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conversation with Jason on the bus ride back to base.
    “I wasn’t too partial to the first one.  It was way too
fruity for me.  The shot at the end was alright, but I could have done without
the chocolate shot glass.”  Rachel adopted a nose in the air attitude again.
    “How dare you!  We can’t be friends anymore, we simply
disagree on everything.”  Jason laughed at the show she was putting on, and she
continued.  “I thought the first one was simply divine.  I bought three
bottles.  The fruity ones are the best, I find.  The liquor was absolutely
atrocious, and the only good thing about it was the chocolate shot glass.  The
rest were tolerable, but the Spumante was the best.”  She finished her little
act and laughed with Jason.  The base loomed up ahead of them.  Rachel’s smile
faltered.  She wanted to spend more time with him, but she wasn’t going to be the
one that asked to see him again.  If he wanted to get together, he would
ask…otherwise it really wasn’t that important to him.   That was her
philosophy, anyway.  The bus went through the gate, and butterflies took flight
in her stomach, wondering if he was going to ask her to hang out again was
torture.  She let him get off the bus first this time.  As she neared the exit,
she told herself to go about her business.  Don’t stop to wave, don’t stop to
say goodbye, simply get off the bus and head in the direction of her room.  If
he was interested he would come after her.  She took a deep breath as her foot
hit the last step.  Ok, Rach, you can do this.  She walked along the side of
the bus, rounded the corner, and was about to cross the street.  Still nothing. 
Her shoulders slumped in disappointment, but she kept going.  She would be
fine.  It wasn’t like the boy meant anything to her.  She just thought he was
cute and was hoping to see more of him.  When she got to the stairs, she
hazarded a look back towards the bus and she could see him talking to three
other boys his own age that hadn’t been on the trip with them.  Maybe he knew
them from work or something.  Speaking of work, she needed to make a phone
call.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi, it’s Rachel.  We just got back from our wine tasting
tour, and I was wondering when I would be going to work and where?”
    “Oh!  Hi, Rachel.  Did you have a good time?”
    “It was wonderful.  I even bought three bottles of wine.” 
Rachel smiled into the phone as she took her shoes off and stood them up next
to the door.
    “I’m glad you liked it.  Listen, I will come and get you on
Monday at seven thirty.  Then I’ll show you where you’ll be working.  Dress for
a teaching job.  I have to go, my boyfriend is taking me out, but I’ll see you
on Monday, ok?”
    “Ok, sounds good.  Have fun.”  Rachel hung the phone up, a
little glumly.  She still didn’t have any friends here, and she definitely
didn’t have a boyfriend that she could be doing things with.  She couldn’t even
make friends with her roommate.  That was embarrassing.  She vowed to
fix that as soon as she could.  She’d be friendly to everyone that she met, so
she could have someone to spend time with and do things with.  She was ok being
a lone wolf most of the time, but there were times when she wanted to go out
with friends and have fun and be able to tell wild stories at work the next
day.  She had to admit to herself that she was a little bit jealous and a
little disappointed in herself.  Maybe a quick trip to the mini mall would
cheer her up.  She’d gotten off her bed and was half way across the room when
she stopped herself.  No.  She didn’t know when she’d be able to open up a bank
account, so she had to save her money for things that she really needed.  She
flopped down on her bed and stared at the small slits of the outdoor world that
she could see through the blinds.  She left them barely open so she would get
some light in, while keeping nosy people from being