Shawn sarcastically asked, "So Jay, is that your cholesterol or your GPA?"
Jay sneered back and replied, "Noooo! That's how many days it is until May 11th."
"Don't tell me you're already counting the days until classes end next semester. This semester doesn't start until Monday."
"You're close, but then again you're not. That's how many days it is until graduation..."
Shawn cut him off again, "So, your mouth's salivating at the though of hearing a riveting speech by our university chancellor. Besides, your graduation is not until 2003 so that's more like 600 days, isn't it?"
"No, that's the day that Trisha Kendrick graduates - Saturday, May 11th, 2002 - and presumably leaves Athens forever. She's never mentioned staying around for graduate school - although she's certainly smart enough."
"Okay, you're starting to make sense now. So how long have you known Trisha now?"
"We met in the fall of 1999, so two years. We've gotten to be pretty close friends."
"I know, but that's quite a bit different from being your girlfriend - you’ve never even kissed her, have you? It seems you've crossed the line where she may never think of you as anything but her best male friend and confidante. Maybe you ought to go for her roommate, Jeannie. She'd nice and cute and she obviously likes you. Remember, you're a Beta! There are probably a lot of girls who would go out with you if you'd just ask."
"You know what, if Jeannie did not know Trisha I'd probably ask her out. She was looking really pretty this summer when I saw her and she’d obviously a nice girl. But it's not worth the risk, man, to ask out Trisha's friend and roommate. That would probably kill any chance right there."
"Okay, but you seem to be putting your all your proverbial eggs in one basket. Ask out someone who doesn't know Trisha."
Ignoring Shawn’s suggestion, Jay continues, "Shawn, do you think it's hopeless for me and Trisha. I mean we did go out a couple of times in the spring of 2000, but she did not seem interested in pursuing anything. Turns out she got back with her high school sweetheart Chuck which lasted only until October. I thought I had a chance then but she held out for her friend Tim's return in January who proceeded to dump her this past March. Again I thought I had a chance, but as you said, we were such good friends that it seemed wrong to push for anything more. She seemed a bit hurt by being dumped twice in a year. Then I went over to a 4th of July party at her house in Atlanta and she seemed to be maybe getting together with Amber's ex-boyfriend Doug. She told me they were only friends, but Doug told me he was very interested in her."
Shawn tried to play the role of counselor. "So what do Chuck, Tim and Doug have that you don't? Is it looks? I don't see much of a difference there. Is it brains? Certainly not Chuck although Tim and Doug seem intelligent from what you've told me but no more than you. For goodness sakes you're just decided you're going to Law School after you graduate."
Jay came back with, "She doesn't know that yet, but otherwise, what am I doing wrong?"
"Jay, I think you lack confidence. That number you just wrote on the board, let's try to remember to change it every morning and use it as an opportunity for you to think about your goal of winning Trisha's heart before she's gone."
"So is that all I need to do, Shawn, you think?"
"Well, Jay, let me see...You know one thing that might just work? She needs to see you dating other girls and spending time with other girls even as just friends. You are too comfortable in her life. If you were less available, she might realize she misses you and it could draw her your way."
"But isn't that risky? If I pull back too far or if I date someone else might that just push her farther away?”
"Jay, I cannot guarantee you success, but if you do nothing, I will guarantee you failure."
That seemed like a profound statement by Shawn, so he took that as his mantra for the next 259 days. "It's a plan!"
Down the street, Trisha and her sorority was finishing up another successful rush week with a lot of good pledges. Jeannie had also enjoyed being a Rho Chi. Shelley had graciously accepted Trisha's generous offer to be her Vice President of Member Education - the number two slot in the sorority - and looked forward to another semester working Friday afternoons at WAGA-TV and doing more "Inside Scoop" reports. She was still going to be Head Cheerleader and she was still dating Beau the quarterback of the football team, but their relationship was still tenuous at times. Beau was already getting hype for being the one who might lead the Bulldogs to a SEC Championship in football. There was also talk in the media about how high he would go in the upcoming National Football League draft and he was even casually mentioned as a Heisman Trophy candidate. Of course while Beau sometimes considered Shelley a distraction as he pursued to meet these expectations, Shelley was more eager than ever to make things work with a man who was seemingly destined to be quite wealthy very soon.
