Jordan took out their phone, slid their backpack under the seat in front of them, and buckled their seatbelt with practiced fluidity. Another conference, another day of flying. They scrolled through their emails while waiting for the passengers in Groups 4, 5, and whatever else to trickle onboard.
Bzzz
went their phone, reacting to a text from 'Em - Partner - ICE.' They tapped it and saw,
Hey babe, just heading into a meeting, but I wanted to tell you to HAVE FUN on this trip! Download that app again, and maybe you'll meet a cutie. :)
Jordan sighed. Em was always trying to support them, but dating was just so inconvenient, and conference flings were
sooo
grad school. Jordan hated the swiping apps, but meeting new partners through work or acquaintances was out of the question. Em was right, they knew, so Jordan begrudgingly opened the app store and downloaded ENMeshr again. Better get this before airplane mode, they thought, wishing that they could get a cheap data plan for traveling to the US. The app downloaded quickly, and Jordan opened it. They saw that their profile was still there, glanced at it to make sure it didn't need updating (it didn't), and closed it. Maybe, they thought. Maybe if I'm bored.
----------
As Jordan pressed the lever on the coffee dispenser once more, the telltale sound of a liquid-air mixture filling a cup could be heard by everyone in line. They heard a few groans and exasperated sighs as people wandered off to other parts of the hall looking for caffeine.
"Great," said a voice behind them, "another break where the coffee can't keep up."
"You could always try tea," replied Jordan without looking. "They always have hot water and tea bags."
"I'd rather go without caffeine than drink tea," said the voice with a chuckle. Jordan looked at the person the voice belonged to. He was about their height and was wearing a gray sport coat over a blue V-neck T-shirt with khaki pants. His outfit gave them the impression of practiced nonchalance which his slightly mussed brown hair reinforced. His chubby, clean-shaven face and blue eyes made him seem friendly, warm, and approachable, but Jordan couldn't tell how much of this was a mask he adopted for the conference setting. "I thought that we as a country made our thoughts about tea
very
clear in 1773." The person speaking came alongside Jordan at the refreshments table. "Never fear, I always keep some instant coffee packets in my bag for just such an emergency." A quick flourish and the person retrieved two packets. "Do you want any?"
"Maybe your country threw a bunch of tea into the ocean, but mine certainly didn't," replied Jordan. "I'm more than fine with orange pekoe." They were unsure of how to process the stranger's remarks and proceeded cautiously. They were always cautious when traveling in the States, especially Texas.
"Suit yourself," said the stranger with a wink, emptying both packets into a souvenir travel mug from another conference. "I need to get to the next session anyway."
The next morning, Jordan sat alone at a large table in the hotel's ballroom eating the complimentary breakfast and scrolling on their iPad. The first business meetings of the day wouldn't start for another 45 minutes, and the first sessions of the day were two hours away - Jordan normally didn't make such an early appearance at conferences, but the timezone change meant their body was waking up two hours before it ought to. While they preferred to sleep in, more time to themselves in the morning - with no dogs or children competing for their attention - was nothing to be wasted. This morning they intended to catch up on reading a backlog of webcomics that had been accumulating. Suddenly, a voice broke their focus-
"Hey, Orange Pekoe!" It was the stranger from the previous day. And they were walking right toward Jordan holding a plate of food. "I don't really know anyone at this conference, mind if I join you?" Jordan motioned toward an empty seat. "Thanks. I'm David, by the way," he said while awkwardly gesturing toward the name badge on his lanyard.
"Jordan," they said while extending a hand. It was too early in the morning for pleasantries.
David sat down, took a few bites of food, and pulled out his phone; Jordan kept scrolling and nibbling absentmindedly. Jordan and David were separated by only two seats, but they passed the rest of their breakfasts in silence. As Jordan went to read the next comic, they clicked and saw
Network connectivity error
. Ugh, they thought, not now.
"Hey David, did your WiFi just go down?" they asked. David made a few gestures on his phone.
"Yep, sure did," he said with a slight frown. "Looks like I don't get any bars in here either. Guess we'll just have to talk to each other until it comes back."
"I'm not sure that's what it means," replied Jordan with a chuckle, "but I could be convinced otherwise."
David smiled. "Well, maybe the WiFi will come back and save you from this conversation." Jordan figured that leaning into the conversation would likely be less awkward than sitting near a stranger in silence with new electronic distractions to avail themselves of.
"Okay, David," Jordan began. "You said that you don't know anyone at this conference - what's your usual scene then? How'd you end up here?"
David sighed and settled back into the padded dining chair. "Well, I drew the short straw in a sense. I work at Nebraska State University in the mathematical sciences department, and we've made equity, diversity, and inclusion a guiding priority. I'm new and don't know that much about it, but I'm trying. Two of my senior colleagues are really spearheading the initiative, and one was supposed to come here - but the one who was supposed to be here had to fly out to take care of a sick relative last week and so we needed an alternate. The other person leading the initiative is actually out on parental leave right now though, and so our chair basically just started asking people to go. And to make a long story short-" ("too late", Jordan whispered) "-I was the first person the chair found who didn't have a big conflict, so here I am. How about you? I'm guessing you've been to a few of these."
Jordan looked at David. "That's an accurate guess - how could you tell?"
"Oh, that was easy. You're the only person I've noticed using your own badge lanyard instead of the one from the conference swag bag. Plus you've got all the lapel pins with your pronouns and the like on them, while most folks here are using the stickers. In short, you seem equipped for this in a way that I very much am not."
"That... a fair assessment, yes," Jordan smiled. They always liked when people noticed the little details that they had spent time on. "I do go to quite a few conferences
like
this one, but I've actually never been to this one before. But I have all of my conference accouterments and the like in my carry-on so I don't forget anything."
"What is it that you do that you go to a lot of conferences like this," David asked. "Even my colleagues who are spearheading our EDI push only go to 1 or maybe 2 conferences per year and 'quite a few' sounds like, well,
a lot
."
"Hah, when you hear it, it'll all make sense," replied Jordan. But just then David's phone rang; he picked it up and glanced at it.
"Ah, shoot. It's the airline," he said, visibly dismayed. "I've gotta take this - been having issues with my return flight. See you around later?" He answered the phone. "Hi, yes, this is David."
Jordan nodded in response to David's question, and David walked off. When he'd left the ballroom, Jordan noticed that the WiFi had returned, and they had an email from their wife with the subject "Facetime?". Jordan smiled, but then noticed that the WiFi was still not working great. Probably best to go back to their room to properly say good morning to everyone. Jordan packed up their things and left the ballroom, too.
-----------
By the time Jordan reached the ballroom for lunch, most of the attendees had already staked out their claims at tables and were queuing for food. They didn't particularly want to be in such a crowded space, but the food options outside of the conference-provided meals were limited by their travel budget. And besides, Jordan reasoned, the food at this hotel
has
been pretty good. They resolved to get a plate of food, find a seat anywhere, and then head back to their room for a break before the afternoon sessions began. Jordan picked the line that appeared shortest and walked quickly toward it. Once there, they followed the flow of the line and let their thoughts wander. This morning's sessions had not been particularly inspiring, but they were trying to process what they could to glean something useful from them.
"Orange Pekoe!" came a voice, snapping them back to the ballroom. Jordan looked around, then saw David seated at a table a few feet away from where they were standing in line.
"Oh, hi," Jordan replied, unsure of the situation.
"It's funny - I didn't think you'd actually respond to 'Orange Pekoe', but after you didn't answer to me saying 'Jordan!' a few times I figured it was worth a shot."
"You - wait, what?" Jordan replied.
