Mark's interview with Queen Bee
It's Sunday, the Big Day. I had another dream/nightmare last night about being put on display at the sorority house and the girls using me in various ways. I won't bother you with the details, but it was
very
vivid.
About noon my cellphone rang, a local number I didn't recognize (it must be Queen Bee!), "H-hello?"
"Hello, Mark. Rita Dominic at Zeta Phi." A sexy voice, but an accent I can't place. There's a freshman exchange student next door from Ghana, and her accent kind of sounds like that: British English as spoken by Africans; you see it on TV sometimes.
"Hello, Miss Dominic," I say an octave deeper than normal, and trying to sound more confident than I feel. (I feel like I could throw up, truth be told, so many butterflies in my stomach.)
"Are we still on for 4:00?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good, I'll meet you in the café. Wear your Domino's uniform, and boxers."
"Yes, ma'am, I'll be there." She hangs up without saying goodbye. What kind of woman is this? She sounded so sure of herself on the phone: not even asking if it was me, not making 4:00 an option, and directing me what to wear, down to my underwear! Expecting no complaint, then not even saying goodbye; what kind of person is this?
But the girls set this up for me, and I don't think they'd send me into a situation where I'd be ridiculed or hurt in any way. And the direction of my nightmares notwithstanding, I was quite eager to meet some of the ladies at Zeta Phi to see if I hit it off with any of them, whatever that process looked like.
At 3:50 I'm in the café drinking a hot chocolate. Sitting in the far corner, back to the wall, where I can see the large entrance area that opens out into the student union. I'm trying not to look too eager, glancing up only occasionally. 3:55, no Rita. 4:00, no Rita. 4:05, no Rita. Now I'm starting to get worried: am I at the right place? There's only one "café inside the student union." Is the time on my phone right? I don't wear a watch, so I ask the girl at the counter: yes, it's 4:06. Probably a power trip then and she's being "fashionably late."
At 4:09 I see her, and like Candace said, there's no missing her. Tall, maybe as tall as me or a bit more, hard to tell in those heels. Dark skinned, very dark, like from-Africa dark. Curvaceous body, stout, not thin or lithe. Not big either, but with the hips of an African fertility goddess.
Her clothes are an explosion of red tending toward burgundy. A jacket-and-skirt affair in something stiff like wool. All angles and sharp lines. And layers, I remember somehow there were layers, foldings of the fabric back on itself. I supposed this was a "power suit" for women, worn in a business environment. But when you wanted to make a statement.
And a large-brimmed hat, also red, studded with a few red feathers. The kind that was more fashion statement than functional. Floppy, the brim being a stiff mesh-type material, see through. The front flopped (or folded?) down over much of her face, almost like a veil.
"Hello, Mark." No mention of being late.
"Hello, Miss Dominic."
"You may call me Rita." Not, "you
can
call me Rita," like most people would say, but "
may
." This woman is definitely in charge of herself and her interactions with others.
"So, tell me about yourself, Mark."
I proceeded to tell her about Ann Arbor, parents died when I was young, foster homes, group home, full-ride scholarship at WSU. I thought about telling her about Candace and Keisha and our budding friendship, but figured she already knows that. I didn't pick up any kind of, "Oh you poor thing" vibe when I was telling her about my foster care. She was listening, but more coldly processing than reacting.
"You must've gotten good grades in high school to get that scholarship. Your SAT scores?"
"Yes, ma'am, A's and B's. I aced the Math part of the SAT, and scored 99
th
percentile on the Verbal."
"Impressive." Not, "impressive!", just a flat, "impressive."
"And what are you studying here?"
"Engineering, probably will be Mechanical, but I'm keeping my options open for now."
"Understandable; that's a good choice, Engineering, for a smart young man like you." Which caused me to blush a bit.
"Have you ever had a girlfriend, Mark?"
"No, ma'am, not like a long-term girlfriend, I've only been on a few dates."
"And these dates, did they quickly escalate sexually?"
"No, ma'am, I'm still a virgin," which she knows already, or she wouldn't be interviewing me.
"But on a first date, have you ever felt a girl's breasts, or put your hands down her pants?"
"No ma'am, no! I'm not like that. And I'm too shy to do anything like that until I really got to know a girl and she signals that's what she wants."
"Good, I like the way you phrased that. But you
have
touched a girl's breasts and vagina, haven't you?"
I blush at the mention of those two words in a public area, and wish Miss Rita would keep her voice down. But she wasn't one to care what was overheard and by whom. "Yes, ma'am, once, on the same girl."
"So you just decided you'd touch her like that?" Accusing, not leading.
"No, ma'am! She started it. We were in the same foster home, and one day walking home together from 10
th
grade a bad thunderstorm came up and we ducked inside an abandoned house, and..."
"Go on, Mark."