"Good afternoon, this is Ms. Helen Jackson from Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, may I speak with Miss Patricia Kendrick, please?"
"I'm Patricia." Trisha went by her given-name so rarely it almost sounded strange to her.
"Great. Miss Kendrick, I wanted to let you know that you have been one of the candidates chosen to participate in our new work/study program on database security. You have been selected for one of our slots in Columbia, South Carolina. Have you been to Columbia?"
"Yes, Ms. Jackson, but not recently. It's a nice city from what I recall."
"We have a prime location downtown and you have been jointly accepted as a graduate student at the University of South Carolina which is less than a mile from our office." Ms. Jackson continued talking with Trisha a bit longer with some more details. A very excited Trisha, called her parents immediately and gave them the good news. About that time, Jeannie came in and she shared her good news with her roommate and friend. Then she thought about faithful friend Jay. She gave him a call and asked him if he wanted to meet for dinner after chapter meeting, which he certainly accepted.
Trisha dressed for her last AOPi chapter meeting as sorority president. The election was being held that night for next year's officers so she wanted to look nice for that. She wore a dark blue dress and a new pair of dressy black mules by Nine West named 'Joelene'. She modeled in them back in February. Stacy, the athletic blonde from hometown Athens won the election and she gave a great speech crediting Trisha with a great successful year and her intent to continue to follow in the positive direction that Trisha was taking the sorority.
Afterwards, Jay stopped by the AOPi house to pick up Trisha. Jay thought Trisha looked great. Not only was her blue dress stunning but her dressy black mules, that had a cute little t-strap buckle feature, without which they would look like a typical pair of mules, were very attractive. Instead of meeting at their usual near-campus deli hangout Broad Street Cafe, Trisha suggested they go to the Outback Steakhouse and Jay quickly agreed.
While splitting their appetizer Bloomin' Onion, Trisha began to tell Jay her good news. "I got a job!"
"That's great Trisha! Where and for whom?"
Well, I got that work/study job with Wachovia in Columbia, South Carolina. I'll also begin graduate school at the University of South Carolina."
So, you're going to be a Carolina Gamecock? Congratulations. I am happy for you. So when do you start?"
"My first day is the Monday after Memorial Day so I only have 2 weeks after graduation to get moved."
"If you need help, let me know. I just found out my summer job as well. I got an internship with Allgood, Childs & Mehrhof back home in Augusta. It's not too far from Columbia and I could come over and help you move in. Jay thought to himself that his application to the Law School at the University of South Carolina suddenly became more interesting.
"That's sweet Jay, but I don't have much to move. I'll have to buy furniture there. But, congratualtions to you on your internship. I bet they'll keep you busy."
Jay and Trisha continued to talk about their summers. Jay considered telling her about taking Heather to the prom, at first, he decided to not venture off into that topic. He wanted it to be a time to enjoy a nice evening together in Athens - one of the last ones he imagined. As they talked, Jay enjoyed Trisha's under the table shoe play in her pretty mules. On a couple of occasions, he heard one bounce off the floor as she rotated between dipping and dangling throughout their meal. The T-strap allowed Trisha to be even more creative. She sometimes dangled her shoe off enough to slide her toes in between the straps and expose her pretty impeccably-polished nails. In each case, Jay found a way to catch a glimpse.
A little bit before they got ready to leave, Jay, not wanting Trisha to find out from someone else and hence think he was keeping it a secret, changed his mind and carefully crafted a way to tell Trisha about his upcoming date with Heather.
"Trisha, I got something interesting to tell you about. You know Amber's sister Heather. We met at your house back in July?"
"Yeah, of course. What about her?" Jay had never told Trisha about exchanging E-mails with Heather.
"Well, out of the blue she asked me to take her to her senior prom."
Before Trisha replied, memories about Chuck taking her to the Sprayberry prom and Amber going with Doug back in 1998 began to flash before her mind. She also was reminded how Amber and Doug were now actually engaged and that Chuck was also, but to someone else. This news took Trisha by surprise and she was not sure how to take it. "Oh, that sounds fun. It's nice of you to take her. Heather's a sweet girl."
Jay felt relieved that Trisha had apparently considered their date a 'favor.' He decided not to talk about it any more than Trisha pursued. But Trisha did pursue. "So when's the prom?"
"It's April 20th."
Trisha pushed a little more, "So, why do you think she thought of you? She hadn't seen you since July."
