Will this attractive couple quit sneaking around?
Tristan a young fellow of twenty-three works designing political polling
systems, web pages and interning specializing in giving the gay community a
voice. Respected by coworkers for being bright, honest, and well-spoken he
keeps a sharp tailored appearance. He is rather tall, lithe, and blond with a
penchant for rowing and cross country running.
Recently Tristan has been in his first ever gay relationship. His athleticism brought him to the attention of a local business owner who we will call “Dan” who runs both a distillery and brewery in nearby Megler. Dan, a friend, has been complaining to us gal pals at ‘whine time’ that their love life is on ice, non-existent, and that he had found himself stuck with a ‘kid’ twenty-years his junior who was most likely asexual. Dan had moved Tristan into his fabulous home a month ago thinking it would clear schedule conflicts and ‘increase the heat’ but Dan confided to us girls that if anything life was chillier.
“He’s a great roommate” Dan laughs ironically. “We have gone wine tasting to Paso Robles, he watches Emily’s twins, and he makes the perfect weekend pancakes. But he irons his t-shirts, he runs 3 miles every morning at exactly 6:10am, and he insists on sleeping alone. I love the guy but he is driving me crazy! He just gets along so well with all of us, I love having him around when I need a partner on game night but I can’t figure him out.”
Activist Amy
First day back to college, Veronica fell in love with Amy’s backpack first. It was an older elegant army green covered with badges from National Parks, a gay pride flag patch, two Vegan patches, one rainbow letters saying ‘VEGAN’ and the other said, “Eat Plants, Love Animals.” She made sure she met the owner of that backpack. When the new girl at college walked up to retrieve her pack, Veronica was surprised – Amy was almost the same height at herself, so immediately they bonded over the problems of being just a tad over five foot tall.
Veronica loved her bob-haircut and the dimples but also just how confident Amy always was about everything. When Amy said she was going Vegan she started that instant and she never wavered and she did not cheat, not once. She juggled college with a variety of volunteering where she went above and beyond. Amy had a great relationship with her parents, “we have been ticking off every National Park in the United States for the past three years” she explained that first day explaining the junior ranger patches. Veronica could not wrap her head around having parents to call let alone go places with. Amy loved Veronica’s vulnerability. “From day one, I just wanted to hug her, take her home and take care of her forever.”
Amy lives in the bohemian brick apartments above the downtown gift shops with Veronica – you know the ones, those super cool tiny micro apartments with back alley entrances of wrought iron and plants everywhere with accents like doilies, quartz crystals and a big gold lucky cat with a waving arm.
Veronica, the girl friend, keeps her long blond hair in pony tails and shares a collection of short plaid school girl skirts and decorative eccentric hair clips with Amy. All sweaters have cat hair on them. They are unaware of this, but they have a fan club of young men at the college.
The couple have 3 foster cats, several fish (tetras I think?), a three-legged dog named Bono after her Veronica’s favorite band, U2. The young women have a vacation booked for June to Aruba that they bought through the Oregon Costco. It is impossible not to immediately like the girls.
How Could This Happen?
When attraction makes you feel like you’re the only two people on the planet — maybe you stop looking around at those who are watching closely. At least us old people at the college were suspicious from the start!
Turns out the two apostates, Tristan and Amy, used to date back in high school in Colorado Springs before deciding to be gay, marginalized, and scandalous. The two initially hatched a plot to travel out to the west coast to begin college (because it’s “where all the energy is” and to be successful you need to “follow the energy”) — Their entire high school years they spent planning their futures. Certain pressures began to influence and shape those plans even early on – they wanted to stand out, to be leaders, to bring change. They defined success as being highly regarded in society and this old writer thinks social-media probably played a huge part in why they felt they were better off embracing alternative life styles, as if they HAD to find a way to stand apart from mainstream I suppose, so Tristan and Amy agreed to part ways and to become gay overnight and looking around they could find signs of it, right? Amy had a lot of forthright leadership ability and Tristan ironed his clothes and listened to the Violent Femmes — that was clearly a sign they agreed.
They had their calling. They were going to represent their brand new gay community through action and advocacy. When Amy gets an idea it’s always full steam ahead. Amy had at first lived in the college dormitory and Tristan immediately started work volunteering at a political rural advocacy agency and enrolled in online classes.
I don’t know about you dear reader, but gosh, at that age I didn’t have life figured out let alone a spreadsheet and plan like Tristan and Amy! They were going to be in charge of where life took them, that was their real belief system I think.
