Page 26 of You've Got a Place Here, Too
On the first day of class, I passed a group of pretty girls all smiling
and joking. One in particular, made my feet stutter. My boys back
home would have laughed their asses off to see how I almost broke
my neck to take her in. She was a thick baddie, with a short cap of
hair. Her hands were bedazzled in gold rings that matched the
hoop in her right nostril. Her lips had a soft layer of gloss,
and my god, I knew I’d dream of that mouth for the rest of my life.
It sounds dramatic—but I was raised to make exaggerated
declarations, and this one felt very true! Her girls were beautiful
too, all shades of brown, and exposed midriffs and thighs,
and sunwatt smiles. But shorty who caught my eye, there was
somethingthere I couldn’t shake, like I’d been waiting and hadn’t
known it was she who’d lift the gauge on my caught breath.
But I didn’t do a damn thing about it!
I worried I wouldn’t see her again. I even brought it up to my roommate Josh.
“There was this shorty, homie, how do we find out who someone is?”
Josh shrugged. “There’s like three thousand students here. You
might be shit out of luck.”
I looked at the picture of Hotesse above my desk. His half smile
seemed like he was laughing at me.You should have asked her name,
I imagined him saying.Don’t worry. It’s all worked out so far, right?
And sure enough, my airman guardian angel looked out.
Because two weeks in, I see the shorty again in the dining hall.
“I’ve seen you in simulations,” she said. And my heart stopped in my chest.
Because only other aviation students go into the simulation room.
And I have never seen her. “You in the LIFT program, too?”
She nodded. “I’m Melody, a third-year.” She put her small hand in
mine, and in those two seconds my palm tried to memorize the feel of her.
It took me a moment to force my thick tongue to make words.
“Angelo,” I said as if unsure of my own name.
