Thanks to everyone reading my story. Rosewood, Paige, and Liars stuff will be happening soon. I also apologize for any typos in this bit. I wanted to get it posted before my week picks up.
Moving back in with her parents was strange. Although she had spent some time with her parents over holidays and semester breaks, she did not consider Texas her home. Her parents had kept her childhood bed and a few other items from her room in Rosewood, but everything else was new to her. Her mom had encouraged her to, "make the room your own", but no matter what she did, the place felt strange.
Emily's first few weeks in Texas were uneventful. Each morning, her mom would wake her up for breakfast and give her advice about how to find a job. Emily would nod and try to be respectful, but the constant "advice" was really starting to wear on her. Part of the problem was that Emily wasn't even sure what she wanted to do. She had majored in public health, but after four years of study, she was pretty sure that it was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
She submitted her résumé to several agencies, but she didn't receive any calls for interviews. Finally, one day Emily gave in and agreed to go to lunch with her mom and one of her mom's friends from church. She had previously avoided such events, but her mom had been very persistent about Emily joining her. As it turned out, her mom's friend was the outreach coordinator for an HIV/AIDS agency in Dallas. As it turned out, her mom's friend, Gayle, was looking for a youth outreach worker for the agency. Normally Emily would have been angry with her mom for not telling her the true intent of the lunch, but this job seemed like something Emily would actually want to do. After lunch, Emily and Gayle scheduled a time later in the week for Emily to come to the agency for an interview.
As it turned out, the job was a perfect fit for Emily. The majority of her job consisted of doing presentations for youth on HIV and AIDS prevention—she was frequently taken aback by how honest many of the kids were. By far, her favorite part of the job was Wednesday afternoons. Each Wednesday she did outreach at the homeless teen drop-in center. She loved talking with the kids and learning more about their stories. Many of the kids were homeless because their families could not accept that they were not straight, or because they did not fit their families' perceptions of how a boy or girl should act or look. Things had been tough when Emily had come out to her family, but eventually things got better. In fact, her mom and dad had become some of her staunchest defenders.
Another great part of her job was that, overall, her co-workers were really great. Most of the people who worked in outreach were in their twenties and pretty open minded. Emily had quickly befriended a guy named Callum. Callum also worked in outreach, but his focus was on the gay community. Callum was very warm and chatty, so their friendship developed quickly.
After Emily had been at her job for a few weeks, Callum and Emily were having lunch at the deli across the street. Up to that point, Emily hadn't really opened up to a lot of people about what brought her to Texas, or her life in general. Out of the blue, Callum asked Emily, "So, what's your deal? Are you seeing anyone?" Emily wasn't prepared for that question and started to cough a little as her food went down the wrong way. Callum calmly handed her a glass of water and apologized. "I'm sorry if that was too personal. Sometimes I can be a little too upfront for my own good." After Emily stopped coughing, she started to shake her head. "No, you're fine. You're just the first person to ask me that since I moved here." Callum nodded, "I see. Is it a touchy subject?"
Emily sat there for a second and looked at him. "Actually no. It's surprisingly not a touchy subject." Emily sat there a second longer to decide where she should start. "I am single." Callum nodded, "So are you looking for a new boyfriend?" Emily smirked and looked at Callum silently. "What, why are you giving me that look?" Emily looked at him, "Heteronormative much?" Callum looked confused. Emily grinned at him. "Did it ever occur to you that I am not straight?" Callum started to smile, "So you're a lezzer?" Emily nodded, "I typically do not call myself a 'lezzer', but yes, I am same-sex oriented."
Callum continued to grin. "This is excellent. So you are looking for a girlfriend?" Emily shook her head and explained that she had been in relationships since she was sixteen, so she wanted to be single for a while. Callum grinned, "So you're single, new to Dallas, with no interest in a relationship…?" Emily nodded slowly. Callum continued to grin, "Have you experienced our fine city's nightlife?" Emily shook her head. "To be honest, you are really the first person I have met here…aside from my mom's church friends." Emily could see Callum getting excited. "Do you have plans Friday night?" Emily shook her head, "no…". Callum clapped his hands together, "Then we are going out Friday night. We are going to get dressed up and hit the town. I live near the bars and have a spare room, so we can have a great time and not worry about driving."
Emily started smiling. "That actually sounds amazing. I haven't been out since before I left Berkeley in August." Callum continued to talk excitedly, "I am going to show you the best time." They continued to eat lunch and make plans for Friday. That night, Emily told her mom that she had made plans for Friday night. Her mom was concerned that Emily would be spending the night with "some guy she barely knew". Emily explained that Callum was gay and not a threat. She also reminded her mom that she lived in Berkeley for four years and knew how to handle herself.
