Wally heard his phone chirp, saw it was Shirina, flipped it open.

“Hi.”

“Wally, Michael just called.  He’s staying at the Fairmont Hotel.  He wants to meet me at seven in the Georgian Room.  Will you come with me?”

“You can’t be serious.”

Wally met Shirina two months earlier.  He was walking behind a group of students coming out of Biology class.  Someone remarked, “How can anyone tell how old bones are.“

A small girl two steps ahead of him said, “Mass Spectrometer.”

“And by their position in sedimentary rocks,” Wally added.

Shirina turned.  Her eyes were as dark as her glossy black hair.  She stopped
and said, “Carbon dating.”

 “Fission track dating,” Wally replied, catching up with her.

 “Amino acid dating.”

“Um, double dating?” Wally said.  They both laughed.

Shirina Milani was a transferee from Spokane Community College, majoring in biology-premed.  Walter Jussel, from Olympia, was a senior/grad student in physics.
Wally and Shirina walked together to their residences on the North side of 45th.  Shirina did most of the talking while Wally tried to make funny observations.  When they parted, Wally was in a state of bewilderment.  He viewed himself as a social example of Newton’s Third Law of Physics.  His intellectual gifts met their equal and opposite in his social inadequacies. 
 
The following Saturday Wally was with friends at an “Occupy Seattle” rally downtown.  Shirina saw Wally and waved to him.  He waved back.  Shirina waded through the crowd and, to his surprise, gave him a hug. 

Shirina pointed to a sign that read:  “Corporations will be people when Rick Perry executes one.”  Wally chuckled.
“
How about:  Who needs the EPA?  Just Stop Breathing,” Shirina suggested.
 
“Mass Matters,” Wally shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
 
“Mass matters?  Do you mean a Catholic mass?”

“No, no.  I mean the planet and everything on it is made up of particles that form a mass.  Corporations are just a legal fiction.  No mass.”

“Okay.  How about, “No Mass, No Matter,” she said.

“Better,” Wally agreed.

They kept up an easy back and forth between the speeches and singing. When the rally ended Shirina asked Wally for a ride back to campus.  “There’s already six of us in my car,” Wally said.

“I don’t mind,” she answered.  She squished into the front seat next to him.

Wally dropped his friends off first then drove to Shirina’s sorority house. 

“Just so you know, I have a boyfriend,” Shirina told him.  “Michael Baumburg.  He lives in Spokane.”

“I figured,” Wally said.

“Why?”

“Well, ah, you’re, ah, kind of good looking.”

Shirina smiled.  “That’s kind of a compliment.”

Over the next couple months they met increasingly often.  Wally invited Shirina to lectures, movies, and concerts.  Shirina usually called to walk to and from class or for lunch or coffee.  

 “Michael wants to meet you,” Shirina insisted.

“He doesn’t know I exist.”

“Yes, he does.”

Wally groaned.

“I’m having doubts about Michael and me,” Shirina admitted.  “He’s gotten kind of pushy.”

“Invite one of your sorority friends,” Wally suggested.

“Wouldn’t work,” Shirina said. “They’d probably fall for him.”

Wally groaned again. “How long would I have to stay?”

“Just for dinner,” Shirina said. 

“Hmmm.”  
 
Shirina let out a whoop.  “Thank you, thank you,” she said.  “Pick me up at 6:45.  Oh, and wear a jacket.”
 
Wally was waiting in his car when Shirina opened the passenger door, tossed a raincoat into the back, and jumped in.  She had combed her long hair out so it framed her face and hung over her shoulders.  She had done something to her cheeks and eyes.  She wore a simple black dress that displayed her lithe figure. 

“How do I look?” she asked.

Wally started the car.  He was thinking “Wow.”  Instead, he quoted Goethe.

“’Du bist wie eine blume, so holt und shoen und rein, Ich shau dich on und wehmut schleicht mir in’s harz hinein.’”

