Matt was wise to this game girls played. This was not his first rodeo.
He’d often wondered why anyone with a real understanding of the Bible story would name their daughter Ruth. Bible Ruth had been a poor, young widow, whose only family was her elderly mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth and Naomi concocted a plan at harvest time, when, after a day of hard work, all the men of the village got wasted at the threshing floor. The plan was for Ruth to wait until Mr. eligible bachelor, Boaz, passed out, and then curl up beside him. The Bible was scant on the details of what happened next, but shortly thereafter Boaz married Ruth.
In other words, Bible Ruth entrapped her man. The original honey pot.
Modern Ruth touched Matt’s forearm lightly. “The girls and I were just talking about the election! We’ve already voted for you!”
Cue the four backup singers’ nodding heads. The “Naomies,” Matt decided. This musical group wasRuth and the Naomies.
Matt smiled and thanked them for their votes. He sipped his coffee. Election day. Yeehaw. He still wasn’t sure about this SGA thing, but figured he was about to find out. As one of three candidates for two freshman representative spots, he had good odds of winning. He had seen, on his way into the cafeteria, the sad little folding table/voting booth.
He hadn’t voted.
That evening he was supposed to go to a watch party/celebration at the clubhouse. He hadn’t been to the clubhouse yet, so there was one positive in all this. Two positives: he would get to be with the rest of the GM, the first time he’d been around any of them since Saturday evening.
Ruth upped her game. She flipped her hair AND touched his hand. “Isn’t there a big soccer game this Saturday?”
One of the Naomies—Nicole?—spoke up. “‘Saints University,’ right? Saturday at 10:00 a.m.”
Matt nodded absently. It was true MCU was playing against Saints University Saturday. It was an exhibition game against a non-conference team and would have no bearing on MCU’s or its students’ rankings. It was “big” only in the sense that it was the first game of the season.
He would focus on the game Saturday. At the moment though, his thoughts were of Jake, specifically Jake’s post-sex critique of his performance. Thumbs up. Jake was highly satisfied and would recommend Matt to all hisfriends. Areas for improvement: stamina. A four-minute mile was impressive on a track field. A four-minute fuck was not so impressive.
Ruth ran out of steam and started talking to one of the Naomies.
A part of Matt wanted to apologize to Ruth because he couldn’t give her what she wanted. He remembered how, just a week or so earlier, he’d spent his days pining for William. If he could have done so, he would have saved a seat for William and tried his own honey pot.
In some ways life was like a game of musical chairs. The world was just a big room full of lonely people shuffling around seeking partners. No one wanted to be the person still standing when the music stopped.
Matt had never learned how to navigate relations with girls, how to be friends but not misleading. He aspired to be the kind of person who subtracted from the world’s loneliness—not added to it. But now was not the time to solve that riddle. He had muddled this situation enough already.
He said his goodbyes to Ruth and company, apologized for having been distracted, explaining that he was worried about a friend who was in the hospital.
He should have gone to class. Instead, he went to the campus bookstore. He had an idea how to subtract from one person’s loneliness. He picked out a greeting card with a picture of a kitten on the front. The caption read “Have a Purr-fect Day!” He bought that and a cling wrapped chocolate chip cookie.
He made his way to the Registrar’s Office, where Debbie worked. He remembered thinking she was masking deep loneliness with an exaggerated, overloud cheerfulness.
Debbie was at her desk, hunched over a stack of papers, tapping on a keyboard. When she saw Matt, she lit up like a Christmas tree. (She certainly wore enough ornaments: hooped earrings, a multi-colored bead necklace that hung loosely around her neck like she’d been lassoed and broke free, bangles on her wrists.)
She launched herself to a standing position, which sent her chair reeling backwards and set her ample chest quivering with aftershocks. She was not a graceful woman.
“MATT GRIFFTH!” she squealed. “Ladies!” she called to her two coworkers. “This is Mr. ‘designated driver’ I told you about!”
The coworkers smiled broadly.
Matt blushed. He was glad he had come.
Debbie loved the card and cookie. It turned out she was a cat lover and had three fur babies. “Did you end up joining the Drama Club?” she asked.
Matt shook his head. “Nah, that Bill guy got under my skin. Besides, there’s enough drama on the soccer team.” Matt couldn’t help smiling at his littleinside joke. What would Debbie think if she knew exactly how William had gotten under his skin?
“Bill,” Debbie gigglesnorted. “You better not let William hear you calling him that!”
Matt remembered Debbie’s advice a few hours later when William welcomed him to the clubhouse. What would Debbie think if she knew that William was also known as Godmother?
The clubhouse was a two-bedroom townhome at Wedgewood Village Apartments in Oklahoma City, far enough from MCU to allow some privacy.
William ushered Matt to the townhome’s living area, which was in the back. Todd, Luke, Evan, and Josh were already there, as were two other guys Matt presumed to be the ones who had missed his interview. Absent this time was Jake, who was on security detail.