Later in the week, Emily and Callum decided it would make more sense if Emily packed a bag and brought it with her to work Friday morning—that way she wouldn't have to drive back and forth from Dallas to Plano in rush hour traffic. As Emily was leaving Friday morning her mom continued to express her trepidation about Emily staying with a "strange man". Emily tried to ease her mom's anxiety by giving her Callum's phone number and address.
Friday flew by because she had a lot of presentations scheduled. She had called Callum to let him know that she would probably not make it back to the office by the time he had planned to leave; he wasn't fussed and said to just meet him at his apartment when she was done.
Emily finally made it to his apartment a little before six. She found parking easily and walked up to his door. He popped it open before Emily had a chance to knock. Emily grinned, "Excited much?" Callum ushered her in and said, "As a matter of fact, I am. It's not every day that I get to show off my fair city to a newb. And anyway, I suspect you have no idea what you have actually gotten yourself into." Emily grinned, "Ye of so little faith—first you assumed I was straight, and now you are assuming I am an amateur." Callum grabbed Emily's bag and showed her to his spare room. "Let me give you the grand tour. This is where you will be staying." He hooked elbows with her as he showed her the rest of the apartment. It was nice—a whole lot better than the studio that she and Radha had shared. "Your place is nice…you have surprisingly good taste." "Why is that a surprise?" Emily shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I really didn't know what to expect."
Callum sat on his sofa as Emily looked at his bookshelf. "Here's what I'm thinking. There's a great Thai place up the road that delivers. Do you like Thai?" Emily nodded, "I love Thai." "Great! So we get our eat on and maybe have a few cocktails with dinner, get dressed, and then I take you out for the time of your life." Emily gave him a half smile, "The time of my life, eh? That seems like an awfully big promise." Callum smiled, "Well if not the time of your life, how about the best time you've had since you've been in Texas." Emily looked at him seriously and then grinned, "I think that's absolutely doable."
So Callum was right. The Thai was amazing. Who knew you could get such a great panang curry with tofu in Texas? They each had a couple of beers while they ate and got to know one another a little better. Callum looked at his phone, "Shit, it's after nine. We should start getting ready. Emily nodded, "Do you mind if I put on some music?" Callum shouted from the other room, "My iPod dock is by the book shelves." Emily pulled out her phone and found the playlist she had made for the evening." She put her phone on the dock and pressed shuffle. As 'Indestructible' by Robyn began to play, Callum stuck his head out of his door, "Who knew a lezzer could have such good taste in music?" He slammed his door shut before Emily could find anything to throw at him.
Emily went to the spare room and started to get ready. She had decided to wear her black sleeveless Joy Division t-shirt with skinny jeans and black combat-style boots. She put on some makeup and made her hair strategically messy. She had painted her nails dark blue the day before with just this outfit in mind. She looked at herself in the mirror and realized that she didn't look half bad. This outfit was a far cry from the conservative clothes she typically wore to work. She also smiled a little knowing that Hanna would not approve of this look.
Once she was ready she stepped out of the spare room and saw Callum dancing around the room to the Disclosure song that was playing. When he finally noticed Emily he stopped dead and said, "Holy shit! That is not what I was expecting." Emily grinned, "You don't look half bad yourself." Callum grabbed her and they started dancing around the room together. As the next song started Callum pulled her into the kitchen and poured two tequila shots. He grabbed the pre-sliced limes from his refrigerator and the saltshaker. Emily grinned, "I see you are prepared." Callum shrugged, "What can I say, I was a boy scout." Emily had not done tequila shots in quite some time and forgot how awful they taste. Emily grimaced and shouted, "fuck!" "See Fields, I knew you were an amateur." Emily punched him in the arm, "Like hell I am. Let's do another one." Emily was a little more prepared for the second one, but it still tasted like shit.
As they were getting ready to leave Emily stopped Callum and said, "Wait. Let's take a picture so I can send it to my friend Hanna. She'll totally hate my outfit." Callum was game so they stood together and made seductive faces as Emily snapped a few pictures. She selected the most ridiculous one and sent it to Hanna. Less than thirty seconds later Hanna sent her a text that said, "WTF EMILY! You are not honestly going out like that! You need an intervention." Emily shot back a text that said, "Whatever Hanna. Callum thinks I look hot :-P." They sent a few texts back and forth while Emily and Callum walked.
