I avoided looking at José and kept putting shit on my own plate as I compulsively looked over at the man in question. He seemed to be focused on whatever he was reading on his phone though.
“What’s he doing?”
“Looking fine is what he is doing.”
I ignored José and kept staring at him like a creep. After a moment, he put his phone down, and stretched to grab the bottle of water on the table in front of the huge leather recliners that overlooked the field. I could see the top of his tattoo peeking out from his tee and I legit shuddered.
“Damn, friend, now I really want to know what you two were up to. It may have been a while since the lure of the dick had me addled and confused, but I can still recognize the symptoms.”
I rolled my eyes at José munching on a tortilla chip hard enough to dislocate something. “Nothing happened.”
José’s mouth twisted to the side. He, of course, was not buying it. “Gurl, who are you trying to fool? But fine, suit yourself. I’m just going to say this—he’s been sending you the same looks you’re giving him. Neither of you are very good at being coy.”
I laughed at that as we both grabbed our plates and headed to the bar. “Gee, thanks.” It occurred to me that Tariq was still not here, and he was supposed to arrive with José.
“Where’s Tariq?” Just as I asked the question, the man himself came through the door.
“Hey, guys.” I couldn’t blame José for looking a little peaked—that boy’s smile was a force of nature. He came in and kissed and hugged his way through the group and then zeroed in on his biggest fan. As per usual, José’s attention fell solely on the new arrival, and I was free from further interrogation. I was not the only one who was getting distracted with a fellow member of the GEC.
As José helped Tariq get some food and drinks, I walked over to where Salome, Dani, and Rocco were sitting.
Salome winked at me as Dani inspected my plate.
“Looks like there’s stuff for me to eat. At least I won’t starve since José tricked me into being DD today.” I laughed at Dani’s aggravated tone and nodded.
“Yeah, there are lots of veggie-friendly choices.”
“I’ll go look too,” Salome piped in and soon those two were off, which left Rocco and me on our own again.
Rocco leaned in to inspect my plate too and I got another whiff of him. He smelled earthy and little bit like an essential oil of some kind. I was not going to press my nose to his neck to figure it out though.
“What’d you get?” Why did him asking me about ranch dressing and seven-layer dip sound pornographic?
I was too flustered to respond with something appropriate, so I did what any sane person would do in an emergency situation. I stuffed my mouth with chicken and pressed a celery stick to his mouth.
The game was about halfway in and I’d finally managed to get my shit together after what had been a very close call. Rocco was sitting a couple of seats away and I was next to José and Salome, who were both intensely rehashing the ongoing season ofDrag Raceand not even trying to look like they were watching the game.
I loved baseball and being in a fancy ballpark suite was sort of a wish come true, but I couldn’t focus. I kept looking over at Rocco, who was now turned to the side, so his back was to me and I could clearly see the edge of his tattoo. I wanted to see that tattoo bad. I wanted to touchhimeven worse.
“Damn, you got it bad for that gringo, girl.” Salome’s amused whisper snapped me out of what was obviously not very discreet staring.
“He’s only like two seats away. He can hear you.” She just shook her head and sipped from her glass of wine. “What’s going on with you anyways?” I needed a distraction and focusing on Salome was the way to go.
She’d shorn off most of her hair last week and just left a mop of curls on top, which were swept to one side. With her tattoos and light hazel eyes, she looked striking. She was tall and very slim, and if she hadn’t gone the academic route, she could’ve been a runway model.
I looked over at Rocco, who was still watching the game and chatting with Tariq and Dani, and turned to Salome. “Seriously, girl, how’s work?”
José perked up then. I’d heard him giving her some advice earlier about handling her coworkers. She lifted a shoulder and put down her glass.
“Eh, que te digo? My department is all older white dudes and me. They’re nice, don’t get me wrong, but they’re clueless and it’s annoying.” Her tone was neutral but her expression serious, and I wondered what she was putting up with. “Well, they’re not all nice, but most are. It’s just hard.” She waved her hand then, as if conceding a point. “Not that I didn’t know that would happen. Applied economics is a man’s world, and honestly landing a tenure-track position that was willing to sponsor my work visa is nothing to be mad about.”
I nodded, remembering all her family was still in the DR. I wondered how that was for her. To me the island had always been a little mysterious. We’d gone to visit my mother’s family often enough, especially before my grandmother made the permanent move to the States. It was wild that Salome had actually grown up there.
“Are you going back to the DR for the holidays?”
She nodded and a reluctant smile spread across her lips. “Yes, I’m going for Christmas, but my mom and sister are flying to LA for Thanksgiving. I’m meeting them there. The LACMA has this big exhibit on Latinx Queer History I’ve been wanting to go to and they’re going to come with me.”
It always made me smile when Salome talked about how great and accepting her fam was. “That sounds fun! How about you, José?”
