Masquerade Effect

"I shot a 68." Not bad for an 11 handicap.

"Sylvia probably did the best 3 over par on a par 72, and I shot an 80," said Ruud in his medium-thick Antilles-Dutch accent.

"Hey, 75 ain't bad on that course, Sylv. You are still semi-pro though."

"Thanks, Gordie. Listen we can talk about whatever we want AFTER we get to the room. It IS 5:45." I think they wanted to make the most of what would otherwise be a dull Tuesday night before classes start on Thursday. As we got up to the fifth floor and to the room door, I asked a question.

"When was the last time you were in a dorm room like this?"

"Actually, I went to see one where my cousin was thinking about going to some eight or nine years ago." I was surprised Gordie had seen one. From what he had told me, he had only ever had his own room. Even freshman year here. And he'd only known about the doubles next to his single as well as the rowhouses here that had three bedrooms per floor with a living area and kitchen on the ground level.

"So," Jane led in, "whadd'ya think?"

CH 8 - "I Call Shenanigans!"

"Good grief, it looks like an airport terminal!"

"Come again?" Everyone except me didn't get what he meant.

"I think I've got it," I said trying to save face for him. "Having the common area and then having the individual rooms is like a security checkpoint leading to the terminals."

"Bingo!" I had a feeling it was something like that.

"Well anyway, we're gonna have some fun tonight," Jane said, not able to contain her excitement.

"I'm guessing that's it," Ruud said, seeming disappointed.

"Sorry if you both might have a little hard time with it, but I love Cards Against Humanity - I've even got a Canada expansion pack."

"I'm gonna have to sit this one out." Gordie didn't seem very happy.

"I have a better idea, I'll be right back," came from a typically studious-in-company Sylvia.

"I wonder what happened to that hole in the ground Cards Against Humanity started digging on Black Friday the other year."

"I dunno, LT. I can't imagine it lasted long. What a great publicity stunt." It was stupid. But did it's job. They had people paying for a maximum of six seconds to dig a random hole. Pricing changed the longer it went on.

"Okay, here," Sylvia said showing up with a can of Pringles.

"What's that for," Ruud asked. "Since we don't have any bottles yet, this will have to do."

"I think I get it. Substitute Pringles can with bottle and you get 'spin the bottle,'" LT had guessed correctly.

"I actually kinda like that idea better."

"Thanks, Jane." Gordie looked even more uncomfortable, I think he was nervous about us. "Nothing over the top," he demanded.

"Well what fun is that?"

"Safe, Jane, safe." Yeah, he wasn't interested in digging holes.

"You're outnumbered," Langdon was quick to point out.

"Thanks a lot, sell out."

Jane I don't think planned it quite this way, but it worked out that Gordie and I sat next to each other. Now I was starting to panic a little while he was squirming. Poor guy, trying to hold it in. He tried to see if he could close his eyes to calm down.

"We haven't done anything yet, silly." Sylvia was really owning that her decision was the winning one. More than usual.

"Aw, cut him some slack, Sylv. This isn't his thing." Ruud to the rescue.

"Thanks, Ruud."

"Just for that, you're going first." Ruud laughed at Jane for saying so.

"That's my punishment? Seems weak." Uh-oh, them's fightin' words.

"Is that a challenge?" He laughed at her perusal some more.

"Joke's on you. In Curaçao, I intentionally waited the ten seconds so I could make kisses last so long."

"But, this is a little different," Sylvia interjected. "I'm afraid to ask."

"The joke is really on YOU. We're playing a 'truth or dare' version. If you don't do the dare within ten seconds, you have to remove one item of clothing. And you have to pick one dare at least every third time you spin. The truth has to be about the person the bottle is pointed to." What a hostile version of this game. I was waiting for Gordie to pass out. "Why did I agree to meeting with you four tonight," he sarcastically asked himself.

Boldly, Ruud asked for a dare after the canister landed at Langdon. "Point to which person you think is the most handsome or attractive." Gordie was bestowed the honor.

"I appreciate the sentiment, thankfully I know you're not gay. And if you are, I hope Langdon didn't just out you."

A silence almost came about the room except Ruud immediately responded, "any time, Gordie, they didn't call me a ladies' man for nothing back home." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Langdon then spun the can next.

"Truth." I was drawing blanks as the can stopped at my position.

