I tipped back my bottle of beer and looked at the party around me. I'd never been to a party like this. Radiohead played softly on the stereo, and hipster types in horn-rimmed glasses and vintage T-shirts mingled around the fashionably tacky green sofas and chairs. I felt like I'd reached a milestone in my career writing for It, a magazine that covered the latest in indie rock and music-industry politics. Well, not exactly writing for them, more like shuttling their writing from one desk to another. But as an intern, I knew I had a possibility for career advancement.
"Ana! How are you doing?" I turned to Nick, the guy who'd been trying to hit on me for the past hour. "Haven't seen you in, like, ten minutes!" I gave him a perfunctory nod and smile. Then, from across the room, I noticed a familiar swarthy male face.
"Hey Nick, isn't that Tristan Smith from The Burning? I swear he is," I said, gesturing.
"Might very well be. Y'know, Lori Goldstein is here. That chick from Ryback-Bryant, your favorite band, y'know." When Nick said that name, I swear, it sent a chill through me. Lori Goldstein. The hottest woman to ever pick up a guitar. Frontwoman of my favorite indie band. Well-known lesbian, although nobody ever said anything about it.
The shock must have shown on my face, 'cause Nick let out a low chuckle and said, "She's right there across the room. See? Chandra's talkin' to her! Let's go over there and talk to them." I followed his pointing hand, and sure enough- Lori Goldstein was talking to my boss, laughing and holding a glass of red wine. And before I had time to protest, Nick was dragging me across the room to meet my idol.
I smoothed my long hair, knee length skirt and lacy tank top before Lori could meet my eye. I looked up, and saw that I was nearly five feet from her now. The sheer shock of the moment prevented me from saying anything.
"Well hello again, Ana. And Nick! What brought you here?" He muttered back something politely. "I'm sure you all recognize this girl here, Lori Goldstein from Ryback-Bryant. I nodded and smiled, holding out my cold nervous hand. She smiled and shook it. I recognized that she was trying to tell me something with those dark eyes of hers, but couldn't figure it out.
"I'm Ana Cholak. I intern at It." She murmured a hello, and I watched her greet Nick.
"Well, I'm going to go run off and say hello to Tristan Smith's sound engineer over there. Have fun!" Nick must have wandered off with her, because all of a sudden I was alone next to Lori Goldstein. She was shorter and thinner than I had expected, her breasts small but assertive underneath her green T-shirt and masculine brown blazer. She wore blue jeans that clung to her thighs. I gave her a generic smile, admiring the curl of her short dark hair, full mouth, dark eyes, Jewish nose. I reminded myself that this was the same woman who kicked, jumped, and ferociously whirled her guitar neck onstage, and felt myself get wet between the thighs.
"So are you a student?" she asked, sipping her wine. I laughed, high and nervous.
"Yep, I'm an English major at UC. The workload is hard, but I'm not about to give up my job at It.", I replied. "So....um....how has the touring been going?" She smiled again.