Ester inhaled a scent like a heated bucket of sour cheese. "Did something die in here?" she asked.
Linda came away from the microwave with a folded bundle wrapped in a napkin. She dropped a steaming knot of orange-tinged bread that was leaking an acidy orange sauce onto a paper plate.
"You mean this hot Italian roll?"
"You're spoiling my appetite," Ester said.
"Don't like it, don't eat it," Linda said. She took a big bite and then fanned her mouth.
"No frybread?" Rayanne asked.
Linda pointed at her computer.
"You don't want to see Ester's date?"
"I'd love to. Bring him by," Linda said.
"Not happening," Ester said, her eyes glued to the screen. For the first time, someone had shown up on her spy-cam footage and that someone was Tommy. According to the timestamp, he'd arrived after nine. He’d gone to his desk and sat in front of his computer with his feet up for a couple of hours, then left. No clue what he was up to. She shut the program and saved it to a password-protected folder until she figured out what to do.
Her eyes drifted to the time. Her date with Theo was at 11:45. She'd never been so mindful of the clock.
"It's pouring again," Rayanne said, coming away from the window.
"It does that," Ester said.
Rayanne came to stand behind her. She combed Ester's hair between her fingers as if that would do any good. "Did you buy the products I recommended?"
"I did," Ester said. "It's weird, I can't find them. I must have spaced out and put them in a weird place like in a box of old books or a coat pocket."
Linda said, "I've done that. Once I was so tired, I left the TV remote in the refrigerator."
Ester caught another whiff from Linda's monstrosity and her stomach flipped. The drawback of waiting days to see Theo again was she'd accumulated a lot of nerves.
"Are you prepared with three things?" Rayanne asked. "Conversations starters, not yes-or-no questions. Ask him about the highlight of his weekend."
"You're making me more nervous," Ester said. She put on her coat.
"Sorry," Rayanne said. "Just remember, you're a great person. Let that shine through."
"Would a great person be nervous about a get together involving frybread?" Ester said, wishing she were a normal person who didn't work herself into a lather over a lunch date.
She put up her hood and hurried across campus toward the longhouse. The whole way over, the vision of those two women at the club hanging onto him crept into her memory. A guy working at a club must meet tons of girls. He could take home a different one every night. On a good night, he could go home with both of them. That sour thought canceled out much of her elation after he'd asked her to lunch. Lunch wasn't much of a date, anyway. It was one point bigger than a coffee date—brief and easy to escape.
The building they called the longhouse wasn't even a replica longhouse like other schools had. Whereas a traditional Pacific Northwest longhouse was built from wood, City College had a rectangular building with high ceilings and a lot of Native art and cultural objects on display. There was a commercial kitchen and a space for events. Since the UIC had moved to campus, she'd attended numerous gatherings in that building.
Inside, the room was packed. She threaded her way through a group jammed in front of the door. She pushed her hood back and scanned the room, when she heard "Hey, Shoshone!" Theo waved her over.
He wore a rain jacket—so he did own one, and carried his backpack slung over his shoulder. He had his hair pulled back, and he wore small silver hoop earrings. After seeing him at the club, it was funny seeing him like a regular student. A regular student so gorgeous he should have his own holiday. The muscles around her mouth went slack and she couldn't force out more than a whispered, "Hi, Theo."
"It's nuts in here," he said. "They moved everyone inside because of the rain." The line stretched around the perimeter of the longhouse. Next to the kitchen, three students frantically filled plates while a fourth collected payment.
"You want to wait or would you rather go someplace else?"
Ester didn't mind waiting anywhere if Theo was involved. "This is fine," she said, dreading going back into the rain. "Some of the folks at the center don't approve of frybread."
"What's wrong with frybread?" Theo asked.
"Not healthy. Not traditional. Part of our mission is fighting cultural stereotypes."
"You want to protest the Native students' fundraiser?"
Ester shook her head. "I like fried food."
"Phew. I was nervous we were off to a bad start." Theo didn't look even a tiny bit nervous. She tried to remember her three things. Or anything.
"What was the highlight of your weekend?" she said. Would he tell her if the answer was “going home with two girls”?
"Besides talking to you, my weekend didn't have a highlight."
He said it with an easy confidence that made her blush to her toes. She played with her hands in her pockets.
"How about you? What was your highlight?"
He looked at her like she was the only person in the room. She tried to remember what she did over the weekend.
"Going out to the club. We had a lot of fun. Do you like working there?"
"The money is decent. The hours aren't ideal but I've become a strategic napper."
"I guess it's good you look like that," Ester said, then—realizing how it sounded—wished to take the words back. She was incapable of carrying on a normal conversation.
"Like what?" Theo said.
