Stevie Sharp worked the door of Peanuts. She had known me for a few years already but had no idea I was only 19! So, when she told me she was 23, I lied and told her I was 23 as well. I couldn't tell her how old I really was... I'd never get into the club again!

The deception didn't last very long though. I've always been a terrible liar! I attribute that to my having learned in my early teen's that by always telling the truth, my mother would stop asking the questions she didn't want to know the answers to! I just don't have much practice. Anyway...

It was Thanksgiving and I had been stranded on campus for almost a week with practically everyone else gone home for the holidays. Sadly, my cute little car had seen its last day just one week before when it was rolled on Malibu Canyon. It wasn't actually me that wrecked it, and because it had been a gift from my parents, they were really mad at me for letting someone else drive it. So mad, in fact, that they refused to drive up to get me for the holidays!

It wasn't so bad, being alone on campus. It was actually kind of cool. I'm sure there were others there but from where my dorm was located, I couldn't see any. So, for four days I talked to Stevie on the phone. For hours at a time, we talked about everything! I really liked talking to her. It felt like I was learning things. Not because of our difference in years, really. More like in lifetimes.

I've been told I have a very young soul. No, not young... I believe the exact words were, "Your soul isn't even a toddler, Jesse! Its an INFANT!" Yep! That was it. - oh... different time. different girl. Many years later. --

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that that's why I have such a hard time learning those 'life-lessons'. You know, the ones that give the attributes linked to wisdom? I don't get to learn those easily. No, no, no! I get to run into the same brick walls over and over before I begin to recognize them early enough to do something besides smashing into them, face first!

So, yeah... Stevie was great to talk to. We talked about the wonders of leather and lace. Never to leave home without your vibrator. How important sexy lingerie was - not just for your lover but for yourself too! How wearing it under your clothes made you feel sexy even if nobody else knew you were wearing it.

I didn't really get that last one until several years later but I really enjoyed picturing Stevie in it and knowing it would always be true! I couldn't wait 'til the next time I saw her! Imagine trying to guess what it looked like... what she looked like in just it... knowing it's there. Not knowing if it will be that day that I'd get to find out! What a turn on! Hmmm... Sorry... Got carried away for a second!

There was something about Stevie... a kind of presence about her that was magnetic. Everyone wanted to know her. She didn't drive so she couldn't come get me. She was originally from New York and said she enjoyed not having a license. She said she was meant to be a princess and princesses were meant to be chauffeured. She told me if I didn't find somewhere to go by Thanksgiving, she would send a cab for me. That was pretty nice, I thought, since it would've been at least a hundred bucks to do it.

On Thanksgiving day, though, I did find somewhere to go. I hadn't seen Red since that night I stayed over. When she called me to wish me well for the holidays and I told her I was stranded, she immediately sent her girlfriend, Kate, to come get me! (Yes, it felt a bit weird!) She said that every year on Thanksgiving, she made a huge feast for all her friends who were without family to spend it with. There was never a shortage of friends who'd been disowned by their families for being gay. So Red was like the island for misfit toys, and, she said, she could always count on there being at least ten or twelve who happily embraced that refuge each year. Naturally she sent for me.

It was a bittersweet reunion. I missed her. I was still crazy about her. More than ever, maybe. But it couldn't be, and so she told me that night. I told her about Stevie and she said she wanted me to be happy and if I thought Stevie could be that girl, then to go to her. Kate was going out to peanuts the following night and would be happy to take me with her. I spoke to Stevie and she seemed excited about getting to see me.

So, that was the plan.