I opened the door to my room slowly, being careful not to make too much noise, in case Joe was already asleep: it was nearly midnight, after all. But I shouldn’t have worried – he was still sitting up in bed, reading a book by the light of his bedside lamp.

“Hi,” I greeted him; he looked up at me, and grunted in response.

I walked over to my wardrobe and took off my coat, hanging it up; then walked over to my bed and picked up my PJs, and started walking over to the bathroom to go get changed.

“Where were you?” Joe asked.

I stopped, and turned my head to look at him, puzzled. “Out. With friends,” I replied.

He raised an eyebrow, and looked at me sceptically. “Didn’t know you had friends. You didn’t before.”

I turned to face him fully. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Well, it’s just that it’s the third time in as many weeks that you go out on Wednesday afternoon, and come back late. You never did that before.” He shrugged. “So I was wondering what was up.”

It’s the third time in as many weeks I go to the GSA and pretend to be a trans girl in front of everyone, and then go out to dinner with Anna, Elanor, Vicky, and Nora, I thought. But I wasn’t about to tell him that, so I just shrugged myself.

“I made some friends in class, and started hanging out with them,” I said. “Simple.”

Joe looked at me for a few moments, and then nodded. “Alright. Okay. Happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

He held my gaze for a few moments, and then he sighed. “Listen, bud, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

I tilted my head to the side and looked at him. “What’s up?”

“Well…” he sighed again. “I feel like I have to apologise. For what happened three weeks ago, with Tommy and Eddie. The thing with the ball, I mean.”

I nodded. “Go on.”

“At the time I blamed you, but I’ve come to realise I’ve been wrong,” Joe continued. “It’s not your fault Darrell was around. And, if anything, it’s the libertarians’ fault for leaving a table out where there shouldn’t be one.”

My eyes narrowed a bit. So he was still blaming someone else instead of himself, huh.

“So, I’m sorry,” Joe concluded.

I looked at him for a moment, then nodded again. “Okay.”

“So we’re cool?” he asked.

“We’re cool.”

“Okay.”

I continued looking at him for a few moments; then, when he didn’t say anything else, I turned around and walked into the bathroom, where I quickly shed my clothes – eyes closed, as always – and put on my sleepwear.

When I got out to go to bed, Joe was already asleep.

-----

I walked into the room and closed the door behind me. “Evenin’,” I said.

Joe looked up from his textbook. “Hi, bro,” he replied.

I hesitated for a moment. Always with the ‘bro’ and ‘buddy’ and ‘man’ and stuff. That felt terrible, the way he never used my name; I didn’t much care for that, either, but it felt a whole lot better than what he called me. I briefly debated with myself whether to tell him, but in the end decided not to – we’d just become cordial again since he’d apologised to me, two days before, and I didn’t want to risk ruining it again: Joe could be weird regarding some things.

“How was your day?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Oh, same old,” he answered, and then smirked. “How about you? Did you have fun at social studies? Had any more fights with Anna?”

“No, actually,” I replied. “It’s been fine since, oh, about two weeks ago? Maybe three.”

Joe blinked in surprise. “It has?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I apologised to her, and she accepted the apology.”

“…Why the hell would you apologise?” he said, giving me a bewildered look. “She was clearly in the wrong, she should have been the one to say sorry.”

“Well, you know what we talked about? That I needed the credits for the social studies course.” Joe nodded, and I continued, “It’s much easier to concentrate on studying when you don’t have someone glaring at you from across the classroom the whole time.”

Joe was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I see your point. But I still think you shouldn’t have apologised. As a man, you shouldn’t bow down to anyone. You should have pride.”

I smiled. “It is what it is.”

“You’re right about that,” he replied with a laugh. “Oh, by the way, Theta Omega Tau is having another party tonight. You in?”

I thought about it. Joe and I hadn’t hung out in quite a while, hadn’t we? And he was basically my only friend at college – besides the people from the GSA, that is. And my dad had always told me you should try to hold your friends close.

