We cruised each other aggressively. We didn’t really say much, we didn’t need to. He wasn’t from here, not with that accent, but I couldn’t really place him either.

He was shorter than me, though not by much. Devastatingly handsome but also very delicate and ephemeral somehow, like he could float away at any moment. Had he suddenly evaporated I wouldn’t have been shocked.

He had hardness that was at odds with his slight build.

I told him I lived nearby, if he wanted to go somewhere more… private.

***

Afterwards, we lay there exhausted, a little embarrassed and a little shy at our shamelessness and the absurdity of it all.

His English was strained, most of his sentences were short, sharp, and basic. I was ready to show him the door, I asked him where he was from more out of politeness than interest.

Chile, he was visiting from Chile.

So we continued talking in Spanish. Turns out his sentenced were neither sharp nor basic. This was a different person altogether.

We established that we both had studied anthropology. His major was archeology mine social anthropology. We both enjoyed art, theatre, philosophy, old cemeteries, travel, hiking, and park cruising. I volunteered to be his tour guide.

We went at it again. We went at it again four more times that night

At least four more times every other night thereafter.

His smile was incandescent. His body was incredible. Soft where it counts and hard where it’s supposed to. We came at each other with the force of stars colliding.

My fingers explored every indentation of his body. The neighbours banged on the wall for us to shut up or calm down.  We broke a mirror and fucked around the shards.

I fell in love.

***

He was only visiting Sydney for a week.

The fact that our relationship had a hard end-date made it more urgent. And beautiful.

It was only meant to be a passing encounter, in a park, in the dark, at the end of my street.

I’ll never see him again, that’s the reality.

If we hadn’t been competing with time  or distance our encounter wouldn’t have been as special.

A relationship can be five days long and be as fulfilling and beautiful as any.

A whole lifetime was lived in those five days, our union fell as quickly as it rose, we were both fulfilled- and happy.

After the horrors survived in the last two years maybe this is what progress looks like.