This is the fourteenth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, and Part XIII before continuing.
“Tell me everything,” Britney said when they met up for lunch the next day.
“There’s nothing to tell. We went out for coffee. We talked. It was really very boring.”
“You mean you didn’t go back to his place?” Britney looked at Sarah suggestively.
“Actually, we did, but not like you’re trying to suggest,” she pointed a finger at Britney. “We just watched a movie.”
“Oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Sarah shook her head in defeat and Britney finally dissolved into giggles. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. It’s just taken you two so long to get together.”
“It’s only been, what? A month since the school year started? It’s not like it was love at first sight or anything.”
“Could have fooled me. I saw the way you were looking at him that first day of class.”
Sarah blushed. “I thought he was cute, OK? I have eyes.”
Britney narrowed her own eyes and nodded with another suspicious, “Mm hmm” and Sarah threw a french fry at her. Britney giggled and then Sarah decided to change the subject.
“I feel bad. I’ve never asked you how your love life is going.”
“Ha ha,” Britney said sarcastically.
“No, I mean it. We’ve been here over a month already, all these new people, you don’t think any guy,” she hesitated and raised her eyebrows in a question “girl? Is cute?”
“OK, first, to answer you’re very unsubtle question, I’m bi, so both boys and girls are fair game for me.”
“Good to know.”
“Second of all, there is this one girl…”
Sarah perked up. “Do tell!”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“If it were nothing, you wouldn’t have brought it up, so come on, spill the tea.”
“Fine. There’s this one girl in my Intro to Philosophy class, but…”
“But what? Come on, you can’t just leave me hanging like that.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Stop saying that.”
Britney stopped and exhaled a deep breath. “It’s just that there was this girl back home. I was so into her for like, forever, but she was 100% straight, so I never even had a chance.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Big ouch. And this new girl reminds me of her so much. It just makes me wonder if I really like this new girl? Or am I just transferring my feelings for that other girl onto someone new?”
Sarah was quiet for a long moment. Finally, she realized she was expected to say something, but all she could think to say was, “Yeah, that’s rough.”
“And then on top of that, I don’t even know if this new girl likes girls. If she’s so similar to my friend from back home in other respects, maybe she’s the same in that respect, too.”
“Or maybe she’s not.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t try to give me false hope.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, have we not met?” Sarah extended her hand across the table as though she were going to shake Britney’s hand. “Hi, I’m Sarah, and I’m a hopeless romantic.”
Britney laughed and rolled her eyes because she knew Sarah had a point.
To be continued…