Page 75 - Philly Girl

Philly Girl 59

guy named Dennis, who was her friend and sometimes her
lover. She said she didn’t want to hurt him by leaving him
for a girl, but she really wanted to pursue Terri. Did I have
any advice? I told her to go for it, even at the risk of Terri’s
rejection.
On December 19, 1975, Laurie held a birthday party for
all of her friends at the Pines of Rome restaurant in DC. It
was the coldest day of that year. She showed up for about
a minute, and then announced that she was going to the
airport to meet her friend Terri. She instructed everyone to
meet and mingle until she returned. The strangers at the
party stared at each other for a while and did their best to
comply. At some point during that evening, a cute skinny
guy who I saw staring at me ambled my way. I broke the
ice and said “Hi.” Shy-guy said “hi”—and then there was
silence. Finally, I introduced myself as Laurie’s friend Jan.
He said, “Hello, I’m Laurie’s friend, Dennis.” This was the
same Dennis who we left the note for in British Columbia,
and the same Dennis who Laurie was trying not to hurt so
she could be a lesbian with Terri. This was the Dennis whom
I found amazingly attractive, and I said, “I’d love to talk to
you sometime.”
By the way, Laurie never returned to her party.