I go back to The Honeywell in Harlem on Broadway,
walk down the hidden concrete stairs off the sidewalk,
and into the cozily lit basement bar with flower petal lamps and maroon upholstered seating.
I ask the hostess if I can speak to Jo.
When she enters with her very form-fitting black slacks and slicked-back ponytail
I want to thank her for last week when I was here with a girl I’ve named Sorrow,
when she said, “Whoever takes out their card the fastest pays for the date!”
(Jo must have known I would be far too slow in getting my wallet out.)
I want to thank Jo for ruining the flowers I had bought for Sorrow with a swift movement of the booth’s bohemian bead curtain instead of carefully avoiding the petals.
(I want that interior designer’s number.)
I want to tell Jo I wish she had stopped our tarot reading and said “Actually, I think you should get up and leave.”
(She must have seen I drew The Tower.)
Jo would have been a much better omen,
Jo wouldn’t dump me after one date.
I want to tell Jo that Sorrow and I agreed she was a lesbian as soon as she left our table for the first time.
(I thought she was hot at first glance, though maybe a little too old for me. I do like a milf though…)
But when Jo actually emerges from the kitchen, instead I tell her,
Jo, make me the margarita of my dreams, and let's ride away on horseback into the sunrise! Let us be lesbian lovers, and live in a cottage in the middle of the woods (maybe next to a river?). We can have two dogs (minimum) and I’ll braid your hair with daisies if you weave lavender sprigs into mine. I can cook a mean dinner and we can get old together watching the sunset from the wooden rocking chairs on our porch (a porch is a requirement in this scenario).
Or maybe I tell Jo none of this.
I just order a drink, and secretly hope she’ll be my waitress.
RACHEL SARUSKI is a queer, Jewish-Latina playwright, poet, producer, and director. She recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, where she recieved the David Lindsay-Abaire Award for Excellence in Playwriting. She loves dogs, french fries, and being with her best friends <3.