“Okay,” I replied.

Joe smiled at me. “Let’s go, then. Give me a few minutes to get changed.”

I nodded, and while I was waiting for him I fished my cellphone and wallet; I put my wallet in my pocket, and started absent-mindedly fiddling with my phone until Joe said he was ready. Then I put the phone in my pocket, too, and we left for the party.

-----

“Cheers!” Joe exclaimed, as he grabbed a beer – his fifth one of the night – and clinked his bottle against mine.

“Cheers,” I replied; I took a sip, and made a face. I was barely halfway through my first beer, and I was finding it hard to drink it: it tasted awful. Yeah, cheap college party beer is rarely top shelf stuff, but I didn’t remember it being this bad. Maybe it was because it was my first time drinking in a while? I absent-mindedly realised I hadn’t drunk even one bit since the previous time Joe and I had gone out together, and that had been a month before. The last time I’d gone a month without drinking, I’d been fourteen.

“It’s good to get out of that stuffy room once in a while,” Joe said, breaking my train of thought. “Do something fun.”

I smirked at him. “Don’t you do ‘something fun’ each and every weekend? I mean, you’re rarely in our room on Saturdays and Sundays.”

“’course,” he replied with a shrug. “This is college, man. We should enjoy it while we’re here, we’ll never get these moments of our lives back.”

“You’re right about that,” said a voice behind me; I turned around, and froze.

Eddie and Tommy were walking towards us, a cheerful expression on their faces.

“Tommy!” Joe exclaimed loudly. “Eddie! Buddies! It’s good to see you!” They embraced briefly, and when they separated Joe grabbed two bottles off a nearby table and handed them to his friends. “Here, have a drink with us!”

“Gladly,” Eddie said; he took a deep drink from his bottle, and then continued, “Here’s to the end of another boring week, and the start of a weekend of fun!”

“Hear, hear!” Tommy cheered in agreement, lifting his bottle towards the ceiling before taking a swig. “Here, pal, you drink too! Enjoy your college life!”

He grabbed a fresh bottle, and offered it to me; I declined with a gesture. “I am enjoying my college life,” I said. “Even though I’m not a party beast like you are.”

“Youuuuu don’t get it!” Joe said, slurring the first word a bit. “College is supposed to be about having fun! About celebrating life!”

I tilted my head to the side, and looked at him. “I thought college was supposed to be about studying?”

He scoffed. “Yeah, also studying. I guess. But above all, it’s about fun! And girls!”

“Yeah!” Tommy and Eddie agreed as one. “Girls!”

I frowned. This was shaping up to be a repeat of what had happened a few weeks before, back in my dorm room: me having a bad time, while the three of them were being drunk, and loud, and annoying.

“Look at the boobs on that one!” Eddie said, motioning with his bottle.

“Nice, nice,” Tommy agreed. “But I prefer her friend, I’m more of an ass man myself.”

Especially annoying.

“Excuse me,” I said, after clearing my throat a bit; Eddie, Joe, and Tommy turned to me. “Could we please just have some fun, talk among ourselves, without acting like horny apes?”

Tommy scoffed. “Oh, come on, my friend, we’re just having some fun. Enjoying the scenery.”

My frown deepened. “Well, can we enjoy the scenery without any crass comments?”

Joe shook his head, apparently in disbelief. “What the hell, man. I’ve known you for only a few months, true, but you could’ve told me you were gay.”

As Joe’s friends laughed, I bristled. “I’m not gay,” I protested, feeling the need to defend myself. “I like girls. And the point that I was making is that you’re objectifying those girls. You’re being misogynistic.”

Joe blinked in surprise: he’d never heard me use those words before. And a few weeks earlier, I probably wouldn’t have used them: I guess it was my hours of hanging out with my friends from the GSA, of being educated in the mysterious queer ways called respect, that were rubbing off on me.

“Misogy-what?” Tommy asked. “What’s ‘objectifying’ mean?”

