a blond girl in a leather jacket in front of me. Her eyes were locked on my face.
I blinked and dropped my head, startled, but when I looked up again, she hadn’t moved. She looked familiar, and after another minute I realized she was the girl I’d seen on Castro Street earlier that night. Her look was understated compared to Midge’s—she wasn’t wearing any makeup at all, and she had on ancient Converse sneakers instead of platform heels—but she fit in perfectly, with her Ramones T-shirt and a leather collar tied below the knee of her ripped jeans. I didn’t remember her wearing that on Castro Street.
The girl leaned forward to shout in my ear. I couldn’t understand her at first, and I shook my head, so she shouted it again. “DID I SEE YOU ON CASTRO WITH LEONARD TONIGHT?”
I nodded and waved, since shouting over the music seemed impossible.
“I’M EVELYN,” the girl shouted. “WANT TO GET A DRINK?”
Half of me wanted to stay where I was, thrumming to the music, but the bar was on the far side of the room, and it looked slightly less jammed with people. Plus, I didn’t mind the idea of getting away from the guy in front of me, since his grip on his joint was so loose I was surprised it hadn’t already fallen onto my shoe. I nodded again.
The noise near the bar was slightly less deafening than the rest of the club. Evelyn left me standing against a wall and came back a minute later with two glasses.
“I don’t usually see women from the Castro at these shows.” She still had to lean in and raise her voice so I could understand her, but at least we didn’t have to shout.
“I’ve never been to one of these shows before,” I told her, “but I saw the poster and thought I’d check it out.”
“Cool. What do you think so far?”
I glanced back toward the stage. Midge was dancing wildly while the band behind her banged on their instruments. The spiky-haired guy had stepped forward to join her at the edge of the stage, jangling his guitar and pounding his head wildly in time with Midge’s movements. As if they were dancing together, but in the most inharmonious way possible. “I like the band.”
“Yeah, Midge is great.” Evelyn pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and held it out to me. I shook my head, and she popped one into her mouth. “We were supposed to hang out after their set, but it looks like she’s already gone the way of Johnny. Once those two are sharing space, the rest of the world turns invisible.”
On stage, Midge and the spiky-haired guitar player were rapidly closing the distance between them. She looped the microphone cord around his neck, still growling lyrics I couldn’t make out.
I started to tell Evelyn that was how it was with Kevin and me, too, but I stopped when I realized that wasn’t quite true.
“How do you know her?” I asked instead.
“Just from being around the scene.” Evelyn pulled the cigarette out of her mouth and released a puff of smoke. “She’s incredible onstage, isn’t she? I’m more into the Dils when it comes to their actual music, though. Don’t tell her I said that, okay?”
I couldn’t imagine ever speaking to Midge Spelling. “Sure thing.”
“So, what brought you to the Castro?”
Evelyn looked really interested in hearing my answer, and it suddenly occurred to me that she might be gay. In fact…maybe she thought I was gay.
Oh, my gosh.
“I’m straight,” I blurted.
Evelyn stared at me for a long moment. Then she burst out laughing. “Good for you. Me, too, so good for us, I mean.”
“Oh, um, I mean—” I felt so stupid. Blood rushed to my cheeks as I desperately fumbled to erase the past ten seconds. “Oh, my gosh. Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…it isn’t as if I thought—Oh, shoot.”
“It’s all right.” Evelyn was still laughing. “Thank you for sharing. How old are you, anyway?”
“Uh…” Should I lie? There was probably no