Ever since Jem called him out on it at his first meeting, Dante has been attending support groups with his undivided attention. Even now, as he sits in the worlds dingiest basement room, in the worlds most uncomfortable chair, listening to the world's most boring story about a client from two decades ago, Dante did everything he could to remember every detail of every word. He leans forward, putting his weight onto his forearms that rest on top of his thighs, and folds his hands together, as if he had never heard anything more important in his entire life. He'd been doing this for the past 30 minutes through all of the literature readings, group reminders, and other monotonous speakers."

"You're trying too hard," Jem whispers, sneaking in from the door and into the chair next to him. She places a gentle kiss on his cheek as a greeting. 

"You're late," Dante whispers back. She smells like fresh soap and cigarettes, and her cheeks had clearly absorbed the cold from outside. 

"I'm a busy gal, what can I say," She grins and places her brown leather purse next to her chair, settling in for the meeting, "Oh! Actually, speaking of busy," She immediately leans back in closer to Dante, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that  insufferably cute boy outside, would you? Face sweeter than a puppy, black hair, and god's ugliest T-shirt?" 

Dante whips his head around to look at her so suddenly that it draws attention from a few of the people around him. He grimaces and waves his hand gently toward them as a sort of non-verbal apology. 

"What? He's still out there?" He says, turning back toward Jem after his weak attempt at quelling the crowd's irritation, "Isn't it raining? or about to rain?" 

"Yes, he's out there, and it wasn't raining when I came in, at least. Doesn't look like he'd leave even if it was, though," She shoots him a cheeky smile, "Who is he?"

"Just... some guy. Some kid, really,"

"You have to chill with that jaded act you put on. You two have got to be practically the same age." She tuts her tongue and crosses her arms, "and it doesn't look like he's just some kid to me."

Dante presses his lips together briefly and sighs, "Shhh. I'm trying to listen," Dante whispers back, clearly deflecting her tease. Jem rolls her eyes in response, and makes an obscene jacking-off hand gesture at him. Jackoff, she mouths. Dante rolls his eyes right back, and turns back towards the speaker. 

Truth be told, he had no idea what this woman in the front had been talking about. She's on a completely different tangent than the one she was on before Jem came in, and Dante couldn't follow the thread. How long had she been talking? How long had this meeting been going on for? 

How long is he going to sit outside? Dante finds himself thinking. Am I going to have to deal with him again when I leave? There's a back exit, I think; I might be able to avoid him. Absent mindedly, he begins to bounce his leg as he thoughts start racing, That won't fix the issue that he knows where my bookstore is, though. What if he comes back tomorrow? What if... his leg stops shaking, almost in sync with what feels like his heart beat stopping. He turns to Jem and leans in close to whisper to her. 

"Did you... talk to him? Like, did you tell him what you were here for?" he asks, trying his darndest to hide his nerves. 

Jem cocks her head a bit to the side, "I mean, just a little," she whispers back, "he asked me what I was here for, and I told him it was a meeting, like everybody else. Seemed he read the sign already so I guess he already knew what kind of meeting before asking. Why?" she looks him up and down inquisitively, "it's not like you to be so nervous about this, or to hide your job from people. Did he ..." she lowers her voice even more, "did he do something? bad?" 

"God, no, no no," he responds immediately, perhaps a bit louder than intended. The speaker pauses and looks out briefly toward the back of the crowd at the commotion. Dante smiles sheepishly and waits for her to resume again before he continues whispering, "No, he didn't do anything. And I'm not hiding my job." he fixes his posture and straightens out his shirt and jacket, "There's nothing to be ashamed of." 

"Hmm." Jem huffs, and leans back into her chair. At long last, the speaker finishes rambling, creating a natural end to this insanely uncomfortable conversation. Dante and Jem both half-heartedly contribute to the scattered applause from the rest of the audience as the facilitator takes the podium again. 