Shirina clapped her hands in delight.  “That’s beautiful.  What’s it mean?”

“You shine like a star,” Wally lied.

“When you’re a laugh astrophysicist will you name a star after me?”
 
“I’ll give you a whole galaxy with 100 trillion stars in your orbit.”

 “Give yourself one next to mine,” Shirina said.  “Oh, and give Michael one, too.”

“We could give everyone a galaxy.”

“Are there enough?”

“How many people have ever lived?”

 She turned to him. “You don’t think I know, do you?”

Wally pulled into a street-level lot about a block from the Fairmont Hotel.  He bought a ticket, put it on the dashboard, and they started walking, picking up where they left off.

“There are a lot of variables, but one hundred and ten billion would be a reasonable estimate.”  Shirina smirked at him.  “So, how many galaxies you got, smarty pants?” 

“At least five times that.”

“Better get started on the names, then.”

 “Just as soon as you give me a list.”

“Alphabetical all right?”

“Cross-referenced by age, please.  Lots of duplicates.”

Wally and Shirina entered the hotel and started up the grand staircase.  Shirina suddenly turned to him and said, “Michael thinks you’re gay.”

“What?”

Shirina skipped ahead with a giggle.

 “But…”

Shirina entered the darkened restaurant.  Michael approached and wrapped her in his arms.  He was dressed straight out of the men’s section of a Nordstrom’s catalogue; a sharp contrast to Wally, who was wearing the borrowed sport coat of a shorter and heavier friend. 

Michael tilted Shirina’s face up and kissed her on the mouth. 

Wally wanted to run out the door.

“Michael, this is Wally,” Shirina said.

 “Ah, the boy genius,” Michael laughed.

Michael held Shirina close while he led her to his table.  Wally followed behind.  There were four chairs.  Michael put himself between Shirina and Wally.

With one hand Michael downed the remainder of a martini and held up his glass.  He kept the other around Shirina.

“Baby, you look fantastic.”  Michael kissed her cheek, pulling her closer. 

“You want a drink, Lover?” he asked Shirina.

She winced.  “No thanks.”  

“Wally?”

“Um, water’s okay.”

Shirana perked up.  “You’re not twenty one, are you, Wally?”

She held out her hand.  “C’mon, lemme see.”

Wally reluctantly showed his license.

Shirina shrieked, “You’re barely twenty.”

“He looks more like sixteen,” Michael laughed.  He tousled Wally’s hair.  “No offense kid.”  Another laugh.

 “So, Wally, you’re in physics?” Michael asked. “That’s different than being a doctor, right?  More theoretical?  Can you make money at it?”

Wally decided to answer the last question.  “I hope so.”

Michael laughed.  He talked nonstop about his family furniture business; the housing market; the economy; unemployment; and various people in the Spokane area. 

When their dinners arrived, Michael dug into his steak, finally leaving a void.
 Shirina smiled at Wally.  “I can’t believe you’re only twenty and you’re a senior.”

Michael elbowed Wally in the arm.  “If I was twenty again I’d sell all my real estate just like that.” He snapped his fingers then gave another laugh.

Michael gave the same open-mouthed laugh after almost everything he said.  Five HaHa’s.

Michael ordered another martini and resumed his “lectures” on various subjects including football and golf.

“You play any sports?” Michael suddenly asked Wally.

“I ran cross country.”

“Win any races?”

 “I don’t think so.” 

Michael pinched Wally’s arm.  “You’re awful skinny,” he said.  “What are you, five ten or eleven?  Bet you don’t weigh more than a buck fifty.”  Laugh.  “I’m prob’ly two inches taller and outweigh you by a good sixty pounds.”  Another laugh.

Michael pushed his plate away. “Man, I’m stuffed.”  He looked at Shirina’s half-finished salad.  “Baby, you gotta eat more,” he said, pulling her closer and again kissing her cheek.

