Soon the day we agreed on with Erica arrived. We finished classes and she went to my house.

When we arrived, I met Ramiro, my older brother. He is in his second year of college and has a very strange schedule, so he sometimes comes home early. They say we look a lot alike, but the truth is that I have never found many similarities. We are good friends, although sometimes I don't know what he might be thinking.

—Hello, Rami— I greeted him.

—Raka— he answered when he saw me. Then he stared at Erica as if she were an abstract painting.

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, that seemed a bit rude to me.

—Hello— said Erica.

—Hello— said Ramiro. Then he looked at me, confused— Is she... is she your friend?

—Why are you so surprised?— I asked.

I thought he was joking, but soon he took off that ridiculous face he had and went to greet Erica with a kiss. I introduced them.

—My brother Ramiro— I said to Erica. Then I pointed at her— my... friend... Erica.

This last thing was super weird to say, as if I was speaking in another language. Then I understood why Rami was so surprised; I don't think I had ever brought a friend to the house before. At least, I have no memory of it. Besides Ocko, of course.

I tried to hide my red face as we dropped our backpacks in my room. After that we helped ourselves to lunch, rested for a while and headed to the backyard. I took a radio from my mom and we stood on the grass. The sun wasn't too bright, we'd be fine.

—Well... uh...

I saw the space before me, a good few square meters stripped of interfering furniture, we had plenty of room to move around. I thought it would be easy, just passing on my knowledge to Erica. However, at that moment I wondered what I should teach her first, and realized that I didn't know. I was used to following my teacher's instructions; it had never been my turn to teach someone else. I pondered for a moment: maybe we could take it step by step. I was sure she would learn.

I selected a song that seemed easy, put it on the radio and led Erica to the center of the courtyard.

—You follow me- I said.

She nodded.

And so we began our lessons. I don't know why I expected it to be easy. I was showing Erica moves I wanted her to do, but she was having a hard time balancing and moving the right way. She was clumsy, slow and needed me to repeat each movement several times to understand it.

—Do it like this- I told her, before doing a little twist on one leg.

She tried to imitate me, but her posture was wrong, her arms were not raised much, her legs were not bent enough, and her expression was very serious. She did it wrong and out of rhythm. I told her all this, we repeated it again and again, but each time she did it worse.

—Again- I said.

I looked at her face, she looked distressed.

—Come on, I told you that you have to smile- I repeated.

Erica took a step away from me.

—I need a break- she said.

—We can't take a break, we've just started!

—We've been dancing for almost an hour.

This surprised me. Had it been that long? I hadn't noticed. I pondered for a moment whether we should take a short break, when the dining room window to the courtyard opened, and out of it came Ocko, in street clothes.

—Ocko?!- we both exclaimed.

—Erica, what are you doing here?- he said, grinning from ear to ear.

I noticed her. Erica smiled too, noticeably relieved.

—Raquel was teaching me how to dance- she said- Why did you come?

Ocko shrugged.

—It's habit. I like to come to annoy Raquel- he admitted.

And he wasn't lying. For much of my life, that Ocko had been an annoying pebble in my shoe.

—So you were "dancing"?- he said, looking at me with a mischievous face.

I opened my eyes wide and shook my head to let him know that I would not tolerate any jokes on the subject. He just kept smiling. Erica didn't seem to understand, just stared at the floor with a sad expression. Maybe she was just tired, but I wondered if there was something that had made her feel bad. I hoped it wasn't me.

—Maybe I shouldn't have come, I didn't want to "interrupt" you two- Ocko said with the same mocking tone as before. I gave him a killer glance again.

—Oh, no. That's all right, I was tired anyway- Erica said.

—You? Tired? Wow, Raka, you're a monster.

I know Erica was just expressing what was on her mind at the time, but it still hurt me. I thought she would be enjoying our lesson.

—Why don't we show Erica how it's done, Raka?- Ocko offered.

I turned to him, he had already taken off his jacket and was walking towards me with that stubborn confidence he always displays. Erica went and sat in the same chair where he left his jacket. Ocko held out his hand to me, I looked at him for a second. The song kept repeating over and over, so we had endless music. Then I looked at Erica, I had wanted us both to dance alone, but she was as stiff as a board, and didn't look like she had enjoyed my company very much.

I took Ocko's hand and we started dancing. We don't do it often, but we moved as if we were practicing every day. It's easy to move with him, like riding a bike after years; we just understood each other so well that we could synchronize right away. Plus, Ocko could let his body loose, he could coordinate it with ease, and from there he could experiment with winks, smiles, gestures and steps that were out of the ordinary. I admit that I would be in love with him too, if I liked boys.

As we danced, I glanced at Erica for a moment. To my surprise, she looked defeated. She was bent over her knees, and was looking at us like she was begging for change on the street. I wondered if she hated dancing so much that she couldn't stand the sight of us.

I felt a little annoyed by her reaction. I had looked forward to that evening for several days, thought it was going to be a magical moment between the two of us, and she came in with her lack of enthusiasm and long faces.

At least Ocko was there to lift my spirits.

