| III. unpredictable last week, she asked me to kiss her. but i declined. we've been friends for a short amount of words-- �how short is short? �can we count a moon and a crescent? �can we assess tick-tock over thum-thum, thum-thum? our first kissed would've been in my bedroom after returning to my mom's apartment from sunshine theatre where che swam across the river to meet his fellow patients in motorcycle diaries; after my mom cooked us a shrimp dinner; after my 11 yr. old sis baked us her chocalate-frosted, yellow cake; after i met her (sophisticated--sexy-- jewish) trying to walk pass the bodega where young hermanos whistled at her and bolted their mouths when she jumped in my arms with a very berry pie she bought at d'agostino's. �was it my cool, latino face and my cap tilted to the left? real question : �how many people were making sure, near the end of the night, i found her sitting on the edge of my bed, eyes humble and strong, wondering if she should dare disarm herself? �was it me sitting on my chair and me taking off my cap, with sunday now over, grad school tomorrow, that she still invited me to stay in the guest room of her college suite? "i dont have to go." "no, it's okay." but a half hour later, riding up broadway-- �was it street lights humming to smooth taxi wheels, or the other way 'round?-- she smiling, giddy and blushing, my ear firmly on her sternum, after an unannounced yes. |