Chapter 4
Shannon
Oregon wasn’t as rainy as Shannon remembered. Even though she moved there in time for the rainiest season of the year, she was more shocked to find a light dusting of snow on the ground Christmas Eve than by how dry it was the rest of the winter.
That suited her Californian ass fine. Sun was necessary for one’s survival. That’s why Shannon had stocked her apartment with a SAD light and enough vitamin D pills to last her the rest of her life. Or the end of the summer. Whichever came first.
It also meant enjoying restaurant meals outdoors, even at the beginning of February. Cafés and restaurants hesitantly added outdoor seating, looking toward the sky as if they didn’t trust the blue hue and the bright, flaming orb making its way to the horizon. Most of the seats were tucked back inside before dinner. But for lunch, Shannon and her close friend Kelsey were more than happy to enjoy their sandwiches and fries along the busy sidewalks of Northwest 21stand 23rd.
Shannon drummed her nails on the metal table while waiting for Kelsey to get back from the bathroom. A largeNo Smokingsticker stared back at her.Thanks. I’ll suffer, I guess.Shannon had attempted to kick her habit multiple times over the years, but when a girl got hooked because her high school boyfriend decided he couldn’t date “squares,” well, what was Shannon supposed to do? Say no to cigs and weed?
The things I’ve done for the guys I’ve dated.The things she had done for women.
She had done more things for Kelsey than any other woman. Like agreeing to come to a restaurant stuffed with carbs and sodium. And sugar, probably, but when Kelsey said she needed a hearty helping of hamburgers and fries, they couldn’t think of anywhere else to come. That was cheap, anyway.
“Sorry. I drank so much water at the gym earlier.” Kelsey sat down, her tiny braids shoving across her shoulder from the force of her weight planting against the metal chair. “God! I swear, if I’m not pumping my weight by the end of the year, kill me.”
“Might need you to kill me first,” Shannon muttered.
“Why?” Kelsey snorted. “Your ex still giving you hell?”
I had almost forgotten about Andrew.She only thought about him when at home, where a few memories remained in the furniture Shannon sorely needed to replace. Instead, she spent her whole time out and about fretting that she would bump into Jess again.Twice, now. Twice. She doesn’t live around here, and that’s twice in one week I’ve bumped into her!
Fuck her. Fuck that chick, seriously.
“Earth toShannon!”
She grabbed her bottle of beer and chugged back half of its contents in one gulp. When the bottom of the glass bottle hit the table again, she said, “You’ll never guess who I’ve been bumping into recently.”
“Not Andrew, right?”
“No. He’s long gone.” The guy had taken his transfer and bounced to Eugene. “Remember that girl from college? The one who lived in our dorm for a couple of years and…”
“You mean the lesbian stalker?”
Shannon bit back the rest of her words.That’s not how I remember her, exactly.“Probably the same woman you’re thinking about. Anyway, she lives in Portland, I guess. I’ve seen her out and about twice this past week.”
“Nah. No way.”
“Yes.” Shannon propped her head upon her hand and stared at the cars and tourists ambling by on the street. The close-quarters of Northwest Portland had appealed to her when she first moved here. Her hometown looked nothing like this. Not nearly as much greenery, and not enough smiling and people attempting to have one of the best days of their lives. It had been infectious, at first. The sort of harmony Shannon strived to have more of in her life.I told Andrew that I wanted to be like a couple we saw at Little Big Burger.A young man and woman shoving truffle fries in each other’s mouths. Every time one of them laughed, Shannon’s heart grew another size. “I saw her at Trader Joe’s the other night.”
“Oh my God, so she’s already stalking you again?”
Shannon bristled to hear that. “I wouldn’t say anything she did wasstalking.She had it bad for me, that’s all. Honestly, I’ve known way more guys who simply wanted to fuck me and acted way creepier.”
“Still creepy. She was always going out of her way to bump into you.”
You mean trying to orchestrate a hundred thousand meet-cutes on a college campus?Shannon had never felt threatened by Jess. Not really. Had things gone the way they weresupposed to,then she would be a fond memory of that one time a little lesbian really, really got it bad for Shannon. Like a rite of passage. Up there with getting so drunk that Shannon once passed out in the dorm bathroom. Or that time she jumped in a frigid cold stream on her birthday. Or that time she…
“It’s not like that,” Shannon insisted. “But it’s unnerving. After Andrew dumps and leaves me, she comes back into my life. Actually,” she chuckled, “I walked intoherlife. She was doing her thing when I happened to walk into the same café.”
“Please tell me she’s gained a lot of weight.”
“What is your problem?”
“It’s what she would deserve.”
Shannon almost couldn’t believe it. Kelsey had never liked Jess. Not from the day they first met at a party, and especially not when she found out what she and Shannon had done senior year.I never understood it. I thought maybe Kelsey was a latent homophobe, but she had no problem putting together petitions to offer more protections to LGBT students.Kelsey had the drive and connections to make it onto the student council. It wasn’t all talk, right? Itwasa super liberal campus, but Kelsey was always so passionate about social justice that her canvassing for legalized gay marriage in the state of Oregon felt genuine.
