“I got you a present!” Elaine said, holding up a strange object in front of Hebe.

              “Uhhh… Thanks… What is it exactly?” Hebe asked. Elaine was holding up what looked kind of like a necklace based on the clasps at each end, but in the middle was a 4-ish inch tall pattern of thick baby-blue thread that looked like a mast-climbing rope one would see on a boat.

              “Something for you to ride on, beside my shoulder or my jacket pocket!” said Elaine, smiling and tilting her head. “I’m honestly getting sick of wearing the same black Modern Baseball zip-up hoodie every day. It’s embarrassing and a little too warm. Plus, it’ll be easier for you to look around now.

              “Oh, Cool!” said Hebe, putting down their homework paper and reaching out to grab it. Elaine brought it down closer to the desk so Hebe could climb on. Their hand easily fit between the spaces in the square-patterned threads, and they were about the right thickness for Hebe to hold onto comfortably. Elaine made sure Hebe was secure before carefully bringing it up and securing the clasp behind her neck. The necklace swung back and forth a little during this process, but Hebe kept their grip.

              “There!” said Elaine. Her voice was much louder from right on her chest. Hebe could feel it resonating through them. “Is that comfortable?”

              Hebe looked down and turned bright pink, quickly looking away. If they fell from this position, there would be no avoiding falling directly into Elaine’s cleavage, especially in the thin tank-top she was currently wearing. “Yeah,” they said quietly, “it’s uhh… yup.”

              “What?” Elaine said, sounding concerned. She looked down to see what Hebe was embarrassed about. “Oh my god, really?” she said, “we’ve lived together for like years, you can’t handle this?”

              “No, it’s fine I wasn’t… It’s good, thank you for getting this.” Hebe was very embarrassed but tried to show appreciation for their friends’ thoughtfulness.

              “Good!” Elaine responded, “now hop off. I still have to get dressed.”

              Hebe climbed down onto Elaine’s hand and Elaine set them back on the desk before going to the closet.

              “So…” Hebe said bashfully, “have you… talked to Sarah?”

              Elaine stopped what she was doing and sighed. Without turning around, she said, “I texted her, but she hasn’t responded yet. Today is Friday so we might not see her ‘til Tuesday.”

              Hebe made a face and looked away. They didn’t feel great about how they’d acted and wanted to make up as soon as possible. Elaine deserved to be happy, and Hebe had gotten in the way of that.

              Elaine got dressed and saw that Hebe was still sulking. She walked over and sat down in her desk chair, resting her chin on her elbow in front of them and extending a finger to Hebe. “It’s not your fault,” she said gently.

              “Yeah,” said Hebe, “it is.”

              “Okay, it kind of is,” said Elaine, smiling, “but the way you felt is understandable. We can’t do anything about it right now, so there’s no point in sulking about it.” Hebe understood, but that wasn’t going to stop them from sulking anyways.

              “C’mon, let’s get going.” Elaine bent down so that the miniature Jacob’s Ladder hung close enough to Hebe for them to grab on. Hebe tried to focus on not falling, but at least if they did, they’d have a cushion to catch them.

              Elaine gathered up Hebe’s and her things and made her way down the stairs out of their apartment complex and to the bus. At this point the two had grown used to seeing the girl with the wavy black hair on their bus. They always tried to pick a seat farther away from her, but now that Hebe was hanging from Elaine’s neck and not hidden in a pocket, they were completely visible to the woman, who stared at Hebe the whole walk to the back of the bus. Hebe tried to shake it off, but they knew they would see the girl in class in a few minutes.

              When the students got off the bus, the stranger was following more closely than normal. She usually kept a respectful distance, but this time she was nearly within arm’s reach, and appeared to be speeding up. Hebe assumed Elaine noticed too: she was speedwalking.

              “Hey,” said a vocal fried feminine voice from Elaine’s side. The two jumped back in surprise.

              “Uh, hi…” Elaine said, instinctively bringing her hand up to where Hebe was hanging from her chest. The stranger took notice of this.

              “I’m Quierra,” she said. “Call me Q though. I’m in your APol class.”

              “Yeah, I know…” said Elaine. “I’m Elaine, nice to meet you.” She extended her other hand to shake. Quierra didn’t take it.

              “Who’s your friend?” Q said, nodding toward Hebe.

              Elaine noticed she had been hiding Hebe and removed her hand. Hebe turned around carefully and responded, “I’m Hebe, nice to meet you.” When Q didn’t react, they asked, “can we… help you?”

              Q looked annoyed by that. “I was just gonna ask if I can sit by you in class.”

              Hebe and Elaine looked at each other, eyebrows raised. “Uh, sure?” said Elaine.

