Page 28 of You've Got a Place Here, Too
and there I was pointing with my lips at the screen share,
the button isright thereI kept telling Mami.
It took me a moment to realize maybe not everyone pointed with
their mouth. I told Melody, we do that, island folks.
Allow our lips to gesture. “Ahh, well that’s okay then.
I thought you had a girly and were out here blowing kisses.”
And I tried to laugh all deep and shit, but I also blushed, which
must have ruined the effect. She winked and walked away.
The semester ended and I went back home. I nursed my crush
like a hangover: fed it homemade soup, lay in my childhood bed
and imagined interactions, found Melody on social media and scrolled
through every single one of her pictures, and tagged pictures,
and friends’ pictures that might have included her. While waiting for
Mami at doctor visits I read her captions, smiled at how even online
she was funny and bold.
And I thought I might really have a guardian angel,
because when I signed up for classes,
it turned out she was my TA for flight class the next semester.
We stood beside ten single-engine DA40s.
And Melody assessed me with a clipboard
I did the preflight walk-around.
Checked the wheels, the windows, the tail, and wings.
My hands dampened. My tongue went dry. My dick tingled.
My brain went blank. Every part of my body shaken
by its own cyclone of chaos. Tía would love her, I thought.
Melody’s smile could sweeten an entire greca of coffee.
“Go ahead, Angelo. Up you go. Let’s
check system and fire a flight plan.”
The cockpit looked like the simulator’s. The controls were almost
exactly like the ones we practiced on last semester.
