Dana sat down at her small table, and the woman she thought of as Maggie sat down next to her.
“I might. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Hey, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” she said as she opened her bottled water.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“Um… Not officially,” she said, hoping that answered the question as honestly as she could.
“Is that another way of saying it’s complicated?” Maggie, who was not really Maggie, asked as she laughed.
“I guess so,” she said. “Why do you ask?”
“I was going to ask you out.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” The woman laughed again. “Is that weird?”
“Why would it be weird?”
“I don’t know. It’s kind of forward of me, but I don’t know for sure if you’re into women. I took a chance.”
“I am. I’m bi.”
“Oh, cool. I’m pan,” Maggie told her. “I’m also poly. I hope that’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Dana said and finally took that drink.
“Well, it tends to be an issue for people, but I like to be upfront about it if I’m going out with someone. I have a boyfriend and a girlfriend. We don’t live together or anything, but I usually split my time between them unless one of us is dating someone else, too. Right now, my girlfriend is seeing another woman, but my boyfriend doesn’t have anyone else. It confuses some people, but it works for us.”
“That’s cool. I don’t judge. Do your thing; you know?”
“Yeah?” Maggie opened a water bottle for herself. “Do you maybe want to go out tonight, then? We could just grab a drink, and if that goes well, we can talk about doing something else.”
“Oh,” she said. “I can’t.”
“You can’t?”
“I’m working, and then, I have plans,” Dana lied.
“With the person you’re not officially dating?”
“We’re trying to figure things out,” she said.
“Okay. Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I’m here for the next two months, you know? Not looking for anything serious, but it would be nice to have some fun or get to know someone in New Orleans while I’m here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dana replied, knowing that she wouldn’t.
After Maggie-who-wasn’t-Maggie left her trailer, Dana threw her trash away and sat back on the sofa, wishing she had some clarity on the Samara situation but already knowing she didn’t want anyone else. She decided to text her to see if maybe they could make some plans, after all, since she’d just lied to someone about having them to begin with.
Dana Sterling: Hey. How’s your day off going?
Okay, so she’d chickened out about the whole making plans thing and gone with a lame intro text to see if Samara would respond.
Samara Barber: It’s great. How’s your non-day off going?
