Treasure

by Rebekah Weatherspoon

  Alexis nodded, biting her lip like a nervous tick. “Yeah, me neither.”

  Trisha swallowed an invisible lump in her throat and tried to act casual. “Oh, yeah? Completely unattached?”

  “Yeah.” Alexis fidgeted with her bracelets before she looked up at Trisha through her painted lashes. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”

  “Neither have I.”

  “Really? How old are you?” Alexis asked.

  “Twenty. You? You’re not a really tall fourteen-year-old, are you?”

  A natural smile came back to Alexis’s face. “No, I’m eighteen.”

  “Ah, nice and legal.”

  “Jokes. You got ’em.”

  “I do, but I’m serious. No girlfriend, ever. It’s been work, work, and school. What’s your excuse?”

  Alexis shrugged. “Just hasn’t happened yet.”

  “Maybe we’re both overdue.”

  “Maybe.”

  Trisha wanted to ask more about Alexis’s lack of relationships—or if she wanted to have one in the near future—but she bit her tongue when she saw how red Alexis was turning and how she was squirming in her seat. Also, she completely chickened out. How long can you bug someone about their love life before it becomes painfully obvious that you’re interested in their love life and maybe, just maybe, you want to be a part of it? Luckily, one of the pizza guys came over with their food and broke up the tension.

  “What about you?” Trisha asked when they were alone again. “What do you think you’ll do with your degree?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Something that doesn’t require me to be around a lot of people.” A smile hit the corner of her lips, but Trisha got the feeling she was completely serious. “My dad’s in medicine, and my mom does some nonprofit stuff, but she… she’s kind of a trust fund kid, so she never really had to work. I pointed out some flaws in my sister’s company website, and I didn’t hate the idea of doing Web design or development when she mentioned it to me. So… yeah.”

  “I’m in it for the money, and you’re in it to avoid human contact. I think we’ve figured out why we’re both single.” Trisha laughed, then felt her own face heat up as Alexis blushed. Yeah, Trisha was definitely developing a crush.

  *

  Alexis sat on the floor of her bathroom going through her makeup case. Her laptop was open on the cool tiles beside her, an eyebrow tutorial paused on the screen. Her mom had made her wait until she was sixteen before she’d started getting her eyebrows done. Now they were manicured, but not styled. She wanted to try something more dramatic. Not to wear out of the house, but just to try. If only she could find her purple pencil.

  She paused her search and picked up her phone. Her silent, void-of-any-new-texts-from-Trisha phone. Trisha was at The Luxor Lounge now, Alexis assumed. They’d hung out longer this time, but eventually Trisha had said she had to go get ready for work. She’d spend her Friday night getting paid to do something cool and exciting while Alexis spent her night alone in her bathroom.

  She kept thinking about their conversation over and over; the details Trisha had spilled and all the stupid things she herself had said. Alexis couldn’t believe she’d admitted out loud that she’d never had a girlfriend, as if her inexperience would somehow be a turn-on to someone who had seen and experienced so much more than her. She also couldn’t believe she’d asked Trisha how old she was after she’d confirmed her single status. As if you applied for a girlfriend license once you hit a certain age. That was the definition of embarrassment.

  But really, how could she be single? Maybe dating while stripping was hard, jealously being a thing and all. But Trisha was so beautiful, so easy to be around. She had to have more than her fair share of admirers, Alexis included. Yeah, she couldn’t lie to herself about that. Alexis had been attracted to Trisha from the moment she first saw her, but now that they had talked and texted and spent a little time together, Alexis knew she was starting to develop actual feelings.

  She dropped her phone and tried to put the thought out of her mind. They were only two years apart, but Trisha was a confident woman, and Alexis still felt like a stupid little girl trying to figure out how to survive with herself. Confidence and self-assurance seemed completely out of her realm of capabilities. So did the idea of her and Trisha being anything more than occasional text buddies who sometimes shared a slice. Even if they became real friends, they would probably just be school friends, the kind that only hung out around campus. Then Trisha would go back to her cool, independent life, and Alexis would go back to her hole of solitude.

