“Sorry!” The girl laughed removing her earphones.

“You can have it”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t really like magazines anyway” Vivian replied.

The girl looked Vivian directly in the eyes, and shaped a smile with her mouth.

“Okay, thanks”

Vivian willed the crimson wave to disappear as her fingers fumbled the zipper on her bag. She offered the girl a nervous smile, and peeled her eyes away from her steady stare. Noticing Vivian’s nervousness, the girl turned towards her, and crossed her legs on the bench.

“So what are you here for anyway?” she asked. “Skipping school?, Drugs?, Choosing to be a lesbian to get attention from your parents?” Vivian looked at the girl.

“None of the above”

The girl smiled. “I bet you can’t guess which one of those options applies to me?”

Vivian didn’t want to guess. She didn’t hang out with the kids that skipped school, had never taken drugs, and had only ever met a lesbian once.

“Well?” The girl encouraged. “If you can get it right, I’ll buy you a drink from that coke machine.”

Vivian laughed. “Well, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because your parents think you’re a lesbian who skips school to take drugs?”

The girl laughed. “Something like that.”

Getting up from the bench, she reached into her pocket searching for some dollar notes to insert into the coke machine. Defeated, after going through all her pockets and finding nothing, she sat back down next to Vivian. “I guess I owe you a drink.”

Vivian noticed that that the girl had sat down closer to her. She suddenly forgot about the ice bench she was on, and could have sworn she could feel the girls body heat seeping from her pores and engulfing her. The girl smelt like incense, a scent that was making Vivian feel a little dizzy. The door to the psychiatrist’s office sprung open, and she came out gesturing for the girl to follow her inside. “This is the part of the day, where I have to go in and explain to the psychiatrist that being a lesbian is something you’re born with, and not a weapon used to gain attention from parents that have very little time on their hands.” She picked up her bag, and headed to the door.