Among the Shadows: Part 1, Chapter 3
Since it was the beginning of finals week, Kyle and I had time to spare and ate lunch regularly together at the local cafeteria. "One month anniversary," Kyle announced as he handed me a single rose and greeted me with a short kiss. I counted the weeks, confirming it had been four since the day we met. Who celebrates that? I had never really told him that I wasn't fond of flowers indoors. They reminded me of my parents' funeral. And, well, flowers died, which was yet another reminder. It was still a nice gift, so I thanked him for it.
"Some friends and I are going to help with the yard sale tomorrow afternoon. Want to come with me?" Kyle asked me as we finished eating lunch.
Kyle had mentioned his church before. Normally, I avoided dating strongly religious guys afraid they would try to convert or otherwise look down upon my own views, but Kyle had so far been a proper gentleman. If he respected my views, I owed him the same respect. In any case, a yard sale was relatively safe. Unfortunately, I had to turn him down because I had promised Susie that I would go with her to some talk.
"I'm sorry," I said, trying to look as apologetic as I could. I explained, "The chat component of my ethics class was rescheduled because of last week's job fair." I didn't like to miss any classes. Even though some people regarded outside class time requirements as bogus, I had agreed to this when signing up for the class.
"When is it? What about after it's over?"
I shook my head. "Isn't the yard sale over by 7PM? The class is scheduled 4 to 6PM because some of the students work and that was the only time during the week that everyone could make." The scheduling wouldn't allow getting there within the time frame. Even if I borrowed Susie's car, traffic around that hour wasn't pleasant. It wouldn't be much faster than the bus.
Kyle nodded. "Alright," he acknowledged without pushing further.
I felt bad for skipping out when it seemed he really wanted me to come with him. "I'm sorry. It's just that it's the end of the semester. Everything is hectic." They were excuses, but he had to understand.
Smiling, Kyle replied, "Oh, it's fine. I know you're busy. I just thought it'd be nice to hang out together."
I agreed, insisting that I just couldn't make this date. As I shifted in the uncomfortable plastic chair, I changed the subject and complained about the cardboard-flavored pizza. It was kind of like how Dominos Pizza used to taste before re-doing all their recipes. Unfortunately, on most days, there were not many choices, and the pizza was the highlight of the day's offer.
Putting down the remainder of his slice, Kyle asked, "What're you doing tomorrow?"
"I'm pretty much all done," I replied. All my programming projects had been completed already. They weren't going to give me stellar marks, but it felt good to be nearly done. "Just a final on Friday and a paper due next week." I had decided to spend the days before Friday studying for the final, and after it, I would start my paper. I would have almost a full week of free time for it.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven, okay? Wear something nice," he said mysteriously. That sounded promising. Though I pressed for more information, Kyle refused say anything further about it, only that I would find out tomorrow. If he had planned a romantic night out, that was really sweet. I couldn't wait to tell Susie.
I waved at Kyle as I left the cafeteria. I glanced down the street and spotted the bus on its way. Taking the bus would be faster than walking, so I gladly waited for it. While waiting at the bus stop, which was directly outside the building, I glanced back at the cafeteria. Through the large windows, I could see Kyle talking to another guy who had sat down in the seat I had vacated. I recognized him as one of Kyle's roommates. Kyle saw me through the window and waved, so I waved back, though his roommate didn't seem to care and continued talking. The bus arrived and I climbed on.
When I got home, Susie met me at the door, terribly concerned about what to wear for the event. She was half-dressed in a flowing black skirt paired with sneakers and no shirt. Her hair seemed to be as frazzled as she was. "Nice flowers," she said without looking. "Help me!" she cried, gesturing at her outfit. I would've laughed, but in her distressed state, she probably wouldn't take it well.
"Well, what kind of thing is it?" I asked calmly, moving to the kitchen. I filled a glass of water and set up the flowers in it.
Susie threw up her hands in exasperation. "I've no idea! It's just that I need to get some research for my paper." When she saw my raised eyebrow, she added, "Socio." Susie was a biomedical engineering major, with an interest in sociology issues, so she had taken that as a minor.
Since the function was not school-sponsored, they would be expecting the general public, and I reckoned we would be fine showing up in casual dress. Saying so, I decided that my current outfit of my usual jeans and T-shirt was fine. Susie looked down at her own unfinished outfit. With a short yelp, she rushed back into her room to change, while I tried not to laugh out loud. In short order, she re-emerged in jeans and a blouse, which I approved, and we left without any more fuss. My upcoming date gave us something to discuss during the car ride.
We arrived at the location, which seemed to be a reception hall for local gatherings. Portable chairs had been set up in rows, and there were people already seated and waiting. There were two large burly men standing near the entrance. One was well-muscled, while the other was, well, large. Their appearance and position suggested that they were bouncers, but at the same time, I noticed that they did not restrict anyone from entering. They did not check any such list of invitations (which we didn't have), nor did they turn anyone away.
As she entered, Susie smoothed her blouse out and smiled at the hunk. To her surprise, the guy smiled back. I trailed behind her, glad that I did for I would have missed that exchange had I been in front. As we selected seats and sat down, I teased her about that for a while. She was always complaining that I was prettier than her and that's why I got all the guys. I had been friends with her long enough to know that in reality, her lack of an exciting love life was because she expected the men to come out of the TV shows and movies she watched. Since no one ever matched up to those impossible standards, she was never happy with her dates. But if she wouldn't take advice from me, she wouldn't take advice from a professional either.
The lights dimmed a bit, and the speaker stepped on stage. The stage lights trained on him. Dressed in a business suit, the speaker was a man in his thirties with sharp eyes and a strong voice. He spent a few minutes welcoming the audience before diving into his real speech. Within the first few sentences, I was pretty confused. Looking over at Susie, I saw that she had pulled out a notepad and pen from her purse and was writing frantically. She pushed her glasses back into place even though they soon slid down her nose again.
I whispered to Susie, "Um, what are we doing here?" I had figured out that this was some kind of religious function, which I generally did my best to avoid. "What am I doing here?" The speaker was a pastor or priest or whatever. He rambled about sin and how it corrupted humans.
Susie whispered back, "I'm sorry! If I had told you, you wouldn't have come with me." She looked down at her notepad. "I was too afraid to go alone, but I needed it for my paper."
It was true. If I had known what it was, I would not have come. Unfortunately, I was already here. She had known that once here I would stay for the rest of it. Damn Susie tricked me. I muttered, "You owe me."
The woman in front of us turned her head and hissed. Whoops. Susie and I exchanged looks and refrained from giggling, but stayed quiet for the rest of the talk. I couldn't believe I was here. Rather than listening, I looked around the room at the people who were eating this up. Aside from the two of us, the audience seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the speech. I resisted the urge to pull out my phone and play games on it, so I spent the rest of the terribly boring session staring at my shoes, the speaker, and the back of the woman who had hissed at us.
When it was finally over, a few people around us clapped their approval of the speech. Susie continued to scribble notes, so I let her finish as the audience slowly filed out of the building. After she finished, she ripped out the page and folded it. As she put away her things, we stood to leave. Following behind her, I gestured at the note in her hand, but she shook her head, refusing to talk about it. I shrugged, but as we passed through the exit, I saw Susie quietly put her note into the hand of the doorman who smiled at her earlier. With all the teasing Susie had done to me earlier about Kyle, I had a chance to do the same and took it. We laughed about it all the way home.
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