Fauna's Date

Adam rushed to the door. “Hi,” Fauna waved as the door opened.

His eyes gazed over them. Chocolate hair pulled back in a bun, the charm adorned braid hanging down on one side. The little white hearts dotted their face, with bright orange eye shadow. A light shawl covered their bare shoulders, except the thin straps of their flowery summer dress. They were tall, a couple inches taller than Adam, putting them around 6 foot in flats. “You look stunning,” Adam said, causing Fauna to blush.

“Thanks, um you too,” they responded, looking over Adam’s tight jeans and polo shirt. “Should we,” they gestured down the hall towards the exit of the building. Once they were on the street, Adam started guiding them to his car, but they pulled him aside, “This is us.”

Adam stopped to look at the sleek black Escalade, the front window rolled down to reveal Elizabeth. “Get in,” she said.

Adam opened the door for Fauna, and climbed in after them. “I didn’t realize Elizabeth was joining us,” he started.

Fauna was about to respond, when Elizabeth cut it, “I’m not. Fauna is a passenger princess, so I’m chauffeuring since we can’t send them off with a random guy. No matter how good he fucks. Just pretend like I’m not here.”

Adam nodded and turned back to Fauna. “This is always so awkward, um what do you do for a living?”

They blushed, but then Elizabeth spoke up, “Fauna’s an artist. You should see this piece they did last week, it was this erotic painting of me, where I—“

“Zabby,” Fauna squeaked and leaned up to whisper in her ear. Adam tried his best not to stare at their ass as they leaned into the front of the car.

“Sorry. Just pretend like I’m not here.”

Fauna pulled their seat belt back on and turned to Adam, “Sorry. Yes, I’m an artist. Elizabeth told us, that you’re a math teacher.”

“That’s awesome, I’d love to see your work sometime. And yep math, the exciting stuff. I teach Calculus at City High School.”

“Oh, I went there,” they light up, “Is Ms. Howards still teaching?”

“Yes, but she’s Mrs. Ghazali now. What year did you graduate? We couldn’t have been that far apart,” he asked.

“2011,” they answered, the same as him.

Adam noticed them pulling away, “I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about that.”

“Thanks,” they say fiddling their thumbs, “I just wasn’t out, you know? So—“

“Nah, I get it. I wasn’t either. Out that is. I think the football team would’ve kicked my ass if I’d hit on Jerome Ryans, but mmm, I wish I had.”

“He was hot,” Fauna agreed, coming back out of their shell. They looked at Adam, “Do you remember that mural in the hallway by the cafeteria?”

“Yea, it’s still there.” Adam thought about the mural, a tiger, the CHS mascot, slinking through the jungle.

“That was mine, I spent most of my senior year painting that,” Fauna was blushing.

“Like the whole thing? That’s awesome. I remember it being painted. It’s so good,” Adam reached out and touching their hand.

“Thanks,” their blush burned brighter.

“Aren’t you two cute,” Elizabeth cooed.

“Zabby!” Fauna hid their face.

“Sorry, sorry. But we are here,” she said, pulling over outside the restaurant. Adam held the door for Fauna. As they walked towards the door, Elizabeth called out from the car, “You forgetting something?” Fauna pranced back to give Elizabeth a peck on the lips. “Adam?” He looked between the two of them, and Fauna nodded their head towards her. So he leaned in giving Elizabeth a kiss before walking into his date with Fauna.

Once their food was ordered, they go back to talking. “So ‘they/she’ do you prefer one over the other?”

They picked at the roll, eating small torn off pieces, “Um, it’s kind of like always they/them, but I won’t correct strangers that use she/her. Oh and I use feminine gendered terms, so like woman, queen, sister, girlfriend,” they blush at the last word.

“Got it,” he grinned biting into his own roll, as their food arrived.

Fauna talked about their sister, and Adam knew better than to press a fellow queer person when they don’t bring up their parents. Adam told them about his parents, his brother, his sister, the family dog. He talked about the kids he teaches. While Fauna talked about their latest attempt at sculpting, “I would love to one day do a full marble statue. But for now I’m working with wood and soapstone.”

They dug around in their bag and pulled out a small wooden deer. “Wow, you did this?” he ran his fingers over the polished wood. He noticed the spots on its head, where nubs were sanded down, where antlers would’ve been. “It’s amazing.”

Fauna blushed again, “Thanks. I made it for you.”

“Really? I love it.” The waiter brought over the check and take-out boxes. Adam realized that Fauna had barely ate. “Did you get enough to eat?”

They looked down, “Oh, yea. I just don’t eat that much.” And they were thin, but he didn’t think they looked malnourished so he didn’t say anything more. After Adam filled out the check and slipped his card inside, Fauna grabbed it. “Sorry, Viv’s tests. Nice tip,” they took the pen, “We’ll just double that, and Viv is paying.” They handed his card back and slipped a black card into the book.

A weird relief washed over him when they swapped cards. He hadn’t even considered how expensive it would be to date 4 women at once, he could afford the Wendy’s runs but full dates like this on a teacher’s salary?

“What did you get me?” Elizabeth asked as they walked out to where she was parked.

“Salmon and some green beans, oh and I ordered the mashed potatoes just for you Zabby.”

“Ah, you’re too sweet. And you?” Elizabeth asked as she accepted Fauna’s leftovers.

Adam chuckled, “There’s a bit of steak, I ate all the fries, but there’s some coleslaw still in there.” He handed his food over to Elizabeth too.

Fauna scrolled through their phone, showing pictures of their art to Adam. Until they finally reached his apartment building. “Can I kiss you?” he asked, holding Fauna’s hand.

Fauna blushed but nodded, so Adam leaned in and kissed them. “That’s adorable,” Elizabeth cooed again.

“Zabby!” Fauna shrieked, hiding their bright red face again.

Adam suppressed his laugh, “This has been lovely.” He rubbed his thumb along their palm.

“It really was, I hope you don’t mind that I’m not coming upstairs,” they looked down at their joined hands.

“Hey, I don’t mind at all. There’s never any pressure.” Fauna looked relieved, and leaned in for one more good night kiss.

“I’d come upstairs, but someone’s got to drive the princess home,” Elizabeth teased.

“Zabby!”

Adam laughed, and Elizabeth pulled him in through the window for her own good night kiss. She used a lot more tongue than Fauna did. He saw Fauna climbing into the passenger seat as Elizabeth rolled up the tinted window.