I skimmed through my notes for what had to be the 50th time. I adjusted my glasses. I adjusted my hijab. I fixed the sock that was rolling down my ankle. The Colorful Spirits meeting was starting in less than ten minutes, and the LGBTQ Center lounge was still conspicuously empty. What was I supposed to do if no one showed up to the first meeting? On paper, I had co-facilitated the group the year before, but in reality Brae had run the show. I had been a figurehead leader at best. I was already regretting my offer to take over the group after they graduated.
Just as I was ready to give up hope altogether, though, I heard voices coming down the hallway.
“Can you believe they have a whole resource center, here?” said one voice, practically bubbling over with excitement, “We could barely get our high school to set up a GSA!”
The second voice, which spoke with a faint Spanish accent, didn’t seem so sure, “This better not be like the time we went to that LGBTQ community center and everyone was a flirtatious gay boy.”
“Hey, it wasn’t that bad,” said the first voice.
“That’s because you are a gay boy!” retorted the second voice, “Now imagine being asexual and having a room full of entitled gay boys hitting on you.”
“Fair point,” the bearer of the second voice conceded as he walked through the door. He was lanky with a mop of curly hair, dark at the back and bleached at the front. His tawny cheeks were splattered with freckles, and he was dressed like an Aeropostale model. His reluctant friend had dark skin, soft grey eyes, and a football-player build. His stubby dreadlocks were bleached at the tips, and I wondered if they had coordinated their hairstyles on purpose.
“Hey, are you guys here for Colorful Spirits?” I asked, sitting up straight and waving at them.
“We are indeed!” said the lanky newcomer, sinking into the couch across the room, “Are you running it?”
“Yep,” I said, “I guess we’ll wait a few more minutes and see if more people show up, though, because so far it’s just us.”
“No problem!” he responded.
We fell into awkward silence for a couple minutes. I tried to look busy by fixing typos in my notes, but I think all I accomplished was to make myself look more uncomfortable. As I frantically tried to think of ways to break the silence and begin the meeting, another guest appeared in the doorway and glanced around the room, seeming hesitant. He had rosy, round cheeks and a floppy brown mohawk. He might have looked punk if it weren’t for the boot cut jeans and dirt-stained plaid shirt.
I took the opportunity to speak, “Come on in! We haven’t actually started yet.”
He looked almost startled,” Oh man, I didn’t meet to interrupt you guys. I’ll come back later.”
Before I had the chance to argue, though, the lanky newcomer’s reluctant friend came to the rescue “Hey, you’re in my bio lab! Raine, right?”
The stranger in the door seemed to light up, “Heeey! Fancy seein’ you here. How’s that lab report treatin’ ya?”
“Not bad. I just gotta do the reflection questions. You sure you don’t wanna stay?”
“Ah, screw it. I can stick around for… whatever this is,” Raine said, strolling over and plopping his hefty body into the armchair adjacent to his classmate.
I glanced down at my notes one last time, then closed my laptop and looked around at my small audience, “Well, I guess we can get started, then. For anyone who doesn’t already know, this is Colorful Spirits. We talk about religion and queer-stuff. I mean… we have an official mission statement around here somewhere, but you probably don’t care, so I’ll spare you the boredom. Anyways, I’m Kye, and as you can see, I am crap at facilitating. I guess we should start with introductions? Name, pronouns, year and major… and I guess say why you came here?”
“I’ll start,” said the lanky newcomer with a charismatic smile, “I’m Lupio O’Hara-Espinosa. I prefer he-pronouns. I’m a freshman anthropology major, and I’m here because I want to meet other people in the queer community and learn about their perspectives.”
His friend went next, “I’m Sebastián Arias. He-pronouns for me, too. Uh, I’m a first year in the pharmacy program, and I’m here because Lupio invited me.”
“And I’m Raine Forrest,” said Raine, pausing to let his name sink in.
“Wait, really?” asked Sebastián.
“Really really,” said Raine with a grin, “My parents sure knew how to pick a name. Anyways, I go by he-pronouns, too, and I’m studying wildlife and conservation bio part-time. Oh, and I had no idea what this group even was until about 30 seconds ago!”
“Nice to meet you all!” I said, “Like I said, I’m Kye Ahmadi. I use she-pronouns, and I’m in year four of five double majoring in marine bio and ocean engineering, because apparently one major wasn’t enough for me. I’m here because my friend Brae graduated and dumped this group on me. Also, because the group is kind of important, and I didn’t want the director of the LGBTQ Center to disband it, so here I am. So… what do you guys want from this group this semester?”
“No clue!” Raine said with a shrug, “To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know they had groups at this place. I just read the sign that said LGBTQ Center and decided to poke my nose in.”
“Could we talk about nature-based religions at some point?” Sebastián suggested, huddling shyly into his oversized hoodie.
