Last day of classes. Finally! Solana couldn't believe how relieved she was. She'd thought going back to grad school would be a breeze. She was a good student, loved writing, and had a thirst for knowledge. But her Master's program in public health at City University was anything but engaging. In fact, it was the opposite: the professors were boring and disinterested, the courseload punishing, the paperwork and related bureaucratic bullshit a nightmare.
So after a rough and exhausting semester, Solana was glad to be in the pub raising pints and clinking glasses with a few of the other battle-worn students. In her mid-thirties, but with a petite frame and long hair keeping her looking more like a solid 27 (or so she liked to think), she felt comfortable in this small crowd of the older students, ranging from late 20's to late 40s. Surprisingly, with them this evening were Sherm and Jim, two of the cooler guys in the program, which, otherwise, was made up of 90% women. Solana always felt more comfortable around guys than chicks, so she was glad for their company.
Still, it was late, and a Wednesday, and most of the others started dropping like flies once it hit 11:00 pm. But Solana wanted to keep going! It'd been too long since she'd been social, and the desire to get ridiculously drunk hit her like a rush of wind. She had hope that the two guys might help her keep the party up, even if they couldn't convince any of the other girls to stay.
Solana knew Sherm was a drinker, too – hell, they'd practically get wasted before their Wednesday night class pretty much every week! Sherm was a great-looking, slim Filipino guy with fashionable shoes and slicked back hair. With a winning, sociable charm and a wicked sense of humor, he was, like most of the guys in the program, surely gay. He was great fun, and almost always good for one more round.
She thought they could probably convince Jim to come along, too. He'd been consistently putting the drinks away since they'd walked into the bar, and seemed to really need some extra relief that night. A gruff, slightly burly, outspoken and droll guy with bright blue eyes, shaggy light brown hair, and a bright if infrequent smile hidden behind a trim, nicely kempt beard, Solana'd had the hots for Jim from day one. Sadly, any hope for action on that front was crushed shortly thereafter, when Jim asked her for travel advice about Mexico, where he was heading – with his "girl."
"Dammit," she'd thought, "I can never catch a fucking break." Still, they'd all hung out a few times, and Solana was glad he'd come along tonight.
The three of them headed off for another bar not far away, and continued to put the drinks down, keeping up with one another, drink for drink. After Sherm & Solana rather blatantly checked out a couple clearly on a blind date ("OMG do you see what she's wearing???"), Jim showed them how it was done, casually getting up and checking out the scene on the way to the bar for another round. "You two totally fail Spy School," he joked, cocking his fingers at them. It was a joke that would last the rest of the night.
As the trio got drunker and drunker, Sherm and Solana started competing over who was more hard up for sex.
"It's been since the fucking summer," Solana complained, "and he didn't even speak English!"
Sherm laughed. "Well, it's been almost that bad for me," he replied, "but I don't usually ask them to talk!"
"Ha!" Solana replied. A few minutes later, she asked, tentatively, "So, Sherm... What team DO you play for, anyway?"
Sherm blushed, and complimented her. "You know, I'm glad you asked. People usually assume I'm gay. But in actuality... I play for both sides!" He gave her arm a squeeze. She laughed, knowingly.
"It's like any port in a storm for you two, isn't it," asked Jim.
Solana and Sherm giggled again, and Solana patted Jim's leg. "It depends how you define 'port'..."
As the night wore down, and they headed out the door of the bar to look for cabs, Solana leaned into Sherm and asked, "Hey... wanna walk me home?" She looked right at him, and raised her eyebrows. He had to have known what she was asking.
He paused, but only briefly, and gave her a short moment's consideration. Very short.
"Yeah...." he said, "I'm gonna head home. See you Monday!" and with that, hopped into the cab.
"Man, rejected!!" Solana thought. "Boy am I going to feel like a fool for hinting at that! Sheesh."
She wasn't quite ready to go home, so it was nice that Jim offered to walk her back to her place instead. Too bad she wouldn't be getting any that night, though. She knew how much Jim dug on his chica.
They chatted lightly on the way home, about Jim's new house out in the outskirts of the city, about school, and about what they'd rather be doing instead of term papers. Solana was impressed that Jim was a mountain biker. He bitched about putting on the grad-school version of the Freshman 15 since he had so little time for riding, but Solana seemed shocked – he wore it well! Jim's physique reminded her of her ex's, and she tried to compliment him in a way that was friendly without being too flirtatious.
About 10 minutes later, the two of them got back to her place.