Maybe most of us take up identities that don’t completely suit us. I’m a researcher and aging librarian who spends a lot of time at a computer snacking and I need a Coke around 3pm to get through my day – yet I think I’m athletic and I attempt to swim and even bicycle! I discovered a mans 2X cycling Jersey will snugly fit me so I look properly kitted out on a bike ride, but that doesn’t involve other people. And Amy and Tristan were damn near community icons in a very short time and deeply involved in various organizations and admired. Everyone knows them here, well everyone knows me too but nobody expects much from me besides premium baking: Every. Single. Time. I’m not Vegan but I can cook by golly. But Amy and Tristan are really handsome well looked up to young people and nobody thought they were anything but doing God’s work for rural advocacy. Community outreach was their Bible.
Through a series of unremarkable events this year I noticed that the two started talking again, a chance encounter in my library, sure they weren’t supposed to have coffee at their table but I wasn’t about to break up such an intense meeting. Chatting with heads close together, Amy suddenly wondered…could Tristan help with a web site project? It was a conversation in which time stopped and they felt they were the only two people in the whole world. There was a crackle of energy, a spark lighting up their faces.
I noticed fates appearance with a smile. The project required further meetings of course, I estimated it may take a year or two to complete – if ever – who wants to complete a project when you’ve fallen into a warm fuzzy pool of attraction? Just friendship and business they told themselves. They had a lot of catching up to do, further planning on the project and they found they could talk for hours. Soon every life event had to be shared immediately with the other, and every downturn they offered each other support.
The chemistry between them was visible. Her face lit up in a neon heart. He would animate, shoulder’s square and protective and they would lose themselves staring into each others eyes and there was never enough time. The undeniable attraction made this old librarian smile. And was Amy wearing shorter skirts each time? I could swear it was so…but you and I know what comes next because fate loves a romance story…fate sits bored in the Astor woods just hoping someone will fall in love to entertain it and it will pull every string to stir that pot and tie up the ribbon around the heart, star-crossed lovers together makes fate happy.
I’ve never seen anyone reference the reference books.
Fate brings in a series of coincidences to throw them together.
It was unbelievable, she had just been thinking about him when their eyes met across a crowded room at a political action conference in Richmond Virginia, clear across the country! – His smile stretched ear to ear and his eyes lit up, she squeezed past everyone and gave a small happy squeel grabbing him and jumping up and down. “YOU’RE HERE?!” She laughed and stared up at him. He was beaming mischievously. He knew she was going to be at the conference and had hoped to see her and give her a surprise.
“Hey let’s hang out later!” and then later was 2 a.m in a motel room playing political history Trivia, laughing and joking about the bad coffee until their phones pinged with a notification about an ice storm in Cincinnati and cancelled flights. Tristan managed to extend his room stay online the extra days, but Amy didn’t have a dime left on her credit card. “Just stay in my room” he suggested amicably, they were friends after all, and they were both gay, so it didn’t matter… it wasn’t like anything would happen.
The chemistry between the two was hot as a super nova, but both are stubborn people with deep investments in their future plans – so fate turned out the lights. The sudden power outage lead to teeth chattering cold and no hot coffee. “Let’s just huddle under the blankets until the lights come back on.” Tristan suggested. They didn’t notice when the lights came back on.
Fate: it loves a love story.
For two days they survived in the hotel room together, oddly out of touch with the world. “Fine, just intermittent power interruptions” Amy posted on her social media boards. There had been no Internet outages on her phone and it was fully charged. A secret voice in both of them both wished the trip would never end.
Arriving home, they recommitted to going back to just friends but they still had the project to finish and he wore that cologne and she could see his muscles ripple under his shirt — and she wore that short skirt and had those rich full lips with rouge and the most beautiful eyes he had ever stared into. They surreptitiously met at the KOA campground telling themselves it was for the peace and quiet to work on things, then again in the retro-hotel on highway 26, and then again at the Astor Hotel, and then again… well – seemingly fate was happy indeed but there were definitely turbulence ahead.
About to Get Caught.
Both have become entangled in the lives of people who trusted them completely. They have the respect of the community as stand up people, advocates!
Tristan looked at himself in the mirror one morning and he knew he was desperately and head over heels in love, but he felt like if he said anything it would ruin everything for them both.