"We've exchanged a few E-mails since then, but when she asked me it had been a couple of months since we'd been in touch. Believe me I was certainly surprised to get her (Jay was not about to tell her how she invited him.) invitation."
Trisha decided to stop with her questions, but this news and especially how they had been E-mailing each other certainly came as a surprise. For some strange reason, that she could not easily explain, she didn't like either bit of news very much.
By the 18th of April, Trisha had not seen Jay for over a week and she realized his date with Heather was only a couple of days away. Without Doug to ask, she remembered that she needed a date to her AOPi Awards Banquet coming up in a little over a week. She gave Jay a call and invited him to be her date for the event. Actually, going together to this end of the year event had become sort of a tradition to these two friends. Trisha also had some exciting news to share with Jay.
After talking about her banquet, Trisha continued, "Jay, I almost forgot, but I have some exciting news to tell you."
"What's that?"
"I got selected to Who's Who in America's Colleges and Universities."
"That's great! So is there a ceremony or something?"
"Yeah's, there's a recognition reception next week."
"We had a couple of guys in Beta Theta Pi get selected as well. Did anyone else in your sorority get selected?"
"Shelley did, but no one else. Interestingly, her ex-boyfriend, Beau, got selected as well."
Saturday the 20th arrived and Jay came over to Atlanta to take Heather to her prom. He arrived around 2:00 PM for a late lunch with Heather and her parents to get better acquainted. Then they went by the mall to pick up his tux, then returned to the Dawson home for both to change. Jay finished dressing first and talked a bit with Heather's dad while her mom helped with Heather's hair. Eventually, Heather made her way down the stairs and she was beautiful. Her off-the-shoulder maroon dress came to just above the knee and was very decorative. Her soft brown hair was bouncy and slightly curly. Jay particularly liked her choice of shoes, a pair of red open-toed slides with a 2-inch heel. The upper was low-cut so this contributed to her shoe slapping against her foot with each step.
Jay took Heather for a nice meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House. It was the first time for either of them to eat there. They arrived at the prom around 9:30 PM and took the obligatory photos before hitting the dance floor. Heather was quick to introduce Jay to all her friends, who were quite impressed with Heather's handsome college man.
One person who was not impressed with Jay was Johnny, who had hoped to take Heather to the prom but had missed out. He had instead asked a girl he really didn't want to take. Johnny sulked as he watched Jay and Heather work their magic on the dance floor.
Heather was having a good time as was Jay. She had a little trouble keeping her slides on at times - especially for the fast dances - but Jay certainly didn't mind. Eventually, though, Heather decided to follow the lead of some of the other girls and ditch the shoes under the registration table. Jay and Heather took a punch and snack break before dancing to a couple of slow songs. Jay realized he was having quite a nice time with Heather. She was more mature than he expected and quite pretty and friendly. Although she was not as good a dancer as Trisha, she was good enough for Jay and his limited dancing ability.
Johnny's revengeful devious side reared its ugly head. He saw Heather ditch her shoes and wanted to cause her distress for not going with him to the prom. When the table was temporarily unmanned, he took a seat next to the table, which was covered with a long white cloth. He carefully reached under and found one of her red slides and tossed it under the table not knowing where it landed, but he figured it was separated from her other shoe enough to cause her to spend several minutes looking for it when it was time to leave. Without realizing it, he had thrown her shoe into an open box under the table which contained the stuff from the registration table. Not long afterwards, the girl from the sophomore honor club in charge of registration, closed down the table, loaded all the stuff from the table into the box on top of Heather's shoe and left.
After another hour where Jay and Heather alternated between dancing and talking, Jill and some of Heather's other friends and their dates talked about leaving and walking around historic downtown Marietta, which included a nice park in the middle. Heather asked Jay if that was okay and he agreed. "Let me go get my shoes."
Heather went over to the table and found her right red slide and put it on her foot. Jay showed up at the table in time to see her lift up the table cloth and begin a frantic search for her other shoe. "I can't find my other shoe!"
"Let me help you." And soon both were going through all the stuff under the table and no shoe was to be seen.
"Where could it be, Jay?"
"I don't know, maybe someone accidentally moved it or took it when they left with their shoes." Seeing Heather on the floor with one shoe on made him thing about the times this had happened to Trisha when they were together.
Jill called over, "Let's go, Heather!"
Heather conceded, "I guess it's just lost. Let's go downtown," Jay was glad she had a good attitude about her lost shoe. He took Heather by the arm like an escort and Heather walked a little lopsided through the lobby of the hotel and out to the parking lot in her single red slide. Again, she was not aware that she was making Jay more attracted to her. Once inside the car, she gave Jay directions to where everyone was meeting, but still did not slip off her remaining shoe. Jay liked being able to glance down at her one-shod state as they drove toward their destination.
