Page 48 of Fruit
“Okay, so, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I say when our entrées have been placed on the table. Sebastián looks at me curiously. “Why’d you decide to open up an LGBTQ youth centre? Why not a generic one?”
Sebastián shrugs, looking down at his plate. “I guess it’s pretty unusual for a straight person to do that, huh?”
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know the statistics, but I don’t think it’s usual, no.”
“Yeah…I did wonder, at the start, if I could…I don’t know, have the necessary insight. Sometimes…this is going to sound stupid, but sometimes I feel a little guilty about being straight. I—”
I laugh, cutting him off. “Dude. That is such a…straight thing to say.”
“I mean…”
“Come on. What if a white dude told you he felt guilty for not being black?”
Sebastián pauses. “Okay. Point.”
“Oh my God,” I giggle. “Not that being not-straight isn’t awesome, but you are what you are. You can’t help being straight any more than I can help being bi.”
“Did you have any issues? With being bi, telling your parents…”
“Nah, not really. They’re pretty open, and my best friend from when I was growing up is pan, so. I mean, it’s always a little…awkward, but I’m lucky to have the family I have. I mean, I’ve always known that, but when I see some of the kids at the centre and see how their parents act…yeah. It drives the point home.”
Sebastián nods.
“It was almost harderrealisingI was bi, to be honest. I mean, not hard in an ‘Oh no, this can’t be happening!’ sort of way, but in a ‘Wait, what am I feeling right now exactly?’ sort of way. Like. Women are so sexualised in society, but at the same time, I was told that I should like men, and Idid, so I didn’t quite get that what I was feeling towards women was attraction and not just…I don’t know, appreciation or something, for a while. But I’m pretty stubborn, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, so once I caught on to what was happening, I was pretty determined to let people know and just…make my own way, or whatever.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me.”
I shrug, grinning. “What about you, Sebastián?” I say in a faux-concerned voice. “Did you always know you were straight?” I tilt my head and furrow my brow theatrically.
Sebastián snorts.
“It must have been so hard…conforming to society like a square. Oh, the guilt of it!”
“Yeah, all right, you made your point,” he says, laughing. I return his grin.
We dig into our food. It’s authentic and delicious, but the company is better.
**********
It simply feels natural to go to Sebastián’s after we talk for hours at the Thai place. It’s crawling into Saturday night, but I have nowhere I’d rather be.
Nina greets us enthusiastically. She’s gotten so big, stretched out and long-limbed like an awkward teenager. She almost trips over her paws as she slides on the hardwood floor, and Sebastián and I laugh as he picks her up. They rub faces and I try not to melt.
We could invent some pretext for why I’ve come back to his. Try to extend the conversation, pour ourselves some whiskey, but I’m impatient. I say hi to Nina when she’s placed on the floor before standing in front of Sebastián. He looks down at me steadily, and I grip the hem of his shirt lightly, skimming my fingers over his abs. I get on my toes and his hands land on my hips the second before I kiss him.
I bite at the pulp of his bottom lip, and he opens his mouth. I press closer to him, my body against his, and the slow slide of our tongues moving against each other has a shiver running down my spine. I wrap my arms loosely around his neck, scratching my nails through the shorn hair on his head. He deepens the kiss, and I gasp into it as his hands suddenly grip the tops of my thighs, hoisting me up. I make a startled noise, my legs wrapping around him automatically.
“I’m too heavy,” I protest. His hands squeeze my ass.
“Bedroom,” he says.
“If you can get us there,” I scoff. Sebastián grins, and isn’t that a hell of an expression on his face?
He marches us to his bedroom, kicking the door shut after us with his heel.
“So that we don’t ruin Nina’s innocence,” he explains when I look at him questioningly.
I laugh, but the noise dissolves as he lays me on the bed and crawls over me. He kisses me again, deep and slow, until I’m completely breathless with it.
