I’m going to tell you the bizarre story of a girl I know. To avoid anyone feeling exposed or having their feelings hurt, let’s call her M. What happened to her could easily be adapted into an existential ironic drama by Woody Allen not unlike Vicky Cristina Barcelona, where love appears in the least expected place despite the signs being there all along. People can try to deny this, but the truth is that feelings surging from friendship may end up creating a sexual tension that can only be released through intimacy.
It started when she met someone at a place where their interaction was kind of inevitable. Call it an office, classroom, church, or any other sort of usual scenario. They saw each other Monday through Friday and remained in contact on the weekends as well. It started with small talk and led to casual banter.
Eventually they opened up to each other, telling their life stories, likes, dislikes, dreams, and goals. Then one day both seemed to ask each other the same question: “Are you with someone?”
If you’re taking notes, this is the first sign of romantic attachment.
The next step is the confidant stage. My friend M felt safe with this acquaintance and began telling them all her secrets. It began with little things that would happen to her at work, but eventually it spiraled into personal stories.
This is the next sign, sharing personal details about you.
This led to her telling the other person about all her romantic issues. This might seems like an usual topic of conversation between friends. And yet, can men and women truly be friends? If your answer is yes, you need to watch Claude Lelouch’s Un + Une.
Then there’s the third sign, mutual understanding. It goes from telling secrets to becoming an accomplice of secrecy. One day M got a call from her boyfriend asking where she was. Instead of telling the truth about hanging out with her buddy, she told him she was having coffee with her mom on a Friday, close to midnight. Of course he wasn’t buying it. If M had not sensed some tension between her and her friend, she wouldn’t have lied. But she did and got him involved.
By that point it was clear as day that M had feelings for this new friend. She might have dismissed how her heart would race each time she saw his scruffy facial hair, sleepy eyes, and curly hair. There wasn’t enough of a connection to go into a relationship but the sexual attraction was there. The only thing missing was for their bodies to come together.
As time went by the relationship became close until one day the unavoidable happened. Life put a couple of beers between them (eight for him, eight for her). After talking all night and suddenly finding themselves alone, M took his hand and placed it on her hip. He then proceeded to kiss her.
Their hands were suddenly all over each other. Kissing led to touching, which then led to an urgent sensation. You know what came next.
Sex.
Translated by María Suárez