Once downtown, Heather noticed that most of the other girls had also left their shoes in the car. Therefore, she did not feel as out of place as she slipped off her one shoe before getting out of the car. For the next hour or so, they walked around and just talked about nothing important and did nothing of consequence. It was one last night to stay up late and have fun, for those getting ready to graduate in a few weeks. Jay and Heather continued to enjoy each other's company. Around 2:00 AM, Jay took Heather home and they exchanged a simple kiss on the front porch, the first girl he had kissed since he met Trisha. "Jay, if you want, you can keep this shoe as a souvenir. It's of no use to me now."
Jay could not believe it, but he accepted her generous gift.
"You can have this shoe to replace the one pink sandal you had to return to me."
"Thanks. We'll have to keep in touch over the summer. I hope your graduation goes well"
Jay came back to Athens early that morning, with an odd feeling inside. He entered his room in the Beta house and saw the oft-erased whiteboard with the number - 21.' He grabbed the eraser and began to erase it. But, halfway into the motion, he stopped, shook his head and then erased only the '1' before correcting the board to read '20.' He stared at the number, having so close to giving up the chase with less than 3 weeks remaining until Trisha's departure. After the fun time he had with Heather, he now realized that maybe he needed to be more open to dating someone else, but like Shawn warned him, he knew he never needed to completely give up on his dreams. The idea of dating Heather upon her arrival in Athens in August - and maybe even some contact over the summer - was appealing to Jay. She was pretty (from head to toe..literally) and smart and also had a knack for wearing cute feminine shoes - all things that attracted him to Trisha. Heather had one major advantage over Trisha now - that was time. Trisha was leaving in 3 weeks and Heather would be in Athens for all next year and should he get accepted at the University of Georgia Law School, they could be together two years beyond that.
Heather called Jill in the morning and went on and on and on some more about how well things had gone with Jay and how she hoped they could date once she arrived in Athens for school in August. She also kept repeating to Jill, "He even mentioned keeping in touch over the summer!" Jill warned her that he could meet someone else in the next 4 months so not to get her hopes up too high.
At school on Monday, there was an announcement that surprised Heather as she sat in home room. Johnny also happened to be in the same home room.
A RED HIGH HEELED SHOE WAS FOUND IN THE REGISTARTION SUPPLY BOX AFTER SATURDAY NIGHT'S PROM.
IF IT'S YOURS, PLEASE COME BY THE OFFICE TO CLAIM IT
Johnny assumed the red shoe was Heather's. He was surprised that he had caused Heather to leave missing a shoe and that she was not able to find it under the table. He felt pretty bad about it, but still did not confess his actions to Heather. Heather was happy that her shoe was found, but could she bear to ask Jay to give back her souvenir? She decided to keep it until August (or hopefully sooner!) when she and Jay would be reunited in Athens and hopefully start dating.
The following Saturday, the 27th, was the AOPi end-of-the-year Awards Banquet. Trisha remembered this being one of the first major things she and Jay did together, back in 2000. She began to think about all the fun times she and Jay had had together over the last two years. Trisha realized that Jay had always been the one who was there for her - through all her good times like getting the Outstanding Sophomore Award and the presidency of AOPi and getting her modeling job and through the bad times of breakups with Chuck, Tim and Doug. Trisha had already asked Jay to take her to the banquet, which was being held this year at the Holiday Inn Conference Center. She was looking forward to one final night together before she left town.
The speaker for this year's banquet was the very beautiful, smart and talented 29-year-old Heather Whitestone McCallum, a AOPi alumnus from nearby Jacksonville State University in Alabama who was the 1994 Miss Alabama and subsequently became the 1995 Miss America, Heather was deaf from the age of 18 months but had overcome her disability to do some great things before and after her pageant victories. Heather was the most famous AOPi alum in the United States and Trisha had worked very hard to secure the appearance of one of her biggest heroes. The fact that they lived in Atlanta made it very feasible.
At lunchtime, the day of the banquet, the television in the lobby was tuned to ESPN - a rare thing for the AOPi house except when a Georgia football game was televised. Several of the girls were watching the college draft for the National Football League, specifically to see for what team Georgia's own Beau Rodgers, second runner-up in the Heisman Trophy race, would be drafted. Shelley, who had asked for the day off from WAGA to attend the banquet, still loved Beau but knew that things between them were over. She still wanted to know his fate. After what had happened, she selfishly hoped he got sent somewhere 'undesirable.' Somehow, that would make things easier to take.