"I liked your last ex."

"She told me she didn't want to experiment that way."

"I know, she told me after you two broke up. She didn't know that I knew you or that you were even together." I wanted to retain some of that, but I just gave up since she wasn't interested. I spun the bottle and of course, it landed on Jane.

"Dare." As long as it wasn't about her or Gordie, I was in the clear.

"Use the can to masturbate over your clothes." Good god Jane, you are a devil, but I wasn't gonna say it right then and there. It didn't even take me two seconds to make up my mind.

"Have my bra instead, Jane," I said throwing it at her, continuing that "I am sitting next to a certain person you know."

Several more spins had missed me and Gordie took a truth from Sylvia that she admired his humility. That was kinda sweet, but was disappointing to Jane not surprisingly. Within a few turns, it fell back to him. this time, guess who spun. Jane reminded him that he couldn't pass up the dare on this.

"You're a virgin, Gordie. Make out with the lesbian for five seconds." Dammit Jane, you always find a way to inconvenience me in these games.

"I call shenanigans, this was a setup!" Didn't matter that it was Sylvia's idea.

"You don't have to do it," I reassured him. He grabbed his belt buckle so as to concede defeat of the dare. But then with two seconds before it would have been official, he did it - to the surprise of everyone, especially Jane.

I felt bad. To make matters worse, he was so embarrassed that after our kiss, he got up and ran out the door, sobbing. "Way to go, Jane," I said with condescending disapproval, followed by offering "I'll go get him." Langdon made the counter.

"I know you want him not to worry about it, but he needs a neutral party." I replied but with a depressed sigh.

"Okay." Ruud was more concerned than the rest of us.

"He might be fighting a lot of inner demons or something." Of course, I was on the inside of how he was feeling. It wasn't that he liked me (even though we've kinda established with each other that that is true of both of us), it was the virgin comment.

CH 9 - The Runaway

While I did have things that flew me toward him, there was this je ne sais quoi quality about him that put me over the edge and I wasn't sure what it was. But the kiss he just gave felt awkward as though he only wanted to give me a peck on the lips rather than actually make out. Within five minutes LT came back.

"He's gone." I wasn't surprised. But Jane was.

"What do you mean gone?"

"He had well bolted out the main entrance by the time I got there. He was at least halfway across Moulder Green and that's not exactly a small patch of grass."

"Why didn't you keep after him?"

"I think we've done enough on that, don't you think?" LT was starting to get annoyed.

"Let's head to Goundry," Ruud randomly suggested.

"How can you think about food when a friend is hurt?"

"For one thing, Langer, I just remembered that tonight is two for Tuesday and second when I want to get my mind off of something, I eat." Better than stress eating, or is it kinda the same thing, I wonder. Our two for Tuesdays were buy one get one of any food item available in the building. I preferred it to Langworthy Hall food anyway.

"Besides, they're doing sandscapes there too." I was looking forward to it and saw it last minute before heading over to meet up with everyone.

The Goundry Student Union was a great setup. My other hope was that Gordie headed there to read a paper, just as we had the second time we met. For a campus union, Goundry always had something going on even when there weren't scheduled events.

"That actually sounds fun," I was surprised to hear Sylvia say. She was just short of what many would consider an arsty-fartsy person, but she had some artistic talent.

"Well then, I guess it's settled."

"I think LT took that offer not having come up with another activity for us to do.

We arrived at Goundry but no Gordie in sight. Everyone briefly went there separate ways to get their meals, which I took the opportunity to text him with a simple 'hey.' It wasn't more than twenty minutes since Gordie dashed out of Dunbar and I wasn't sure if he would answer given that I assumed he was driving back to Burnaby.

"I'm sorry," he replied almost immediately.

"No need to apologize."

"Yes I do. I panicked and I felt that it was unfair that I took out my feelings on you like that." He was really struggling with this.

"It's okay, Gordie. We're at Goundry if you want to join us." A minute passed while I was getting ready to pay for my meal.

"I'm with the boys right now." I didn't know them still really other than the night Lucky drove the campus shuttle, but I politely sent regards.

"Say hi to Lucky and Larry."

"Thanks. Talk later?" That was a good sign.

"Yeah." I wasn't going to mention anything from the group. It was already tense enough. We had a good time and it wasn't quite sundown by the time we finished some hour and fifteen minutes later. I was going to go home, but not before I reached back out to Gordie.

