Gaston_Can

He left the sheet on the bed, folded in four, with my new name written at the top. Every line was an order, and I already knew I would obey them all.

Renata wanted to take up more space; Damián wanted to stop deciding. The ritual granted them exactly that, and by morning their bodies began obeying another desire.

The first time I saw myself in the mirror wearing the red dress, I knew Daniela would no longer be content to come out only when the town was asleep.

One look in the supermarket was enough for me to drop my bags and follow her upstairs. I didn’t know her name, but I already wanted her.

I rested my feet on her lap without thinking, like so many other nights. But that time Daniela looked at me differently, and I knew there was no turning back.

She sat down across from me in a nearly empty bar, took my hands, and told me I looked sad. Three hours later I was naked in her bed, and I didn’t want to leave.

I only wanted a phone to call a tow truck. I ended up between two strangers who decided that quiet night included me.

We’d been brushing against each other all night without saying a word, and when I saw the turnoff into the forest, I knew neither of us would make it home.

Six years of pretending nothing was happening whenever they brushed against each other. That night, with the city asleep, neither wanted to keep pretending.

I thought acting on my own would make her proud. I was wrong. The moment Renata walked in and saw what I’d done, I knew I’d be punished.

I had never felt so much from a simple brush of hips. When she settled behind me on the crowded bus, I knew that ride wouldn’t end like the others.

My tutor had just fallen asleep when I discovered the half-open drawer of her bedside table. Inside, something was shining that was about to change everything between us.

When I went into the empty classroom to change, the door opened behind me. It was her, the student council president, and she hadn’t come alone with words.