  “I’m just here to grab one thing!” Alexis turned around when she heard her sister calling down the hall.

  “Hey, Sash?” she said back.

  A second later, her sister peeked around the corner. “Hey! What are you doing?”

  “Makeup practice.”

  Sasha crouched next to her and looked at the laptop screen. “Oh, cool. Send me the link.”

  Alexis picked up her computer and e-mailed her sister the video before she forgot. When she looked up, Sasha was smiling at her.

  “It’s Friday night. Nothing happening on campus? They usually do stuff for freshman the first couple weeks.”

  Alexis shrugged and fiddled with her tweezers. Sasha was right. There was a dance/mixer thing at the campus center, and one of the black sororities had opened their doors to new female students to just come hang out, but Alexis had decided to stay home.

  “I didn’t want to go alone. I haven’t really made any friends yet. I mean, I hung out with this one girl, but she had to work tonight.” She deliberately left out the bit where Sasha had met her, too. “And I don’t know if we’re friends friends like that anyway.”

  Sasha settled in and leaned against the sink cabinets. “Why? What makes you say that?”

  Alexis shrugged, an automatic reaction both her parents insisted was something she need to work on.

  “I know things are tough, Lex, but high school and college are different. You can have a better time, you know?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t be afraid to try. Things will be okay. Heck, maybe there are some music groups you can join. Bring your violin down to campus, and you can meet some friends through some jam sessions.”

  “Yeah, okay. That’s not a bad idea.”

  Alexis wanted to say more about Trisha. She wanted to tell her sister that she liked Trisha, but that would just add to her humiliation. I like this girl. The stripper from your party. But she’s too cool for me. I’d rather be out with her than here by myself, but it’s not like I have a choice. But she didn’t say any of that. She just kept fiddling with her tweezers.

  “Michael’s waiting for me in the car. I just came to get my boots. When you move out, move out. I left so much shit here. See you Sunday?”

  “Yeah.”

  Sasha squeezed Alexis’s arm before she hopped up and left the bathroom. Alexis picked up her phone and scrolled through the short catalog of texts she’d shared with Trisha. Tears stung her eyes, and her throat started to hurt. Whatever was or wasn’t happening between her and Trisha wasn’t worth the tightness in her chest. She’d have to settle with being “school friends” with the most beautiful, sweetest girl who had ever spoken to her. There was so much to value in a friendship, Alexis knew that, but she also wanted to know what it was like to have someone like her back. She exhaled a shaky breath and decided to pack it in for the night. She didn’t like feeling this way.

  *

  A night free from distractions was exactly what Trisha wanted. She wanted to relax and sleep and not think about Alexis, but Alexis was still running laps through her mind. Single, never had a girlfriend, shy, adorable, sweet, soft-butch Alexis who fidgeted so much when she seemed nervous and smiled the best smile in the world when Trisha hit the right notes during their conversations.

  She wanted to stop thinking about Alexis for five freaking minutes so she could finish putting on her makeup and get out on the floor. She h
ad bills to pay.

  About six minutes later, Quanisha found Trisha sitting at the long vanity on the other side of the locker room, half dressed with one eye’s worth of eyeliner on her face. She was fiddling with her phone.

  “What’s up?”

  Trisha turned and looked at Quanisha as she pulled up a chair. “I think I caught feelings for this girl.”

  “What girl?”

  Trisha tried to explain that Quanisha had already met Alexis, but Quanisha was having a hard time remembering the details of the night the bachelorette party had come through the club.

  “There were like twenty of them. I’d have to see her again.”

  Trisha instantly regretted not having any pictures of Alexis. Not that she should. They weren’t... They weren’t really anything, but she wanted them to be something.

  “Girl, this is stressing you out,” Quanisha said with a little chuckle. She pulled a G-string and a top from her bag. “You should see your face right now.”

  “I don’t know what to do.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know what to do? Put it on her!”