"Doing better?"

"Yeah, wanna join us? Kitsliano 114. Or we were thinking about going to the foyer anyway." Wow, he'd never offered to join his circle before. He really trusted me. I didn't think THAT much, but apparently he did.

"Be there soon."

From what I had heard, Kitsilano had a very nice foyer. Very rustic. it was one of two all male dorms, this one the larger of the two with the other being a freshman residence in Whistler Hall. There were two all-female dorms and the remaining nine were co-ed before off-campus housing. One of the boys opened the door.

"I understand you're joining us?" He had a thick accent Quebecois accent, but he was also foreign and I couldn't pick up where his family was from. Somewhere from French-Colonized Africa.

"Thanks for the door."

"I'm Larry, by the way. Gordie said he was gonna let you in, but he told us to if he wasn't back from the restroom yet. But he only just went." I see.

"Actually, is there a ladies' room in here?" It was a good question.

"Yeah, it's in the basement where campus safety is. Take the elevator and it's to your right on the right." I wonder what they thought of me, never having really met me before. After my visit to the powder room, I came back, as had Gordie.

"Hey Maddie!" He sure was glad to see me, far better than the last time I saw him.

"And you're Lucky right?" He confirmed.

"Yeah, you both were in the shuttle the one night I think." That was pretty good considering how many people he must see and how many more frequently than others.

"Hey, you've got a good memory on ya, sport."

"Gordie tells me you've gotten along really well." To help his cause, I tried to quash us straight away.

"Yeah, it's too bad he's handsome. I just had a really bad breakup with a girlfriend I was seeing then. Mom and dad don't know yet, but I'm okay with everyone on campus knowing. You two aren't bad yourselves either." Gordie blushed a little.

"That's nice of you to say," Larry chimed in.

"We just finished a round of billiards. You want in?" Gordie made sure he offered before anyone else.

"Why not? And Gordie, would you mind being my 'date' for when mom and dad come in a couple weeks?"

"Are you that afraid of them not supporting you? I mean, of course I would do that for you, but you've always made your folks sound like great people."

"And they are, but I'm still their little girl, even if I'm not so little anymore. They just don't want me to grow up so fast, I think. I don't think choice in sexuality is an issue, but they might not be ready for it just yet." Lucky seemed to be understanding.

"I can see that." I appreciated his remark.

"I think they will be ready, I just don't want to be wrong. I'm certainly ready to tell them."

CH 10 - Old Friends, New Friends, Good Friends, Rad Friends

"That's good that your comfortable with telling them, at least." Man, Lucky really felt what I was laying down.

"Okay, I guess you're with me, then. Snooker time." I got paired with Gordie as he placed his snooker set on the pool table.

"Another unknown hobby," I said in jest.

"They didn't know either," he told me before going over the rules and scoring. We all had a good time, though it was a rule that we couldn't drink in the common areas since there was potential that underage freshmen could be in the building with friends that lived here, but we did have a little back at the conjoined singles that Larry and Lucky shared.

"So, what's it like being in a room like this?" I kinda liked it.

"Well we both value our privacy, but since we like talking sports so much, we thought it would be a good idea to live next to each other. We could still live together without needing to worry if we're interrupting company." That is actually well thought out.

"What a great idea, Lucky!"

"Yeah, we thought so. But I actually met Lucky through Gordie." What a surprise.

"Go figure." I wouldn't have expected any less.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Lucky, but we've got a one directional cyclical flow chart goin' on here, Maddie. I'm Lucky's best friend, Lucky is Larry's best friend, and Larry is my best friend."

"That's so weird." Sure was.

"You're telling me," Larry said while Gordie was playing bartender for the boys and me.

"You want something, Mads?"

"Is a dry martini out of the question?" It was worth a shot.

"One dry martini coming up!" I was impressed, for someone not only who didn't drink, but didn't have formal training as a bartender.

"Salut," Lucky offered to the three of us after Gordie gave me the martini. He just had a 20 ounce bottle of Arizona iced tea at the ready. Someone's phone rang.

"Pardon me, I gotta take this." While Gordie answered his cell phone, Lucky and Larry chatted me up on where we were from and all that. Turns out, Lucky was from the Prairies - Saskatoon, specifically.