We were both pretty good for a while. Suddenly, to my surprise, Ocko turned to Erica and held out a hand. Erica was alarmed and raised her hands to tell him no, but just stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Ocko didn't move either, they just stared at each other for a long moment. Finally Erica took his hand and Ocko pulled her towards us. I wasn't sure what he was trying to do until Erica stood next to both of us. We both looked at him, puzzled.

—But I don't know...- Erica wanted to say, until Ocko shut her up with a finger over her mouth. She turned red. I was prepared to stop him if he started to do something daring.

—You know- Ocko assured her- it doesn't have to be pretty, you just have to like it. That's all that matters.

After saying this, he began to sway slightly to the music. Then he looked at me and made a gesture with his eyes. I understood that he wanted me to play along. He began to move more widely, shook his arms and let himself go with the rhythm, leading by example.

—As you wish- I thought, and started dancing too.

I put aside all the techniques and rules I had learned in my years of practice and moved with the song. I looked at Erica to make sure she was following. She seemed to be trying to move, but was having a hard time keeping up. She was looking at my feet, as if trying to understand. Then something occurred to me.

I asked for a hand, she lifted it and I took it. I pulled and loosened, always guided by the music. With that I moved her shoulders. Then I made her look me in the eyes, and I nodded my head to the beat of the drums, with a wide motion so she would understand. Erica began to follow me to the same beat. With her shoulders and head moving steadily, she was gaining confidence. She began to move her legs, her hips, her elbows. She began to enjoy it.

It gave me joy and sorrow at the same time. Joy because at last I saw her enjoying something I liked, at last we were dancing together. Sorrow because it had taken Ocko to make it happen.

The rascal grabbed us by the hips, and we continued dancing for quite a while.

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When we finished, we drank a lot of water and sat down to rest. We spent a long time chatting about superficial topics. Better that way, I didn't need to think. Erica told us about a book she was reading, about a thief and a con artist who fall in love in their adventure to save the world. I thought it was a very nice story, at least the way she told it.

At one point, Ramiro appeared in the living room and asked Ocko to help him move some boxes. The two boys left for a moment, leaving us alone. The conversation changed immediately, it became much slower and quieter. You could tell when Ocko was absent.

But not only in the conversation, but in Erica. As soon as she stopped seeing him, she relaxed and her voice became a little bit deeper, it was almost imperceptible, but it was not lost on me. We talked about musical instruments, and that led me to explain to her how pianos worked. After that we were silent for a moment, until she leaned over to me, stood up and came to sit at my side.

—Hey, Raquel- she said, smiling and in a low voice- Tell me the truth, how close are you and Ocko?

I threw my head back a few centimeters.

—What do you mean?

—You know...- she snapped at me, smiling like a little girl- Are you two dating or something?

I stared at her with disdain.

—What?- I blurted out.

I leaned against the back of the armchair.

—No!- I answered at last, with something like a grunt.

I didn't mean to sound rude, but I was annoyed that she suddenly brought it up.

—Really? It's just that you two seem so close- Erica argued.

—We're just friends- I said.

—So you have... you have a boyfriend?

I looked at her irritated. This time it was her who stepped back, I think in fear.

—You can sleep with him all you want, just don't involve me- I growled.

She stepped back, perplexed. I waited for her to answer me, to be irritated by my tone, but she didn't do anything like that, she just looked to the side, a little sad.

—I'm sorry, was I annoying?- she asked with a tone of abandoned puppy.

I snorted through my nose. I put a hand to my temple, still irritated. But I couldn't stay mad at Erica for long, not when she was giving me that sorry, regretful face.

—It's not her fault she thinks like every other girl- I thought.

They were all in love with Ocko, there was nothing I could do. I didn't want to be angry with her.

—I didn't mean to upset you, really- she assured me.

—No, it's me...- I mumbled- it's me... that's wrong. I'm sorry. It's just...

I looked at her, "It's just that I love you". I couldn't tell her that, but I really wanted to.

—It's just that a lot of girls try to be friends with me to get closer to Ocko- I admitted- but they're not interested in me. As soon as they notice that Ocko ignores them or breaks their hearts, they go away and leave me alone. I hate it!

And it was true, it had happened to me many times before. Shallow girls who thought with their clitoris. I didn't want Erica to turn into something like that, I didn't want our relationship to have been a lie, but everything pointed to her leaving me sooner or later.

—Wow, that's too bad- she commented- but I like you.

I turned to her. My heart began to beat a thousand times per hour. I studied her face to see how much she meant by "like".

—I wouldn't stop being your friend if Ocko turned me down- she said- You're nice, I don't see why the others left you alone.

—Ah, "friends". Of course.

But I soon pulled myself together. At least Erica was offering me something.

—Are you really not going to leave me?- I asked.

—Of course not! We're going to finish this year together!- she exclaimed.

That sounded good.

I leaned back again, tired after my heart slowed down.

—So you like Ocko, huh?- I snapped at her.

Erica turned red.

—Don't tell anyone!- she asked.

Of course, because no one had noticed.

I was surprised that Ocko hadn't tried anything with her, but he could be taking longer because he didn't want to piss her off, not with that super strength of hers. I was annoyed that Erica wouldn't even consider me as an alternative to Ocko, but I knew there was nothing I could do. Damn straight girls.

At least I could count on her until the end of the year.