              “Great.” Suddenly, Q became a lot more cheerful. Her droning voice shifted to a high-pitched enthusiastic squeak. The roommates exchanged another confused glance before entering the liberal arts building.

              When the three walked into the lecture hall together and sat down, Elaine tried to position herself between Hebe and Q, but Q quickly and covertly moved to the other side so that she was on the same side as Hebe. This made Elaine very nervous, but Hebe was honestly just curious. Why was this woman so fascinated with them? It wasn’t like Rose, who was just mischievous, or Sarah, who was just friendly. Q couldn’t take her eyes off of Hebe. Nonetheless, Hebe tried to focus on lecture while Q idly tapped her short black-painted fingernails on the desk in impatience.

              “Alright class,” professor Betan said, “if you’d open your textbooks to chapter three…”

. . .

              After class, Elaine was packing up rather hurriedly, clearly uncomfortable, but Q was taking her time. Her patience proved to pay off, because Elaine quickly dropped her coffee all over her pants.

              “Fuck!” she exclaimed, recoiling from the hot liquid. “Uhh, I’ll be right back guys. Q can you watch Hebe?”

              Q grinned. “No worries, take your time!” and with that Elaine waddled off to the bathroom, the coffee dripping from her pants leaving a trail.

              Q scooted closer to the desk space Hebe was using and loomed over them. Strands of her dark hair fell in a curtain around Hebe. They looked up and could see deep into her brown-nearly-black eyes. She moved in closer, grinning with impeccably straight and white teeth.

              “Hi,” she said in a flirty tone.

              “Umm… hi,” said Hebe, not sure how to react.

              Q pressed her lips together in polite frustration and kept gazing down. Hebe felt completely naked in front of her giant eyes as they darted up and down their body. “How are you?”

              “I’m… good, how are you?”

              “Just great.” Q bit on her lower lip, slightly smudging her cherry red lipstick. Seeing that small talk wasn’t getting her anywhere, she got to the pint. “So listen,” she said, “I like you.”

              “Oh that – what?” Hebe choked on their response: this was not a social situation they ever expected themself to be in.

              Q placed both her hands forcefully flat on the desk on either side of Hebe and leaned in closer. Hebe could smell cinnamon and caramel on her breath. “I,” she said, leaning in even closer, “like. You! I think we should go on a date.”

              “Oh, uh, I’m flattered but uhh, how would that even work?” Hebe asked.

              Q sat up and looked annoyed. “I don’t know, I could have you over for dinner or something. I could just take you from school so Ellie wouldn’t have to take the bus twice.” Her smile had faded, and she was speaking in a dry tone again.

              “You mean Elaine?” Hebe was feeling a little uncomfortable, but that was outweighed by the butterflies in their stomach – someone had just asked them out for the first time!

              “Yeah, whatever. Let me just give you my number-“

              “I don’t actually have a phone. For, obvious reasons,” Hebe laughed nervously. “Can you give it to Elaine when she comes back?”

              Q looked annoyed by that. She glared at the door and looked back. “I guess.” She wrote down her number and left it by Elaine’s stuff before grabbing her backpack and standing up. “I’ll see you on Monday after school?”

              “Oh, uh, sure?”

              “Sweet.” She opened up a pack of gum and threw one in her mouth, biting down on it with unnecessary force. “See you then!” She winked, and walked away.

              Elaine came back mostly cleaned up and saw that Hebe was sitting on the desk staring at the door. “Where’d Q go? What’s up Hebe?”
              “I think,” they trailed off, “I think I just got asked out.”

              “Really? That’s so great! By who?”

              “Q,” Hebe said, still staring at the door.

              “Oh..." Elaine's tone changed significantly. “Well… That’s great! I’m so happy for you! Did you make plans?”

              “She said I should come home with her on Monday after class.”

              Elaine made a few unintelligible noises before speaking up again. “I don’t uhm… Do you… Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Elaine said. She wanted to express her concern for Hebe’s safety, but didn’t want to step on their independence or ruin this moment for them.

              “I mean… Why not? She’s interested in me, I kinda… I don’t know… I’m kinda curious.” Hebe responded breathlessly.

              “Well… Then okay! Monday it is!” Elaine then noticed the number on her desk and assumed it to be Q’s. “I guess we’ll make plans ASAP!”

. . .

              Their first weekend of the school semester flew by. The two were busy making plans for the next week, getting started on their first batches of homework, and enjoying the last dying breaths of summer. Hebe grew more and more anxious for their first date ever. Elaine did too, but for different reasons than Hebe. The two hadn’t heard from Sarah, and were growing worried. It would suck to mess up their first college friendship. Sarah seemed really fun, and their personalities all meshed well.