They then moved on to my sexual preferences. Less so in that it mattered, but Lucky challenged Gordie before he was able to return to the room. "You know, it's too bad you weren't straight or bi, you and Gordie would have made a great couple. You totally can fake out the 'rents when they visit." Here we go again. The idea. The emotions. It was almost like a recurring Groundhog Day movie nightmare.

"We still barely know each other. I mean sure we've hung out several times, but we're not solid like the three of you are."

"That's fair."

Gordie came back into the room. "Grandma says hi to both of you."

"Thanks. I can't wait to go back to Red Deer to have me some of that Ukrainian food!" Larry was one of those guys who came from a culture of eating. He, for a short, husky guy, could eat without gaining weight. Gordie once told me that he could both probably eat his weight in couscous as well as having once sat for four hours spanning 10 plates of food from the buffet at Langworthy.

"I'll let her know when the truck is backing in." What great conversation that followed. Not overly philosophical, emotional, religious, or political. But kinetic and full of depth. And laughs were shared along the way.

"So what was that you were saying about flight," Lucky prodded.

"I am firmly of the belief that we will see public space travel before the Concorde gets redeveloped in commercial aviation." Gordie wasn't a junkie, but he enjoyed talking about wanting to pilot planes privately.

"That's bold," I couldn't help but say in dumbfounded amazement.

"Well think about it. NASA is still going to be around, just not as we've known it. We've got a few rich billionaires and corporations that are able to finance such a thing. It will be easier to develop that than it will be to reduce noise pollution from a sonic boom caused by a mach-3 Concorde flight at takeoff and while flying."

"Can't argue with that." Larry was in Gordie's agreement a lot, with everyone really. It showed him off as an easy-going guy that might give-in to peer pressure sometimes too much.

"I'm sorry guys, but I think I need to head back to my pad. I've got a few more things to unpack and I want to be finished by noon tomorrow." I was hoping I might be joined there, honestly. Then Lucky interjected.

"Actually, if it's that late, I need to do my morning jog earlier than normal since the second half of the day is going to be jam-packed ahead of the first day of classes."

"Well I guess that means I gotta bounce too then." Maybe I was too eager in hoping.

"You can stay and we can go back to the foyer."

"Thanks for the offer Larry, but don't forget I have to actually drive. At least Maddie can take the SkyTrain. I'd offer, but it would be doubling my drive back and I don't want to drive drowsy and don't want to impose on her to stay. I can at least take her to the station."

"It's okay, that's the safe thing," I reassured him. Even if it was the opposite of what I'd hoped. We said our goodbyes and left Kitsilano Hall on what turned out to be a mild late summer evening with a breeze from the northwest off the Strait of Georgia. As we exited the building, I was surprised to receive an about face.

"I would rather stay with you, if that's okay."

"I think that's a good idea actually." At this point, I think there was no turning back on us becoming a thing.

"Thanks, I can help you with your stuff, too."

"You don't have to." I was trying to reciprocate his offer by being polite.

"It wouldn't be nice of me if I didn't offer." Thanks captain obvious.

"Well, let's see how things are in the morning." If we weren't passed out from having fun, man would it have been eventful. But boy was he in for some surprises.

CH 11 - Rustlin' in Richmond

The City of Richmond was a largely Asian community, but there were other demographics of people in the area. My apartment was in the Brighouse neighborhood bordering the Thompson neighborhood near the Richmond Center mall. It was a dingbat style apartment, but surprisingly the interior was contemporary. I had the top floor, but the downstairs was currently vacant. The front porch had a view of the runway at YVR across the Fraser with a Chevron gas station at the corner across the street on the left on a busy stretch of road.

We made our way to the second floor with ease and walked in. "You were hiding this view of the tarmac from me?!"

"You never asked for details." And he hadn't.

"I wonder how much money your landlord put into the place." I wasn't interested. It was livable and that's all I needed.

"I dunno. Washroom is around the corner. Sorry I don't have a spare change of clothes, but I do have bath robes in there for you."

"Thanks." I guess it was an unintentional set-up that I hadn't thought about him not bringing anything with him. Although, he very well could've had something in his trunk, unless he wanted to make the most of being here.

"How do I look," he asked as he came out of the bathroom in one of my Beverly HIlls Hotel bathrobes. I was getting turned on by the fact that he likely was only wearing the robe.