  “I can’t! I already have!” Trisha flopped forward in the chair, hanging her head before she faced Quanisha again. “She’s seen all this. She knows what I’m working with. It’s—you—you know I’ve never dated anyone before.”

  “Yeah, so? It’s not like it’s hard.”

  “I know...”

  “Ooh. You like her. You don’t just want to fuck her ’cause she looks good or whatever. You like this girl.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is she into you?”

  “I think so, but I’m not sure. She looks at me like she is, but she’s crazy shy.”

  “So just tell her. She’s either cool with it, or she can’t handle it and freaks out, but either way, you’ll know, and you can go about your business. You have her number or anything?”

  “Yeah. We’ve been texting a little.”

  “Call her up. Do it now, before we get busy.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Two days ago I saw you make an old white dude come in his pants, and you handled it like a pro. But now you can’t call some chick from your class just to say, ‘Hey, girl, I wanna holla at you?’”

  “Fine. I’ll text her.”

  “Good.”

  Trisha stared at her phone for a full minute trying to think of what to say, trying to ignore Quanisha’s taunting.

  “Quick, dirty, and direct, or do I take the slow, sweet approach?”

  “God damn. Give me your phone.” Quanisha snatched the thing out of her hand before she could say no.

  “Alexis?” she asked, trying to confirm the contact on the screen.

  “Yeah. That’s her,” Trisha replied. Quanisha’s thumb was already flying across the screen. Then she tossed the phone back before Trisha could ask what she was typing.

  Hey shawty. Wanna be my main chick?

  “The fuck!” Trisha kicked the leg of Quanisha’s chair. It barely moved.

  “What? That sums it up, right?”

  Trish started typing an apology just as Alexis’s reply popped up. Excuse me?

  Now she had no choice but to lay it all out there. Sorry. Made the mistake of telling my friend that I was kinda crushing on you, she typed then hit send.

  Oh, was Alexis’s reply.

  “Oh” didn’t sound good. Is that okay? That I’m crushing on you a little bit.

  Yeah. Is it okay that I’m crushing on you back?

  Trisha could feel the silly grin spreading out over her face. More than okay, but what do we do now?

  Keeping hanging out? Hang out more? See where things go?

  Trisha glanced up as Angel came into the locker room. She had a respectable clutch of ones and her bikini top in her hand. “Some more guys just came in and joined Lonesome Joe. Get your booties ready, girls.”

  It was still early in the night, but as long as there were customers in their seats, someone had to be on the pole. Trisha quickly typed out another text, hating the idea that she had to shut down the butterflies in her stomach so she could focus on work.

  Have to go. Talk tomorrow?

  Okay. Have a good night at work. Alexis added a smiley face. It almost matched the goofy grin Trisha didn’t even try to cover up as she took to the floor.

  Chapter Four

  The weekend had never been so long. Trisha was able to talk to Alexis for all of one minute before a minor disaster popped up when her little foster sister, Kara, decided to dive headfirst off the couch. When she wasn’t working or waiting in the ER for a seven-year-old to get stitched up, she could only steal a few moments to text Alexis here and there. From her responses, it sounded like Alexis was just as busy. She always seemed to be doing something with her parents or her sister. She told Trisha about church and brunch at some country club on Sunday morning. They both had to study that afternoon, and then Trisha was back watching the kids during her mom’s shift at the hospital.

  By Monday morning, she was anxious to see Alexis again. They didn’t talk more about their new status or what that new status even was, but those butterflies came fluttering up every time Trisha’s phone buzzed with a new text message. They tried to fly up and out of her body when she saw Alexis again sitting at the table they shared in Tamper 204.

  “You have plans after class?” Trisha asked as soon as she sat down. She had a ton to get done that afternoon, but spending more time with Alexis was priority number one.

  “Uh, not much. Just homework, I guess. Why, what’s up?”

  “You want to come do some laundry with me? I’m just going to hang out in the Laundromat and read, but we could hang out together.”

  “Yeah, sure. I have to be home around six. Family dinner again.” Alexis rolled her eyes.