Amy felt overwhelmed by emotions a the very thought of Tristan and anytime he came near she struggled to breathe. Amy also cared for Veronica who was always rescuing animals or working at the flower shop and talking to daisies. Amy pays the rent on the apartment so Veronica would have nowhere to go if they broke up. She loved Veronica, she was an awesome person…awesome friend — but Tristan was like a fire that took up 90% of her body every time he glanced at her, and nobody else gave her that feeling no matter how hard she wished it was different. He made her feel safe and dynamic like he was every color of the rainbow and sharing it just with her – and she was missing half of herself whenever he was away.
She had sat down at the search engine in the library computer lab to try and figure out if it was mental illness or some kind of obsessional thinking, hormonal imbalance? Why was just this one person able to do this to her and his touch was like the best sort of electricity. It would burn itself out she decided. It was a phase.
Tristan’s boyfriend had been previously married and had several adult children who were active in his life. His daughter had adopted twins from Guatemala and Tristan, having excellent Spanish had been tutoring them in English. Tristan also loved to play soccer and the kids took to him. It mattered the world to Tristan to see them play in the soccer final and succeed in school and he was worried if he left it would mean burning so many bridges and hurting so many people he would never get back to good, but when he sees his boyfriend step out of the shower Tristan just desperately wants to run away.
When Tristan goes online he sees his lifelong liberal Mom posts a pride flag and how supportive she is of her son for coming out and being an advocate, working for the cause. Tristan ran his hand through his hair for the hundredth time and wondered what in the fuck he was going to do.
Maybe I should leave the story there? I mean, I don’t want to offend anyone with what comes next…cause’ you know they get caught right? Oh they get caught. Maybe it would be better to pretend they stay with their calling, turn down that second shot at love and instead stay dedicated ignore fate and plow through ahead – but these are young people and the brightness of the fire was its own star.
Getting Caught. Fate was tired of waiting for those two to actually get it together.
It had been the better part of a week since they had last seen each other. It was like going without water or starving. Tristan had been pacing around and been unusually irritable. Amy had snapped several times at Veronica, then apologized.
Veronica was suspicious. Who wouldn’t be? But she was also in the lobby of the art department when the elevator doors opened and there was Tristan and Amy passionately kissing with Tristan leaned into Amy with his hands under her skirt holding onto her butt. Around forty-five seconds earlier the figure drawing one class of twenty students or so had finished up, put their charcoal away and had been meandering towards the main exits including Veronica who planned to grab the elevator up to the third floor to get a snack. Amy and Tristan didn’t realize the doors had opened. The large group of students were treated to a fluorescent back lit elevator expose of passion.
Twenty people stared horrified.
They knew who was in the elevator of course, everyone knew Tristan and Amy but nobody knew they were together. I was coming back from probably my fifth bathroom break of the morning (I drink a lot of coffee and am diabetic…) and noticed the black-hole of silence in front of the elevator. I’m short but nosy and lifting up on my tip toes I saw what everyone else did. “That’s a better kiss then the Princess Bride story” I said loudly because someone had to say something – I mean, where was this going to go? Nowhere PG rated I tell you.
The couple froze. I mean utterly froze. You could see a kind of dawning realization mixed with terror as they turned towards the open elevator doors. Gulp.
Oh, and a few people had their phones out. I’m not on social media, so I can’t tell you if that shit went viral, but how could it not?
A lot of people nervously moved away and found other places to be, take the stairs or out the main doors and around. But one person stayed, let me tell you, Veronica stayed.
Veronica had her back pack off and stepped forwards wielding it as a weapon towards Amy. Girl studied hard, so I imagine there were a few books in there.
“FUCK YOU” She screamed swinging the backpack, and the rest was a little intelligible with the words ‘f’n bitch a few dozen times. Tristan caught the strap of her bag stopping the attack effectively and held it above her head until Veronica collapsed sobbing and hyperventilating. Tristan sat the bag down. He caught Amy’s eyes for a moment before quietly stepping out of the elevator and heading quickly towards the main exit.
I wondered to myself if he was a coward slipping away or taking the smart route out of that situation. He stared down at Veronica in shock and horror, I could tell he felt awful. For those young people their whole worlds had stopped spinning. It had all come to a screeching halt. The news spread fast.
Consequences.
The older man who owns the distillery and brewery– oi’ they have the best brew, let me tell you, well we’re friends by the way. He thinks the world of Tristan and they’re family but a man has needs and between us, lol, he’s always had a wandering eye. I’ve never seen him with anyone for more than nine or ten months anyway so it wasn’t long before he was having a few casual hookups on the side but Tristan was avoiding anything romantic with him to the point he didn’t notice and it didn’t occur to him to be suspicious.
