I called aunt Suzie and arranged for mom to stay with her for a few days. It seems that once she got home, mom had recovered some of her sense. She no longer spoke of living with that man. However, it was still not safe for her to stay at home alone while I was at work or school. As for myself, since aunt Suzie’s house was way too far from school, I was living with Cath. She had spoken to her parents about it and they agreed at once. Cath’s mom told me I was welcome to stay there for as long as I needed. This didn’t call off the need to move, but it at least gave me some more days to plan it out.
The saddest part of having to move was that I’d probably be away from Catherine for the first time in years. The hardest part was finding another job, particularly one that could legally hire a fifteen-years-old to work part-time. And the part I was most worried about was that I’d probably never get to see Ceres again.
Cath was right. I could try and focus my mind on other things, but at some point I’d have to face it. Ceres was my first love, like it or not.
I did like it, in fact. She was the most enchanting person I had met in my life, not to mention beautiful, smart and fun. It was a goddess of a first love. Literally a goddess, if you take mythology into account. I just had no idea what to do about it now.
If I confessed and got rejected, that would hurt. Like, really hurt. Just thinking about it was enough to make my heart tighten up.
On the other hand, if I said nothing and ran away, I’m sure I’d regret it someday. There was truth in what Catherine had told me that time at the school grounds.
Cath thought I had a shot. From my own perspective, though, it just looked impossible. That my first love — Ceres, a beautiful, charming dancer whom I had just met the other day — could love me back? The odds are a negative zero. Does negative zero exist? I shouldn’t have skipped math class.
But before I could decide on how to solve my “gay problem”, the problem itself came to meet me.
I was a few minutes late for work on the morning of Friday. And hence, my capitalist pig of a manager would probably deduct those minutes from my paycheck. He was already inside when I walked in from the back door. So was the other intern: coincidentally, it was the same guy who had covered for me on the other day. He didn't have to be there in the mornings, but often was. I think he was there because he had a thing for me.
“Hello, Jenny,” he said. If only he knew just how much I hated that nickname. “Say, does your boyfriend often send you those letters?”
“What letters?” Also, what boyfriend? Also, it’s none of your business.
“There’s a letter for you next to the cash register,” he explained.
“A girl came by,” said my manager. “Yesterday, after you both were gone. She was looking for you, Janis. You’re late, by the way. Sixteen minutes.”
That confirmed my suspicions that he would indeed deduct those minutes from my paycheck.
“A girl?” said the boy, visibly relieved. “Oh, that’s fine then. Not her boyfriend.”
“If you have one,” said the manager, “break up with him. Maybe you’ll come to work on time then.”
Would the two of you please stop talking about me and my love life? It was messy enough already without anyone snooping around.
There was indeed a letter at the counter. “To Janis,” said the writing on the front. Cute handwriting.
Janis, this Saturday a friend of mine will be playing at this really cool pub. It’s called “Narwhal Mustache”. His performance starts at seven. Zoe and I will be there with some friends. Meet us there if you’re free, ‘kay?
- Ceres
“What does it say?” asked the boy. What was his name again? I can’t remember. I shall henceforth refer to him as Nosy Boy.
“Friend’s party,” I said, simply. It was fortunate that he didn’t go through the contents of the letter, himself, or he might have shown up there uninvited.
I unlocked my phone and began to type a message. I had to tell Catherine about this. It was a relief that Ceres mentioned Zoe in the letter, I might have run away if it were just the two of us there. Isn’t that strange? Before I realized my feelings for her, I’d have given anything to spend some time alone with Ceres. Now I wanted anything but that.
Catherine’s reply was straight to the point, as usual:
You’re going.
Funny how she didn’t word that as a question. I had a feeling she was ordering me to go, rather than asking if I wanted to. Minutes later, a second text from her confirmed my suspicions:
I’m dragging you there if I have to.
That was that, then. I knew Catherine well enough to know that she wasn’t joking. She would physically carry me to the pub on Saturday if I attempted to resist it. The Obstinate Catherine was an unstoppable force and I had always failed to be the immovable object. And that meant that next Saturday would be my second date with Ceres.
Meeting. Second meeting.
As friends.
My chest hurt again. If it hurt like that just from thinking about it, I wondered if it would survive the weekend. The butterflies in my stomach suggested it wouldn’t. In fact, I believe the entirety of my internal organs was having second thoughts about that meeting on Saturday. Oh, what joy it is to be in love.
Once Saturday came, I found that not only Catherine, but also Catherine’s parents would be coming along. I might have been a working adult — almost, anyway — but being a guest at Cath’s house meant I couldn’t enjoy quite as much freedom as when it was just me and my mom. I bet Cath’s dad wanted to make sure that no minors under his supervision would be drinking that night.
We arrived at the Narwhal Mustache at about seven-thirty. Ceres and Zoe were sitting at a table near the wall, just next to the stage where Ceres’ friend — the guy with all those Pokémon tattoos from the other night — was playing. At the table there were also a couple more of Ceres’ friends, one of whom I recognized as the percussionist who played at Ceres’ performance. They greeted us as we walked to the table.
Being the only link between the two parties present, it fell on me the task of introducing them to each other. I hate doing introductions, I can never remember everyone’s names. Fortunately, Zoe took a part of that task and introduced Cath and her parents to the people sitting at the table, as well as to the guy who was playing guitar that night. I could see that Cath’s father’s first impression of the bunch wasn’t a particularly good one. But that was only until he found out one of the people at the table had actually been a cop and they discovered that they had a lot of stuff to talk about.
Catherine made sure that I sat beside Ceres. She was being as pushy as she possibly could. Once we were all drinking and eating, Cath started to chat with Zoe about some random TV show neither I nor Ceres had ever heard of. The effect of this was that it forced the two of us to speak to each other.
Moments later I received a text from Catherine:
Good luck, I’ll be here for you no matter what happens.
Ps: Invite her to dance.
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