I hated geography. I could sit in a classroom all day and I would not learn how the indigenous people of Bolivia lived day to day nor where they were located. This reluctance was shared by a majority of the class but we endured.
One of those endured sessions found us coloring and labeling a map of South America. Coloring a map was a leave to socialize in the classroom. Our teacher sat behind her desk pouring over a novel and leafing the pages while she ignored our rising voices. This was busy work but it was enjoyable busy work.
Hung, a young Chinese boy who sat ahead of me, turned with a worried look behind his glasses and asked me with a plea in his voice, "The girls want to play Truth or Dare. Do you want to play?" He subtlely nodded to me.
We were fresh teenagers in the confusing grip of middle school trying to figure out who we were. Playing games like Truth or Dare with girls was intensly scary and infinetly alluring. I agreed, wondering what questions I would be asked and which I wanted to be asked as I chose a dark green pencil to shade in the Pacific Ocean.
Stacy's head appeared between the rows with a mischievious grin spread from ear to ear hidden beneath a mane of wirey and wild brown hair. Her light brown eyes still gleamed from behind the tangled mess. Fear seized me as I thought about the questions and things I didn't want asked of me. I froze in the middle of shading Argentina orange.
"Who else is playing?" I asked nervously.
"You, me, Hung," she motioned to the next row, "Lisa and Stephanie."
Lisa was big for her age, her dirty blonde hair covered much of her wide back. She was not fat to the point of ridicule but she was large. Larger than both Hung and myself. She smiled at us and we smiled back. Hung timidly fixed his glasses on his nose and I hoped that I wouldn't be dared to kiss Lisa.
The other girl, Stephanie, was a transfer student like me. She was a ghostly white and her hair a contrasted deep brown. Here eyes a light hazel that shyly looked over at me and Hung. She smiled. I hadn't formed an opinion of her but since I was a young shy boy, her proximity terrified me. This showed as a deep blush as I looked away from her friendly smile and filled Chile with a burgundy center.
Stacy, enjoying her ringleader position, began listing off rules. There were no dares that involed something that would get us in trouble, "Only reprimanded." she added. Truths, of course, had to e answered truthfully. Nothing was sacred and anything could be asked. We began.
After a series of ridiculous dares that involved loud animal noises and strange interations with other students, we had begun to draw some negative attention. Our teacher looked up from her book now and again to direct a stern look in our direction.
We settled into truths and begain to ask each other probing questions that we had to dig deep into ourselves to reveal. 'What was your most embarrassing moment?', 'What were you most afraid of?' and finally the dreaded, 'Who do you like?"
The last one is the surprise question everyone expects. Stacy pressed Stephanie with this question. Her insistance cutting through layers of "I don't know" and shoulder shrugs. Finally ready to answer, Stephanie smiled coyly and leaned over the aisle to whisper it to Stacy. For a moment they both looked in my direction then focused on the ground between them.
Hung looked between them then at me with confusion. I returned his expression and waitied.
Stephanie sat back and addressed the group. Very slowly she turned her attention toward me and said, "I like you." I stopped coloring. Our teacher placed her book down and called for the maps to be turned in. I had failed to color one country, Bolivia.
I was seated on what was probably the hardest seat ever made on a bus crossing the town to deposit me at the university. Clouds had gathered outside and threatened rain but only gave us miserable grey weather. The wind was cold and hard breezes swept past the bus. My ears were numb but I could still hear the voice on the other end of the phone call.
Her voice was light and airy. She was talking about another girl and what her problem with this particular one was. "Yeah, I get it."
"I know I'm just ranting but thanks for listening." She says.
"No problem, you know how much I enjoy hearing about those bitches you're forced to work with."
She laughted, "I'll call you later. You on your way to class?"
The first sreaks of water appear on the window."Yeah," I reply. The bus lurches to a stop and I'm knocked into a balding hindu man who grunts and dismounts the bus.
"Alright, love you,"
The pause is long, I can hear her anxiously breathing on the phone. I look up at an old woman with silver hair arranged in a bun watching me. She smiles at me and I smile back. There's a heavy sigh on the phone. "I can't wait forever on you." Another pause, "I'll talk to you later."
"Later Elise."
The lady is shaking her head. I want to tell her to mind her own business but she probably wouldn't know what I was talking about. I close the phone and looked back out the window as the rain began tumbling down. My stop would eventually come up but on days like these it dragged on forever.
I sat watching the waiters dance around the tables. Their paths crissed and crossed but they never collided. Such accidental choreography is amusing. I drained the rest of my cup and checked the time on my phone.
A waiter stopped at my table and filled my glass with the wine bottle that stood an arm's length from me. He regarded me and the empty seat across from me, he replaced the bottle on the table and asked, "Are you waiting on a date?"
I looked up at him and wondered if I was so obvious, sitting here eating alone. He raised his eyebrows waiting for me to respond.
"Yes." I tried to sound insulted and standoffish. He smiled and leaned over. I was clearly not good at being a jerk.
"Guy or girl?"
"Girl." This time I had no problem sounding insulted. Was it my cloths? I had just dressed well.
He straightened and was a bit distraught. With a tilt of his head and fiddling with the cloth tucked into his waistband he asked, "How late is she?"
"About an hour." Why was I telling him this.
With a nod he turned and left. I contiued to sit and stare at the murky red wine coloring my glass. Peculiar evening.A smile tugged my lips and I laughed quietly with the empty seat before me.
Several minutes passed and I could feel the lightheadedness setting in. I shut my eyes and felt the twinge of dizzyness. When I opened them there stood a woman before me. She wore a navy blue dress, her deep brown hair drapped around her face and an uncomfortable air about her. She was looking toward the kitchens.
Following her gaze I saw the waiter who had spoken to me. He gestured for the woman to stay and talk to me. When he caught me watching him he smiled, turned and set off without looking and nearly knocked over another waiter carrying entrees for a table of five.
"So goes the dance." I muttered to myself.
"Excuse me." the woman's voice drew me back to the table.
There was a hint of green when the light hit her eyes. "Sorry, I've had a long night."
She looked away, she had a rough night too. "I'm sorry, I've been waiting for a blind date, he told me not to do it," She glanced at the waiter, "but I sat and waited anyways."
"I've been waiting too. You can see," I indicated the empty chair, "They didn't show up either.
"A pity." She grinned, "Two wasted evenings. Probably why Troy insisted that I join you."
Troy is watching us half hidden behind one of the kitchen doors. He startles and someone pushes past him holding a tray of soups and salads. Troy scurrys away.
The girl seats herself across from me. She's bold. Scooping up the bottle of wine she looks over the label, "You ordered a better wine than I did, but I only ordered a glass."
"I planned a good evening."
She motioned to the nosey Troy to bring her a glass.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"Steph." She turned and accepted the glass from Troy who was beaming at his success. He poured her a glass and hurried away. "Have we met?"
"I don't think so."
"Strange then." She took a sip of the wine and set it on the table, with a shy smile.
I turned in my erratically colored map of South America and adjusted my backpack strap. Stacy watched me leave with Stephanie and grinned at Hung. Amused confusion was all he could do in return.
"I think I like you too." I said shyly. We exchanged timid glances and walked down the hall together.