              “Oh!” Elaine exclaimed, “Sarah texted back!”
              Hebe dropped what they were doing and ran over to Elaine’s portion of the desk, almost tripping over some pencils and wires. “What’d she say?”

              “She said we can talk on Monday morning. Oh god, I hope she’s not mad at us.”

              “Why would she be mad at you? I’m the one who yelled at her.”

              “True…” Elaine said, but she couldn’t think of something to say to comfort Hebe. Hebe noticed Elaine nervously curling her bleach-damaged hair and smiled. They really hoped at least Elaine and Sarah could make up, if not the whole group.

              Monday rolled around, but the two didn’t see Q on the bus. They had to take an earlier stop to be able to chat with Sarah before classes started. Elaine was relieved by this. She knew Hebe at least reciprocated Q’s interest, and didn’t want to come between them, but she had a bad feeling about Q’s intentions. Though the two hadn’t talked about it, Hebe could detect Elaine’s shifting body language when Q was around. They didn’t want to make Elaine uncomfortable, but this might be their only chance to get a date for a long time, if not ever.

              When the two exited the bus, they could see Sarah standing down the sidewalk, one arm self-consciously holding onto the other, and looking off in a different direction. Elaine took a deep breath and walked toward Sarah, who didn’t notice them until they were basically right next to each other. She turned around. The face she was making broke Hebe’s heart: there was no inkling of the enthusiastic and energetic girl they’d gotten to know the week before. Instead, she looked nervous and lonely, and her body language was closed up all over the place.

              “Hey Sarah,” said Elaine, trying to sound as casual as possible, but unintentionally letting some sympathy come through. “How are you feeling,”

              “Fine,” she said quietly, “how are y’all.”

              It was silent until Sarah spoke up again. “What did you want to talk about?”

              “Oh, uhh… Hebe wanted to talk to you.” Elaine said, gently lifting Hebe from their resting place on Elaine’s necklace. Sarah extended her hand and Elaine slid Hebe into it. They did their best to keep their footing, but the sudden shift in the angle of the surface they were standing on caused them to stumble. Sarah brought her other hand up in case Hebe fell.

              “Thanks,” said Hebe. “Um… Elaine could I talk to Sarah alone for a second?”
              Elaine nodded and walked a few feet away. Not really sure where she should stand so that she was available but didn’t seem like she was eavesdropping (which she was), she found a brick wall to lean against and tried not to look at the two.

              “Hey Sarah.” Hebe wasn’t sure how to start. Sarah didn’t respond though, so Sarah pressed on. “I wanted to talk about what happened on Thursday.”

              Sarah just nodded, still not making eye contact with Hebe. They took a deep breath and tried to get it all out at once.

              “I didn’t mean to get angry at you like that. I had no reason to, you didn’t do anything wrong.” They said, trying to sound as earnest as they could. “I got angry because I was… kind of jealous.”

              “You like Elaine?” Sarah said incredulously.

              “No no, it’s not like that… I thought I did but I honestly just haven’t ever known anyone else well enough to be able to distinguish what being really close friends and being lovers felt like.” Hebe was saying things they didn’t even know they knew. They weren't sure where it was coming from, but both could tell it was honest. “Seeing you two interact in a way I didn’t think I’d ever get to experience that with anyone except for maybe Elaine, but when we talked about it, I realized that it didn’t have to be romantic for me to get that kind of affection, and that there are other fish in the sea. And it would be weird if I got romantic with Elaine, she’s basically my sister.”

              Sarah looked at Hebe and gave a weak smile. “Thanks, Hebe,” she said, “I’m sorry I made you feel uncomfortable. That wasn’t my intention.”

              “Not your fault,” Hebe said, smiling back. “Are we cool then?”

              “Totally,” said Sarah. She placed Hebe carefully on her (uncomfortably bony) shoulder and started walking back to Elaine.

              “By the way,” Hebe whispered in Sarah’s ear, “in bed, pull on her hair, she goes crazy for that shit.”

              “Hebe!” Sarah shouted, turning tomato red.

              When they reached Elaine, they were both beaming. “Kiss and make up?” Elaine asked.

              “More or less!” Sarah smiled down to the person on her shoulder and attempted to give a gentle kiss on the cheek, though due to their size difference she unintentionally got most of Hebe’s face. Hebe returned to Elaine’s hand as a group of bus riders exited the bus and started heading to their classes.

              “I think we should probably get going. I’ll text you?” Elaine said. Sarah nodded and blew a kiss, and they went their separate ways.