Dog Star
an excerpt

Chapter 20: Confession

"Whoa, girlfriend. You look like something that cat killed and then played with for a while," said April opening the door to her dorm room after Phillipa knocked.

"Thanks, I needed that," said Phillipa.

"Sorry. Come on in. What is going on? You and Steve have a long night?"

"You don't know the half of it," said Phillipa wearily.

"Want to tell me about it? Are you in trouble?"

Phillipa sat in the open window of April's fifth floor dorm room overlooking the athletic fields, listening to the birds and wishing her headache would let up. She sat for a while and April said nothing.

"OK, let me see how much want to embarrass myself," said Phillipa.

She told April what she remembered of the evening with Steve, leaving out a few of the more exotic details. She told of her concerns about his lavish lifestyle and his leaving quickly and not telling her who he was going to see. When she was finished April looked at her intently.

"Holy shit, you have an interesting life, said April. "I picked up some musician dude last night at the Village Tav and he was so drunk he fell asleep when I brought him back here. I kicked him out. You had ritual sex with Professor 'Indiana Jones', got stoned on what sounds like some amazing pre-historic shit, did bondage, and fucked until dawn in his Temple of Doom condo. Can I be your publicist?"

"Stop. I feel like I'm losing control of my life," said Phillipa. "Steve is smart, exciting and strange and I like being with him, but I feel like I am falling off the edge of the earth. He treats me sometimes like I'm some sort of weird icon in his collection. And where does he get all the money for all this stuff. Did I tell you about what we ate last night?" Phillipa told April of the sushi and caviar dinner. "Most of that stuff I've never seen before, and I've eaten in the best sushi restaurants in Seattle."