“Yes, I think we’ll go to our hotel and call a mechanic from there.”
“Were you going to Hotel Casa Do Campo?”
“How did you know?” Joel asked.
“There's only one place this road leads to, the hotel. You boys are lucky. The main road to the hotel is on the other side of those fields, so the locals who live nearby are the only ones that use it.”
Our rescuer, Senhor Rodrigo, turned his truck so it was facing our old 2CV and then got the jumper cables out of the back. We only stood there watching as he expertly connected the cables. Once we had both cars running, we had to wait a few minutes before we could disconnect them.
We found out in that short time that Senhor Rodrigo was born and bred in Évora and had a wife of twenty-five years and two daughters at university, one locally and the other in Lisbon. He was a painter and decorator and worked exclusively for the hotel. Since they had three locations in and around the city, he was kept busy.
Once we had a functioning car, we drove the few miles to the hotel, and it wasn't difficult finding the entrance to the hotel off the main road since there was a tall iron gate attached to a white wall with bright blue trim on either side.
The driveway up to the hotel was paved with the traditional smooth cobblestones, and there were landscaped gardens with trees on either side of the road leading all the way to the small parking lot by the hotel.
The reception desk was a dark-polished wood with two big chairs in front of it for guests to check in comfortably. It felt wrong to sit on them considering I was in desperate need of a refreshing shower.
The receptionist behind the desk was dressed in a hotel uniform that made me feel slightly out of place in my jeans and creased T-shirt, but her smile put me at ease. Joel had booked this hotel, so I sat there looking around at the surroundings and wondering how much of a fortune Joel had spent on the room. They moved us from the city hotel, so maybe we also got an upgrade for our trouble.
Joel explained what had happened the night before and also asked for advice on getting a mechanic to pick up the car and get the battery changed today since we’d agreed to spend the day relaxing in the hotel.
I was barely paying attention to their conversation when I heard her speech falter.
“What’s that?” I asked, turning my attention back to her and Joel.
“I’m so sorry, sir. I don’t know what happened, but we seem to have you booked in a king-size room, and we don’t have any twin rooms left.”
Joel looked at me and frowned as though he was confused. I wasn’t any less confused than he was.
“I didn’t book a twin room,” Joel said. “I booked a double or king-size room. Isn’t that what you have for us?”
The girl looked at Joel, and then at me, at the computer, and back at the two of us until something seemed to click. “Oh. Oh! Er...yes, we have a... that booked for you. So there isn't a problem at all. Here are your keys. Would you like us to help you with your bags?” she asked.
We declined help and made our way to the room.
“What was that?” I asked.
“That was the receptionist assuming that because we are two guys, we would have booked a twin and then realizing we had purposefully booked a room with only one bed because, well, you know.”
My heart started beating faster, and a slight panic crawled over me. “Oh my God, she knows!” My voice strained as I tried to temper my rising concern.
Joel didn’t say anything, but he opened the door to the room and let us both in. The room was spacious, with a big balcony that had two chairs and a table overlooking the garden and swimming pool of the hotel and the wheat fields in the distance.
He turned and started undressing me, beginning with my T-shirt and then my jeans until I was in front of him fully naked. I hadn’t bothered with underwear when I changed last night, and his surprise showed on his pinked skin. Without too much thought, I returned the favor by undressing him until we were both standing stark naked in the middle of the room.
“Shower,” Joel commanded as he pulled me toward the bathroom. The shower was enormous and had a tiled bench that ran across the width of it. He turned the water on and waited until it was a comfortable temperature before we went in.
Joel picked up a small bottle of hotel shower gel, squirted some on his palm, and was working up a lather before applying it to my chest, working it carefully on my arms and then back. It didn’t take long for my body to respond. For someone who had happily lived without intimacy for such a long time, I was surprised at my body’s sudden sexual awakening.
“Why do you care?” Joel whispered in my ear as he massaged my back in slow circles, moving lower and lower.
“Wh...what?”
“Why do you care what the receptionist thought?”
The truth was, I wasn’t sure why I cared. She didn’t know me, and she likely didn’t care whether Joel and I slept in the same bed or not. Her reaction had been more of embarrassment rather than disgust.
“I know that Portugal is quite a progressive country when it comes to LGBT rights. Most people accept or ignore when they see a gay couple walking hand in hand on the street. I’ve seen it myself and wondered if one day I would be able to do the same.” I paused and turned around to face Joel, looking straight at his beautiful blue eyes, “I know all that, but knowing it and believing or trusting that I can be accepted are two very distinct things.”
