“I know, but I’d much rather hang out with you.”
Tonight was our nonprofit’s annual fundraising gala. The event was happening at a fancy hotel in downtown Seattle, andhundreds of our agency’s donors would be in attendance. As program directors we were expected to attend and mingle, both during the cocktail reception and the dinner.
I pulled Julia closer, pressing my lips against hers, but she pushed back after a few seconds with a regretful look.
“I’ve got to get ready. You know it takes me longer than you. Plus I need to look good since I’m in the video. It’s my movie star moment.”
Each year the gala focused on one of our programs, and this year the focus was on the Sunrise program. Julia was in the video talking about the transitional shelter she ran and the work they did to help homeless families obtain employment and move into permanent housing. We’d gotten a preview of the video during our leadership team meeting this week and we’d all agreed that Julia had done a great job. She was a natural in front of the camera, and very photogenic.
“All those rich people are going to go crazy over your video,” I assured her. “They’ll be throwing money at you.”
“Like the main act at the strip club?” she teased.
I loved Julia’s sense of humor. I used to find it annoying when we were younger, but now I found it entertaining. She looked at the world in a different way than the rest of us. Maybe it was because her brain worked a little differently, or maybe it was just her quirky personality. Either way, she kept me laughing.
We’d been laughing together for five months now and I’d never been happier. We were firmly in coupledom since our middle of the night conversation a few months ago. We spent most weekends together, and while we maintained our own lives, we’d blended in a lot of ways. It had happened almost seamlessly, which was a surprise. In my experience, relationships took a lot of work. Not that we didn’t have our issues – we were very different people and had a lifetime of arguing behind us – but at our base we were very compatible. I never would have expected that.
I changed in the guest room while Julia got ready in her bedroom. As she predicted, I was ready was before her, so I moved into the living room, playing on my phone while I waited for her.
“How do I look?”
I glanced up and nearly swallowed my tongue. Julia was wearing a shimmery royal blue cocktail dress with a fitted bodice, sweetheart neckline, and cap sleeves. The dress cinched at the waist and flared out at her knees. The matching blue shoes she wore made her legs look a mile long. She’d curled her long hair into a cascade of waves, and whatever she’d done with her eye make-up made her eyes look huge. She looked hot as fuck.
“Check this out.” She twirled in a circle, the movement making her skirt poof out.
“You look beautiful,” I said, my voice sounding scratchy.
When I stood up Julia finally noticed my outfit. Her mouth dropped open.
“You’re wearing a dress? I don’t think I’ve seen you in a dress since high school graduation.”
I shrugged, feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable.
“I usually wear a suit to these things, but I wanted something different.”
When she didn’t say anything I asked, “Do I look okay?”
I was wearing a simple black dress with a matching belt, and low-heeled ankle boots that were dressier than my usual Doc Martens. I didn’t usually do a lot with my hair, but tonight I’d spent some time brushing it out until it looked smooth, then added some gel to slick it back from my face, giving me a little bit of a punk rock look.
“You look incredible,” she said, moving closer to give me a quick peck on the lips. “But I don’t know if I like having everyone else see your legs. They’re like our little secret.”
“Ha ha.”
She wasn’t wrong though. Only a select few people had seen me in anything other than pants.
We headed out to the hotel where the gala was taking place, opting to use a rideshare to get downtown instead of struggling to find parking. Plus it gave us an opportunity to snuggle in the backseat.
We walked into the hotel together, then split up after picking up our name tags, conscious of the fact that we were under strict orders to work the room and talk to donors.
I kept my eyes on Julia throughout the night, appreciating the way she moved through the cocktail reception crowd introducing herself to people and talking about her program. She had an ease about her that I just didn’t have. Events like these only highlighted my natural introverted awkwardness. I either sidled up to a group and hoped they noticed me and spoke to me first, or I glommed onto someone standing alone to make awkward small talk.
“Chris!” I looked up as Julia waved to me, indicating that I should join her. She was talking to two women.
The older one was sleekly sophisticated looking with long dark hair and an air of power. The younger one had a blue streak in her hair and a bit of a punk rock vibe despite the fact that she was wearing a perfectly respectable cocktail dress. They were an unlikely couple, but they stood together with the easy intimacy of people who’d been together for a long time. I wondered if Julia and I would be like that someday.
“This is Chris Robbins, she manages our employment programs,” Julia said when I reached them. “Chris, this is Madison Phoenix and her partner Camille.”
Ah, that’s why the woman looked familiar. Madison Phoenix was a big deal in Seattle. She’d started one of the most successful software companies in the world, and in doing so had created a workplace that was exceptionally supportive to its mostly LGBTQ+ employees. I remembered reading somewhere that she’d gotten together with Camille, an aspiring author who was a barista at the Morning Jolt coffee shop at the time. The local gossip sites had had a field day with it, but the couple had been together for several years now.