Jay knew what he had to do concerning Trisha, but he also knew he needed to see her before he began to execute his plan. A year ago, she had been willing to go to dinner with him early in the semester - after a chapter meeting - and their friendship took off from there. He knew he needed to re-establish their "togetherness" before he could seem distant. He decided to take this opportunity to tell her about his big life decision to go to Law School.
Jay called her up the evening of Labor Day, knowing that their AOPi chapter meeting was the next day. "Hey Trisha, how's your Labor Day been?"
"Pretty good I suppose, I got a lot of stuff done I needed to do getting ready for a senior database design project that I have to do this semester and also for our chapter meeting tomorrow night. How about you Jay."
Trisha seemed friendly enough for starters so Jay's nervousness eased a bit as he continued their conversation, "It's been fine. We had a fun scrimmage football game against Sigma Pi and we won 28-21. I'm a bit sore, but otherwise okay. Hey, we haven't gotten to visit and catch up on things since the semester started. I also made a big decision I want to tell you about. So, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner after your chapter meeting?
"Sure, sounds good. You want me to come over after we're done?"
Jay was about to insist that he pick her up, like he usually did, but then he remembered his conversation with Shawn about being too comfortable. "Yeah, that will be fine. I'll be (he started to say in the lobby - therefore implying more eagerness and over availability) in my room studying, just ring me when you get in." Trisha suspected nothing and agreed to his terms. This may have subconsciously earned her respect, but consciously this change did not make an impression on Trisha.
Tuesday evening, Trisha led a good chapter meeting. They got their semester calendar finalized and set up a few committees. She dressed impeccable as usual in a pretty white and red print skirt; solid red sleeveless knit top and matching red slides she had bought over the weekend home in Atlanta from Bruce at Parisian. She had not been paying for shoes much since her modeling job began in April - she had acquired over a dozen 'free' new pairs already - but she and her mom, Lisa, were browsing and Mom wanted a pair of shoes for an upcoming charity function and take advantage of her daughter's discount. While in the department, shoe-lover Trisha could not resist. She saw this cute little pair of red slides with lapped, stitched tops and 1 1/2 in. sculpted wooden heels. When Trisha walked around the shoe department, they slapped against her feet with every step. In the end, she just had to have them and their debut appearance was at that night's chapter meeting.
After the meeting, Trisha got in her 12-year-old Honda Accord and drove the few blocks down to the Beta house. Upon arrival, she called up to Jay's room and told him she was ready to eat. Jay started to run down the stairs, but again after looking at the number 249 on the whiteboard, he remembered his plan and he walked down at a more normal pace. Upon his arrival at the bottom of the stairs, he saw pretty Trisha looking very lovely and he really liked those red slides she was wearing and how they showed off her bright red nail polish. Jay sometimes wondered if Trisha wore such wonderful shoes just to torture him, but based on her character, he knew that probably was not the case.
"Hey Trisha, so where do you want to go eat tonight? Is there any place new to try?"
"Nothing comes to mind, what about you?"
Where Jay might have otherwise played overly eager to please and force Trisha to choose, he decided to go ahead and say, "Well then, why don't we just go to Broad Street Grill?"
Trisha agreed and they got in Jay's car and made their way to the restaurant. The hostess led them to a small booth for two next to the window near the middle of the dining room and left them their menus. The table was attached to the wall as its only way of support, lending ample legroom.
Jay and Trisha mulled over the menu and finally ordered their meals. Trisha talked a little about her chapter meeting and her classes that day and Jay talked about his classes and his fraternity’s intramural football game against the Sigma Pi’s that they had lost on the last play of the game that afternoon. Under the table, Jay could hear that Trisha was dipping in and out of her cute little red slides. Every once in a while, one would fall over and make a clank on the tile floor. He dropped his napkin then later his spoon to get a couple of cheap views.
