Female Friends

When she poured the fourth shot and held my gaze a second too long, I knew that night we were going to cross the line we’d been avoiding for months.

Marisol was sitting on the edge of the bed with the baby at her breast, completely naked, when I pushed the door open. Milk was dripping from her and she didn’t ask me to leave.

We followed the moans down to the kitchen and found them. That night, I learned by watching what I would dare to try the next day.

When she asked what it felt like to be with another woman, I told her she’d have to try it herself. I didn’t expect her to stand up and straddle me.

When I walked into the teachers’ lounge, hands wrapped around me from behind and lips slid down my neck. I recognized her perfume instantly.

Bruna knelt in the shower in front of her cousin, and none of the women in the bathroom could look away. Not even the mother, who already had her hand under her dress.

One split second—a towel slipping, her wet skin under the balcony light—was enough for me to know I’d never be able to look at her the same way again.

When she gave me the keys to her apartment and left for work, I already knew that night we were going to debut much more than the bottle of wine I had packed in my suitcase.

We were coming back to the hotel at three in the morning, having gotten nowhere with the guys. What happened once we closed the door changed our friendship forever.

At three in the morning, I pretended the blanket was covering my eyes. What I saw in my own living room I should never have seen, and yet I never looked away.

When she rang the doorbell with two bottles of wine and that smile, I knew our unfinished conversation at the bar would finally end on my couch.

The bathroom mirror faced the bunks. That night, I discovered why my roommate had moved it without telling me.

When the scarf covered my eyes I thought it was an innocent game. It wasn’t. Mariela had other plans, and I didn’t want her to stop.

When she sat on my couch with smeared mascara and a trembling voice, I knew a whiskey and a few comforting words wouldn’t be enough.

In the hotel mirror, that bikini did not fit me. Nothing fit me since they decided what kind of body I deserved.

When I took off my bikini top in front of Carolina, her face changed. And then I knew I wasn’t leaving the beach that afternoon as just her friend.

I crossed that door convinced women weren’t my thing. I left two hours later knowing that was the biggest lie I’d ever told myself.

It started as a joke while watching videos in bed. It ended with both of us bent over the mattress, trying something we never thought possible.