”What can I say? They’re good boobs.” I grinned, despite my cheeks still blazing red at my embarrassment. We laughed like dorks at my obvious glaring, brushing off the relatively awkward situation. It didn’t register to me, that this interaction could be classified as flirting.

We got to work on our chemistry project after that, my Mom invited Callie to stay for dinner but she refused politely saying her own mother probably had her dinner waiting. She left shortly afterwards, leaving me with a sultry wink, kiss to the cheek and a promise to ’talk…and maybe glare later’. I wasn’t sure how to take that comment but my conscience seemed to repeat over and over it was anything but flirting. I guess my conscience was wrong.

Knowing what I did about Callie, I found myself feeling lucky. It wasn’t until I reminded myself that she had a girlfriend, obviously was not attracted to me, despite being gay and she was way out of my league that I gave up on the possibility of ever being more than friends with the gorgeous Latin girl who was a frequent protagonist in my dreams.

The next few weeks at school were boring, I made the basketball team so most of my time was spent studying and playing ball. Any free time I had, aside from that, was spent really getting to know the gang, hanging out at Marina Park on Friday nights, gossiping about all the kids in school, maybe sneaking a beer or two. We agreed they were all Grade A assholes and we vowed never to be caught acting as preppy and snobby as them. Also, it was an excuse to see Callie outside of school, our conversations were awesome. We hung out a lot to finish our project, and we shared ’experiences’ and flirted shamelessly but neither of us took it any further. We seemed to understand each other on a different level, at the time I thought it was because we were both gay but as I got to know her, I realized the connection was far deeper. It verged on an intimate understanding of each others inner self, even when we sat in complete silence, it was as if I could hear every thought being processed in her pretty head. I often had to consciously stop myself from gazing at her and studying every detail of her captivating face, the way her eyes crinkled as she laughed her uniquely addicting laugh. It was unadulterated and free, like nothing I’d ever heard or seen before. Everything about her was appealing, and I often wondered how hot her girlfriend must be to capture the flawless heart of someone like Callie Torres.