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alone someone who was also gay.
    I found Maia at a table in the main lobby where the best people watching occurred. If we had really wanted to get work done, we would have found an empty space in the stacks. Hardly anyone ever ventured to where the books lived.
    “So tell me about your summer break,” Maia implored. “Lauren totally dominated our conversation yesterday, and we didn’t have the opportunity to catch up.”
    “There’s not much to tell, really. I babysat for the Henderson’s nearly every day, and at night I hung out with Jenn.”
    “Jenn.” Maia released a wistful sigh. “What’s she like?”
    I thought about my girlfriend of a few months. Beyond our mutual admiration for the female form, we didn’t have much in common, but we’d made it work so far. “She’s quirky,” I decided on. “She’s got a lot of opinions, and she’s not afraid to share them. I suppose it could come across as bossy, but I like that about her. She’s pretty brave.”
    “Is she cute? Of course she’s cute,” Maia interrupted herself. “You wouldn’t date someone you didn’t think was cute.”
    “If you’re into androgynous women, you’d like Jenn. She likes to wear male fashions and she’s got a lot of tattoos and piercings, but there’s still something really feminine and delicate about her.” Jenn didn’t look like the kind of girl I usually dated, but that had been part of my initial attraction to her.
    “How did you guys meet?” Maia asked.
    “I was at a book reading in Andersonville. She approached me afterwards and immediately started hitting on me. I thought she was cocky and a little bratty, but all of that confidence had me intrigued. We got a beer afterwards, and I guess the rest is history.”
    “How did she know you were gay?”
    “Well, I was at a book reading in Andersonville,” I chuckled. The Swedish-American neighborhood was popular with lesbians. Boystown was another predominately queer enclave, but I preferred the small-town feel of Andersonville.
    “I don’t know how or where to meet girls. And everyone I crush on turns out to be super straight,” Maia sighed. “It would be so much easier if there was a secret handshake or something.”
    “I’ll ask Jenn,” I proposed. “Maybe she’s got some hot lady friends at DePaul she could hook you up with.”
    “Really?” Maia’s eyes brightened. “You’d do that?”
    “Absolutely.” I grabbed my phone from my bag and wrote a quick text to Jenn before I forgot. She didn’t respond, but I figured she was probably in class. “There,” I said with some finality. “Mission: Find Maia a Girlfriend has commenced.”
    Maia dipped her head. “I’d be happy with a first date at this point.”
    I patted her hand. “She’s out there,” I assured my friend. “Plenty of gay fish in the Chicago seas.”
    Maia noticed my anatomy textbook on the shared table. She flipped the hardcover open to the table of contents. “Raleigh’s in this class with you, isn’t she?”
    “Yeah. And I found out after lunch yesterday that she’s in General Psychology with me, too.”
    “Do you think she’s gay?”
    “Raleigh?” She didn’t ping my gay-dar, but I didn’t have much of a sampling; we’d only exchanged a few words. I shook my head. “I really couldn’t say.”
    Maia rested her forehead on the library table. “Maybe I should just go on a date with a guy. Guys seem easier.”
    “Easier, but so less hotter,” I pointed out.
    “So true.”
     
     
    Maia and I left the library a few hours later to meet up with Lauren and Kelley for lunch. The cafeteria was less crowded on Tuesdays, and we easily claimed our usual table.
    Lauren consulted her chirping phone. “Kelley says she’s bringing Raleigh to lunch again if we don’t mind.”
    “Why would we mind?” I posed, digging into my macaroni and cheese.
    I heard Maia sigh beside me. “She looks like what angels must look like.” Her brown eyes widened in horror. “I said