An Author and A Young Woman - Chapter 5: Big Kittens
Chapter 5: Big Kittens
She reached Columbus Circle and said to herself, “What the hell? I’m not doing anything special today.” She continued walking and headed toward the direction of ‘Broadway Dance Studio’ on Broadway between 74th and 75th; the wind blew and her long dark hair waved in the sky. The next thing that came to her mind was a day at ‘Big Kittens’.
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Diva held a glass of Long Island Tea; she already had a glass of the same drink today, and she was having a buzz. She felt pretty safe though, since she was a regular at ‘Big Kittens’ and she was with her friend, Audrey. It was also relatively safe to walk around downtown, Santa Barbara at night; that was where ‘Big Kittens’ was located and she lived in an apartment a couple of blocks from there. She moved in there six months ago. She knew the bartender and she also knew security guys who stood outside. ‘Big Kittens’ was a small club, and it was a pretty popular hangout among college students in Santa Barbara. She started coming here after she turned 21. She went to parties pretty regularly, but she rarely went to bars and clubs before she turned 21. Of course, she couldn’t go there officially since she had to be over 21 to enter bars and clubs in US.
She tried smoking pot a couple of times and tried a couple of other drugs by this time, but she did these things out of her curiosity rather than out of her rage, anger or frustration; though she was perfectly aware that taking such drugs was unlawful, she just wanted to experiment just to get an idea of what they were like.
She was in her junior year in college, and the second quarter, Winter Quarter 1997 started two weeks ago. She had not turned into a party girl, but she was definitely spending more time at bars and clubs than in the past. She was not a bad student, but she was a little burned out this quarter. Also she was at the age that she wanted to party a little, so the combination of two made her a bit outgoing than she used to.
”Did you hook up with that guy …? What’s his name? Rick. Did you hook up with Rick?” asked Audrey. “No,” answered Diva.
”No? What happened? Didn’t he invite you to his birthday party?”
”Yes.”
”And? You dressed up and went to the party, right?”
”Yes.”
”Diva …” Audrey looked at her and longed for an answer.
”Well, there were a couple of other girls and one guy.”
”Ok.”
”He has a girlfriend?”
”No. But he might have a very close friend.”
”Ok. What’s she like?”
”He’s a good looking guy.”
”Yeah, I know. I’m asking you about his close friend.”
”I know. I’m talking about his close friend, and he’s a good looking guy.” There was a short pause, and then Diva said, “Maybe he likes men.”
”He’s gay?”
”Maybe.” Diva said it in a slightly depressing voice.
”There are many other guys, you know?” Audrey tried hard not to laugh.
”Yeah, I know.” Audrey changed the subject and asked. “How’re you doing in math classes?”
”Badly.”
”Really?”
”Really.”
”But you’ll pass your classes.”
”Maybe, maybe not.”
Diva and Audrey continued chatting for another hour and left.
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”That was when I more or less gave up on the idea of pursuing a career in math. It was not for me. I liked the subject, and I’m glad that I made enough effort to get the degree in math, but becoming a ’mathematician’ was not for me. It just wasn’t meant to be,” thought her. “This was when I lost my scholarship because of my unimpressive grades; the scholarship did not pay my expenses, but it paid my tuition at least. I had to ask my parents extra money to pay my tuition from then on. I told my father that my grades were dropping because my classes were getting more difficult, which was partially true. Luckily his business was doing very well. I was his only daughter, so he didn’t ask me too many questions; he just started sending me more money.” It was a difficult time for her actually, but she also missed ‘good old’ college days.
