Lady Labyrinth

Rowan Gets a Text

A couple months after school started, Natalie was finally able to come to a Saturday competition for the program. This was her first time going to a competition from a director point-of-view, and I was really excited for her. She would definitely learn a lot today.

The competition was in the town she was from, so she stayed the night with her parents and drove herself to the venue. She arrived a couple hours before we did and watched some of the other groups with her parents. I let her know when we arrived, and she joined us for the rest of the day.

Holy shit, it was so fucking hot. There were tons of clouds in the sky, yet none of them decided to cover the sun. The weather app said the high was only 84 degrees, but it definitely felt like it was in the 90s. The sun was just beaming down on us the entire day. The kids were pretty miserable. I made the right decision to wear shorts. Natalie came wearing leggings, and I bet she regretted that as the day went on.

The kids performed really well, despite the weather circumstances. The parents fed all of us, and soon we went to go catch the results for the first round.

The kids sat in the sun, while Natalie and I stayed in the shade. It was here when she told me something that happened the night before.

"There was a salsa night last night," she said. Our university had a killer Latin music program, and they held salsa nights a few times a semester. "When I go, I'll dance with friends, random people, I just love it. Everybody I've danced with has been super respectful of my boundaries, especially since salsa dancing is very... touchy."

At first, I thought well for her. I wasn't into the salsa nights in college, but it sounded like Natalie really loved them.

"A guy named Devan came up to me. I knew him. He was super cool and friendly with everyone, and he asked if I wanted to dance. Of course, I said yes. Dancing with friends is fun. We began dancing, and then he started touching me, feeling me. I'm pretty sure he wanted to take me home. He tried to kiss me."

"Oh, god. What'd you do?"

"I left."

My girlfriend, Jade, had also been harassed before. Apparently it happens to, like, 1 in 4 women. It's truly disgusting.

"Dude, I'm sorry that happened to you," I said.

"I mean, I'm fine, but that was also the first time anyone had ever done something like that to me. Every other guy I've been with has been super respectful."

"That's good. When was the last time you dated anyone?"

"I made out with that guy last April, but before that, pretty shortly after we met. And that didn't work out at all. We had nothing in common. There was nothing wrong with him, but I couldn't fall in love. Honestly, I've kinda accepted the fact that I'm never going to get married. I'm okay with that. All I really want is companionship."

"I get that. I've done a few casual things, but I much prefer the relationship. I'm totally in love with Jade, and we're good together."

"I mean, I've never met her, but it seems like you are."

We did not make the second round of the competition. Natalie came with me to go see if we could get the exact scores. After failing to find the place to get them, we began to walk back to the buses. It was then I saw a familiar face. Blake Cisar.

Blake and I were really close friends in college, and we still text every day on our college friend group chat. He was with the other directors of his program. Like me, he grew his hair out during the pandemic, and now he was sporting a full beard, albeit it was nowhere near as thick as mine.