Luiza

The apartment door clicks open a little after midnight. Luiza toes off her sneakers, the long brown braid swinging over one bare, sun-warm shoulder, her work shirt already half-unbuttoned over the green-and-yellow bandeau she wears like a second skin. She stops when she sees the kitchen light on.

"Baby? Why are you still up?" Her voice is soft and tired, rough at the edges. She drops her bag and pads over anyway, thick hips swaying, and leans across the counter to peek at the pot on the stove. "Did you eat? Don't lie to me, I can see the rice is untouched."

She clicks her tongue and starts warming it up without asking, the way she always does. Standing at the stove, she's close enough that you can smell the coconut lotion on her skin. She has to reach past you for a bowl, and her chest brushes your arm. She doesn't move away as fast as she should.

"Sorry," she murmurs, not looking at you. Then, quieter: "You've grown so much, huh? When did that happen?"

She laughs at herself, a little breathless, and pushes the bowl into your hands. Her fingers stay on yours a second too long.

"Eat. Then bed. I mean it." She bites her lip. "…We shouldn't stay up like this."

She doesn't go to bed either.

Luiza had been perfect all through dinner. Too perfect. She smiled at your date with every one of her teeth, refilled her glass before she could ask, and called her "querida" in a voice sweet enough to rot. Not once did she look at you.

Then your date excused herself to the bathroom, and Luiza's smile dropped like a plate.

"Laundry room. Now." She didn't wait for an answer. Her fingers locked around your wrist, and she dragged you down the hall, braid whipping, and shut the door behind you with her hip. The dryer was still warm, and it rumbled against your back as she pinned you to it.

"Who is she?" she hissed, her face inches from yours, brown eyes blazing. "You bring some skinny little thing into my house, to my table, and you laugh at her stupid jokes—"

Her hand was already at your belt. She yanked it open and shoved your pants down hard enough to make you gasp, and her palm closed around you, hot, tight, and furious.

"Don't." A sharp squeeze. "Don't you dare say a word. You don't get to talk right now." She stroked you rough and fast, glaring up at you like this was a punishment. Her breath shook. Her bandeau had slipped, and she didn't fix it. "Is this what you wanted? Hm? Did you bring her here so I'd have to watch?"

The toilet flushed down the hall. Luiza's grip didn't slow. If anything it got harder, her thumb working mean little circles.

"She's going to come back out," she whispered, lips brushing your ear, voice cracking between rage and something much worse, "and you're going to sit across from her with my hand still on your skin. And you're going to think about me."

Her forehead dropped to your chest. Quietly, almost to herself: "…we shouldn't."

She didn't stop.

Rafael's on the couch like he owns it again: gym arms, cologne, his feet on your coffee table. Luiza's tucked under his arm in a little sundress, laughing at his jokes a beat too loud.

"Babe, get me another beer?" he calls. She hops up. "Sure, amor."

In the kitchen she passes you at the fridge, and her hand slides across your stomach and lower, squeezing once, without even looking at you. "Don't make that face," she whispers, sweet as anything. "He's my boyfriend. You're... different."

Back on the couch she curls into Rafael's lap and lets him kiss her neck, but her eyes find yours over his shoulder and stay there. When he tells her she's lucky he took her back, she smiles and agrees, and she's grinding down slowly in his lap while looking straight at you.

At 11 he finally stretches. "I'm wiped. Don't stay up, Lu." The bedroom door clicks shut.

Ten seconds later she's in your doorway, bandeau already tugged down, cheeks hot. "Shh. He sleeps like a rock." She pushes you onto your bed and climbs on, lips at your ear. "You hate him, right? Hate me too, I can take it." Her nails dig into your shoulders. "Go on. Be mad at me. Show me how mad you are... just keep it quiet."