was as if they were made for each other. Though Lita could be a bit coarse, in most ways they were much the same—not just their sneakers and their hair. They liked the same music, the same authors, the same foods, and, as Nadine soon discovered, they both loved sex. Until Lita, Nadine had never had an orgasm. In the last thirty days she’d had hundreds. No question about it, she loved Lita.

Another thing that Nadine and Lita had in common, neither wore jewelry of any kind. It wasn’t something they’d talked about. The subject never came up. To commemorate their month together, Nadine decided to get Lita a ring.

That evening before bed, Nadine said, “You know it’s been a full month we’ve been together.”

Lita snorted.

“What?” said Nadine.

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about that birding class.”