I looked at him, and took a deep breath. “It means you’re focusing on just the parts of those girls that you can see and like, without considering them as a whole.”

He looked at me curiously. “And that’s… bad?”

“That’s bad,” I replied. “I mean, what would you say if a girl looked at you, and decided to approach you just because she thought you had a nice butt?”

“I would think ‘score!’ HEYOO!” Tommy shouted: he turned to his friends, and raised his hand, seemingly waiting for a high-five. They obliged, repeating the “HEYOO!” shout.

I looked at them for a moment, then shook my head. I suddenly felt the need to get some fresh air.

“I can’t believe you guys,” I muttered. I set my half-finished bottle of beer on a table, turned around, and walked away.

“Hey, what?” I heard Joe call from behind me. “What the hell, man? Why you gotta be like that? We were just talking!”

I didn’t even turn back to look at him as I left the party.

-----

Well, that had been a waste of a Friday evening.

I could kick myself. Joe and I had barely made up two days before, after three full weeks of him not speaking to me over something that had been entirely his fault. And I knew from experience how he could be, especially when he had a bit too much to drink.

I had been an idiot in thinking I could enjoy myself with him.

Fuming, I made my way back to the dorm; as I walked, I bundled myself up in my coat – it was especially chilly that night, there was that scent in the air that told you it was going to snow soon. But no matter, I would soon be bundled up in bed, warm and cosy.

After about twenty minutes of walking through the cold, I reached the dorm. I walked up the three steps out front and pushed the door.

It didn’t budge.

Of course, I thought; I looked at my watch, and saw it was a few minutes past eleven. The dorm doors always got locked at ten. You had to bring your keys if you stayed out past that.

And that’s when I came to a horrible realisation.

I hadn’t brought my keys with me.

I’d grabbed my phone and wallet when Joe and I had gone out earlier that day, but I hadn’t thought to also grab my keyring. Maybe subconsciously, I was counting on Joe to let me in? After all, we’d left together, and we would come back together.

Unless I threw a tantrum and left the party earlier, that is.

I sighed deeply, and sat down heavily on the steps. I thought about calling Darrell for a moment, but then decided against it: he was our RA, true, but I’d be bothering him if I’d called him at eleven PM on a Friday. And for such a stupid reason, too; he’d never forgive me.

I just had to sit down and wait for someone to come back and open the door for me. No, I realised, I had to wait for Joe to come back: besides the door to the dorm building, there was also the door to our room to take into account. Only he and I had the key to that.

I sighed deeply again, and watched as my breath painted billowing clouds through the air. It was really cold, I felt like I was freezing. I just had to hope Joe wouldn’t take too much time.

“Lily?”

Startled, I looked up: I hadn’t expected someone to call my name. Especially since not many people knew it. And that voice sounded like…

“Nora. Hi,” I said, looking around – we were the only ones nearby, I couldn’t see anyone else. I sighed in relief at not having been outed, and then belatedly remembered I’d asked all of my friends from the GSA to not call me ‘Lily’ if anyone was within earshot: I was only out to a select few people, I explained, and I wanted to keep it that way for the time being.

So Nora using my name wasn’t a big deal, I knew I could trust her – and Anna, Elanor, and Vicky, for that matter – to be careful.

“Hi,” she replied, smiling at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I was just passing by and I saw you, thought I’d say hi. I’m coming back from a movie night with some friends,” Nora answered. “What are you doing here? It’s freezing, why are you sitting out here?”

“Oh, I live here,” I said, motioning to the dorm behind me. “But I’ve been a dum-dum and haven’t brought my keys with me when I went out tonight. I’m locked out. So I’m waiting for my room-mate to come back and let me in. He shouldn’t be long.”

“How long did he say he would take?”

I hesitated a moment. “Ah… I don’t know,” I replied. “I kinda got mad at him and stormed out of a party we were at. I have no idea when he’s coming back.”

She frowned. “Well, that will not do. That won’t do at all. You can’t just sit out here in the freezing cold. Call him, or something.”

