Caio tells the whole story very excitedly, but I sense his voice is a bit sad when he finishes it. For a second, I’m a little angry at Becky, for being the kind of person who forgets about her friends when she starts dating. I’d never be that way! Probably because I’ll never start dating. Or have friends, for that matter.
But deep inside, I feel jealous of Caio and Becky’s story. I wish I had a friendship like this one. I wish the first person to know I was gay had been my best friend and not my mom.
“Now I’m even more excited to meet her,” I lie.
My hands break out in a cold sweat when I meet new people. My stomach churns, and now I regret saying that I was on board for this. Too late, I guess.
We’re both waiting at the meeting spot (a fountain by the mall entrance that, if you look at it from a certain angle, looks like a huge penis), and I look all around me just so I won’t have to face Caio. I try so hard to pay attention to literally anything else that I barely realize he starts talking to me.
“You’re going to love Becky. She’s awesome. And gorgeous,” he says, unable to contain his excitement.
But not very punctual, I think about fifteen minutes later when we’re still waiting in front of the fountain. Suddenly, Caio smiles from ear to ear. And I notice it because at this point I’ve given up on trying not to look at him.
“Here she comes!”
I look over my shoulder and see Becky approaching. My jaw literally drops, because she’s not like anyone I imagined. I try to close my mouth quickly before anyone notices, and to mentally organize everything I’m seeing.
Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. Rebeca is fat.
In the little time it takes for her to reach us, I start thinking about a million things. It’s weird how our minds are so used to the same starting points. I didn’t know much about Rebeca, and yet in my mind she was thin. I imagined her thin, because it didn’t occur to me at any point that she might not be.
For a second, I feel like an asshole for thinking this way, but I have no time to follow that thread. When I snap out of it, Rebeca is already hugging me, saying it’s a pleasure to meet me, and revealing that Caio talks about me a lot. It’s too much to absorb all at once, so I just try to smile and seem nice.
“I’m sorry I’m late, but Caio knows me. I’m always late, so I don’t even know why he still arrives on time. But I’m here now,” Rebeca says, lifting her arms and waving, as if she were thanking the audience after a performance.
She has dark brown skin, and her curly hair is tied in a ponytail at the very top of her head. She’s wearing a pair of earrings with Darth Vader’s helmet on them. Her oversized sweatshirt says BITCH, DON’T KILL MY VIBE, and her tight jeans have a galaxy pattern on them.
I immediately decide I want to be this girl.
“I can’t even believe we’re finally seeing each other,” Caio says to her, and then turns to me. “Because you know, Felipe, there are certain people who go to college, start dating, and forget about their friends.”
“So, Felipe,” Rebeca tells me, leaning on my shoulder, “there are certain people who don’t understand how hard it is to juggle college, a crappy internship, and a long-distance relationship. And that a lecture is the last thing I need right now, you know?”
I stand between them, not knowing if this is a serious argument or if they’re just joking. I also don’t understand why they’re using me to talk to each other. So I opt to say something sensible.
“Y’all, I’m hungry.”
Rebeca laughs and grabs my hand, which startles me, but I don’t let go because I don’t think that would be polite.
“I like you already!” she says.
Caio smiles at me as if he’s proud and relieved that I got Rebeca’s approval so quickly. I’m proud and relieved because Caio smiled at me and I didn’t throw up.
Together, the three of us make our way to the food court and stop at a place that serves the best burgers you can find for less than ten bucks. I order a bacon cheeseburger with extra bacon (just because), Caio orders a cheeseburger with spicy mayo, and Rebeca orders a veggie burger. When the waitress is done writing down our orders and is about to leave, Caio asks her to wait. He touches my hand, and I’m surprised because I’ve never been touched as much as I have today in my entire life.
“Felipe, do you want to split some fries?” he asks.
I say yes without a second thought.
While we’re waiting for our food, Rebeca tells Caio everything that’s happened in her life in the last few months. From what I gather, the two of them haven’t seen each other since Carnival in February. I listen attentively while playing with a straw to keep my hands busy.
“I still can’t believe my relationship with Melissa has lasted this long, because I swore she was going to break up with me after two weeks,” Rebeca tells Caio.
“Melissa is Rebeca’s girlfriend,” Caio explains to me. “They met during Carnival and two days later were already official.”
“The thing is, she doesn’t live here. She lives a few hours away, and I spent the first three months worried because she’s in a huge city full of good-looking people, and I’m stuck here for at least three and a half more years,” Rebeca says, this time looking at me.
“What a shitty situation.” I don’t know what else to say.
“But now everything is way better. We fight sometimes, because I’m an Aries and she’s a Scorpio, which is the worst combination of all time. But we make it work,” she says, and I just nod because I know nothing about star signs.
“Becky has always been really into astrology,” Caio tells me, and then turns to her with a challenge. “Try to guess what Felipe’s sign is. I love it when you try to—”
She doesn’t even wait until he’s done before blurting out, “Pisces, obviously.”
And I laugh, because she got it right.
“You see?” Caio slaps the table excitedly. “She always gets it right!”
“But … how?” I ask.
“You’d have to be a Pisces to get along with Caio the way you do—the right way. Pisces are nice. Caio is a Cancer, and you need all the patience in the world to put up with a Cancer. They’re half princess and half evil witch, if you know what I mean. You have to watch your back!” she says, whispering to me as if she’s sharing a secret tip.
“Hey! I’m right here,” Caio says, winking at me.
I feel my face go red because I really was not expecting a wink, least of all from Caio.
Our food arrives, we eat together, and everything is delicious. Caio and I take alternate turns when going for the fries, so our hands never touch, which is unfortunate. To be honest, I don’t even know what would happen if our hands bumped over the basket of fries, but I’ll admit I was hoping that it would happen.
When we’re done eating, we leave the food court and start walking aimlessly around the empty mall, looking at the windows of the same old stores. Caio and Rebeca go into a stationery shop, and I ask them to wait for me there because I need to go to the restroom.
I run to the nearest bathroom, duck into a stall, grab my phone, open my browser, and type, “Are Pisces and Cancer a good match?” Search.