"Tall. Intimidating. It's good for a bouncer." The words came out in a stammer.
"Maybe," he said. "Sometimes scares people off in regular life. If I want to ask someone a question, like about class work, and they run in the opposite direction."
Heat crept into her face. The notion of intimidating people with your looks was so far outside her experience. They'd barely traveled halfway around the room; she needed another conversation starter.
"Do you have roommates?" she asked.
"I live alone," Theo said. Which was perfect if you wanted to go home with two girls.
"Lucky. My roommate has a new girlfriend. She's sort of…I don't know what the word is, abrasive?"
"Abrasive? That's a strong word," Theo said.
"She makes me uncomfortable."
"What does abrasive girlfriend do?"
"I can't relax when she's around. Like, I get up Saturday morning and I'm minding my own business. I have a cup of coffee and I'm reading a book in bed. She knocks on the door and asks if I left a glass in the sink. That kind of thing."
"Wow. Abrasive isn't a strong enough word," Theo said. "You tell her off?"
"I rode my bike to the library."
"That's one way to deal with it," Theo said.
The conversation quieted again. She should have let Rayanne give her more conversation starters.
"You never told me what class you're taking," Theo asked.
"I'm not. I goof around with social media for work," Ester said. "The UIC is in the middle of a situation and I've been collecting footage of things we've done. I put short clips online."
"Like a documentary?"
"That sounds much more professional than what I'm doing," Ester said. She was embarrassed to talk about it with him.
"Is that what you do? Make movies about the center?"
"I wish. That would be fun. Right now the center is a barebones operations so I do anything related to computers, data, spreadsheets and assist with whatever anyone needs. The films are for social media."
They reached the front of the line and the student asked for payment. Ester had her card out but Theo pushed it away.
"I invited you, Shoshone," he said.
"I don't mind. We're supporting Native students. It's practically my job." She'd begun talking faster.
"You fighting me on this?" he asked with a half-smile.
Ester shook her head, fretting that she'd offended him. All the progress she'd made on being not-awkward erased again. Her face was hot as she took her plate and picked up a can of soda. The longhouse had set up rows of cafeteria-style tables. Theo pointed to an open spot and Ester sat down onto the bench first. Theo squeezed in next to her, his warm thigh pressed tight against hers. All thought disappeared except the awareness of that spot, with Theo's hip against hers, his elbow brushing at her side. A jolt of heat turned her insides to liquid. The distracting sensations destroyed her ability to eat.
"This okay?" Theo said. He could have been asking about anything, and here she was looking into his eyes, desire interfering with her ability to think straight.
She nodded, her attention divided between worrying about her poor communication skills and trying to get the food down now that her appetite disappeared. She sipped her soda, then asked, "What classes do you have?"
"Two with Professor Stone. Visual communications and an online journalism class, too."
"You want to do journalism?"
"I'm not sure what I want to do," Theo said. "Financial aid wants you to pick something, so that's what I picked. I like writing."
Ester tried to align the image of Theo writing with the tall slab of muscle sitting next to her.
"I also took cultural anthropology. If you want to read ten thousand pages a week, that's the class for you."
Ester smiled. "I've taken classes like that. If you get behind, you're toast." She relaxed enough to take a bite of food.
"As I am learning," Theo said. "I'm way behind in Professor Stone's classes, so we talked about me helping her with a film she's making."
"She's making something?" Ester asked.
"She makes documentaries. I wanted to ask you about that. I might have told a fib."
Ester raised an eyebrow. "A fib?"
"Professor Stone wants to talk to some Ind'ns. She asked me since, obviously, I'm acquainted with all Indians."
Ester smiled. "We joke about that, but truth is, once you get to know the Indians in town, the circle is pretty small."
"Do you think someone at your urban Indian center could talk to her?"
"Talk about the center in a movie? That would be great," Ester said, calculating how she might get involved. "A real filmmaker making a real movie would be great for us."
"I could use the points, too," Theo said.
"If you get the center involved, they're going to get you involved with the center. It's like its own Ind'n tractor beam, reeling in our people to support the cause."
Theo laughed. "I'm not getting involved in anything. I'm helping out the professor in order to stay on her good side."
His casual tone made Ester's heart sink. This lunch wasn't personal interest, it was about finding someone for his instructor's project. She looked down at her half-eaten food.
"How's your nontraditional lunch?" Theo asked, nodding at her plate.
She shook her head and slid it toward him. He surprised her by grabbing the plate and finishing it.
Off her surprised look, he said, "Did you want it?"
"I was done," she confirmed.
"I'm always hungry," he said.
They got up and threw away their paper plates. Theo got out his phone and waved it at her. "Trade numbers? You can let me know when you talk to someone."