Melody

Saturday, September 3 (After Chapter 10 of Triptych)

MELODY: Melody Renee Anderson, age 19, born 23 January, sophomore, Student ID Number 9113507.

aroslav: You're not a prisoner of war, Melody. I'm not going to interrogate you.

MELODY: No sense of humor. Oh well. Whatcha wanna know?

aroslav: Thanks. Are there any teens present who can hold a conversation without making me feel like an antiquated ass?

MELODY: Aww. I'm sorry. I don't think you're an ass.

aroslav: Oh?

MELODY: Just antiquated.

aroslav: [sigh] Since we already have the vital statistics out of the way, why don't you tell me about school to start with? What's your major?

MELODY: Textiles.

aroslav: What does that include?

MELODY: Weaving, knitting, braiding, knotting, crocheting, needlepoint, dying, and pretty much anything that has to do with cloth or putting things on cloth, including screen printing, dye sublimation transfers, and dye discharge.

aroslav: That sounds very craftsy.

MELODY: Ugh! You too? You sound like my dad.

aroslav: Oh dear, I hope not. Is he terrible to you?

MELODY: No. He's great. Well most of the time. But he really wanted me to be an artist. When I tried to explain that art and design were compatible and that my chosen medium was fabric, he said that was a trade and if I was determined that was what I wanted to do, he at least wanted me to have a rounded art education so I would have something to fall back on.

aroslav: That sounds backwards. Don't parents usually want their artistic kids to have a trade to fall back on?

MELODY: Dad wanted to be an artist and ended up an advertising executive. He blames it on not having had a good art education.

aroslav: So he wants you to be what he isn't.

MELODY: [sighs] Yeah, I guess so. That's the reason I'm at PCAD. It's the school he wanted to go to twenty-some years ago. But that's okay. I love it here. It's got a great textile program. I do enjoy the other art classes, even if I can't paint like Tony and Kate. And face it; this is where I met the love of my life ... er ... one or two of them.

aroslav: How did that happen, by the way? From what I gather, Tony never asked you out because he thought you had ... let me see..."a big scary boyfriend."

MELODY: Never did. Simon, over in the theatre production department is a big dude, covered with tattoos and piercings. There's some overlap between costuming and textiles/fashion, so we were in the costume shop a lot first semester. He's a very protective big teddy bear and absolutely refused to let any girl in the department walk to the dorms after dark without an escort. But we were never an item. He is so completely gay!

aroslav: That's an interesting story. When'd you get interested in Tony?

MELODY: Oh. Orientation weekend. He probably doesn't even remember it. There was a group tour of the SAM [Seattle Art Museum] as kind of an introductory event. Everyplace we went, we seemed to be standing next to each other. So I checked him out pretty thoroughly.

aroslav: Have a good conversation or something?

MELODY: Nope. Never said a word. Just stood back and drooled. I don't think he noticed me at all. So from that day on, I started putting myself where he could see me. I even found out that he was in the Figure Drawing class, which is usually a sophomore class, but had a few freshmen in it who were approved and it had one slot open. I enrolled on a non-credit basis the first week of school.

aroslav: Stalker-chick?

MELODY: Maybe a little.

aroslav: Why wait till second semester to make your move?

MELODY: I kept thinking he would eventually see me and ask me out. Then there were Sandra and Amy. The first time I thought I'd just sit with him at lunch after class, they both just plopped down with us and all of a sudden we were four friends who had lunch together every Friday. And Sandra made it no secret when he wasn't around that she was into him. I didn't want to ... you know ... interfere? And Amy was making it obvious that she was interested in both Sandra and me. I know I'm bi, but Amy just doesn't fire my jets—though god knows she tries. I don't think Sandra even had a clue that Amy was interested.

aroslav: Wow! So much social intrigue. What finally made you make your move?

MELODY: When Tony posed. Oh my god! I never thought he'd do it. I just thought it would be a way to flirt with him in class to suggest that he pose. When he came out and there he was in ... Let's just say I had trouble concentrating. I came back from holidays absolutely determined that I was going to get something going with him.

aroslav: So you wanted to be with him from the beginning?

MELODY: Ummm. Okay. God's truth? I never thought it would go anywhere long term. He's so terminally shy and I'm so ... not. But one of the things I wanted when I came to college was to experience everything. And, I'd never experienced a guy.

aroslav: Wait. You'd experienced a girl?

MELODY: Um ... yeah. Just a little play-time in high school. My girlfriend—that's girlfriend as in BFF, not soulmate—was as curious as I was. I spent a weekend at her house when her parents were out of town and we woke up in the morning with our faces looking like glazed donuts. It was a fun weekend and we tried it a few more times, but we both knew that we were just best friends and not really lovers.

aroslav: Okay. Back to getting together with Tony.

MELODY: After that first weekend that I met him, Tony just seemed like the right guy to do the job. I thought we might be like my girlfriend and me—just willing to explore and experiment. If he turned out to be gay or something afterward, I'd still have the experience. I feel so bad about thinking I was just going to use him.

aroslav: That sounds like Beth's rationale.

MELODY: Maybe that's why I like her so much. We really are a lot alike. But I'm glad it turned out the way it did. Let's face it. If Tony wasn't my boyfriend, I wouldn't have a girlfriend either.

aroslav: Ah yes. Lissa. How did that come about?

MELODY: Man, you are a voyeur, aren't you? Well, in the same way that Amy doesn't fire my jets, Lissa does. That first day I met her ... oh wow. I went to the club to watch Tony play racquetball because I figured that was how I'd manage to seduce him. And then she showed up to play. I sat outside that court fantasizing about Tony and me together for the first time, but every scenario kept having Lissa in it, too. So I said, oh hell. It's all fantasy anyway, I'll just fantasize about her, and then Tony was always there. When she invited me in for a shower and hot tub at the club ... I was a goner. There I'd been watching them for an hour while they got sweaty on the court and my chair had a wet spot on it. Then I get to go sit around naked with Lissa for half an hour talking girl-stuff. Believe me; her interview about Tony was much more detailed than yours! There just wasn't much to tell her yet. She gave me a ton of pointers on how to seduce him.

aroslav: She wasn't interested herself?