"Thank you, Xochitl, for your contribution. As a reminder, this meeting is for people to speak their truths, so please try your best to refrain from cross-talk or side conversations," the facilitator says, making slight eye contact with both Jem and Dante before moving on, "We've reached the last 15 minutes of our meeting, which we usually like to save for newcomers to use as their introductions or to just get some stuff off their chest, so if you're a newcomer, please feel free to take the podium. Otherwise, anyone is welcome to speak their piece." The quiet room looks up at the podium in pregnant anticipation. Dante scans the crowd, his eyes landing on a 20 year old twink he'd never seen before, sitting alone in the back row. 

He has to be new. Dante thinks. 

"He looks just like how you did," Jem responds, as if she could hear his thoughts, "You should speak to make the kid feel more comfortable,"

"Shhhh, Shut up," Dante whispers back, "I spoke, like, two weeks ago, I don't have anything new to say!" 

Jem rolls her eyes. "Fine. Don't volunteer. See if I care." She turns back toward the front, at the podium, and waits one more moment for a newcomer to volunteer. When nobody does, she raises her hand listlessly, "Put me in, coach, I'll take a crack at it."

The facilitator smiles, "Thank you, Jem, welcome." He steps aside and lets Jem take the stage. Before she reaches the podium, she gives him a brief pat on the back and whispers, and thank you, Geoffrey. 

"Hello, I'm Jem," she says, garnering a few responses from the crowd, "I've been coming to meetings for... I don't know, a decade? more or less? I can barely remember," she chuckles and leans forward on the podium, "I've been thinking a lot about these meetings, and where I am now, versus where I was when I started recently. I didn't come to these meetings immediately after starting sex work; I waited a really long time, 'cuz I was so disillusioned and so detached that I thought I didn't need the support. A girl I used to ... 'go' with told me about this place and how it helped her feel safer and whatever, and I remember thinking 'Jesus, calm down. Nothing that bad has ever really happened,' because I was so full of myself and my ego was too big to admit that this work was taxing on my mind and my body. I was in flight or fight all the time, just trying to get by, that I'd associated seeking help with weakness. I'd been taking my frustration out on people who asked for help, because I didn't want to admit that they were actually much stronger and braver than I was." 

Jem takes a deep sigh and stands back up straight, "When that girl - I mean, when Amelia died, and I went to her funeral, I realized just how important community really is. The pews were filled with her loved ones she had met one way or another - but many of them were from groups like this, who knew what she had been through because they'd been through it, too. It was almost possible to ignore the emptiness that her parents' absence left, because these people showed up as if they were her blood family." Jem takes a brief pause. Dante can see her swallow down hard, and he realizes that she's having a harder time than usual holding back her tears, "I wish I would have gone to these meetings before Amelia's death, and that I would've listened more. I wish it wouldn't've taken her death to show me how valuable talking to others can be. I'm glad I'm going now, and that I've talked to people and learned and grown. I try not to live too hard in the past, or in the "what if"s or "could've been"s because there's no real way to know for sure what could've happened, and living in regret from the past is just going to keep creating more regrets for the future. But its also hard not to wonder sometimes."

She takes a deep inhale and braces herself against the podium, "Aaaaanyway, long story short, I get a lot out of this shit, I guess. I'm glad I came. I've been reflecting on my life a lot and where I've ended up, and I feel pretty good, mostly in thanks to this group. So.. thanks, I guess. Whatever. That's corny, I dunno." she rubs the back of her head sheepishly, "Sorry I didn't have any juicy client stories or horrific experiences this week to make anybody feel better. Thanks for listening regardless." Jem steps back from the podium and begins to head back to her seat next to Dante amid some more scattered applause from the crowd. As she sits back down, Dante gently takes her hand and squeezes it in support. Geoffrey takes the stand again and gives one last call for speakers before he starts the group announcements, and passes around the hat to collect donations. All throughout the hat passing, the serenity prayer and the closing affirmations, Dante refuses to let go of Jem's hand.