How They Met and Other Stories Read online

  There is no way to say “I’d like to point out that we’re not on a date” without sounding like a complete asshole. And I hadn’t yet discovered that sometimes you need to sound like a complete asshole early on in order to prevent sounding like an even more complete asshole further down the road. So I just patted her taffeta and let her lean.

  Once the dinner had been cleared and the prom committee had congratulated itself, the music picked up and we picked ourselves up to go with it. At Theresa and Liz’s urging, Sally kicked off her heels, which meant that the frosted peak of her hair was now level with my nose. As if to atone for the waiting-room music of the past, the band went into a (by my count) thirteen-song Motown medley—it had nothing to do with our high school years, but at least we could dance to it. Sally did not leave my side, but neither did Theresa (whose date only knew the box-step) or Liz (whose date was still at the table). The first song in the medley was “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” and I made sure that when I got down on my knees, it was Theresa I was facing. She got the message, and I knew she forgave me for not asking her. She wouldn’t abandon me. So the four of us heard it through the grapevine together. We stopped in the name of love together. We even (good lord) just called to say I love you together. It wasn’t until we were about to be signed, sealed, delivered that Sally tried to wedge herself between me and the other girls, tripping over her dress to grab hold of my waist. It wasn’t a slow song, but clearly her patience in waiting for a slow song was starting to wear thin. We were both sweating now from the dancing, and I could see in her eyes a determination that bio class had never, ever elicited.

  “Sally…,” I said over the music.

  “Damon…,” she said back, pulling a little closer.

  Then (hey, the good lord is good) “Twist and Shout” started, and there was no way to pretend it was an intimacy-inducing tune. I tried to twist in time with her, but we were always just a little off. When the medley was finally over, I gasped for some water and headed back to the table.

  I thought that maybe if we could talk normally, it would all go back to normal. But it soon became apparent that I was speaking to some prom version of Sally, without being able to summon a prom version of myself. I tried talking about college next year, about how weird it was to be facing the last of our final exams, about how I couldn’t believe that Nina wouldn’t even come over to say hi. I thought Sally would bring up her own ex, so we could bond over our jiltedness in a friend kind of way. But she just said she had never understood why Nina and I were together in the first place, and that I deserved much better than that. Then she said, “Let’s not talk about Nina,” and asked me if I was ready to dance again. A slow song had just come on.

  Clearly, Sally thought this dance was going to seal the deal. She wrapped her arms around my neck and dangled there, my very own new-girlfriend necklace. Usually when I slow-danced with Theresa or Liz or one of the other girls, we’d joke with each other, hanging out. But Sally had no desire for banter. She was staring at me so intently. She didn’t even look happy. Instead, she looked determined to be happy. I was the only thing standing in the way.

  My arms were around her back, caught in the bubblegum folds. I knew if I’d wanted her, if I’d really wanted her, my hands would’ve moved up—they would have wanted to touch skin. I know that thrill now—of sliding your hand under a shirt, or crossing a collar to get to that nape of hair, that touch. But I was still stuck in girl gear then, and the thrills I got were from talking, from comfort. And with Sally it wasn’t even that.

  Theresa cut in for the next slow song. As soon as her mouth was within whispering distance of my ear, she said, “You look like a mink who’s about to be turned into a coat.”

  “You’ve been working on that line for the past hour, haven’t you?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  “What were some of the runner-ups?”

  “Well, there was ‘You look like Sylvia Plath waiting for the oven to preheat.’ And ‘You look like you’re taking the SATs and you’ve only brought pens.’ And just plain ‘You look like a castrato.’ I decided to go with the mink.”

  “I might’ve gone with Plath.”

  “But you haven’t even read Plath.”

  “Maybe I’ll go home right now and start.”

  I remember this conversation word for word. I don’t remember the way I was holding Theresa or the way she was holding me. I couldn’t even tell you what she was wearing. But I remember each of the things she said to me, and the way we were laughing without having the need to laugh out loud. Just sharing that.

  When my dance with Theresa was over, I spied Sally talking to some of her friends at another table. The rest of my girl group—a few of them with dates in tow—joined me and Theresa as the singer tried to make her way through “Brown-Eyed Girl.” At one point, I was opposite my friend Allison’s date, Chad, and when we sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-le-la-dee-da-ed, we both leaned forward so that his bangs brushed up against mine. He smiled at me and I smiled back, and that was all there was. But I remember that, too.

  Sally joined us—well, I should say she joined me—a few songs in. Some of her makeup had worn off in the sweating and her subsequent restroom visit. Her flushness came through more. The dancing scuffed up her dress, the bubble gum deflating in parts. I honestly think I was the only one who noticed.

  The head of the prom committee announced the prom song, “Wonderful Tonight,” and all the groups immediately split into pairs. Sally made her way into me, and I held her. Yes, I held her. Because I had been the one to ask. And because I didn’t want to be an asshole. And because I knew that even if the moment didn’t mean anything to me, it probably meant something to her. So I danced to the song as if it had somehow become ours. As if it showed us what we were meant to be.