  “I love that. Family dinners are nice.”

  “Yeah... I guess.”

  Trisha could feel the charge between them, like the way Alexis could barely seem to look at her and how Trisha couldn’t seem to look anywhere else. She wanted to grab her hand or kiss her or do something, something to show her that things really had changed since the last time they’d seen each other. She wanted to make sure the crushing was still okay, but just when she opened her mouth, Professor Kapur came into the room and made right for their table. He handed them both a pamphlet for the Witt Program for Women in Fields of Engineering. There was information for clubs, meetings, and mentoring programs. Trisha had applied for the Witt scholarship, but she didn’t get it.

  “Ladies, stop by The Morton Center when you get a chance. I’ve heard great things about this program.”

  Trisha glanced back as Pimples scoffed at them like they were getting some sort of special treatment. But they both thanked Professor Kapur and agreed they would check it out.

  The hour went by quickly. Professor Kapur was a pretty funny dude, and with him at the front of the room discussing the finer points of “computing sciences,” Trisha didn’t regret signing up for his class, even if she had to share the time with some asshole clowns. The whole hour, she kept thinking of Alexis beside her. She had another stack of colorful bangles on her wrist. Toward the end of class, Trisha gave in to the urge to touch them. Alexis flinched a bit, but when Trisha looked up, she was blushing. And grinning a little bit.

  *

  Alexis had never been to a Laundromat before. This spot off Jefferson was hot as hell and noisy. A half-busted television mounted on the wall was playing a scrambled soccer game. The constant rumble of the dryers mixed with barely audible old-school R&B coming from run-down-looking speakers mounted in one corner. It was probably the worst place to try to focus on anything or even hold a conversation, but Alexis wasn’t in any hurry to rush home. She’d been waiting four days to hang out with Trisha again.

  They’d stopped and grabbed burritos, and now she picked at her food as she watched Trisha load a washing machine. This wasn’t a date, but Alexis wanted it to be. She’d been thinking about Trisha double t
ime since the last time they’d seen each other, triple time since Trisha had sent the texts that had sent her into an anxious tailspin for the rest of the weekend. And now they were hanging out. Now Alexis would do her best to act like a normal human being who could hold conversations without fidgeting herself to death from nervous embarrassment.

  Alexis ran her fingers over her bracelets as sweat trickled down the back of her neck. She’d almost shit when Trisha had touched the bangles covering her scar, but she realized that at some point she might have to tell her about it if she wanted things to go further between them. Her therapist had told her it was her choice, sharing her experience. Her therapist called it an experience, not an accident like her mom did, or a mental breakdown as her dad liked to categorize it. But yeah, it was her choice if and when she wanted to talk about it. Trisha made her feel anxious and a little nervous, but comfortable at the same time. Maybe she wouldn’t freak out if she knew the truth.

  She kept watching Trisha as she slammed quarters into the machine. Then she came back over and hopped up onto the counter beside Alexis.

  “Now we wait three hours. When you get your own place, make sure you have a washer and dryer in unit.”

  “You have your own place?” Maybe that made sense. Alexis couldn’t picture a stripper living at home with her parents. Not with parents like hers anyway.

  “Mhmm. Moved out of my mom’s when I was sixteen, lived with a friend for a while, then I got my own apartment two years ago. It’s cute, but when I was looking around for spots to live, I didn’t think about how sick I’d get of coming to the Laundromat all the time.”

  “Oh,” Alexis said. Doing her own laundry was part of her chores, but that and keeping her room tidied were the extent of her responsibilities. Cleary, she had some growing up to do. “You want to study or… I have my tablet and my headphones. We could watch a movie.”

  “I think an hour lecture earned us at least ninety minutes of fucking around. Let’s see whatcha got.”

  Alexis pulled out her tablet and scrolled through to her streaming movie account. She let Trisha pick the movie, a horror flick that had just been released. Alexis didn’t watch horror very often. She was kind of a punk when it came to jump scares and certain types of violence, but this was about ghosts in a rural farm house.