Title: The Education of Sara Sidle |
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When Greg asked her if she was gay, she’d scoffed and told him he was crazy. He’d just shrugged and said he’d had to ask. She brought up Hank and thought of Grissom, and without looking up from his microscope, Greg said that lots of gay people date the opposite gender while they’re trying to figure things out, or that maybe she was bi. She asked him what had made him think that, he I didn’t really have an answer. The next time they talked about it was over breakfast, when he told her that he was gay. It blew her mind since he’d always flirted with her in a manner that suggested more than flirting. She’d always assumed that if she said the word, he’d be at her apartment quicker than she could say ‘tonight’. Once again he shrugged his shoulders in that carefree manner of his and said that he was just a big flirt, always had been. She told him she’d been thinking about what he said, and admitted to him that she’d thought about what it would be like to be with another woman. Greg told her that most women have, but if she was serious about it, that she should come with him to Venus on Thursday night. That it was GLB night, and that he’d noticed that she too had the night off and she could come to check out the scene. She said no. She had thought of nothing else since. When she called him at three in the afternoon, he hadn’t seemed too surprised. He told her to meet her outside the club, which was where she was, impatiently waiting for him. When he showed up with another guy, she wondered if it was someone he was seeing. When the guy, Jamie, went over to talk to someone else, she asked Greg about it. He said no, that he was in a pretty serious relationship with someone else. She asked what his name was and Greg demurred, smiling and changing the subject. When they got into the club they ordered a couple of drinks, and Sara gripped hers like it was a lifeline. Greg saw her discomfort and urged her to relax. Trying to be fair, she told him that he didn’t have to babysit her all night, but she was a little uneasy when he took her up on it. He went to dance with a short Latino guy, and she stayed at their table, watching the people around her. When he came back to the table, he had a woman in tow, who he introduced as his friend Hannah. She was short and petite, with a blonde pixie cut and a pierced eyebrow. She was attractive, but Sara wasn’t so sure she was attracted to her, and the fact that she was even thinking that way frightened her. She wasn’t so sure she was ready for this. Greg hit the dance floor again, leaving her alone with Hannah. They talked for quite awhile, Hannah telling her about her graduate studies at UNLV, and Sara detailing the less gory facets of her job. The longer they talked, the more comfortable Sara felt, and the more attractive she found Hannah to be. When Hannah leaned in and kissed her, Sara surprised herself by kissing back. When Hannah dragged her onto the dance floor, Sara found herself grinding with the girl amidst many other couples doing the same thing. And when Hannah pulled her into a corner to make out, Sara went willingly. But when Hannah slipped her hand under Sara’s shirt and asked her if she wanted to come back to her place, she knew it was a little too soon. Sara gave the girl her number instead, and went off in search of Greg. When she finally found him, she was flushed and mussed, and she didn’t need to tell him what she’d been doing. Greg was drunk and tired and ready to go home. They left and shared a cab, where Greg asked whether Sara thought she’d see Hannah again. She told him that she’d given Hannah her number and that she’d go out with her if she called. Greg seemed pleased. He jumped when his phone rang, and Sara turned away to give him as much privacy as she could in the back of a cab. He’d been holding it since they left the club, obviously expecting the call. Sara stayed quiet as he talked, telling who she assumed to be his unnamed boyfriend about his night. Finishing up the call, he said “I love you, Nick,” and hit the end button. She looked at him in shock for a moment, but looked away before he noticed. He was so drunk that she didn’t think he even realized what he had said. They rode the rest of the way to her apartment in silence, Greg leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Sara just stared out the window, her mind racing with everything that had happened tonight. The cab pulled up to her building, and she handed Greg some money. He hugged her and told her that he was happy she came with him tonight. As she got out of the car and was about to close the door, he called out to her. “Hey Sara,” he said. “Yeah?” “Don’t tell anyone about Nick, okay?” Sara grinned, thinking that she should have known he’d known what he was saying. She smiled and shook her head. “I won’t.” Greg smiled at her and waved goodbye, and she shut the door of the cab. When it pulled out of the parking lot of her apartment building, she wasn’t surprised when the cab turned left in the direction of Nick’s place, instead of right towards Greg’s. She was surprised though, when she checked her voicemail. “Sara,” Hannah’s recorded voice said, the sounds of the club in the background. “I had a good time with you tonight. I hope I’m not being overbearing, but I’m not a guy and I’m not going to wait two days to call you. I’d like to get together with you, go out with you. Let me know if you’d like that too.” She left her phone number and hung up. Sara hung the phone up and looked at the number she’d written down on a little pad of paper. Then she picked the phone back up and dialed. END
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