The expansion Houston Texans and the Carolina Panthers made their picks and Shelley thought that the next selection, the Detroit Lions, might go to Beau. That was one place she did not really want to live, anyway. However, Detroit picked the quarterback from Oregon who had just edged Beau out for second place in the Heisman. The Buffalo Bills were next in the draft order and it looked certain that Beau would get selected by them. Shelley said to Brittany, who was sitting next to her, "It snows all the time in Buffalo. I hope he's happy there."
NFL Commissioner Tagliabue came to the lectern to announce that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had made a trade with Buffalo. Tampa Bay sent Buffalo a second round draft selection in 2003 and a backup quarterback in order to move up one spot in the draft order. Anticipating the reason for the trade, Shelley cried out, "No! No! This can't be happening!" Soon afterwards, the commissioner made the announcement: "The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with the fourth pick in the first round, selects Beau Rodgers, quarterback from the University of Georgia."
Shelley cried out again in disgust and when Beau, who happened to be sitting near the front of the room where the draft was being held, came up to receive his pre-printed Tampa Bay jersey top with his name, RODGERS, and number already printed, it was too much for nearby Orlando native Shelley to take. She ran upstairs, slammed the door, jumped on her bed and cried into her pillow for half an hour.
Later that afternoon, Trisha dressed for the banquet and picked out a pretty black dress to wear. After putting on a pair of dressy nude sheer knee-high nylons, she looked around at all her pretty shoes. Something led her to consider picking out a pair of shoes that Jay would like. Unconsciously, maybe she was jealous that he had taken Heather to her prom, and wanted to make her own statement. She dug around and located a pair of black BCBG mules with a 1-inch kitten heel. Trisha had not worn them in over a year because they had stretched a little (actually a lot), and were getting to be difficult to keep on. She had only worn them barefoot for the last couple of years and even then, they were hard to keep on. Considering what little she knew about Jay's interest in pretty, feminine shoes that tend to slip off, Trisha thought 'Maybe I'll wear these one more time before I give them away to charity.'
As the outgoing President or the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, Trisha had to be there before practically everyone else. Around 5:00PM, Jay arrived and called Trisha to come downstairs. Trisha left her room and began to traverse the stairs, not normally a difficult thing. However this time, she made one step and her right shoe careened down to the first landing. Trisha hurriedly, but carefully as to keep her remaining mule on her foot, came down the stairs and claimed her shoe. She made it the rest of the way down without incident and met Jay in the lobby. Trisha thought to herself, 'Wow, this is going to be more difficult that I thought.' Jay thought to himself, having not even seen her accident on the stairs, 'Wow, she's wearing those cute, super-loose black mules that she has trouble keeping on!'
Jay opened the door for Trisha to get in and she almost dropped her right mule on the driveway when she lifted it inside the car. On the way to the banquet, Jay and Trisha chatted about their upcoming final exams and stuff. Trisha sat with her right leg crossed over her left and allowed her mule to dangle effortlessly from her toes. Jay had to be careful to keep his eyes on the road instead of this cute sight.
As they arrived at the hotel and walked down the sidewalk toward the building, Trisha really began to notice how loose her shoes were. With each step, her mule came off about halfway and a couple of times in a short distance, one came almost completely off. She recovered without calling attention to herself to Jay and they made it inside.
Once inside, they found out the banquet was on the second floor and Jay began to walk toward the elevator. Trisha interjected, "We can take the stairs, if you want?" Jay agreed and they went to the stairwell next to the elevators. Trisha remembered how when she first met Jay and they went to the banquet 2 years ago, she had noticed him looking at her feet in the car so she playfully dropped one of her shoes while going a flight of stairs in the parking garage. As they neared the landing in mid-flight, she decided to execute an encore. She relaxed her right foot and as she lifted her leg, the reflex off the step caused her shoe to fly off backwards. This time, it had a bit more height and momentum and it cleared the edge and fell over the railing. A second later, they heard a loud echo in the basement. Just like two years ago, Trisha had not intended for her shoe to fall as far as it actually did.
"Ooops!" Trisha playfully shrieked as Jay turned his head to see Trisha standing on one foot with her nyloned foot in the air and her hand balanced on the railing.. He got an unexpected glimpse of her perfect foot and professional-quality pedicure with dark pink polish balanced in the air a few inches off the step.