“Sure, I can try,” I said, opening my laptop back up to type his suggestion, “Full disclosure, I’ve barely started to learn my way around my own religion, much less anyone else’s. Brae was kind of the brains of this operation, but now that they’re off restoring Scottish folk music at Brown, so you’re stuck with me.”
“If you need any help organizing things, I’d be happy to lend a hand,” Lupio offered, “I’m looking for ways to get more involved, and it sounds like you have your hands full.”
“Seriously? Yes!” I exclaimed, relief flooding over me, “Thank you! You’re a lifesaver. Want to hash the details out over dinner sometime?”
“Not a problem at all,” he replied, “This is like the best opportunity ever. I can take on as much as you need me to. Do you have anything else planned for tonight’s meeting? If not, we can just head straight over to the dining hall to chat.”
“Yeah, I’m starving,” Sebastián agreed, “I had chemistry lab this afternoon, and I forgot to pack snacks.”
“I’m fine with that!” I agreed, “Raine, do you want to come, too, or do you have somewhere else to be?”
“Ah, I’d love to come, but I don’t have a meal plan,” he said, “It’s fine, I’ll just grab dinner on my drive home.”
“I’ll guest swipe you in,” Sebastián offered.
“Okay, cool,” Raine said, “I guess I’m in, then.”
We made our way to the nearest dining hall and went our separate ways to pick out food. About 15 minutes later, we reconvened at a table in the corner. I stared down at my plate full of pizza, “Man, the vegetarian options at the dining halls are always really disappointing. This is the fourth time this week I’ve had cheese pizza.”
“You’re vegetarian, too?” asked Lupio.
“Not technically,” I shook my head, taking a bite of my pizza, “The school just doesn’t have a halal menu, so I’m mostly stuck with veggie options.”
“That sucks,” said Raine, gazing forlornly down at his own salad, “Geeze, do they have any real gluten free options, here? This is not real food.”
“Oh, yeah there’s a weird little closet hidden in the kitchen,” I explained, “Just ask one of the cooks. They’re usually pretty nice.”
“Well then, I have a date with the gluten free closet,” said Raine standing back up and abandoning his half-eaten salad.
“Am I the only one without some kind of dietary restriction, here?” asked Sebastián.
“Yeah, as long as being extraordinarily picky doesn’t count as a dietary restriction,” teased Lupio.
Sebastián wrinkled his broad nose in playful annoyance, then took another bite of banana.
Raine returned a few minutes later with a heaping plate of gluten free pastries. “I hope my insulin pump can keep up with the crummy life choice I’m about to make,” he said casually, taking a bite of brownie.
Lupio produced a plastic bag from his backpack and passed it to Raine, “Maybe just take some of those to-go.”
“Oh, cool,” Raine said, setting to work stashing his pastries in his backpack, “Guess I should get some chicken and corn, then, now that I know I don’t have to eat all these desserts in one sitting.”
“Please don’t eat all those desserts in one sitting,” Sebastián advised, looking concerned.
“Yeah, I think I’m going to have to dessert this sugary deathship,” Raine said, “It’s too bad. It almost feels like I’m chickening out of a dare, but at least I was able to get some corny puns in in the process. I’ll be back with some real food.”
I snorted loudly and Sebastián rolled his eyes as Raine left again to get a meal to go with his dessert. I turned to Lupio, who was chuckling into his orange juice, “So what are your ideas for Colorful Spirits?”
“I was thinking we could invite in monthly guest speakers, maybe,” he said as he piled salad onto a slice of his own pizza, “That way, we don’t have to pretend to be experts on every religion and identity.”
I tried not to think about the fact that I was being upstaged by someone who had been in college for less than a month. “Why didn’t I think of that? That’s great!”
“I’d just need your help pointing me towards churches and mosques and student organizations that I could talk to, since I’m new around here and am still finding my way around.”
“Well, I can do that,” I said between mouthfuls, “If I put you in contact with folks, can you take care of planning and facilitating? That’s pretty much what Brae and I did last year. I suggested topics and they turned them into actual group meetings.”
“You’ve got a deal!” Lupio agreed with a grin.
“Meeting adjourned?” I asked.
“Meeting adjourned!” Lupio repeated with zeal.
“But dinner is not adjourned,” said Raine, who had returned with a much more reasonable-looking plate of grilled chicken and corn, “By the way, we should all swap phone numbers. I’m not on campus much, but I’d love to grab dinner with you guys again sometime if you want.”
“Good idea,” said Sebastián, “Maybe we can work on our lab reports together for biology.”
“Yeah, we probably should have done that already,” I said, fishing my phone out of the pocket of my athletic pants and offering it to Lupio, “Want to just type your number into my phone?”
“Sure,” he said, plucking my phone from my hand and replacing it with his, “What a fortuitous meeting! I just can’t get over it.”
I grinned, “I know, right? Where would we all be at if you guys hadn’t showed up to my miserable attempt at facilitating Colorful Spirits tonight?”