Jay then proceeded to tell Trisha his big news. As he began to give her some of the background information of what led him to consider going to Law School, Trisha crossed her right leg toward the outside of their booth and began to dangle her shoe a little. Just when she had dangled enough for it almost to fall off, she arched her ankle upwards and slid her shoe completely back on by tapping the front of her shoe against the table leg 3 or 4 times. Since having her shoe all the way on was not all that appealing to Trisha, she allowed the sole of her shoe to hang off her foot a couple of inches, then she arched her shoe pointing to the left and with a downward right motion, she knocked her shoe off a little and dangled it some more. This cycle repeated itself a few times.
Jay continued, "So I plan on graduating from UGA spring 2003 and getting into law school somewhere that fall..."
But there was actually no table leg. Instead it was Jay's leg that was getting all this activity. Jay struggled to keep his composure telling about his dad's work as a Real Estate Agent back home in Augusta.
"It would be nice to go into Real Estate Law - dealing with property exchanges, wills and trusts..."
After two cycles of Trisha playing with his leg, he realized what was going on. She thought it was just the table leg - which did not exist.
"So Jay, how will your current major work toward Law School?"
"I switched to Political Science over the summer. The credits I earned this summer have be still on time to graduate in 2 years..."
Jay kept his leg frozen still since he enjoyed what was happening so much. Eventually though, he decided to have some fun with her. The fifth time that she used his leg to knock her shoe part of the way off, he pulled his leg back and to the right at just the right moment to fling her red slide all the way off, sending it under their booth and under the table of the couple sitting behind him.
Trisha felt embarrassed, "Jay, I'm so sorry. Have I been kicking your leg all this time? You should have said something."
"That's okay, I thought it was pretty funny so I decided to have some fun with you." He looked and reached down to retrieve her shoe. "Let me give you your shoe back." He looked all around.. "It must have gone under my seat." Jay looked under his seat and confirmed it was under the table behind them. "It's under the next table. I'll ask them if I can get it."
Trisha interrupted, "That's okay, we can wait until they leave. I think they’ve been here a lot longer than we have." She again crossed her right leg now displaying a bare foot on the end.
At the next table behind Jay, Stan and Liz - who were seniors at local Clarke Central High School - were finishing their desserts. Liz had long before abandoned her 2" slides with a black upper under the table and tucked her feet underneath. After paying the bill, Stan asked, "Hey Liz, you ready to leave. We can just make the 9:00 movie if we hurry." He felt a shoe touching his foot so he decided to 'help' Liz by pushing it in her direction. In doing so, he pushed Trisha's red slide into the position where her own black slide formerly lay.
Liz stretched her legs out and without looking, slipped her feet back into the shoes that were under there. Predictably, she put her right foot into Trisha's kicked red slide, leaving her own black slide that was half size smaller than Trisha's behind.
In the dark restaurant and dark walk to the parking lot and inside the dark car, neither Liz nor Stan noticed that she was wearing two different shoes. Meanwhile, Trisha told Jay, "That couple just left."
"I'll get your shoe." Jay reached down and looked at the bottom of the shoe and grabbed it and started to hand it to Trisha. They both quickly realized it was not hers. "That's not mine!"
Jay looked again and saw no other shoe. Then he considered, "I wonder if this belongs to that girl who was sitting here. I'll try to catch them."
Jay left Trisha alone with her one pretty bare foot sporting his favorite bright red polish and bouncing fervently. Jay passed their waitress on the way out and quickly explained he was not bailing on paying the bill as he flashed the black slide that belonged to Liz. He mumbled something she could barely decipher. In response, the waitress just shook her head and said under breath, "Those crazy college kids! They're always up to something."
Jay ran out to the parking lot hoping that Stan and Liz had not driven off yet. Since he did not know what they looked like, his only way to find them was to stand at the exit waving the shoe, hoping the girl would recognize it. Shortly afterwards, Stan and Liz began to exit and they saw Jay holding a black shoe.
