The Friday night dorm party to kick off December wasn't starting well. I'd just blown up at Malcolm, and now my roommate sounded angry with me.
"What the HELL were you fighting with him about?" Patty asked, after pulling me into the women's restroom. "I could hear you shouting all the way at the other end of the hall from inside the lounge!"
"You can imagine what we were fighting about, can't you?" I said, raising my voice to match hers. "He was hitting on me! And I don't think I have to take that!"
Patty hesitated, then looked a little skeptical. "What? You mean he just came out and asked you to go to bed? I can hardly believe Malcolm would be that rude."
"No," I answered. "He asked me to go out with him . . ."
"Well if you didn't want to go out with him, why didn't you just say no nicely?" Patty interrupted. "He looked awful after you finished with him!"
"I did say no nicely, twice!" I shouted, angry that Patty was taking Malcolm's side. "But he didn't understand that part! He was too mealy-mouthed to ask me to go to bed, but he made eyes while he was asking me out, and then he just kept repeating himself, like he couldn't believe I'd turn him down! He's so arrogant he thinks that all he has to do is crook his finger!"
"I wish he'd crook his finger at me!" Patty shouted back. "And so does every girl on our floor! But of course you're the one all the boys ask out Γ you're the pin-up queen Γ and it's WASTED on you. Talk about arrogant! You've turned down every boy on our floor now, haven't you, Laura? Except for the quiet ones that would never get enough courage to ask you! You haven't been out with anybody since last year, when you had that loser boyfriend with the motorcycle! Vince! The one who was training to be an auto mechanic? I'm glad he didn't show up again this fall Γ he looked like someone you'd read about holding up liquor stores!"
"Well fuck you, OK?" I shouted. "I don't need to get your approval of the boys I date!"
I slammed out the door, just catching Patty's parting remark, "Boys? I've only seen the one boy in two years? Vin-cent!"
I didn't expect to enjoy the party now, but I was so angry I wasn't going to let anybody think they'd driven me away. I was relieved not to see Malcolm in the lounge, and I went to the drinks table where Bob was pouring. He cheerfully provided the rum and coke I requested, heavy on the rum. Twenty minutes later I was starting my third and I sat down alone on a sofa, beginning to feel really depressed.
I've always had a terrible temper. I was a brat when I was growing up, with frequent tantrums where I'd destroy property and throw things at people. Mom was a schoolteacher and Dad was a librarian, both of them dead-set against physical punishment for children, but by the time I was ten they gave up on theory and started paddling me when I acted up. Once they learned to do it hard enough to intimidate me, it was the only thing that made me behave myself for three or four weeks at a time. My disposition got even worse during adolescence, and I kept getting punished until I was nearly sixteen, when I finally understood that my parents were really on my side and my anger was hurting me more than anyone else.
I was boy-crazy early, but by the time I was allowed to date I had special needs I couldn't communicate to any of the boys I knew, so it never worked out. I'd start feeling sexually stifled in every relationship, even with the two guys I went to bed with, and I'd end up getting angry and starting arguments until we broke it off. In my Sophomore college year I decided it was hopeless and began refusing dates, but when I met Vince last February I immediately realized he was different. He came from a tough neighborhood in LA and had an effective way of dealing with my temper, which meant, among other things, that I was able to relax with him. He was a lot smarter than Patty realized, and kind of sweet really, so I opened up to him more than I ever had with boys in school. He learned about my special needs and how to turn me on, and we ended up having a great physical relationship! But then Vince got in trouble last summer, and the police said that if he joined the Marines they'd drop charges. We both cried when he had to leave, but he only wrote once at the end of basic training to say he was going to be stationed in Manila. I realized after reading the letter several times that he was telling me he wasn't going to be any good at carrying on a relationship by mail.
So here I was almost halfway through my senior year without a guy in my life, acting bitchy when I got asked out because I felt so frustrated. Malcolm was probably the nicest guy in our dorm. He hadn't really been that pushy Γ he probably just knew my reputation for not dating and didn't want to give up too easily. I felt tears in my eyes, and realized the drinks were making me maudlin. Then I saw Patty magically appear next to me on the sofa.
"I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time, Laura," she said gently. "I lost my temper."
"YOU lost your temper?" I realized I was close to slurring my words. "You do OK in the temper department, but I'm the one who's the champion at that!"
"Yeah, we both have tempers. I think it's because we're both half-Irish: Laura O'Connor and Patty Doherty!" This was Patty's favorite reason for all our shared traits. "But you're the one with red hair, so you have the champion temper!"
I nodded a little too vigorously and felt dizzy. That was what all my Irish relatives said too.