Honestly I know Dan, and he would have had Tristan gone a long while back but he loved his adopted grand-kids and he liked having the younger man on his arm when he traveled. Tristan was easy to live with and it hadn’t been a bad arrangement but it was definitely over.
When Tristan came home, his bags were packed for him. It blindsided Tristan, for whatever reason he hadn’t been expected to be kicked out of the house, to have to give back the keys to the Porsche and be escorted off the property. Of course his boyfriend had it figured out before social media outed the whole affair. He did not have a ‘female’ as the other person in the picture, but it wasn’t his first rodeo or ‘boy toy‘ as he sometimes referred to Tristan behind his back.
“Take the lake house, here is the key. The rent is $2,300 a month but if you can’t swing it then I might come down on the price. I suppose you might be getting a roommate” Dan smirked, “I don’t care. Also, I expect you back here to tutor the twins and go to their ball games.”
Tristan was actually a great person to rent to – responsible, clean, precise, detail oriented and had taste. He wouldn’t wreck the place. Job one for my friend is always keen business decisions. It also kept him close enough to help tutor the twins and play soccer with them. It was a move Dan had been considering for awhile, so although Tristan was shook up, Dan took it with aplomb and things had gone to his advantage all in all – but that was usual for him. Dan was always an optimist with his largest faith in himself and he had made his money and successful in business with that foundation.
Veronica packed up and went back to Idaho devastated, she wanted out of the apartment before Amy returned but she cried over the cats, the fish and she couldn’t pack very many items in the old white Honda. Her car broke down half-way and Amy kept trying to send her money and help but their communication had broken down immediately. Veronica took the break up quite badly. Finally Amy gave $1,500 to an intermediate friend to help Veronica set up in Moscow Idaho, get a little apartment and a new start but the money didn’t go very far and she struggled with her health, with alcohol and to move on.
Veronica started a job at Whole Foods market according to her social media update. She started life over again but it wasn’t what she had imagined for herself, it wasn’t the trip to Aruba and the fun easy days with Amy. She missed her cats and the daisies and being happy. Veronica had imagined her future as Amy, and now Amy wasn’t in it and she didn’t have a plan-B. Everyday was waking up alone, not having enough food in the cupboard and grinding to try and get by and she often thought it was easy for Amy back in Washington, but here she was an actual lesbian in a conservative town trying to survive and the one person she trusted had stabbed her in the back. She needed an advocate and representation – why didn’t she count? Being different had actual consequences for her, what was it to Amy? A game? A fad identity she clung on to in order to count herself as ‘marginalized’ when nothing was ever actually at risk? Veronica was bitter and couldn’t figure a way forwards.
Amy had to block her on social media within a couple of months because of the comments. “I hate you. You ruined my life and you don’t even care.” Veronica would get drunk and post comments on every single post and comment Amy had made even if it had nothing to do with her personal life, which she astutely left off of social media.
“You were never an advocate, you used me to get clout, you assholes deserve each other. I hope you learn what loneliness actually feels like someday when he leaves you and you have no one. Wait until they figure out who you really are.”
I was really sad for Veronica and I wish I had some kind of advice for her, but she really needed family in her life that simply weren’t there. Amy had been the first person she had trusted. I hope she finds a better way forward and lets up on the alcohol.
Tristan and Amy have both kept a lower profile and their clout chasing dreams of dominating the world of advocacy and the stars in their eyes for politics seem to have been diverted to a different path, a path neither of them are quite certain about, but they recently purchased an old weatherboard house overlooking the ocean in Dysmal Nitch and really, I think fate brought them home and will no doubt keep an eye on them.
Amy was in the library the other day, she’s been tutoring as part of her work study and finishing up her bachelors degree while getting a few credits for a Masters degree and I think I saw a baby bump?
Well, you know me, I’ll keep you informed. I love babies, they give us all hope in the world.
There is a golden bubble around Tristan and Amy, and I don’t think they could see clearly anyone outside that bubble or how they effected others while they were that deeply interconnected and I’m quite unsure that will fade, go away or vanish with time. Indeed with my own true love it’s been a couple of decades now and he gives me the best shivers and warms me up all over and it’s like everything outside of his aura is just a dull shade of grey.
Fate my friends, it loves irony and it loves love. I hope fate can be kind to Veronica and people like her who have a hard road in their lives.
Have a good day my friends, and if you’re ever in Dysmal Nitch, drop by the college library. Bring me a coffee. We’ll ride bikes on the trail if you’re game, I’ve got a new couple to tell you about!
