Chapter 54
The next time, though, Mme Sarkozi allowed them to choose their own partners, and Bethany turned to smile at Dana. “You and me?” she mouthed, eyebrows raised in question.
A thrill surged through Dana, who nodded a little too quickly. “Sure.”
This second project was a bit more intensive, requiring them to select two different books by French women writers that weren’t on the syllabus and present them to the class. Over the course of several weeks, they would have to meet up on their own time with their partners and review the books, then write a combined ten-page paper.
Half the students groaned at the extra work, but Dana looked forward to it. Hanging out with Bethany, even if it was just for schoolwork? Hell, yeah!
At the end of class, Dana lingered putting away her notebook instead of rushing to get to her job at the library. She didn’t care if she was late; she wanted Bethany’s number, but she didn’t know how to ask for it. The project gave her a perfect excuse, but would she come off sounding too eager? She didn’t know. Taking a deep breath, she screwed up her courage and turned to Bethany, only to find Bethany already looking her way.
“What’s your phone number?” Bethany asked, pen poised over the inside cover of the little blue book in which she took notes for class.
How did it come so easily to her? Dana wondered. “My…”
“Number,” Bethany said again. “I’ll call you tonight and we can figure out when to get together, maybe this weekend? If you’re not busy?”
“No, no,” Dana assured her, “I’m not. I work at the library until eleven, though.” Quickly she reeled off the four-digit phone extension to her dorm room.
Bethany scribbled it down, then reached over for Dana’s notebook and wrote her own number on the front cover. “I’m in Mendenhall. You?”
Mendenhall was one of the smaller, three-story dormitories in Rivers Edge, which housed a mix of freshmen and sophomores and was a short walk from Dana’s dorm. “Jameson, fourth floor,” she said. “I can reserve a study lounge at the library, if you want—”
“I have a single room,” Bethany told her. “Well, no, it’s a double, but my roommate dropped out or something, I don’t really know what happened, but they never moved anyone else in with me, so it’s basically a single. We can just go back to my place and no one will bother us, so no worries. I’ll swing by the library later and catch up with you there.”
A single room. No one will bother us, so no worries.Dana wondered if Bethany had deliberately tried to make it sound like an open invitation. The thought of being alone together behind closed doors thrilled Dana. But maybe she was reading things wrong. Was it always this tentative between women? Would they be able to open up more to each other when no one else was around?
Dana hoped so. God, she hoped so.
* * * *
All evening long, as Dana worked the reference desk on the library’s first floor, she waited for Bethany to show up. Every time she saw someone of similar height or build walk by, her heart stuttered, her pulse quickened, and her palms grew damp, but the person never stopped, never swerved to come over and say hi. It was never Bethany.
The hours dragged by, long and boring. On her break at eight o’clock, she bought a candy bar from the vending machine and stood in line to use the campus phone. But the student in front of her took too long and she didn’t get a chance to call Bethany before she had to clock back in. Damn it.
The rest of the evening stretched out ahead of her, the library emptying out with each passing moment. It was late on a Friday evening, the weather was gorgeous, and no one in their right mind wanted to be hanging around campus if they could help it, Dana included. From her perch behind the reference desk, she surreptitiously read a book for one of her lit classes and counted down the minutes until she could head back to her dorm. She’d call Bethany in the morning, maybe even invite her to brunch at the cafeteria.
Yeah, that sounded good. As if I’ll have the nerve.But hey, a girl could dream, couldn’t she?
At eleven, Dana put up the Closedsign—the reference and research desks shut down a full hour before the library did at midnight—and pulled her messenger bag over her head to hang it across her body. It was too late to call Bethany now, even if she did have a single room. Besides, Dana reasoned while clocking out, a girl like Bethany probably had plans on Friday night that took her far from the dormitory; schoolwork would be the last thing on her mind. Tomorrow she’d call, around ten or so, and she promised herself she wouldask Bethany to brunch. Even if it wasonly to grab a bite to eat at the caff.