As the waiter was clearing the table Michael stroked Shirina’s arm with the back of his hand, letting his fingertips graze the side of her breast.

“Michael, stop it,” Shirina said angrily.

There was a tense silence.

Michael winked at Wally.

“I’m going to the men’s room,” Wally said.

“Me, too,” Michael declared with a laugh.  He stumbled a bit when he started walking.

A few minutes later, Michael and Wally stood over sinks looking at each other’s images in the mirror. 

“Should I be worried about you, Wally?” Michael asked.

“What do you mean?”

Michael laughed.  “Good answer.”

Michael adjusted his tie and hand-combed the sides of his head. Then he turned and extended his hand to Wally.  “Been nice meeting you, Buddy,” he said.  “Shirina and I need some time alone now, you know?  I’ll see that she gets home.  In the morning.”  Big laugh.

Michael had his next move planned.  He strode to where Shirina was sitting.  He spread his arms wide and shouted “I love this woman.”  Then he held her face against his as he kissed her.

One diner clapped her hands.  Others joined in.  “Atta boy,” someone called.
Wally slunk away unnoticed.
 
Wally spent Saturday night at a friend’s house on Bainbridge Island.  Sunday morning he jogged ten miles on the island’s back roads, stopping at a local bakery for breakfast.  In the afternoon, on a deck looking across Elliot Bay at the Seattle skyline, he told Randy about his relationship with Shirina, including dinner with Michael.

When he finished, Randy asked, “Have you and Shirina done it yet?”

“What?  Of course not,” Wally protested.  “We’re just friends.”

“Do you love her?”

“I really like her,” Wally said, avoiding the question.

“Then go back and fight for her.”

It was after ten p.m. when Wally found a parking spot a half-block from Shirina’s residence.   Rain was beating against the windshield.  He opened the glove box and removed his cell phone.   There were four messages from Shirina.  He called her number.  She answered immediately. “Where are you?”

“Half a block north on Nineteenth.”

“Stay there.”

Shirina was in the car in a matter of minutes.  She was wearing only baggy sweat  shorts and a wet T-shirt that concealed little.  Wally pulled a parka from the back seat and helped her slip into it.  Shirina brushed water from her face then she slugged his arm.
“I’m mad at you, Walter Jussel.”

“I’m sorry I left…”

“You wouldn’t answer my calls,” she interrupted.  “I thought you gave up on me.”
Shirina’s eyes were moist.  Wally wanted to put his arms around her but he froze up. 

 After a moment, he said, “So, do you still want Michael’s galaxy next to yours?”
They both burst out laughing.

“Was that Michael’s last supper?”  Wally asked.

Shirina laughed again. 

“See what you do, Wally?  You make me happy.”   

Wally again wanted to touch her but he did nothing.

“Wanna hear the details?” Shirina asked.

“Sure.”

“Michael kept drinking and pawing me.  I finally said I was leaving and asked him to come with me.  He was pretty drunk.  He thought I meant I wanted to go up to his room.  When we got to the lobby I plopped him onto a bench.”

“I told him that we weren’t right for each other.  He wants a trophy wife and a breeder.  I want someone who I can talk to and a career.  He sobered up fast.  He said there must be someone else.  I said no, the problem was us.  He swore at me, and headed for the bar.  I called a taxi. Title of story:  stupid woman dumps tall, handsome, rich boyfriend.”  

Wally adoped a German accent.  “Doktor Vally hes seen dis guy and tinks he hes a  personality disoda.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Nevva mind.  Iss bed. Alzo ketchy.  You gotta stay avay dis guy.”

“Is there a pill to make me feel better?”

“Drugs phooey.  Doktor Vally do talk terapy big time.”

 “Would you just hold me, Doctor?”

They leaned toward each other and embraced.

“Fiscal terepy ist alzo gut,” Wally said.

Shirina smiled and snuggled closer.  She hadn’t been completely honest with Michael. 

There was someone else.