Jay volunteered, "I'll get it!" And quickly raced down the steps. As he passed the first floor doors, they began to open. Trisha heard the noise and prayed that it was no one she knew. Unfortunately, it was worse! Heather Whitestone McCallum and her husband entered the stairway and began to walk up the stairs. Trisha was at first surprised that a celebrity was not taking the elevator, but that thought quickly vanished as she realized she was going to meet the most famous AOPi in history having just lost a shoe.
Heather and her husband did not know Trisha so they did not pay attention to the girl on the steps until Trisha, knowing she'd be even more embarrassed later by not greeting their speaker, took a deep breath and with her unshod foot tucked behind her other ankle, she smiled and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Trisha Kendrick, President of AOPi, we spoke on the phone."
Jay found Trisha's shoe on the basement floor and picked it up. He took a moment to feel how soft and dry the insole was. He also considered how cute Trisha had always looked wearing them - the way her foot flexed and looked like the toes might come out of the them with every step.
"Yes, Trisha it's so nice to finally meet you. This is my husband, John.
About that moment, Jay hurriedly ran up the steps wielding Trisha's lost shoe. He soon realized that he was about to meet a former Miss America - and ironically she was also named Heather. Jay subtly, slipped Trisha her shoe and while she put it back on, Trisha introduced Jay to the McCallum's. Trisha felt obliged to comment on her shoe loss as the four of them walked up the steps. "I guess this pair of shoes don't do too well with hose."
Surprisingly to Trisha and especially to Jay, Heather commented, "I know what you mean. As much as I go out dressed up, I've had a few shoes slip off at inopportune times.
This made Trisha feel much more at ease and soon they made their way to the conference room and Trisha talked to Heather about the agenda for the evening. Jay talked politics with her husband, who, like Jay, was a Republican and had once run for Georgia Secretary of State.
Soon, the other AOPi sorority sisters and their dates showed up and before long, everyone was getting served their salads. Trisha, Jay and the McCallum's as well as president-elect Stacy and her date, Kerry, sat at the Head Table. Everyone wanted to talk to Heather and get to know her better. Even though she was deaf, their seating around a round table facilitated her excellent lip reading abilities. Trisha was in awe as she realized she was having dinner with someone she had admired for 7 years. She began to not focus as much on what she was doing with her shoes under the table and when it came time for her to call the meeting to order, she had to quickly fish around under the table, finding her shoes to put them back on.
The meeting went very well, Heather Whitestone McCallum talked about her platform, the STARS program and Trisha gave everyone their awards. One highlight was Jeannie getting the award for Outstanding Junior. Trisha in another highlight gave Shelley a special plaque for her help in the office of Vice President of Education. Having to get up and speak several times, Trisha tried to pay special care to not get too separated from her shoes as she played with and dangled them throughout.
The biggest problem that occurred was while she was giving out a number of certificates for sorority recognition. She stood behind the lectern and took one foot out of her shoe and began to press down on the top of the back of the sole, causing it to lift the toe end off the floor. At one point, she lost control and sent the shoe sliding behind her several feet. While continuing to hand out certificates, she tried to reach back with her toes and secure the shoe, but she could not. Trisha finally gave up and was resigned to stand one shod while finishing her duties. When she finished, she discreetly stepped back and slipped her foot back in her shoe. Being at the head table, Jay got see all of what happened behind the lectern and he enjoyed the show very much.
The rest of the banquet went very well and Trisha carefully walked back out to Jay's car to leave. It was still pretty early so Jay asked Trisha, "Do you want to somewhere and talk? We might not have another chance before you leave town"
Trisha was taken back at the finality of Jay's words. She considered that this might be the last time, indeed. "Sure, but instead of going somewhere, maybe we could take a drive out in the country. It's a clear starry night and it's sort of peaceful." Trisha got out a pack of gum and put a piece in her mouth, she offered a piece to Jay.
Jay began to drive and Trisha realized at that moment that she had made a huge mistake. She felt closer and more attracted to Jay than she ever had before. With finals and graduation looming, she felt like it would be grossly unfair to all of a sudden let Jay know she was going to give him a chance. Furthermore, she was starting a new life in South Carolina, and Trisha did not really want to start anything new long distance. She had a sour taste in her mouth about long distance relationships after what happened with Chuck and Doug. At the same time, Jay was thinking about how nice it was to spend time alone with Trisha. He also wondered if he was doing the right thing by letting Trisha go and looking ahead to probably dating Heather upon her arrival in Athens in August. Trisha looked so cute in the passenger seat of his Integra, shuffling her nyloned feet in and out of her mules with an almost unnatural ease.