"What's that idiot doing waving that shoe for?" Stan rhetorically asked Liz as he passed Jay - who did not know they were his intended audience so he was not overly agitated when they passed by him without stopping. Jay looked into the parking lot and saw no other cars about to leave, so he deduced he had been too late getting outside and that he missed them. Jay returned to tell pretty one-shod Trisha the bad news.
Trisha leaned forward in her seat when she saw Jay re-enter the restaurant and she uncrossed her leg, placing her bare foot out in front of her. When she realized he was not holding her shoe, She took her foot and placed it between her other foot and her remaining shoe - maybe subconsciously trying to make one shoe work for both feet. Jay began to speak as he got within earshot. "Maybe they'll come back. Surely the girl will notice she's wearing two different shoes and will want hers back just like you do."
Trisha agreed, " I suppose you're right. Lets just get back to our meal and conversation and look for her to come back shortly."
Jay went to the front to tell the cashier what had happened and to send them their way if someone came in returning a red shoe.
"So, you going to Law School, That's so exciting...” Trisha was certainly encouraging and Jay continued to elaborate more. Trisha asked, “So where do you want to go to Law School?"
"I will probably apply at a few places. Georgia, of course, and probably the University of South Carolina, University of Alabama, and University of Tennessee."
"Alabama, that's where Don graduated from Business School. Remember Don and Kelli from Wachovia and our July 4th party?"
"Yes, I remember them."
Meanwhile, outside, Stan got half a block down the busy street and Liz glanced down at her feet as they passed a streetlight.
"Stan! I'm wearing two different shoes. My right shoe is red!"
"What! How did that happen?"
"I guess some girl at the next table kicked her shoe under our table and I put it on by mistake."
"I bet that guy waving the shoe was waving yours. I'll go back and you can go in and return it to her."
"Stan, You want me to run into the restaurant wearing two different colored shoes and make a scene?"
"Is there another choice, Liz?" Stan pulled up to the side of the restaurant near the front door. Liz was embarrassed but she jumped out of the car and ran into the restaurant wearing one black shoe and one red shoe. One patron near the entrance commented, "You're sporting the Bulldog colors (which happen to be red and black) quite nicely."
Liz tried to ignore the comment as she made her way to the hostess stand. Leaning to the right and reaching down with her right hand she slipped off the foreign red slide of Trisha's and held it out and began to address the hostess.
"So you found her shoe, she's sitting back there (pointing to Trisha and Jay) and she has your shoe."
Liz limped one-shod down the aisle of the dining room, flexing her bare toes on the tile floor, carrying Trisha's shoe she had mistakenly taken. Trisha saw her and immediately stood holding Liz's black shoe that she had left behind and trying to balance on her one remaining shoe as well. The others in the same area of the restaurant saw two girls, each wearing one shoe, and carrying another of a different color and assumed what had indeed happened.
"Sorry, somehow your shoe got under our table and I put it on instead of mine."
"That's okay, it was an honest mistake. By the way, my name's Trisha."
"Nice to meet you, Trisha, I'm Liz - I go to Clarke Central High."
"This is my friend Jay and we both go to UGA."
"Well, nice to meet you. My boyfriend's waiting outside." Trisha and Liz swapped shoes and put them back on.
Soon everything was back to normal and Jay finished talking about Law School. He wanted Trisha to be impressed but not too much so that it looked like impressing her was the only reason he told her. They finished their sandwiches and chatted a little more about current happenings before heading home for the evening.
That weekend, Trisha donned her favorite sundress and a pair of cute slides along with the rest of her sorority as they watched Shelley's boyfriend, Beau, lead the Bulldogs to defeat at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks. This was a major disappointment to everyone and Shelley was not as supportive of Beau as she could have been.
Three days later - everyone watched in horror as the terrible events of 9/11 unfolded. All of the Sororities and Fraternities and other groups on campus came together and raised money, gave blood and/or led donation drives on campus. Trisha's modeling trip to New York was cancelled for September. It took awhile for the students at the University of Georgia, just like everywhere else, to get over the tragedy.