  When it was over, I kissed her. Closed-mouthed. Quickly. Like I would’ve kissed a friend on New Year’s.

  Further announcements were made, about not driving drunk, about remembering to take our prom memento (a coffee mug) from the table. Sally and I hadn’t really talked about after the prom—I knew there were some parties, but we’d only booked the limo until midnight. Finding the limo was a nightmare—there were so many of them outside, and I barely remembered what the driver looked like. Luckily he was holding a placard with our names on it, hyphenated together. As if we were already married.

  I was exhausted, and I hoped that Sally would be exhausted, too. But when we got into the limo she immediately leaned her head on my shoulder again.

  “What do you want to do?” she asked, running her finger over my sleeve. I could barely feel it, but I was intensely aware of it.

  “I don’t know—what do you want to do?”

  “How about this?” she said, leaning in closer, about to kiss me. But her dress got in her way and she didn’t quite make it.

  “Sally…,” I started.

  “Damon, I’m so into you,” she said. And I immediately wished she hadn’t.

  She was pulling her dress out of her way now, so she could push closer into me. Then her hands were on my shirt, pressing on my chest, but there really wasn’t anything she could do. My sleeves were cuff-linked tight. My tuxedo buttons could only be undone from the inside. My cummerbund was safely clasped in the back, and it was protecting my pants button from any fumbling. It was like armor. And then there was her dress: Even as she rearranged the poofs, I realized there was no way for her to get out of it without some help in the back. As long as I went nowhere near her zipper, the force field would hold.

  “C’mon, Damon,” she whispered. “Let’s make out in the back of a limo.”

  I’m all for making out in the back of a limo when you have a chance. But there was no way…except that I couldn’t think of a way to tell her that.

  “C’mon,” she repeated, her hands getting to the back of my neck, her lips coming closer.

  “I can’t,” I said.

  She pulled back a little to look me in the eye, and asked the ques
tion I most feared:

  “Why not?”

  There are so many things I could have said. “I’m still in love with Nina,” for one. Or that old standby “I want us just to be friends.” Or “I’m not ready for another relationship.” Or “I feel weird doing this with the driver of this limo sitting five feet away, with his rearview mirror aimed at us.” Or “Can’t we talk about this first?” Or “That would be against my God.” Or, I don’t know, “I have the biggest cold sore right now.”

  Instead I said, “Look…I’m gay.”

  It just occurred to me, and I said it, and the minute I said it, I couldn’t believe I’d said it, because at that point I didn’t even get it. It was like my subconscious saw an empty moment it could take for itself and went for it.

  Glinda the Good Witch sagged before my eyes. She said something like “Oh, I see,” and retreated into her dress, to her side of the backseat.

  And I sat there on my side, thinking I had just told a lie, when it was actually the truth. I wish I could say that I suddenly realized it was the truth, that the minute I said it out loud it became real to me. But right then I didn’t see the reasons I said it. I only see them now. I can tell you this, though—after that moment, the reasons were much harder to ignore. I thought I was making up an excuse, but it was actually the beginning of the end of excuses.

  I knew none of this then, and Sally knew even less. I told her I was sorry. I asked her not to tell anyone. I said I wanted us to be friends—and that, I think, was the only real lie I told.

  She didn’t scream or yell or cry or anything. She just let the limo driver take her home. Who knows—maybe she actually knew more than me. Maybe the moment I said it, it made perfect sense to her.

  When the limo got to her house, I told her I’d had a good time, all things considered. And in the first real moment of spark she showed the whole night, she said she’d had a good time, too, all things considered. I watched from the backseat as she walked up her front steps, as her mother opened the door. I felt sad for us both. And also relieved.

  Of course, Theresa called the next day to ask what had happened. It wasn’t until my first month of college that I started to figure things out and told her the truth.

  “So the first person you came out to was Glinda the Good Witch?” she asked me. “That is so gay.”

  And I laughed, because we were okay. And I cried, because we were okay. And I thanked Sally Huston for being so wrong about me.

  the escalator, a love story

  When I was born, my mother loved me. That was love—

  the pain and such and my head snapped into shape

  by a nurse. (Of course, I’m being overdramatic. Of course

  I don’t remember this—I don’t remember any of the times

  when I was very young and everyone looked at my little body—

  so chubby—and loved me instantly. Why would I want

  to remember such pure love?) Certainly, my family will always

  love me—it’s part of the package, the unwritten pledge. But

  what was my introduction to earned love? Well, I fell for

  Emily Mercer in kindergarten. She had red hair, freckles,

  and my heart. It didn’t work out. I broke a few crayons.

  Maybe I’ve been harmed because my best friends have been

  girls—I grew up seeing both sides of love and why guys were

  slime. That was always the word. Slime. So I had to prevent

  myself from doing slimy things, because I wanted to be in love,

  sometimes with my best friends. (Now there’s a complication.)