Trisha, while playing with her mules, began to think about unwearable they had become. She decided to once and for all get rid of them and never wear them again. After a few moments of silence, Trisha had an idea that was so strange and bizarre it practically scared her. She remembered how, at least for a while, giving Chuck a pink slide as a souvenir seemed to be well received. Trisha, having decided to get rid of this pair of mules, anyway, decided that losing one to have a good excuse to give one to Jay as a 'souvenir' would do no real harm, and maybe it would send him a signal of some sort, but she was unsure exactly what signal she wanted to give. 'Maybe I just want Jay to know I find him attractive and that I regret not giving him a chance to date me sooner,' Trisha thought.
After some thought she came up with a seemingly foolproof plan. She executed it during a nice conversation where they reminisced about their fun times together. Trisha pushed her seat back to create more leg room and tilted the back slightly to get even more comfortable. She then crossed her right foot over and dangled her mule in Jay's direction, to make sure she had his attention. After a few minutes, and after she knew that Jay was 'hooked', she lifted up her right foot and rested it on the dashboard, taking care not to let the pointed kitten heel tip dig into the dash. She lifted and crossed her left foot and rested her shoe on the passenger-side door, almost touching the window. This forced her dress to ride up just above her knee and Jay liked the good view of her mules and her ankle, knee and lower leg, encased in silky smooth nylons. She playfully dangled her mule a little, tapping it against the window, just enough to keep Jay's attention. She slid her other foot, the one resting on the dash, out of her mule slightly, just enough to reveal a little bit of toe cleavage. After a few more minutes, Trisha was ready to finish executing her plan. She took out her gum from her mouth, now well chewed, and rolled it into a small ball. She pressed the window down button and nothing happened. "Hey Jay, check your window lock, please."
Jay, seeing she wanted to throw out her gum, not only unlocked the window but also rolled down the window a crack of a couple of inches. Trisha opened the window a little more, threw out her gum, then pretended that her foot slipped toward the window. She allowed her mule to slip off her foot to where it was barely hanging on to her toes. It was a strange but oddly satisfying feeling for Trisha to see her shoe in such a precarious position, ready to be hopelessly lost forever on the dark and lonely Georgia highway. Moments later, just as Jay started to warn her and raise the window again, her black mule flew out the window.
"Oh no, Jay! My shoe fell out the window!"
Jay slowed the car down and looked for a place to turn around. "I'll turn around and see if we can find it."
"Don't worry about it, I was going to throw them out or give them to charity after tonight anyway. They've stretched too much to wear any more.
"We can at least give it a try, though."
Trisha decided not to argue with Jay. She put her feet back under the floorboard and looked down at her one shoe and one shoeless nyloned foot and thought to herself, 'What have I gotten myself into now!'
Jay relished the chance to play hero and rescue Trisha's shoe. He liked the sight of her sitting in his car missing a shoe, but he also liked the 'game' of retrieving her shoes when they became lost. After turning around and slowing down to a low speed, he happened to see something black on the edge of the road. "I think that's it!" Jay exclaimed and he turned around again and pulled off to the side of the road next to her shoe, opened his car door and picked it up, giving it back to Trisha he said, "Now, even if you get rid of them after this, you don't have to spend the rest of out evening in one shoe." Trisha saw her plan foiled by Jay's eagerness to be the hero. They returned to their nice conversation and Trisha thought about another plan.
Ten minutes later, Jay announced, "Hey, we're at Watson's Mill!"
A light bulb went off in Trisha's head of another plan, "Hey, sounds great, we can walk through the covered bridge. For me, it might be one last time."
Trisha began to think back to the fun time she had with Tim after church there one Sunday. Of course, this led her to consider that Tim was marrying Mary from back home in Ocala in a just a few weeks. The number of friends and ex-boyfriends who were getting married was becoming staggering for Trisha, and here she was out alone with a wonderful guy, whom she'd put off for two years. Now 2 weeks before her graduation and departure, she had regretted not allowing their relationship to move above the level of friendship. Jay, who remembered having a fraternity picnic there his freshman year, he regretted having never taken Trisha to this beautiful setting by the lake.
