CH. 1 - "Beautiful British Columbia"
"Hey Gordie, I'm surprised to see you taking the shuttle this early in the night."
"Looks like a full house. You got any space left?"
"You're it until everyone gets off at their respective stops. Hop in!"
"Thanks Lucky! You and Larry are gonna have a hell of a time on the radio tomorrow. I almost don't want to moderate."
"Larry isn't gonna have an argument left."
"I'm not worried."
This was the only dialogue I had heard on such a late spring evening. I had been wrapping up my freshman semester at Lionsgate University. I was heading to a party in my best little black dress, cute pair of patent pumps with tights to match, and my makeup was on point. Not overstated but enough to grab a look or two. Speaking of lookers, this Gordie guy is quite a catch! Even as a lesbian, I didn't mind eye candy from the opposite sex now and again. It sounded like he was turning in whenever he was going to get dropped off by the driver, who by the sounds of it, was good friends with him.
Gordie wasn't much taller than myself - six foot one, roughly 175 pounds with short dark blond hair and a jet black goatee. If there was one thing about this campus shuttle ride, the roads were a little worn from the salted roads during the snowy Vancouver winters which meant a bumpy ride. "Hey, are we good for Tuesday in the library," I asked my friend Savannah Rollingwater, a criminal justice major.
"So far as I know," was the reply I got. We happened to have a class together even though we were different majors. We managed to be only one floor apart in our residence hall on campus. Freshmen were only required to stay on campus their first year, but could for the rest of their education if they so chose.
Back to tall and handsome though. If there was one thing about his fit body, he had bony and somewhat hairy knees. Because of the rough road and how packed the shuttle van was, our legs were bobbing into each other. But I wanted to break the ice. "Aren't you in a class with me or something," I pretended to ask knowing I had never seen him before.
"You may have been at the campus recreation center while I was on the clock, but not in class. I don't believe we've met. GW Szczeranek." I wouldn't want to spell that I thought, almost forgetting to respond, he said his name in Anglo-Polish but sounds like Seronick when anglicized.
"I'm Maddie, Maddie Sorrentino."
"Enchante, mademoiselle," he said as he kissed me on the hand. For not being straight, he was making me forget that I wasn't into guys. Perhaps I could start going bi now.
"So Gordon," before I could get going, he interrupted.
"Please, Gordie. Or Wally. Nobody really calls me GW, but I do get that time and again."
"Gordie then," I continued. "I'm sure professionally people call you Gordon."
"Or Wally, even."
"You from the area?"
"It's a hard call. Depends on how you define regions. If by that you mean Western Canada, yes, but out of province. I'm from Red Deer, Alberta. Since British Columbia is considered beyond the Canadian Prairies, you kinda gotta be specific."
"That's peculiar," I noted with half fake, half sincere intrigue.
"I noticed you're from another part of Cascadia." Very studious of him to notice.
"Hey that's pretty good," was the compliment I thought he was due.
"Would I be right in saying you're from the Seattle-Tacoma part of Washington State?"
Let me guess, "were you a geography bee champion or something in elementary school?" Little did I know.
"Matter of fact, Maddie, I was three out of four years in junior high. But even though I'm not a dialogue expert, I can pick up a lot of accents fairly well throughout my travels." I thought that was actually low-key kinda cool.
"But I hear something that isn't quite Canadian in your speech either." It wasn't obvious but to a trained ear, it was noticeable. If you spent your time in the gardens like I did as a botany student, you'd be surprised the things you'd hear.
"Well I did learn Ukrainian and Magyar at home because of family. But most people don't pick up on that Eastern European thing," Gordie announced. "When I travel to other countries, they say Canadian. When I'm say in the Maritimes or in Newfoundland or other areas in Eastern Canada, they know I'm from the Prairies. Here a lot of people just think it's some sort of foreign."
Holy Space Needle! As far as I was concerned, "that sounds like either an identity crisis or just a topic you can never escape."
"Or both," he was quick to include. I hated to cut the conversation short, but I had no choice.
"Gordie, I'm afraid this is my stop." He was very understanding, as I would expect under the circumstances.
"It was a pleasure chatting, Maddie. I look forward to the next time!" Whenever that was going to be, but I hoped it would be soon.
"For sure, we should do this again. Find me on Facebook." OMG we really are modern, what ever happened to getting someone's digits. Instagram was just becoming a thing and Snapchat wouldn't come out until my senior year.
"Let me step out so you have room to do so." So much so did he that he also offered his hand when I stepped out.
"Thanks, Gordie!"
"Of course, Maddie. Have a nice rest of your weekend!" And with that, he was gone as I had went to another friend's suite in a separate dorm - Baker Hall. Baker was appropriately nicknamed the oven because even with the recently replaced air conditioning units in it, you were comfy in the winter but the warmer months was like a sauna. You had to open the windows so you could get the breeze off the Strait of Georgia. That was the best thing about Lionsgate, we were right on the water and a stone's throw away from downtown Vancouver. I just wish I knew when I would see Prince Charming again.
CH 2 - Finer Print
I would get my chance a few weeks later. I was casually heading over to our campus union. Lo and behold, there he was sitting in one of the lounge chairs reading the morning Vancouver Sun. I didn't want to interrupt, but I hadn't stopped thinking of the attractive man I had seen earlier this month. "Hey! Gordie, right?" I knew his name, but didn't want to seem too eager. I mean, if this was going to happen in any form, I had to play hard to get, right?
"Maddie, hello there. To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"
"I was just passing through to get breakfast when I spotted someone our age reading a newspaper."
"Well that isn't so out of the ordinary, is it," he asked.
"Well for me, it is. The people in the States don't read papers unless it's online now. And on the west coast, everyone just gets their news on social media." I had to know how this man was keeping such a routine.
"I'll be honest Maddie, I'm the only one in my family over five generations who hasn't needed glasses from an early age. Reading things on a monitor is bad for eye health and I simply like the nostalgia of being able to smell and pick up a fresh newspaper." I could respect that.
"That's cool, it just caught me off guard," I told him.
"Now Maddie, how did you know I wasn't someone older?" It was a valid question that I didn't have a reasonable answer to.
"Well..." I began, "your hands are very smooth for someone our age."
"Uh, thanks, I think," was all I got in reply.
"I meant that I noticed because when we met, it had appeared as though you use lotion for your hands," Whew, nice recovery.
"As a matter of fact," he began, "the pinky finger side of my hand got dry a lot as a kid - presumably from the way I write. It's a little better now from the lotion, but I still need to tend to it every so often."
He was apparently in the business section when he had put the newspaper down and that helped me change the subject so I didn't seem too nosy about his physical features. "Do you play the market," I prodded.
"It's a nice way to stay afloat if you know what you're doing. That's my plan to pay loans off when I finish school." I thought that was pretty ambitious, then again, I didn't know his trade.
"Are you a business major then or family business oriented?"
"Neither, actually. I'm a physical education and political science dual major," I wanted to ask him so many things but knew he needed to break in too.
"How about yourself, Maddie?"
"Well, I'm studying botany with a focus on horticulture." He raised an eyebrow as if to suggest his interest was peaked.
"Really? Quite impressive actually. You must spend a lot of time in the campus garden then." Eventually, that would be true.
"Well, not quite yet. I have been but only maybe once every other week." He seemed disappointed for a moment.