  Sure, I had crushes in elementary school. But mostly I watched,

  gossiped about who would be getting valentines signed “Love,”

  and who would send Love and get nothing in return.

  Even in junior high—what did I know? I had an early inkling

  that the boyfriend/girlfriend stuff wasn’t love, just a way to fill

  the space next to you. Love was long run and nothing

  would ever be long run in junior high.

  Now I’m in high school, wanting to fall in love

  if it’s not inconvenient. Do I want to be in love? Yes

  and sometimes no. Do other people want me

  to be in love? Hell, yes. That’s why I am here now,

  wandering around the mall with Mandy. Such a name, Mandy.

  Not the kind poets have fun with. It’s a plain name and she’s

  pretty plain herself. This isn’t to say I don’t like her. I do.

  I like her, she likes me. We leave it at that. When you’re in

  high school, love is rare and like is enjoyable, so you just take

  what you can get. And I got Mandy.

  We’re here in the mall, looking for a birthday present.

  It’s assumed we’ll be giving a present together—that’s what

  couples are supposed to do. After a while, you become part

  of a proper noun. We’re Daniel-and-Mandy. It makes people

  happy and jealous. I feel it, too, when I look at other couples

  with something real between them. I look at their eyes, the way

  they know each other’s paragraphs, and something seems right.

  I doubt people see that in me and Mandy, but I hope they do.

  We might as well make them happy and jealous.

  Mandy and I are walking through the hall, holding hands.

  That’s about as close as we usually get. We’ve kissed,

  and that’s about it. We don’t really hang out on the fast track.

  Our friends say we fit, and I imagine us as Legos. My mother

  once told me that you really know someone when you know

  their parents. I think this was her way of telling me to invite

  Mandy over to dinner. I never have, although I guess I should.

  I’ve only been over to her house a few times. I still haven’t met

  her father, although I think my father knows him. (I’d remark

  here that it’s such a small world…but the truth is that

  it’s just a small town.)

  What do I know about love? Not much—that’s the safe answer.

  Even when I think I have a grasp on it, something comes along

  to make me realize I don’t know anything at all. It’s just a

  concept to me. It’s the thing that all the songs are written about,

  the thing that makes smart people act stupidly. If I can make love

  a concept, it makes me a better observer. And it also leaves a

  place inside of me hollow. Sometimes I can actually feel it. To

  reach down inside that part—I wonder how it would feel, to

  touch a void. That nameless empty.

  This makes me seem lonely, which isn’t really true. I have other

  parts of me—friendship, for one—which compensate

  for the void. I can’t feel the nothingness except in those rare

  times when there’s nothing else to feel.

  Mandy must fit into a part of me. I don’t feel alone as we walk

  from card store to card store. It feels nice to hold her hand.

  Not spectacular, but nice. We can’t really find an interesting

  card. The stores are full of artificial rainbows, nicotine-voiced

  sarcasm that’s never actually funny, and cute little cartoon

  animals holding Happy Birthday balloons. After making the

  rounds we decide to go back upstairs to Hallmark

  and give in to Snoopy and Woodstock.

  There’s nobody on the escalators. There’s really no one in the

  mall. It’s February and, as my father loves to point out, we’re in

  a recession. Occasionally an employee will pass us, wearing a

  T-shirt that says, In My Life, I Love The Mall. Looking at the

  escalator, I have an idea. (It’s actually more of an impulse
than

  an idea.) I turn to Mandy and say, “Why don’t we go down the

  up escalator?”—I used to love to do that when I was a kid, and

  me and my friend Randy would be able to fit side by side and

  race to the top. Running to stay still. Mandy just gives me this

  what are you talking about? look that tries to convince me she

  isn’t in the mood. I leap onto the third or fourth stair and

  start running.

  The rest of the mall dissolves—I feel my legs pushing me up

  against the flow. I’m making it—step, and step, and step. I

  reach the final leap—the most dangerous part. Especially if your

  shoelaces are untied, as mine are. I take a breath and jump onto

  the second level’s marble floor. I raise my arms to complete the

  arc, like a champion Olympic gymnast, conqueror of the mall.

  I look down and see Mandy at the base of the escalator, making

  mock clapping gestures. “Come on,” I yell, motioning for her

  to follow. She touches her hair in hesitation. I can feel the reason

  killing the impulse. “You can do it,” I say, but she shrugs.

  I don’t understand. Anyone can do it. We’re at some sort of

  standstill, like when a conversation abruptly stops

  and you can’t think of anything more to say. I don’t think

  she’s going to do it. I really hope she does.

  I’m about to yell “Don’t bother” with a particular edge

  in my voice. But then Mandy pulls her coat firmly around her

  shoulders and throws herself onto the downward escalator.

  How can I explain what I suddenly feel? I see her jump,

  her hair lifting in the air, and I can’t help but think something