Jay parked the Integra in a small parking area near the bridge. They could see the bridge ahead and to the left and the small waterfall that was downstream and to the right of the bridge. The sound of the waterfall was a nice backdrop to a crisp evening. Jay and Trisha walked slowly toward the bridge itself and talked about how pretty everything looked. Trisha had trouble a couple of times walking on the damp grass. Her kitten heels sank into the ground a little with each step and one shoe or the other came off three times, something Jay was quite accustomed to seeing when walking with Trisha.
Jay held a large flashlight as they walked into the covered bridge. Trisha noticed it was in good condition, but there were a few gaps in the floor in between the main joists on either side of the main path that passed through the center of the bridge. Through these gaps, one could see the rushing stream below. Trisha realized this was her second good chance to execute her plan. Searching out a safe-looking place with a hole, about half-way across, Trisha feigned needing to adjust her nylons. She took off her right mule and while putting her left hand on Jay's shoulder for balance she used her right hand to pull her nylons from away her toes. While looking intently at the nearby gap in the floor, she purposefully misplaced her foot on her mule and knocked it off to the right and sent it flying through the gap in the floor of the bridge into the water.
"My shoe! It fell through the hole!"
Jay stopped quickly and located the hole and flashed the light into it but in the night he could not see anything except the rushing stream.
Trisha stood with her bare foot flexed on the tips of her toes trying to act upset about losing her shoe. Jay suggested, "Maybe it floats and I can go down to the edge and see if it's within reach."
Trisha started to protest that looking for her shoe was not necessary, but knowing this time there was really no hope, she played along. She hobbled over to a nearby window and Jay followed and flashed the light onto the surface of the stream.
"There's my shoe!" Trisha exclaimed just as it went over the edge of the falls. "Now it's gone!"
Jay felt bad for Trisha, but she tried to ignore it. "It's okay, remember I was going to get rid of them anyway. Let's keep going as if nothing happened." They continued talking and walking slowly across the bridge, Trisha in her one remaining shoe. They emerged on the other side and walked over to watch the stream spill over the small waterfall. They stood there in silence for a few minutes as the moon reflected off the surface of the water. Jay reached out and took Trisha's hand. She did not resist and in fact felt very comforted.
"So Trisha, will you remember me once you move to South Carolina?"
Turning to face Jay and taking his other hand, Trisha replied, "Of course I will. You have been such a good friend to me since my sophomore year when we first met. I'm sure we'll see each other from time to time."
Jay soaked in Trisha beauty and felt so comfortable at that moment to be in the company of such a fine lady. She looked so vulnerable, like a damsel in distress standing by the lake in her black dress, nylons and just one very cute mule. "I'd like that very much." Trisha let go of Jay's hands and initiated a big hug; a few tears began to stream down her cheek. Pulling back from their hug, Trisha kissed Jay on the cheek.
Without a word being spoken, Jay and Trisha began to walk back across the bridge hand-in-hand. After her remaining shoe slipped off for the second time, she picked it up and began to carry it as they made their way back toward the car. A few more steps later, Trisha commented, "I don't really want to ruin my nylons." Trisha again used Jay as a brace to lean on while one at a time removing her nylons, carefully rolling them into a ball then stuffing them inside her single mule.
Jay could not believe how things were going and for him, they got even better. About halfway across the bridge, Trisha stopped suddenly, "Ouch!" She stood on one foot and lifted the other into her hand. "I got a splinter!"
Jay stopped and knelt down next to Trisha who was obviously uncomfortable, "Let me take a look." Trisha rested the back of her heel Jay's bent knee and held on to his shoulder with one hand. Jay grabbed her ankle and shined the flashlight on her foot. He began to slowly feel the bottom of her foot - it felt so warm and firm yet dry and soft, it was perfectly sculptured in every detail. With Trisha's help, he eventually located the splinter. Getting to handle her foot was quite an exciting thing for Jay. He tried to grab the splinter with his fingernails, but they had been cut too short to get a grip. "Trisha, do you have a pair of tweezers in your purse?"
"Sure."
Jay put Trisha's foot back down carefully but stayed knelt. Put your arms around my neck and get on my back. I'll carry you to the car so you won't get another splinter to push the one you have any farther into your foot.
Trisha did not argue with Jay's suggestion, she did as he said and Jay grabbed her legs and easily lifted and carried 5 ft. 4 in. 117 pound Trisha out the bridge and all the way to his car before carefully putting her down. Trisha found her tweezers and Trisha sat in the car sideways with the door open and Jay stood outside and took her foot in his hands, taking the opportunity again to caress it slightly. He found the splinter and carefully removed it.
