Recognizing What They Have, 20 Years Too Late

choi

Nicky Radcliffe, Recognizing What They Have, 20 Years Too Late; A closeted Lesbian didn't know how to have a platonic love with a man, much to her regret. New York Times, Nov 5, 2017 (in the Modern Love column)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/ ... years-too-late.html

Note:
(a) "When I was an art student in London, I worked part time as a barmaid at a pub in Notting Hill. It was the perfect job for me. * * * the bar prevented anyone from getting too close.  I found relationships with people difficult. I was gay but didn't know it yet. * * * his name was Mikey [Mikey and Mickey (as in Mickey Mouse) has different vowels"
(i) barmaid
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/barmaid

lists British and American definitions.

In US, a person who brings alcohol from the bar to a customer is more often called a waiter/waitress or (more often) a server.
(ii) Notting Hill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notting_Hill
(section 1.1 Origin of the name)
(iii) Mickey Mouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse
(table -- Full name Michael Mouse; "Mortimer Mouse" had been Disney's original name for the character)

(b) "When I collected beer glasses, he would lope up behind me and put his chin on my shoulder like an overgrown puppy."
(i) lope (n): "an easy usually bounding gait capable of being sustained for a long time"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lope
(ii) canter and gallop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canter_and_gallop
("The speed of the canter varies between 16 and 27 kilometres per hour (10 and 17 mph) depending on the length of the stride of the horse. A variation of the canter, seen in western riding, is called a lope, and generally is quite slow, no more than 13–19 kilometres per hour (8–12 mph)canter and gallophttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canter_and_gallop(" The speed of the canter varies between 16 and 27 kilometres per hour (10 and 17 mph) depending on the length of the stride of the horse. A variation of the canter, seen in western riding, is called a lope, and generally is quite slow, no more than 13–19 kilometres per hour (8–12 mph)) )


(c) "Mikey dug out a tie and an outrageous purple and green plaid suit * * * Mikey and I felt spot-lit [both past tense and past participle of spotlight may be spotlighted or -lit] in the middle of the room — the skinny blond chick in a floaty goth dress with multiple ear piercings, and the dude in the loud suit with half a leg. It was obvious we didn’t belong, and we milked it for all it was worth. * * * a jazz band played on the far side of an empty dance floor.  'Do you think anyone ever actually dances?' Mikey said after we finished dessert.  'I shouldn't think so,' I replied, looking around at the formality of the patrons, who were studiously ignoring both the jazz band and the waiters, as if displaying any interest might betray a lack of savoir-faire.  'Would you like to dance?' Mikey asked, a gleam in his eye."
(i) Goth subculture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth_subculture
(ii) milk (vt): "to draw or coerce profit or advantage from illicitly or to an extreme degree : EXPLOIT <milk the joke for all it's worth>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/milk
(iii) gleam (b): "a faint or brief light, especially one reflected from something  <the gleam of a silver tray>"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gleam

It can not be "shine," because the light was reflected on the eye.