I shook my head. “I can’t just call him. We’ve had a fight. And it’s his fault.”

Nora looked at me for a few moments, then smiled. “You’re headstrong, girl. I like that.”

I blinked.

“Let me handle this,” she continued. “Come on, up we go.” She offered me her hand, and pulled me to my feet, before moving to the door and crouching in front of it. “This should be just a moment,” she said, slipping something out of her purse. “Still, you keep watch, make sure no one’s coming.”

I looked at her, puzzled. “Why, what are you going to do?”

“Keep watch, I said,” she repeated. Still puzzled, I spun on my heel and looked around: the street was still as deserted as it had been a few moments before.

“There’s no one here,” I said.

“Quiet, please,” Nora muttered under her breath. “I need to hear the pins.”

The what? I thought, but continued keeping watch.

After a minute or so, I heard a loud click behind me.

“Hah, got it,” Nora said.

I turned back around, and saw her pull the door open; she stepped back, and gave me a bow.

“After you, my lady.”

I felt my mouth fall open. “Wh– How? How did you do that?” I asked.

A playful smirk appeared on her lips. “Magic. Deep, dark magic, passed down by my line through generations.” She paused. “No, actually I used lockpicks. See?”

She held up two small pieces of metal, one flat and bent at one end, while the other had a small curve at the end, like a small hook.

“Lockpicks?” I said, bewildered. “You know how to pick locks?”

“Sure do, it’s a small hobby of mine.”

I hesitated. “Aren’t lockpicks illegal?”

“No, they’re not,” she replied, shaking her head. “Breaking and entering is illegal. Opening locks that aren’t yours to open.” She tilted her head to the side in thought, and put her finger to her cheek, still smiling that charming smile of hers. “Though I suppose since I don’t live here, what I did is a little bit illegal. Just a tad.”

I looked at her for a moment. “That… Well, thank you. That was amazing. Thank you.”

She quickly touched her forehead in a mock salute. “Glad to be of service, ma’am. I’ll be on my way, then. See you at the next GSA meeting.”

She turned around, and started to leave.

“Actually,” I called out; Nora turned back, and gave me a questioning look. “Actually,” I repeated, “could you do my dorm room door, too? I don’t have the key to that, either.”

“Ooh, more breaking and entering,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “Fun. Show me this door that’s keeping you from your room, and I’ll see to it that it’s opened forthwith.”

I guided her down the corridor and to my room; there was no one around, but I still kept watch as she fiddled with the lock, probing and prodding it with her lockpicks. It took her only a minute or so to get it open.

“Ta-da!” she exclaimed, as the door swung open. “One lock picked, as requested.”

I found myself smiling at her showmanship. “Thank you, Nora,” I said. “I’m really grateful. And this was a fun way to end a horrible night.”

“Was it so bad?” she asked.

I sighed, and nodded. “Yeah. I have bad luck with Friday nights, it seems: every time I’ve gone out in the past month, it turned out to be terrible.” I didn’t mention that I’d only gone out twice, and both times with Joe.

Nora hm-ed in thought. “Tell you what, why don’t you come with me next Friday?”

I blinked in surprise. “With you?”

“Sure,” she nodded. “I mentioned I was on my way back from movie night, didn’t I? We do those regularly, at Vicky’s place.”

I looked at her for a moment. “Won’t I be a bother?”

“Aw, nah,” Nora said, waving her hand dismissively. “Vicky knows you, and everyone else there is from the GSA, they’ve seen you around. But if you’re nervous because you won’t know many people there, we can invite Anna and Elanor, too.”

“In that case… Okay,” I replied. “Thank you, Nora.”

“Great!” she exclaimed. “I’ll tell you the details at the next meeting, then.”

She reached forward, put a hand on my shoulder, and gave it a friendly squeeze. Then she leaned in.

“Have a good night, Lily,” she whispered in my ear.

She leaned back, smiled at me, turned around, and walked away.

I stood there, watching her go.

What an interesting girl, I thought.