CHAPTER 3
THE UNIVERSITY
I had taken Dad's insurance money and placed it with an investment advisor. I told him what I wanted to do and that I wanted to make the money go as far as it was possible. By the time I graduated from the girl's school on the river I had spent a good bit of the money, but I was surprised to learn that my advisor had been making money for me almost as fast as I had been frugally spending it. I could afford to go to the in-state university and that's what I planned to do.
I couldn't go home that summer between schools. My mother didn't know I was living as a woman and I really didn't want to tell her. We exchanged letters and I told her I was going to the university and planned to go up early and find some work as well as a place to live. The school was lenient on the dormitory policy and as long as I kept my grades up and attended classes, they would allow me to live off campus. I didn't want to spend the money for a car, so I packed up my things and took the bus to the town that held state university. The bus station was in the middle of town and I could almost walk anywhere I needed to go. I went to a close by realtor and made my wishes known. The lady seemed nice and told me she had something for me.
I retrieved my things from the bus depot and moved into a third-floor efficiency with a private bath and not much else. I had enough money from Dad to keep me in school, but I needed work to afford a place to live and a little extra for food and fun.
I got a job working in a used car dealership selling cars. The owner needed a salesman. I needed a car and that caused our meeting in the first place. Instead of buying a car I went to work and had the privilege of driving anything on the lot. I was also pretty good at selling. He wasn't so sure about a woman selling cars but after I sold 3 cars the first weekend, he realized that I could sell. Time would make me an all-around car person. I could sell the cars, clean them, service them and deliver them. I also learned to do the financing with local banks for our buyers as well. It was a great deal for me and for the dealership, so we prospered.
I found a new bigger apartment not too far off campus, closer to the dealership and I worked all summer at my newfound vocation. The money was decent, and I was living a good life. What I didn't do was go out much, no dates. I was asked, but I just didn't know how to handle boys yet.
One day while I was parking cars on the lot for display, a girl came in looking to buy a car. We chatted a lot and after she selected a car and I got her a loan from the bank. She asked me if she could buy me a drink after work and I agreed. She came back later and picked me up in her new used car.
We went to an upscale lounge downtown that I had not seen before and we settled into a booth and ordered drinks and some appetizers. Two girls out on the town was not an un-natural thing so we watched the other patrons and chatted about girl stuff. She was a student too, going to summer school and living on campus at one of the sororities. We had drinks delivered to us on a couple of occasions by guys wanting to pick us up, but we didn't really hook up with anybody. That was fine by me and for some strange reason she wasn't interested either. I finally said something about her taking off with some guy who I thought really wanted her. She looked me square in the eye and said, "I don't do guys."
It had never occurred to me that she was gay. She was sweet and feminine. I was shocked to say the least.
Then she looked at me, got a serious look on her face and just said, "You interested in me?"
I picked my jaw up off the table and tried to think what to tell her. I was a little fuzzy from the alcohol, but I'm not stupid.
