Gay

I closed my eyes beneath the blindfold and my father’s voice built every detail. I wasn’t in my room anymore: I was with Rodrigo, and he was doing exactly what I’d dreamed.

I’d seen him on the app half an hour earlier: fifty-something, active, with a photo that promised. By midnight I was in his elevator and there was no turning back.

Both men wore wedding rings and had spent twenty years doing the same thing on business trips. Everything changed the day they stopped at that beach.

I’d been out of ideas for weeks, and one boring afternoon changed everything. His photo was honest: it was exactly what showed up at my door two hours later.

I’d spent twelve years waiting for Valeria to look at me like that. That night she finally did, but not in the way I’d imagined.

He took my jaw in one hand and looked me straight in the eyes. He was my cousin. We were family. And neither of us backed down.

Put your foot beside mine, he said. Then your arm. Then your hand. And then I understood we weren’t comparing anything.

When the whole village found out, there was no turning back. I fell in love with him knowing I’d have to let him go. And that night was our last together.

When I got out of the shower, Sebastián had the pink garments in his hand and that steady look I knew I wouldn’t be able to refuse.

I was wandering aimlessly when he lifted his head from a second-floor window and held my gaze as if he knew, before I did, that we’d end up tangled in his sheets.