Pug Hill - Alison Pace [78]
Everyone stares at her expressionless.
“Okaaaay.” She looks down at her clipboard. “We have Alec, Rachel, and Amy up tonight. Who would like to go first?” Everyone stares at the floor.
“Claaaass, someone has to go first, and I would rather someone volunteer than I pick someone. I feel quite strongly that it is far less anxiety producing if you volunteer yourself rather than being assigned.” She stares out at us wide-eyed. I look down at the floor, too, even though this has nothing to do with me. You can never be too safe.
“I will go first,” Rachel says at last. As she gets out of her chair, she looks over her left shoulder again, and swats at the air behind her.
“Wonderful, whom would you like to be your partner?”
“I would rather not work with a partner,” she says, looking over her shoulder again, this time nodding. “I would rather go out into the hall and practice the relaxation exercises on my own, please.”
“Okaaay,” Beth Anne says, “if that’s what will make you more comfortable.”
“It is.” Rachel walks to the door and through it, pulls it closed behind her. Right before it shuts completely, we hear, sharply, “Scratch that!”
A moment later, Rachel comes back in, walks right up to Beth Anne, literally inches from her, and announces, “I cannot go now. I cannot go tonight. I would like to go next time.”
“Oh, Rachel, are you sure you don’t want to try?”
“I do not.” Rachel walks back to her seat, sits down, and bows her head. She doesn’t look over her shoulder again. Lawrence has shot his hand in the air and is waving it around frantically. Beth Anne ignores him and continues to do so even after he has stomped his foot.
“Okay,” says Beth Anne, seeming slightly flustered. “Amy, why don’t you go next?” Apparently she’s forgotten about wanting to provoke as little anxiety as possible. That, or maybe she’s getting back at Amy for all the annoying questions, though something like that doesn’t seem very Beth Anne.
Amy exhales heavily and stands up. “I pick Alec as my partner,” she announces, which surprises me because she doesn’t seem to like Alec very much and then I remember they were partners once before. I wonder if maybe they’re having some mad, passionate, albeit secret, affair where they seem like they hate each other, but behind closed doors they just can’t keep their hands off each other. I wonder if maybe I’m a little jealous.
“Uh, dude?” Alec says to Amy. She sneers in revulsion as she looks over at him.
“Yeah,” she says with a curled lip.
“Would you mind if I went first? I’m kinda feeling like I’d like to get it over with.” Amy somehow manages to sigh, snort, and exhale, all at once. This is something, I’m sure of it, that can’t come naturally to anyone, even someone like Amy. It’s something I think you’d have to practice a lot to get quite right.
“Yeah, fine, whatever,” she says and sits back down heavily. Alec stands up, straightens his tie. “Thanks, dude, I appreciate it. Do you still want to be partners?”
“Uh, not really,” she says and rolls her eyes. I think maybe I’m wrong about the passionate affair.
“Uh, Hope? Do you want to be my partner?” he says, startling me. I haven’t been asked to be anyone’s partner yet. I’d kind of thought no one wanted to partner up with me, with me on the coaching side, because I pretty much suck. I’m kind of happy to have been asked.
“Oh, sure,” I say, and I tell myself I’m happy right now just because someone has asked me to be their partner-coach, not because I’m attracted to someone who seems so much like an overgrown frat boy in a really nice suit. I get up and follow Alec out into the hall. Beth Anne lingers by the door, and once we are outside it, she shuts it behind us.
“Um, are you feeling ready?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says, “ready to get it over with.” It occurs to me