"Thanks Jay. You're so sweet!"
"You're quite welcome."
The trip back to Athens was quiet. There wasn't much left to be spoken that hadn't been already said. Jay tried to decide if Trisha's warm behavior was an actual show of interest or simply an emotional goodbye. Trisha felt like she had made enough of a positive impression on Jay without acting like she had just all of a sudden and out of the blue decided she was interested, just as she was getting ready to leave town.
Jay led Trisha into the lobby of her sorority house. No one else was here. She held her one black mule in her left hand and held Jay's hand with her right one. Jay got ready to say goodbye and they hugged and she kissed him again on the cheek, Jay lifted up the hand she was holding and kissed her lightly on the back of the hand while laying his other hand on her wrist and turned to leave.
"Wait! Trisha cried. 'I have something for you." Trisha held out her one shoe and said to Jay, "I'd like you have a souvenir to remember our last night together in Athens. I hope you can come to my graduation.
"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Trisha." Jay replied as he left the AOPi house. Trisha began to shed a few tears again as she walked upstairs to her room.
Jay walked to his car and drove back to the Beta house. He took Trisha's shoe, which still had her nylons stuffed in the toe - a surprise bonus gift - and placed it in his footlocker under his bed. He caught a glimpse of Heather's red slide souvenir in the footlocker, given to him only a week prior. Jay began to have thoughts again that maybe he would eventually someday get to date Trisha, but he also knew that it was a virtual sure thing that he could date Heather. After lots of dating frustration, suddenly Jay was left with two choices. He pondered over whether to take the probable or risk the possible. The answer to that question would linger with Jay for a long time.
A couple of nights later in the AOPi dining room, Shelley came carrying her food with a big smile on her face. Once seated, Shelley could not wait to share her good news. "I got a job offer!"
Everyone at their table looked up and smiled and Jeannie replied, "That's great Shelley. Where?"
You know how WAGA was not too encouraging about me staying there and how the stations I interviewed with in Orlando, Jacksonville, Charlotte and Chattanooga wanted to use me mostly for production work and just a little bit of spot reporting?"
Trisha replied, "Sure, you were getting pretty frustrated."
"Well, believe it or not, that station in Columbia, South Carolina, WACH, who I helped cover the Outback Bowl in Tampa offered me a job as part-time Sports anchor and full-time event reporter. I get to go and cover a lot of events on the sideline. Exactly what I wanted to do. And their salary offer was better that everyone else's."
Candace asked, "So are you going to take it, Shelley?"
"Yes, definitely! I'm going to call them tomorrow and accept.
Brittany noted, "That's interesting, you and Trisha both got jobs in Columbia, South Carolina. Maybe you could share an apartment or something."
Everyone at the table except Trisha and Shelley snickered under their breath at such a ludicrous suggestion. Even though the last 4 months, the two of them had become friends, the first 3 and a half years together had been one marked by jealousy and competition.
Trisha replied, "Actually, I had thought about getting a two-bedroom place and finding a roommate."
Shelley also replied, "Yeah, and for a single girl in the city, it's safer not to live alone.
Trisha and Shelley, to everyone's surprise shook hands and agreed, Let's do it!" Everyone else was shocked. After dinner, Trisha and Shelley made plans to go apartment hunting the Monday after their graduation on the 13th of May.
The rest of the semester, Trisha stayed busy getting her last assignments completed. May 11th came and her parents, Kelli and Don, Amber, Heather, Doug and the Dawson's and a few other family and friends came to see Trisha graduate. Jay, Shawn and Jeannie and a few others in the sorority stayed behind as well. The day went without incident. When the chancellor called out the name PATRICIA EVELYN KENDRICK, she breathed a sigh of relief and also felt a lot of anticipation as she prepared to enter the 'real world.'
Afterwards at the AOPi house, everyone went over for a big reception to celebrate all 17 graduates who were members of the AOPi sorority. Jay felt a little strange being in the company of both Trisha and Heather, but since neither really knew everything that was going on, everything worked out well. Jay presented Trisha with a gold ankle bracelet for a graduation gift. Trisha thought that was a very appropriate gift, coming from Jay. No one else knew of any special significance, however. The highlight of the reception was everyone getting to see Amber for the first time since December of 2000 and Heather getting to meet a lot of the AOPi sisters. Jeannie assured her that a bid would be waiting for her if she went through rush in August. Heather was very happy about that. And just like that, the Trisha era at Alpha Omicron Pi and the University of Georgia was over.
