The Circle

group of powerful enemies in Guatemala,
     but that untold thousands of SeeChange watchers were seeing her doing it. It gave
     her layers of self-awareness and a distinct sense of the power she could wield in
     her position. She decided to use the restroom, to throw some cold water on her face
     and use her legs a bit, and it was in the bathroom that her phone buzzed. The caller
     ID was blocked.
    “Hello?”
    “It’s me. Kalden.”
    “Where have you been?”
    “It’s complicated now. All the cameras.”
    “You’re not a spy, are you?”
    “You know I’m not a spy.”
    “Annie thinks you are.”
    “I want to see you.”
    “I’m in the bathroom.”
    “I know.”
    “You know?”
    “CircleSearch, SeeChange … You’re not hard to find.”
    “And where are
you
?”
    “I’m coming. Stay there.”
    “No. No.”
    “I need to see you. Stay there.”
    “No. I can see you later. There’s a thing in the New Kingdom. Open-mic folk night.
     A safe, public place.”
    “No, no. I can’t do that.”
    “You can’t come here.”
    “I can and I will.”
    And he hung up.
    Mae checked her purse. She had a condom. And she stayed. She chose the far stall and
     waited. She knew that waiting for him was not wise. That it was wrong on many levels.
     She wouldn’t be able to tell Annie about this. Annie would approve of most carnal
     activity but not here, at work, in a bathroom. This would demonstrate poor judgment,
     and reflect poorly on Annie. Mae watched the time. Twominutes had passed and still she was in a bathroom stall, waiting for a man she knew
     only vaguely, and who, she guessed, wanted only to ravish her, repeatedly, in ever-stranger
     places. So why was she there? Because she wanted this to happen. She wanted him to
     take her, in the stall, and she wanted to know that she had been taken in the stall,
     at work, and that only the two of them would ever know. Why was this some glittering
     thing she needed? She heard the door open, and then the clicking of the lock on the
     door. A lock she didn’t know existed. Then she heard the sound of Kalden’s long strides.
     The footsteps stopped near the stalls, giving way to a dark squeaking, the strain
     of bolts and steel. She felt a shadow above her and craned her neck to see a figure
     descending to it. Kalden had climbed the high stall wall, and had crawled across the
     grid to get to hers. She felt him slip in behind her. The heat of his body warmed
     her back, his breath hot on the nape of her neck.
    “What are you doing?” she asked.
    His mouth opened on her ear, his tongue diving. She gasped and leaned into him. Kalden’s
     hands came around her stomach, traced her waist, traveled quickly to her thighs, holding
     them firmly. She pushed his hands inward and up, her mind battling, and finally asserting
     her right to do this. She was twenty-four, and if she did not do this kind of thing
     now—did not do exactly
this
, exactly
now
—she never would. It was the imperative of youth.
    “Mae,” he whispered, “stop thinking.”
    “Okay.”
    “And close your eyes. Picture what I’m doing to you.”
    His mouth was on her neck, kissing it, licking it, while his hands were busy with
     her skirt and panties. He eased both off her hipsand to the floor and brought her to him, filling her at once. “Mae,” he said, as she
     pushed herself into him, his hands holding her hips, bringing him so deep she could
     feel his swollen crown somewhere near her heart. “Mae,” he said, as she held the walls
     on either side of them, as if holding back the rest of the world.
    She came, gasping, and he finished, too, shuddering but silent. And immediately they
     both laughed, quietly, knowing they’d done something reckless and career-threatening
     and that they needed to leave. He turned her toward him and kissed her mouth, his
     eyes open, looking astounded and full of mischief. “Bye,” he said, and she only waved,
     feeling his shape rise again behind her, climb the walls and make his way out.
    And because he paused at the door to unlock it, and because she thought she might
     never see him again, Mae found her phone, reached over the stall wall, and took a
     picture, not knowing whether or not she would catch any semblance of him. When she
     looked at what she’d captured, it was only his right arm, from the elbow to his fingertips,
     the rest of him already gone.
    Why lie to Annie? Mae asked herself, not knowing the answer, but knowing she would