Just as they were about to turn the corner Callum stopped Emily. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Emily walked around the corner and saw all tons of people and nearly every kind of gay bar you could imagine. Emily was taken aback. "Holy hell. I wasn't expecting this."
Callum grabbed Emily's hand. "The first place I want to take you really isn't my scene, but it's something to see." It was a huge club called the Roundup Saloon—it was full of guys and girls, many who were wearing country western attire. Callum still had Emily's hand as they got in line for one of the bars. Before Emily could say anything Callum had ordered two more tequila shots and some fruity drink that tasted a bit like cough syrup. They both slammed their shots and took the drinks. He pulled her around the large complex. Several guys said hi to Callum; he acknowledged them by nodding in their general direction, but continued his tour around the club.
They finally made they way to an outside patio. They walked over to a far corner where a small group was standing. As soon as they saw him they all shouted, "Callum!" He hugged the guy closest to him and then pulled Emily up close to him. "Hey guys, this is Emily. The girl I told you about from work." He pointed to the guy he hugged, "This loser is my best friend, Marco, next to him is his boyfriend Trevor, next is Trevor's sister, Naomi, and then there's Donnie, Carlos, Mariana, and last, but not least Patrick. Everyone, be nice to Emily, she's new to Dallas and this is her first time in our little gay village."
Everyone seemed very nice. They made a point of including her in their conversations. Everyone kept getting rounds from the bar. The longer she stood there, the more Emily could feel the alcohol surging through her body. She had figured out from various conversations that Callum had briefly dated Trevor, and that sometimes they still hook up with one another. She also figured out that Naomi was straight and engaged to a guy who is stationed on the same military base where her dad once served. She also sussed out that Mariana is gay and she recently broke up with her girlfriend for cheating on her.
After the next round of drinks came, several of the guys decided that it was time to dance. Callum dragged Emily back into the main building and shoved there way onto the dance floor. Thankfully the DJ was playing some cheesy pop music instead of the country music that had been playing when they first arrived. While they were dancing, Callum came and started grinding against her. "Hey, there is a pretty hot girl over there who keeps looking you up and down." Emily glanced in her direction and the girl gave her a smile and a nod. Emily danced Callum in the opposite direction. "I'm not really looking for anything right now. And anyway, she's not really my type." Callum laughed, "You don't have to be looking for anything to have a little fun. Just because you flirt or make-out with someone doesn't mean that you have to start a relationship. More importantly, I need to figure out what your type is." Emily danced a few more songs and then decided to go back outside because the country music had started again.
Emily made her way back outside and saw that Donnie and Mariana were still at their table. Emily thought about joining them, but decided to go to the bar instead. She ordered a vodka soda and a bottle of water and sat at the bar. She chatted a little with the older guy sitting next to her; he was drunk and talking nonsense. He was amusing for a little while, but Emily was soon looking for a way out of the conversation. Thankfully someone intervened. She felt someone come up and put their arm around her waist, "There you are hon, I was wondering where you had gotten off to." Emily turned around and was relieved to see that it was Mariana. Emily was quick to play along, "Yeah, sorry babe. I came up to get a drink and lost track of time." Emily stood up and told the guy it was nice talking to him. Mariana grabbed her hand and walked her to their table.
Once they got back to the table, Emily let go of Mariana's hand. "Thank you so much for rescuing me. I wasn't sure how to get out of that conversation." Mariana shrugged, "That's John. I'm pretty sure he sits there every night of the week. Every new person unwittingly gets into his never-ending nonsensical conversation vortex." Emily smiled, "Regardless, thank you for getting me out of there." Donnie, Emily, and Mariana talked for a few more minutes until Donnie said he was tired of the bar and wanted to see of everyone wanted to go to their apartment for some more drinking.
Once Donnie left, an uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Nervously, Emily asked, "So you live with Donnie?" Mariana nodded, "Yeah, we share an apartment about a block from where Callum lives." Emily nodded, "That's cool. Do you guys get along?" "For the most part we do. Donnie thankfully offered his spare room after my breakup. It was a little weird at first, but I think we have kind of figured things out." Before Emily could ask any more questions, Donnie came back to the table and said that most of the guys were game for leaving. Donnie then looked at Emily. "Callum isn't quite ready to leave because he's flirting with some pretty thing on the dance floor. He wanted me to give you his spare set of keys. He said it's up to you if you would like to stay here, or go with us, or go back to his apartment. If I know Callum, he probably won't be home any time soon." Emily weighed her options—she wasn't into staying at the bar, and the idea of being alone at Callum's also sounded awful. "I'll go with you guys if that's not too weird."
